Day 21 The Start Of Week 5 / May 29, 2017
Well, I spent the entire weekend both sick and in pain from my new feeding tube. My throat is more sore than I have ever experienced in my life. It is from radiation and from being aggravated by the airway being put in and a camera being placed down my throat to install my feeding tube. I am having trouble just swallowing my spit, much less pills or water.
It is chemo day today so I know the next two days will be as bad or worse. On the way to the hospital both Kim and Ryan suggested that I take a break on the chemo today and add it on the end of the treatment. Kim wasn't sure I had the strength to face the sickness we all knew was coming. I couldn't stand the thought of adding another week of treatment, and knew I just had to do this.
The first stop was radiation. I am not full of mucous in my throat and mouth from the radiation and I am having trouble swallowing. I explained my situation to Gail and Michelle, the two radiation techs, and with their advice and knowing they have my back if there is an issue we got through it. I do have to say at one point I did have to take the mask off in the beginning to dry heave, and no it was not fun with the new feeding tube. They had me rinse, gargle and push through it. Another marble gone.
When we went upstairs to the chemo rooms, I have to take my anti-nausea medicine pill one hour before chemo starts. Kim tried feverishly to see if my medicine could go into my feeding tube since I couldn't swallow. After several questions to several nurses and pharmacists, the answer was no. they could try a different but less effective drug. My answer was no! I then told Kim I have no choice and stuck the pill in my mouth and after several attempts got it to go down. The nurse was not happy with me and scolded me because I could have choked. I explained if I went through a week of puking like I did the first week, choking was not a bad option.
After that was all settled, the labs came back and said my white blood count was too low to take chemo. The lab was now hand counting my White Blood Count to see if they could get the numbers high enough. Okay, I have trouble counting pennies in increments of .50 so I can roll them. Just how accurate is hand counting white blood cells. Well, they were happy with the numbers and we got another bag of poison.
After chemo, we came home and I spent a good portion of the rest of the day laid up on the couch. This was not one of my better days, but it is one day closer to being done.
It is chemo day today so I know the next two days will be as bad or worse. On the way to the hospital both Kim and Ryan suggested that I take a break on the chemo today and add it on the end of the treatment. Kim wasn't sure I had the strength to face the sickness we all knew was coming. I couldn't stand the thought of adding another week of treatment, and knew I just had to do this.
The first stop was radiation. I am not full of mucous in my throat and mouth from the radiation and I am having trouble swallowing. I explained my situation to Gail and Michelle, the two radiation techs, and with their advice and knowing they have my back if there is an issue we got through it. I do have to say at one point I did have to take the mask off in the beginning to dry heave, and no it was not fun with the new feeding tube. They had me rinse, gargle and push through it. Another marble gone.
When we went upstairs to the chemo rooms, I have to take my anti-nausea medicine pill one hour before chemo starts. Kim tried feverishly to see if my medicine could go into my feeding tube since I couldn't swallow. After several questions to several nurses and pharmacists, the answer was no. they could try a different but less effective drug. My answer was no! I then told Kim I have no choice and stuck the pill in my mouth and after several attempts got it to go down. The nurse was not happy with me and scolded me because I could have choked. I explained if I went through a week of puking like I did the first week, choking was not a bad option.
After that was all settled, the labs came back and said my white blood count was too low to take chemo. The lab was now hand counting my White Blood Count to see if they could get the numbers high enough. Okay, I have trouble counting pennies in increments of .50 so I can roll them. Just how accurate is hand counting white blood cells. Well, they were happy with the numbers and we got another bag of poison.
After chemo, we came home and I spent a good portion of the rest of the day laid up on the couch. This was not one of my better days, but it is one day closer to being done.
I can hear how hard this is. My heart aches for you. I really admire your strength and the great person you are. I am saying prayers and you all love.
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