Peritoneal Cancer Journey Phase XVIII
Well from my blood work on June 18th, my Hemoglobin is not coming up fast enough, I am at 7.6 and the doctor is recommending a transfusion so not to delay my chemotherapy next week. I agree with that, so off I go to the hospital on the 21st for 2 bags of whole blood… My appointment is set for 8am. I leave home at 7:10ish, so I have time to get coffee (an absolute must… smiling), something to eat for breakfast and be able to arrive by 8am. Well when I got on the road it was like everyone had off today <laughing>, there was no real bottleneck driving, I got to the hospital in like 20 minutes (that has not happened before), this included parking the car. I picked up some coffee and breakfast and arrived in the infusion lab by like 7:35 am. When I walked in I said, I am really early, there was no traffic on the throughways that I did not factor in my commute this morning. They chuckled; someone mentioned the schools are out so traffic is light. Then said take a seat we will be with you shortly… So I picked a comfortable spot and settled in for the next 5 or so hours… One time I was there the nurses were commenting on patients coming in way early to try and get out sooner. So I wanted them to know that I was way early, not because I wanted to get out sooner, though that would be nice, but that normally it would take 45 minutes to drive there with morning rush hour traffic. I didn’t consider the lighter traffic with all the schools and colleges being out on summer break… So it was a very nice, fast drive to the hospital… After the transfusion I am free to go without having to wait the 20 minutes observation thing, yes I am a frequently flier now, they remember my name, kinda like Cheers, except without the peanuts and stale beer smell… I will do what I have to keeping myself on track… For now I am homeward bound… Have good color and feel pretty good, just a little sluggish still from the benadryl, this too shall pass. So of course nap time when I get home. The boy cats are not napping with me today, so I have the couch all to myself, not a bad thing…
Time for my monthly doctors appointment and chemotherapy on June 27th… My CA-125 dropped again by about 200 points. Was hoping for a much higher drop, I will take it though down to 2800 going in the right direction… Today we talked about whether or not to reduce Carboplatin by 10% because it is hitting my red cells so hard, my platelets are up to 207,000 so that is good, nicely rebounded again. I have had to have transfusions after each of these treatments of late. My feeling is my numbers are dropping so I don’t want to mess with what seems to be working. My doctor agrees so we will continue with the same treatment of Carboplatin, Doxel and Avastin. Actually they are giving in reverse order than I have them listed… One of the ladies receiving treatment commented on my blanket that I always have with me. It is very colorful and keeps me warm during my treatments; I have a tendency to be cold... My daughter and I picked it out of a bunch of blankets because it reminded both of us being on the beach. It looks like a beach blanket and we love beach days… So why not have something with us that remind us of something we love and bring up wonderful fun memories. A young girl that I wrote about a while ago made my blanket. She makes knot blankets, takes them to her church to have them blessed, and then donates them to various healthcare clinics. That set off a number of conversations about blankets, beach days and such creating laughter and fun conversations… The infusion itself was uneventful which I am always grateful. Off to get my monthly chest x-ray, I get one every month to monitor the fluid that is between my lungs and lung lining. It is stable and not changing, which is a very good thing… When we got home we had a bit to eat and then off to dream land for me… <Smile> I’m good for a 1-2 hour nap…
Over the next week is the oh what can I eat or sounds good to eat… So we stock the house with items that allow me to eat every 2-3 hours without a lot of fuss. This really helps in how I feel overall and helps me rebound in a week. The first 2 days after chemo are steroid highs plus I have the rest of my Emend to take. Over the weekend eating frequently small meals keeps my stomach busy so I feel pretty good. Saturday after chemo is my sleep on and off day, when I awoke from my afternoon nap I found my brother (Jerry) and sister (Barb) working in our yard, helping to get it ready for the summer. Lynn and I are so lucky to have their help. It is really a huge help, one that I am grateful to accept. By Sunday afternoon (after my afternoon nap of course) I am feeling more like myself so phew made it through another chemo weekend… And with all the work Barb and Jerry did in our yard it looks wonderful.. Thank you!!! What’s left to do is to enjoy it which we all will…
On the 9th I have my 1st blood test and yes on the 10th I received a call from Laurie, my hemoglobin and white counts are good. My platelets however are down to 26,000. Dang… Okay I know the drill, careful around sharp objects, if I am bleeding go to the emergency room and yes I having to have daily stat draws to monitor my platelets when they are starting to go up. Well this week I got to my lowest 17,000, on Friday. I am bruising easily, so I have to be careful. I don’t feel bad, just bruise easily, I have to have stat draws over the weekend, grrr. I guess the only thing that is a pain is I feel like a pincushion, what’s a girl to do... The good news is I didn’t get a call, I’m thinking finally on the upswing with my platelets, though my next complete blood draw is the 16th. So I have that done. Yes I get a call on Tuesday 17th, the good news my platelets are on the upswing finally. My hemoglobin is at 7.9, again I am not feeling bad so we take the wait and see approach. I am eating well, so I think I will be fine.
Lynn and I are signed up to take sailing lessons with Seven Seas Sailing. Lynn has been sailing since she was like 8 and loves it. She owned her own sailboat for a number of years and raced. When she turned 30 she sold her boat and bought a home. Taking these classes once we are done will allow us to rent their sailboats for day sailing. How great is that. I have been on a sailboat a handful of times MANY years ago and loved it. I found it to be relaxing and fun. So when Lynn suggested this I thought this is great… We can do this together and have great fun. Lynn can sail the boat and when it is time to do something I will have an understanding of what she is doing and understand what I am doing… Renting the boats is great because you don’t have the up keep, docking fees and such… I love this idea and this is something Lynn has talked about for awhile… On July 12th we had our first lesson, you start with a 2-hour classroom lesson going over the rules of the water and the various law enforcement personnel that you can encounter. Learning various knots that you must know and parts of the boat and sail. Our 2 hour class lasted 3 hours, needless to say when it was over I felt exhausted <laughing>. We both worked a full day then had a 3 hours class. That last hour I caught myself nodding off… Don’t get me wrong the instructor was very good and interesting. It was simply a long day… <smile>. When we got home Barb and Jerry were at our home again trying to wrap up an outside project with the bricks in our yard, sealing them and cleaning up areas close to the house that needed some attention. We are having my mom’s family picnic here the 1st Saturday in August, so Barb is on a mission. Barb brought over our niece’s puppy Jacqs as Katie was working. That was a nice surprise… This little puppy is so cute, has a great personality and thinks all 2 pounds of him makes him an alpha dog… <laughing>.
Our next class was dockside training where we start to apply what we learned in the classroom to the boat itself… We had this lesson on July 22nd in the morning. We brought our coffee and away we went… We had a great instructor, he was so patient and taught us how to put up the sails, take to boat out of the slip, get a feel for the tiller, or steering the boat, and bring the boat back into the slip. To be honest that was one of the things that made me very nervous. It was not as bad as I thought it would be… We will have to check our calendars on when we can do our first on the water lesson. I am looking forward to that being on the water and actually sailing the boat, how exciting. I think they said if you pick up everything quickly you could be certified after only 5 classes. I am looking forward to our 1st on the water lesson. We will check out calendars and see what day will work…
