November 2 – It is now a month since Cathy's last treatment and she is gradually healing from all the pain and problems, though her hand is very painful from the last time they tried to get a needle in her vein. It swelled up quite a bit and hurt her yesterday so I had her ice it and take a Tylenol. Cathy is going through a good spell now as far as pain is concerned, but she has started to lose her hair and this causes a mental problem. This did not happen at all for the first three months so we thought we were not going to have this very common side-effect. She is not talking about it but I can see her depression and know that it is because she sees some patches of scalp showing through the thinning hair. I kept quiet the last few days because I did not want her to dwell on it, but today I thought we needed to bring it into the open. I told her that it is like a Purple Heart. It is her symbol of battle; of going to war. I want her to understand that this is a common problem, one that we expected early, and one that everybody recognizes. There is no shame in it. We need to get her a nice colorful light cap that she can wear outside if she really feels bad about the thinning of her hair.
November 11 – It has been a terrific two weeks here. Cathy has been off the treatment and has been relatively painless for the whole time. She gets up every day and I ask her the same questions and she has no dizziness, no light-headedness and no bloody nose...nothing at all to complain about. Of course, we live from doctor's appointment to doctor's appointment and our period of grace is just about over.
Tomorrow I take her in for a blood test at the oncologist office. As far as I know, we just give some blood. I don't think we will even see the doctor. That isn't too bad. The following day we prepare for the PET scan. That means no carbohydrates of any kind all day. We have to be very careful what we eat because the body needs to be basically carb-free. Friday we go to the hospital early in the morning and get the PET scan. They will inject her with a chemical that goes right to the cancer and makes it glow. They will get a picture of her status and then match it against the last picture we took a few months ago. Hopefully, that won't be too bad and we will be out of there in maybe two hours if there are no complications. Then we relax over the weekend and next weekend we see the oncologist and find out if the tumors are continuing to shrink and what his plan is for continued treatment. It is all up in the air and we have no control over what will happen, so we just go in there hoping that there has been some reduction of the tumor in her lung, and he is ready to continue the treatment with a much weaker dose that will not be so hard on her body.
September 12 – Cathy took her blood test this morning. It was fast. As I thought, we did not see the doctor at all, just got some numbers for him to look at next week. Her white blood cells which had dropped to about 2 last time were up to 6.3. Not as high as I would have liked, maybe 9, but at least normal. Her red blood cells which had dropped to 2.4 before the transfusion were now up to 3.45. I said to her before the test that I wanted to see 4 but would be happy with about a 3.8 (the normal). She was a bit lower than the normal, but is able to fully function without hyperventilating. Her hemoglobin that I hoped would be about 12 was 11.1. That is a trifle low. So, that is done and now we rest tomorrow and watch our diet. She can have no carbs so it will be bacon and eggs for breakfast, a salad for lunch and a protein and two vegetables for dinner. The PET scan is Friday and then we take it easy again to next Wednesday when we discuss future treatments with the oncologist. In general, things are going well at the moment so we need to enjoy those moments. More problems are certainly coming with the future treatments.
September 13 – A quiet day. Cathy had eggs for breakfast, skipped lunch and had bluefish and two veggies for dinner. The hospital did call to make sure we were watching our diet and of course I told them we were. We will get up early tomorrow and be on the road by 7 a.m. They will start prepping her at 7:30 a.m. and from 8-9 a.m. put the chemicals into her blood. From 9 to 10 a.m. they will take their pictures and if there are no blood pressure problems that cause everything to come to a grinding halt, we will be out early. I certainly hope so. Then we get to relax until next Wednesday when we hear the good or bad news.
September 14 – We got off to a good start today. I got Cathy up about 0630 and into the car by 0700. She was fasting so it was good that her appointment was so early. I had her to the hospital by 0730, and she was being injected with radioactive chemicals by 0800. We were out by 0930. We now wait until next Wednesday and at that time we will hear if the lymph nodes are still clear, the lung tumor reduced, and the new plan for maintenance treatments. In one way it is bad waiting, and in another it is nice because now there is no pressure for 5 days and we can both just relax.
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