It’s Friday, the 13th - Friday, April 13, 2007
Day 136-138 – Round 4, Cycle 1, Day 10-12 (Wed-Fri, 4/11-13/07)
Good thing that I’m not superstitious. My nose is runny, my eyes are watering, and I have a hacking cough — and beside that my energy is gone, and my mouth is sore. Other than that, I’m doing fine, thank you.
Went to Dr L’s office yesterday, and they confirmed that my blood chemistry was low, so today I went to the BCC and received 2 units of red blood. That will take a day or two to improve my blood chemistry. Speaking of energy – yesterday, I drove to and from my appointment — today, I asked Verna to drive me.
One other thing happened yesterday while at Dr L’s office — I was also supposed to receive a shot (my last one) of Vincristine. I told them my feet we so numb that I had trouble walking — the nurse checked with the doctor, and that shot was canceled.
4 weeks and 2 days left, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
Another Bump in the Road, as they say! - Monday, April 16, 2007
Day 139-141 – Round 4, Cycle 1, Day 13-15 (Sat-Mon, 4/14-16/07)
Well, Friday, a couple hours after I updated my blog, I noticed that I had a fever. It was 100.7. Not a panic temperature, but 0.3 from it (101). I monitored it off and on during the night and Saturday. I took a two hour nap and a one hour nap on Saturday. When I got up to eat supper, I was burning up, temp had risen to 103. Thinking (hoping really) that it was elevated because I had been covered up with a blanket, I went ahead and ate, although not much. By 7pm it had not come down, so we called the on call doctor, and he said to head for the ER. Got admitted about midnight.
Sunday, I spent almost the entire day in bed, and a good bit of that sleeping. Two visitors came by from church. Thanks SW and EK for coming by.
Dr L came by this morning, back from his vacation, and said “You were the last person I saw in the hospital before I left”. He indicated that I would likely get out of here either Tuesday or Wednesday.
My appetite is still off, and I didn’t eat much breakfast. We’ll see how lunch goes.
27 days left, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
Made it home Today - Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Day 142 – Round 4, Cycle 1, Day 16 (Tue, 4/17/07)
Dr L came in my room at 6:05 this morning. I was already awake, and had been for awhile. He said my chest x-rays looked good; no problems with the blood cultures; no fever in the last 24 hours; and no reason to keep me in the hospital. So, by about 7:40am I was leaving the hospital.
But, I am tired…, but glad to be home.
26 days left, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
We’re almost there - Friday, April 20, 2007
Day 143-145 – Round 4, Cycle 1, Day 17-19 (Wed-Fri, 4/18-20/07)
Well, I’m almost there! Where? Ready to start on my last treatment cycle. Went to Dr L’s office this morning for some more blood work and consultation. White Blood Cells are being produced in abundance; Hemoglobin is higher than it’s been in a long time (course I’ve had 4 units of blood in the last 7 days), and Platelets are approaching an acceptable minimum. All just in time to BLAM, knock them for a loop again on Monday. So, right now it’s a go for Monday. Should go into the hospital on Monday and be out Friday morning, if all goes according to schedule.
So, how am I doing? Since I’ve returned home on Tuesday, I’ve been getting a little stronger each day. Saw my regular doctor, Dr R, on Wednesday, and he said “Well, it looks like you’ve been through a lot”. It was the first time he’d seen me since my treatment started. As I was leaving, he also told me that he’s going to be leaving the practice this summer when he turns 55. Too much paperwork, and nonsense. Said he was going to join the staff at the Salisbury VA hospital. He will be missed, but I’m sure he’ll be an asset to the VA hospital.
23 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
Still doing okay. - Monday, April 23, 2007
Day 146-147 – Round 4, Cycle 1, Day 20-21 (Sat-Sun, 4/21-22/07)
No real problems to report. Doing okay. Guess my body, if not my mind, is ready for the next chemo cycle. Will report more on Monday from the hospital.
21 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
All is going well - Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Day 148-149 – Round 4, Cycle 2, Day 1-2 (Mon-Tue, 4/23-24/07)
Monday, I stopped by Dr L’s office and then checked in at the hospital. Check-in was one the best so far. As I approached the admittance desk, the lady behind it said, “Hello, Mr Cash, you are in room 4928”. Now does that tell you that I’ve been here too much — the fact that she knows my name when I approach the desk!
Premeds were delivered about 2pm, and by 4:30pm I was on my first chemo of Methatrexate — it runs for 24 hours, then we switch over to Ara-C for 4 doses, 1 every 12 hours. It’s now a few minutes after 5pm on Tuesday and the Methatrexate is just about finished — they must have given me a bonus.
Last night was a normal sleepless night, because of my having to get up about every 45 minutes to an hour to go to the bathroom — they pump a lot of liquids into me during this cycle — but surprisingly I don’t really feel tired today.
Had a couple of visitors today: JD and HC — thanks to both of you stopping by.
19 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
Another good day - Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Day 150 – Round 4, Cycle 2, Day 3 (Wed, 4/25/07)
No real problems today, and I slept fairly good last night, considering the number of times I had to get up. I picked about 4 pounds of fluids from yesterday, so Dr L put me on some Lasix today.
Visitor: SW stopped by late this afternoon. Thanks, and thanks for the brain teasers — I’ll give them a try tomorrow.
This oncology unit (4 tower) has 36 rooms in it. Yesterday was not a good day from the standpoint that they lost 2 patients (as in no longer living). A few minutes ago I heard a “code blue” call for another room up here — that doesn’t mean death, just that someone needs a doctor NOW. Kind of brings me back to reality — that the Lord has taken very good care of me during my stay, and I am thankful to Him for that. Life is precious — enjoy it, but don’t take it for granted.
18 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
I may get to go home a day early - Thursday, April 26, 2007
Day 151 – Round 4, Cycle 2, Day 4 (Thu, 4/26/07)
Dr L came in this morning at 6:20 and said that if the Methatrexate levels looked good at noon that I could leave later this afternoon, instead of Friday morning. In the meantime, yesterday, I picked up a few more pounds of fluids, so it’s back to Lasix and bathroom breaks about every 10 minutes this morning. He also said he was going to reduce the IV flow today to help out some.
More later…
Well, I did make it home earlier. Left the hospital about 4:30pm, stopped and got some medicine, ad came on home. Slept pretty good in my own bed last night (Thursday) also.
17 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.
All is going well - Saturday, April 28, 2007
Day 152-153 – Round 4, Cycle 2, Day 5-6 (Fri-Sat, 4/27-28/07)
Well, my recovery from the chemo is continuing. My stomach is starting to settle down, but my vision is a little blurry still. I’m looking forward to a few weeks down the road, when hopefully things will be getting better, and staying that way.
My wife has noticed a little bit of fuzz on my head, but I think that’s a bit premature – course she says its gray in color.
Seeing as how the treatments have officially ended (of course there is the possible need for transfusions, etc), I will probably start tapering off these blogs to one or two a week — unless something significant happens.
15 days left after today until the end of the treatment cycle, but who’s counting.
That’s it for this day. Thank you for your prayers, emails, cards, and phone calls. God bless you all, and may God bless me, and my family, and the medical team on my case.