We decided to go to our kids’ homes this year for Christmas, all but one local, and visit with the grandkids. It worked out fine, as opposed to all coming to our Heard Avenue home. It was the first week off chemo pills, and my appetite improved a bit, although by week’s end I lost […]
I had my appointment with the oncologist, Dr. Tidwell, last Thursday, and his feedback was minimal weight loss, and tolerance of chemo was good. Changes in my voice concerned him, and he speculated the tumors enlarge due to immunotherapy, and could be obstructing my voice. The second treatment could shrink tumors, and my voice might […]
It’s Wednesday, and I took my first infusions last Friday, with three chemo pills twice a day since. First impressions – a general malaise comes over you, where you feel worse than the cancer has made you feel, with lack of appetite and diminished energy, the order of the day. You must force yourself to […]
First doses of chemo happened last Friday, 12/6! Arrived at the infusion center at 10:00 AM, and with all the delays and infusion time, we left around 3:45 PM. It wasn’t the nightmare I had expected, and instead it was a well-choreographed experience, where they encouraged you to bring a snack, relax, read a book […]
After a delay so I could enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend, I was supposed to start chemo on Monday, December 1st. The chemo educational class was scheduled for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, where I learned, among other things, I would take one chemo agent by mouth and the rest infused, including an immunotherapy agent, Keytruda.
My voice has been impacted in a significant way, beginning when I had trouble swallowing in July. The sound was a bit hoarse at first, but over time my voice became monotone and lacking the usual inflection and emphasis I typically give to words or phrases. The breath behind my speech was somehow reduced, so […]
Allow me to digress for a moment. It’s good therapy. I was reminded this week of my passion for music. At around 10-12 years of age, my parents agreed to buy me some drumsticks, which I used to hit on the lids attached to large-sized, empty Shedd’s peanut butter jars my mother bought at Ft. […]
The PET scan was done this week. It was about 20 minutes longer than CT scans I’ve had, with a bigger tube, and I planned with my primary care physician to have a mild sedative to address any claustrophobia I might have – it worked! On Friday, I met with a surgeon/oncologist at the Georgia […]
This week, I had a PET Scan appointment on Tuesday, which the oncologist ordered to make sure we understand the extent to which the cancer has spread or not. So far, the cancer appears limited to two lymph nodes. If confirmed, then surgery would be the solution, preceded by some chemotherapy, to removing the lymph […]
The plot thickens and thickens, as does my saliva. Almost a week after the Saturday night trip to the ER, I was again at Doctors Hospital, this time to have a stent place on my esophagus, so I could eat solid food, and to have an ultrasound to stage the cancer I was informed about […]