Health Update #11: Humerus Radiation Finished; Commencing Chemo and Immunotherapy

 

The pain isn't nearly as bad now that we've found the right dosage of dilaudid and added on the fentanyl patch, in addition to a decrease in pain from the humerus starting to heal. I've had 4 days back-to-back of radiation on the humerus. It felt like each day was a quicker and easier treatment, but the med techs told me that there were no changes to the duration or intensity, I was just adjusting to them. However, I have been totally wiped out physically, sleeping late in the morning (until time for the treatment) and then returning home to sleep more in the afternoon and evening and then again through the night (with a little help from the dilaudid, fentanyl, Ativan, edibles, and cpap.) I feel like I've spent most of this week sleeping, but this weekend I've started perking up a bit. The pain in my shoulder has lessened a lot and I'm starting to taper off the dilaudid. 

Thanks to neighbor Tim for driving me to treatment on Tuesday and an opportunity to wander around Baldwin during lunchtime and pop in to Debbie's Sportsman's Lounge where they were  busy preparing for the annual Blessing of the bikes this weekend. I'm hoping that by mid-summer I'll be able to get out on the motorcycle myself. 


Corrine has been busy balancing some work calls with a lot of attention to me, driving me to appointments and making sure I take all my meds on time and putting on my socks for me and trying to keep my weight up. I've dropped nearly 25 pounds in the past couple of months. We got a visit from our old friend Barb on Friday, who made a pork roast and mashed potatoes and helped while away the hours for a bit.  

On Monday, I'll have my first session of chemotherapy and immunotherapy through the port that was created a while back. Because it's the first session, it will be a little longer than typical -- 6 hours rather than 3, and Laura G will be coming up with her husband Doug to help out -- Laura will take over midmorning from Corrine and spend the evening with us. Cornelia will come in on Wednesday to take over helping out for a day or so.

This will be the first of 4 chemotherapy and immunotherapy sessions, 3 weeks apart for each, so will take up much of the summer. After those 4 sessions, I'll continue with immunotherapy for the next year. Hopefully, I'll know soon how this therapy will affect me physically and cognitively so that I can make plans about whether or not to teach a full load in fall and winter or to apply for full or partial medical leave. My start date for fall technically is August 15 and the sabbatical report is due in December. A few people have suggested that I include this blog as part of my sabbatical report -- an exercise in digital writing, social media, communication, and illness. We'll see about that. 

Once we get a few scans in we'll be able to see how effective the radiation therapy has been, and maybe the chemo and immunotherapy. Staying optimistic for now. The medical folks keep telling me that the immunotherapy in the past few years has been a real game changer.


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