Health Update #15: Session 2 and After-effects

 

Italian beef by Corrine

It's been a week and a half since my second chemo-immunotherapy session and I have to say that this time has been much easier. The oncologist reduced the chemotherapy drugs (carboplatin and paclitaxel) by 20%, as well as one of the immunotherapy drugs (atezolizumab). The other immunotherapy drug, bevacizumab, he eliminated completely. The entire session ended up being a couple hours shorter than the first session. This time, I remembered to smear lidocain on my port and cover it with cling wrap, which made the poke much more tolerable. I passed the 8 hours or so doom scrolling. Crazy stuff in the news.

John came in Monday evening after chemo, and then left late to drive a 3 hour round trip errand to pick up Greg at the Amtrak station in Grand Rapids at midnight. They chattered the whole way back and drove 30 miles an hour down the last stretch of HWY 10 dodging deer that were poised on the edge of the rode. Corrine was able to fly back to Chicago and drive up to Madison for Mikki's defense while John and Greg watched over me. We could have gotten ourselves into trouble if I'd been feeling better, but instead, they just sat around drinking Guinness and Jameson while I watched and occasionally snoozed.

The three amigos

John left on Wednesday, and Greg stayed through the weekend. Greg made a number of fantastic meals and discovered the wonders of the Michigan Dispensaries. We had plenty of gummies to get through the weekend with a lot left over for the future. 

The first few days after chemo were much better than last time because of the steroids and reduced dosages, and even once the side effects kicked in, they weren't nearly as bad as before. I had a little trouble with fatigue and shortness of breath, but didn't sleep nearly as much and was able to hang out a lot more than the first session. The twice weekly IV infusions for dehydration helped, I think. Unfortunately, on Saturday, I tried to get out of bed too quickly and ended up fainting and bashing my head on the bed's sideboard, cutting a 2 inch gash in my forehead. 


Corrine bandaged it up with butterfly bandages and kept checking my pupils to make sure they weren't mismatched. Still, when my oncologist found out, he scheduled me for a CT scan to make sure there weren't any clots or hemorrhaging. The CT scan came back normal. 

Now, a week and a half after chemo, I'm feeling almost back to my new normal, which means no serious side effects other than shortness of breath, and even that's better than it was last week. 

My next session is July 3rd, and I'm hoping that it goes as smoothly as the last one. That will be 3 sessions down and at least one more to go, depending on scan results. They may add two more sessions in August if necessary. We were hoping to spend time in Chicago this month, but the oncologist advised against it during treatment since I was having such a hard time and need hydration infusions. We decided to cancel a trip to Louisiana in August for my dad's 90th birthday, and postpone our trip to Florence in mid-August. Hopefully, we'll be able to reschedule both of those for mid-fall once we're done with chemo. 

Celebrated Father's Day, Greg and Pamela's anniversary, and my 57th birthday this past week. Hopefully, my 58th will be much less dramatic. 

Natchitoches, LA 1994 or so


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