Eighth Chemo

May 20th

So the Eighth Chemo. I was actually looking forward to this session as it would be the first time since I started that I would go three weeks instead of two weeks between sessions. I felt this would provide me with many extra days of feeling great, instead of the few days on the Monday and Tuesday before the next session.

Boy was I wrong.  This has been one of the most frustrating sessions yet, and for the first time, I can't say that this session was better than the last.

I guess a harbinger of things to come happened immediately when Karla and I got home from the clinic on Day 1, on April 30th. I went inside the house while Karla walked a few laneways over to get the mail from the group mailbox. As I was hanging my jacket, I heard a thump and a cry of pain.  I opened the door to find Karla down on the front step, where she had tripped.  She did not think she had fallen on her stomach, but had taken some abrasions on her knees and hands. She had also banged her head on the front door. After calling the ob/gyn, it was decided that she needed to come into the hospital to be checked out. So we got back into the car, now with Amarilis and Isla as well and drove back into Boston, thankfully against traffic. Unfortunately, Karla HAD to drive, as I was hooked up to the infuser, and could not drive while chemo was being pumped into me.

We made it to Brigham & Women's Hospital where Karla was whisked upstairs in the maternity ward.  She had started having contractions, and we didn't know if they had been triggered by the fall, or by the trauma of the incident itself. After some observation, it was decided to keep Karla in the hospital overnight. Our next door neighbor, Colleen, volunteered to pick up Amarilis, Isla and myself so we were able to get home sometime after seven. We also had offers from both sets of parents to drive up (from Myrtle) or drive down (from Ottawa) the next day.

The next morning, Karla was cleared to leave but she was still having contractions.  The baby was fine (I think Karla's natural instinct when she fell was to protect the baby at all costs, which was why her knees and head were banged up).  So Karla drove herself home.  Her parents ended up driving up on Friday, because we really couldn't know when the baby might come, and they were so supportive over the two week period in which they were here.  It turned out that this was just a scare, and Karla did end up having Graeme as scheduled on May 12.

So the three-day infusion went pretty much as expected.  Jaw pain on Day 2 but managed with Tylenol/Ibuprofen. I actually had pretty good Day 4 and 5 over the weekend of May 3rd and 4th.  We looked at some houses and in general I felt pretty good.  I had a scheduled appointment on Monday with a Health and Fitness Consultant from the clinic.  I was hoping to get put on some kind of program I could follow going forward, but it was a bit more vague. Targeting 150 minutes a week of physical activity, and getting set up with the Livestrong foundation in the fall for a weight-based program.  Not much direction.

I did go for some long walks over the next three days, but found I was getting progressively more tired each day after the walk.  I was fighting a bit of a cold so figured it was playing around with my energy levels.  Friday was a very bad day as I ended up sleeping for a bout six hours over the course of the day.  I seemed to come out of it by the weekend, so felt I would be ready to handle the birth of Baby G over the next week.

Instead, what I found was, as each day progressed, I would come home in the evening more tired than the day before.  I was even feeling some slight pains in my stomach similar to what I had felt earlier on in the process, and called my doctor to determine if I should come in (especially as I was at the hospital right next door).  However, they felt that as long as I was not experiencing shortness of breath, I should just manage with painkillers. By Thursday, I was wiped, but managed to get Karla and baby home.

And that is pretty much what I have been going through since last Thursday (it is now Tuesday).  I wake up somewhat refreshed but as the day progresses, I get more and more tired such that by the evening, I'm ready to turn in, sometimes as early as 6:30PM. I have tried taking naps but I do not wake up refreshed. It is very frustrating as I really thought that this "extra" week was going to be a bit of a glory period.  Instead, my taste buds and neuropathy have gotten worse and I'm dealing with this extreme tiredness. I will definitely talk with my doctor tomorrow.  Karla and family feel it is the stress of the past week, the fact that I was out of the home four days straight, and maybe a lingering cold (Isla has also been sick with a cold this week) that have impacted upon me.  Logically, that makes sense, but emotionally you do start going down deep, dark alleys for which I have been able to stay away from, for the most part.

One other thing is that I had a CT Scan at the clinic last Thursday, and I will get the results tomorrow.  I am trying to keep a positive attitude going in, but this past week has thrown me for a loop. Today, one of my Vermont friends invited me up in a few years for some father-son hockey on his backyard rink, and all I can think about is that: "I have to BE there."  I'm sorry that the joy and wonder I felt with the birth of Graeme has been tempered somewhat by my health.  Let's hope that things get sorted out tomorrow.

All the best.

Andrew