I started round two of four last week. This is the hardest week. On Tuesday, many vials of blood were drawn from my arm and sent off to the lab for testing. Because I’m on a trial, they need more blood, more tests. She was fast and I was out in fifteen minutes.
Thursday morning my neighbor kindly drove me to the salon. They needed more blood from my arm. Wendy was awesome, no pain, got it on the first try. That rarely happens.
The port worked perfectly today. The drip started around 9:25 am. and I was given two types of anti-nausea interveniously, a steriod, and then the Nivolumab (Immunotherapy). At a prescribed time, between bags, Wendy came back with needles and vials. She found a nice little vein in my hand and hit if first time. Nice job!
Finally the chemo. They mix this bags on site, in the lab. Gemcitabine and Cisplatin. They added a bag of saline, and I was out of there by 2:45pm. I had to run down to the the Home Oxygen lab to pick up CBAP supplies, and my neighbor arrived to pick me up by 4:15. Done.
I started fasting on Tuesday right after lunch, and kept the fast going all the way through Friday. I’ve read several study summaries suggesting that fasting greatly reduces then side affects of chemotherapy, and increases its effectiveness. I’ve also read that Cisplatin is the most nausea-creating chemotherapy. I believe that may be true!
I went to work Friday morning and worked through the day until 2:00, right after lunch. I ate too much. Then I hit a wall. I couldn’t focus, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I drink water all day long. I drink between 8-10 glasses (12-20 oz) every day. Maybe more. I poured a cup of warm water, and attempted to focus on a writing task. By 3:00 I was able to focus again. My neighbor came to my office and offered a lift home. I gladly accepted.
Saturday was much harder. It was obvious that the Chemotherapy nausea was real thing. I took meds to help. 10mg Compazine. That wiped me out for four hours. But if felt well enough to eat. Sunday was worse. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t be around food.
My wife mix a refreshing fruit shake and I was able to get that down. Later that evening, I had stomach and intestinal pain, rolling waves of pain. I was compacted and nothing was moving inside. After three or four hours of cramping, knotting pain, I relieved some gas and finally, the pain subsided. I slept fairly well all night. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Terry Baresh 