Dick Foster - My 2010 Challenge

Love, hope, joy are powerful healers.

Chemo Round Two – Days 3 and 4

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I felt a little fatigued on Friday afternoon (day 3) and more fatigued on Saturday. So Saturday was sit-on-the-patio-and-rest day. I listed to music and a book on tape; and I napped. Mary, Terri (Mary’s sister), and our Mom’s also enjoyed the beautiful weather on the patio.

On Friday, my new iPad arrived 😉 So Friday evening and Saturday I spent time getting it setup and learning all the neat things you can do. I has a crystal clear screen for surfing the web, reading books, checking email, and much more. Tonight I installed the Netflix app to see how well it plays movies – awesomely! Very sharp image and great sound. The iPad is Mary’s present to me for being a good patient during my curing cancer journey. Thanks Mary!

This weekend we’ve had two “family nights” (so far) – both Friday and Saturday. My Mom (Mary Sr.) cooked shrimp in Friday and Mary (Jr.) fixed sloppy Joe’s and french fries on Saturday. Plus, Mother’s Day is Sunday so we are planning another family get-together tomorrow. It’s great to have a loving family that gets along so well together.

Mom went to see Dad at the nursing home on Saturday and he’s doing a little better today. He’s be sleeping a lot during the day and night. He slept through much of Bingo, but woke up before dinner.

So far my side-effects seem to be less that during the initial round of chemo. I hope that keeps up. I’ve been taking some additional prescription medications and non-prescription treatments to help ward off the side-effects. Also, I’m participating in a clinical research study for a new mouth rinse to reduce oral mucositis (mouth sores). I use the rinse once a day for 14 days staring with this round of chemotherapy. So far, so good! No mouth sores.

Chemotherapy Round Two, Day 2 – May 6

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Well, Perley, my IV pump, and I are getting along just fine today. We slept pretty well in my recliner last night. It’s pumping in my third chemotherapy drug at 3 ml/hr for 96 hours.

I was a little fatigued this afternoon so I slept for about 90 minutes on the patio in our new thick cushioned rocker chair, very comfortable! Perfect thing to do before dinner! Mary is teaching her last evening class tonight so Mary’s Mom is cooking for my Mom and me. And it was delicious!

During dinner I started to get a slight burning sensation in my
esophagus. However, it did not prevent me from cleaning my plate and eating desert! Last time the discomfort started in my mouth and then moved to my throat and then to the esophagus. Just another example of the adventure I’m on!

Dick

Chemo Round Two Started Today – May 5

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Today I started on my second (of three) rounds of induction chemotherapy. This is the chemotherapy regimen I’m receiving before I start my 7 weeks of radiation treatments, which also include one weekly chemo treatment.

May 5, 2010 Chemotherapy

The photo above is me seated comfortably in an easy chair as I receive my chemo drugs and some other drugs to treat the potential side effects, which lasted about 5.5 hours once they got started. The “side-effect reducing medications” helped minimize the side effects from then first round of chemo, so I expect that they will do the same for this second round.

Speaking of side-effects. Based on what happened during the first round of treatment, I’ve been taking a few prescription medications for the past several days to help minimize (let’s say, “eliminate”) some of the more painful side-effects.

It was great having Mary, my wife, accompany me for my treatment today. She goes with me on all my treatments and oncology doctor appointments. In addition to being a great wife, Mary is also a very knowledgeable nurse. And if she does not know, she will look it up or ask the doctors and nurses. I am a very lucky guy!

So what did I do for 5.5 hours sitting in that easy chair? Mostly, I read “Making Miracles” by Paul Pearsall, PhD. Also, Mary brought me lunch from the cafeteria. And, Mary and I talked.

Bottom line, today went well. Drinking lots of water tonight to keep the chemo drugs flushed through my kidneys. So I may be up and down a few times tonight visiting the bathroom 😉

Two Crowns – May 3

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The sun is shining, finally, and I’m feeling good so let’s go the the dentist (again)! Dr. Sonia removed two more old mercury-silver amalgam fillings and fitted me for crowns on two teeth in the upper left jaw. I think these are my first crowns every, and one more is planned for the lower left jaw.

Flooding is very bad in Nashville and much of middle Tennessee. Fortunately, we did not suffer any serious damage, just some water in the crawl space. The water has receded from the Little Harpeth River so we can now get in and out of our subdivision. The streets at the subdivision entrance were flooded for two days.

Rainy Saturday – May 1

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I’m feeling fine today and it’s Saturday! Mom and I went to see Dad in the nursing home this afternoon and to play bingo. At least that was the plan. It was raining when we left, but not too bad. By the time we got halfway there, it was coming down very hard. So hard that in some areas the roads were partially flooded. So we decided to turn around and come back home, which was a good thing. Later that afternoon there were flash flood warnings and some roads were blocked.

Mary and I were going out to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary tonight, but we could not even get our of our subdivision because the nearby Little Harpeth River had flooded the streets. So we stayed home and watched a movie.