nonamedufus

Well we're mid-way through the week and 2 days into daily visits to the hospital. Yesterday I got my PICC line installed (see site at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICC_line which briefly explains) and my high dose chemo through my spanking new PICC line. All in all spent about 6 hours at the hospital. I'm back on anti-naseua drugs, including dexamethasone, but this drug also gives me insomnia - so I slept poorly last night - and high blood sugur - so my levels have been high since I started checking yesterday and I'm back on the sliding scale of insulin. While Maryse and I have agreed to take a day-to-day approach to all this, we already know the long-term side-effects. Actually, the long-term begins in the short-term: the next 5-10 days. The Pharmacist at the hospital tells us that's when the fun begins: naseua (at both ends!) fatigue and perhaps infection. So there's lots of anti-naseua and anti-infection drugs and gargling 3 times a day with salt-water. Beyond ...

Yesterday Maryse and I went to the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic at the General Hospital and learned what's in store for me next week and beyond. It all starts next Tuesday at 8am when we go to Admitting. I'm not entering the hospital next week, but will likely have to at some point in the future, as early as a week later due to fever or infection. Next I'll have a PICC line installed (peripherally inserted central catheter) in my arm. PICCs can remain in your arm for between 6 months and a year and facilitate intravenous chemo and other medications as well as the taking of blood samples. This seems the better route to go than regular short intravenous needles each time I need to provide a blood sample, given that I'll be visiting the hospital on a daily basis at the outset, then 2-3 times a week, once weekly and finally once monthly. After the PICC is installed I receive my last and highest dose of chemo - a drug called Melphalan. In clearing out any remaining cancer ...

Yeah, how about that face! I really have one under that beard. It got to the point my hair was falling out so much - both on the top of my head and my face - that I got tired of waking up with a mouth full of hair in the morning - blecchhh! So here's the new me... Thursday I'm off to the hospital to find out more about next week's chemo and stem cell infusion. So I'll share more info after that. Book: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft Music: Yellowjacket by Stephen Fearing