Friday 4/6/07

The Executive Summary: Slept pretty well last night. I could tell when the drugs we beginning to wear off, so I would get up and take more. I still have a slight headache - nothing unbearable however. Bottom line, I'm still feeling OK - a little drugged, and "stomach aware" but OK.

The Details for my mother. mother-in-law and all the other hardcore/tell me everything folks:

The drugs I got in my port:

1. Doxorubicin (Adriamycin PFS) An interesting side effect of this drug is that it turns your pee red. As you may remember, my pee turned "tidy bowl" blue after my lumpectomy. So at least I'm peeing patriotic!
2. Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)
3. Kytril
4. Decadron

The top two will cause me to lose my hair. They say it takes 2 - 3 weeks after my first treatment. So I may still have my hair on Tom's birthday. (4/16).

The bottom two drugs are to control nausea. I also have the following nausea control drugs to take by mouth:

1. Emend - take this day 1, 2 & 3
2. Decadron - Days 2, 3 & 4
3. Compazine - As needed
4. Ativan - As needed

It is all very confusing, but I made a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. (I know you are shocked!)

Thank god for good insurance! The bottom line for the 2 hours of the treatment drugs was $2,096. I know some of you think of Microsoft as the "evil empire" but they take VERY good card of their employees. My cost?? $0. Yes, you read right. Zero!

Hair coverings

Tom and I went to the wig shop Thursday. (We had about 1/2 hour to kill between getting my port stitches out and going for my treatment.) Had fun trying on wigs of different styles and colors. I tried on a blond wig that really didn't look too bad! For those of you who don't know, I was VERY blond as a child. Again, my insurance is very good and I get $300 for wigs - or cranial prosthesis - as they call them. At that price I could get 2 or three. That way Tom could have 3 wives for the price of one! (I'm sure he'll say one wife is expensive enough!)

Some EGA (Embroiderers' Guild) friends and my Mom are coming over on Saturday to help me go thru my closet and see what types of hair coverings (scarves, hats, etc) that I have before I go shopping.

What was I thinking?

This category is actually from Wednesday, but I've been busy and didn't post. I had three benign cysts taken off of my head. Apparently these are hereditary - Thanks Grandfather Hansen! They've been there for years, and I didn't see a reason to get them removed - except that now that I will be without my hair, I didn't want the bumps showing! (Yea, yea, vain I know... They were pretty big - the size of a large marble.) So I had all three removed at the same time, which wouldn't have been a big deal, except for the following;

1. My port surgery is on my right side near my breast bone. It is difficult for me to sleep on that side.
2. Cyst #1 is on the left side of my head about 2 inches above the ear.
3. Cyst #2 is on the right side of my head above my right eye about 1 inch into the hair line.
4. Cyst #3 is on the back left of my head by the crown on the head.

Your assignment is to find a comfortable position to sleep in. BBBUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ. YOU FAIL! If I sleep on my left, the head hurts. If I sleep on my right, my port hurts, if I sleep on my back, the incision on the back of my head hurts! I told Tom I needed to get one of those hemorrhoid pillows so I could lay on my left side! But it was better last night. Maybe because of the "drugs to make me relax".

Good news is the head is healing, so I can sleep on my left side. And with all of the drugs I'm being pumped with I really don't feel a thing!

Diet:
Holly Clegg and Dr Gerald Miletello (oncologist) have come out with a cookbook "Eating Well Through Cancer". It is organizing in an interesting way. While most cookbooks have appetizers, meats, vegetables, desserts, etc. this one has sections called:

• Day of Chemotherapy
• Neutropenia (low white blood count - don't worry, I didn't know what this was either!)
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Sore mouth
• Snacks and light meals
• Caregiver
• Healthy eating post treatment.

Makes for interesting reading.

Once again, thanks for all of your notes, phone calls and offer of assistance.

Shawn