One Week Out From Cycle 3

It's been almost a week since I finished cycle 3 and I feel great! Yesterday, I played 18 holes of golf. Today I took a bike ride down to the farmers market, bought some veggies and watched my friend George entertain the crowd with some fine music. It was hot at 88 degrees but it was less humid than the proverbial dog days. Good to be alive! Tomorrow I have some more bike riding on tap and some swim time. I also have a book to finish...might get to that. At any rate all is well. I'll catch up with you before the start of cycle 4. Over and out.

The Day After

Not a bad day today. I was a little tired and spent most of the morning and early afternoon on the couch, reading the paper and watching home improvement shows. Then I perked up enough to go out and mow the lawn! I think we're just going to watch a movie tonight. I really have to force myself to rest. It's not easy because you don't feel too bad. However, I learned last cycle that you can over do and send yourself into a tail spin. Not this time!

Cycle 3 Done!

Cycle 3 is in the books and I'm feeling good! I'm now halfway to the finish. The only complaint is the dreaded morning after constipation. I'm throwing everything in the book at it and it still is an issue but not as bad as the first two cycles thankfully. I guess some experience the opposite result in their journey with treatment and every morning I think of them with jealousy. Hahaha! Did you ever hear someone say that before? I'll let you know how things go over the next several days. Until then.

2 Days Down, 1 to go

Today went well. In at 10 am and out by 12:30 pm. One miss at putting in my I.V. but no bruised bulls eye to be seen, thankfully. The staff that tend to me are wonderful, positive people. I give them a lot of credit because their patients aren't always in the best condition or mood. Every drug is scanned and the chemo drugs are checked by two people as they enter it on your computerized chart. They are moving constantly between patients and are always back quickly when the alarm sounds on my chemo tree signifying it's time to change drugs or that the flow has stopped for some fixable reason. Then there's the volunteers who tend the snack cart bringing tasty edibles to everyone there. They also bring you a warm blanket when needed or adjust your pillow. Great people too! The experience is about as good as it can be as I've said before. Anyway, time for some r and r. More tomorrow.

1 day down, 2 to go

One day of two is in the books. Feeling pretty good, even took a swim when I got home! Got a good nap in during the infusion, read, cruised the internet and ate a ton. It's been said that a body on chemo is like a preheating oven, using a bunch of energy to get where it needs to be. The stove you feed natural gas, the body needs food and a lot of it. I really put it away and I've still managed to lose a few pounds! Anyway, all good today and will hope for the same tomorrow and Friday.

Go time

It's a go today for my infusion. Neutrophils were at 1.8 (1800) yesterday so that was the ticket. I will be getting a little less of the drugs this round though because they don't want to postpone treatment again. It's best to stay on schedule and I appreciate that. Especially when you're trying to plan life around the infusion dates. You have to be flexible at any rate just in case. Yesterday I received a Pertussis booster shot due to my exposure to it at work. I hope my immune system can formulate the antibodies to it. It's questionable but it's a no risk shot. That's all for now. More later.

Neutrophils are up

Looks like chemo is a go this week! I'm at 1300. One more blood test today to confirm but it looks like a go! More to come....

Round 3 part 2

If my neutrophils are back, I'll get dazed and infused on Wednesday. I really want to get this done. Cross your fingers for me!

Postponed!

Cycle three is postponed, at best until tomorrow, at worst until next week. My absolute neutrophil count is too low for treatment. It dropped 300 since last week and is 100 below the cutoff. DARN! The lower your neutrophil count, the more vulnerable you are to infectious diseases. If you have severe neutropenia — fewer than about 500 cells per microliter of blood — bacteria normally present in your mouth and digestive tract can cause infections. I have 900, so I will have to be careful. Send positive energy for in increase of 100+ by tomorrow!

Cycle 3

Cycle three starts tomorrow. Wish me luck! More info to come as I maneuver through the unknown. The second cycle was a little worse than the first. I'm hoping that was an anomaly but the doc told me they will increase in intensity. I'll let you know.