Before the War

Hey, I feel pretty good this morning. Get up, shower, get dressed. Boot it down to the dining room to get some breakfast (only a 1 hour window). As with every breakfast, you have a choice of eggs. Sometimes you will be offered added undercooked potato cubes. I overheard them being referred to as hash browns, but that can't be right. No butter, most health instituions feel that giving you cancer causing synthetic chemical facimilies is far better. Not tasting too bad, I was able to finish up about a third of the meal,  then headed back to my room to pack up for my 9:30 chemo. I give Sonja a call, and tell her that if I still feel OK after chemo, I'll head out to be there for Halloween, and she can drive me back the next day for my 2:30 appointment. Chemo goods good - I am still under respratory isolation there, but they have stopped the Antibiotics.  This is good, since in means no Benadryl, which means I can drive. I make it home in about an hour, get home, s...

Diagnosis : Cold Yes, it is not some exotic animal influenza, it is the common cold. Still, with everything going on it still managed to take me down. I spent most of the day in bed sleeping. Waiting for my 2:30 appointment for my Chemo and Antibiotics. I was done by 6:30, and made my way back to the lodge where the quarantine had been lifted, but I am still in a room by myself for tonight at least. Tomorrow it is 9:30 at VGH. Not looking forward to missing Halloween with the Sonja & the boys, but they will probably managed to have a bit of a good time without me. My numbers, since Mom is VERY interested in them, were WBC 2.3, Neu 2.1, Hem 100, Plat 116. The chemo is defiantly doing its job.

Woke up stuffed up, and nauseous (Chemo has that effect). Took a gravol and tried to get back to sleep. Tossed and turned around 7:45, when we got up for breakfast (closes at 8:30). Didn't feel very good, and only ate a bit of my breakfast. When to VGH, and got there around 9 for my 9:30, did my vitals after resting, and my temp had gone up to 38.3. Well, they start freaking out (the only thing different from yesterday was the temp), and they are all wearing gowns and masks, and I am masked up, etc. Anyway, I can't leave my VGH bed during my treatment to prevent exposure, which was fine since I slept most of the time. They were in contact with the lodge to see what to do with me. They decide to throw in some IV Antibiotics into the fray, and I am there until just after 3:30. I slog my way to the Pharmacy to drop off my prescriptions, and get an umbrella (damn rain). Then slog my way back to the lodge where they have moved my roommate into his own room, and placed him in isol...

I get up with Sonja around 5:30 (she is going to work today). Have a shower, and start packing. Finished just after 10, and go to the office to try and get some things finished up before chemo. Around 12, leave there and head to Sonja's school to drop off her cell phone. Boot it in to Vancouver and check in to the cancer lodge with about an hour before my appointment. The checkin and tour takes awhile, and I am rushing out of there at 13:45 for my 14:00 appointment. I get there a few minutes late, calm myself down and start to take my vitals. I have some sniffles, so I let them know. Temperature is normal fever level (37.3), my couch is still there, etc. Around 14:45 I am hooked up and on a 3 hour IV journey. I am booked for another CT scan and Abdominal Ultrasound on the 5th. I get out around 6, go to the car, buy the 1 week pass, and then head to Granville Island to visit some friends that were broken. Headed back, parked the car, got the rest of my stuff from it, and head...

So, looks like they are going to start Chemo tomorrow since the chest x-ray looked better. Again with alternating afternoon/morning doses for 6 days. I had been slacking off on preparing since it didn't look like they were going to do anything soon, so it will be a flurry of activity today to get prepared. I will be staying at the cancer lodge about 5 min away from the hospital for a month. If the last round is any indication, it will be a doosie.

Sooo.. The ultrasound last week showed that the fungal infection had spread to my liver. This was last week, and I have been on IV antifungal since then, and it has probably gone away. I had an chest x-ray today that they will be going off of to decide what to do next. The current plan is to continue IV antifungal (tomorrow was to be my last day) daily, and hold off on the chemo until we know more. So, chemo will probably NOT start on Wednesday. I am still packing a low grade fever (37.7 C at VGH today), so there is enough stuff going on that they want to get it under control. I will also be fitted for a portable ECG unit, as my heart has started freaking out every so often, and that can be a complication of a bunch of the stuff I am on. Anyway, depending on the next day or two, I MAY postpone going to the cancer lodge, if I will not lose my spot. The constant drain of VGH, 7 days a week, is starting to wear me down. It's usually at least a two hour commute now, and the anti-f...

Went in today, and they hooked me up to the blood right away before waiting for the CBC numbers. The numbers came back, and the hemoglobin was up to 96 - it grew, it's mine. I should have known because the night before I was super hungry. Anyway, this is good news. So, to balance it out, my X-Ray showed a possible increase in the fungal infection (Duh. Coughing my brains out here) so they have decided to increase the dosage of my pill antifungal, and also bring me in for the next 7 days for IV Antifungal. Yipee ! Unless things change for the much worse, Chemo will start next week, hopefully Wednesday, when I check into the Cancer Lodge.

Went back in on Sunday for bloodwork, and the hemoglobin was down another 2 points to 84. Platelets were up over a 100, so that is good news though - (200-400) is normal. They're not sure why it's dropping, but it hasn't gotten life threatning yet, so no one is going to go all "House" on it, and it is just being chalked up to Chemo. The hope is in a few more days it will be on it's way up, and then no one has to figure out why. I elected NOT to get a transfusion on Sunday, since it would have added another 4+ hours to my visit. Blood will be ready for me on Tuesday instead. Next visit is Tuesday morning

So, I went in on Thursday for my CT scan and bloodwork. I still have a fungal infection. Some of it is near the chest wall, and that explains the pain, and some is near the middle and that "might" explain the coughing. They are still not sure why I have a fever. They are also not sure why my Hemoglobin is only at 86, and my Platelets are only at 91. By this time last round I would have been around 120/300. The low hemoglobin explains why it very hard to do much, and why I black out for a second or two after a big coughing spell. I have been taking a prescription strength cough suppressant for a few days now, but it's certainly not working enough to justify the $45 is cost (Cough Suppressants are not covered). A steady supply of Ricola keeps it at bay, but my mouth is pretty raw. Anyway, long and short, is after talking amongst themselves on Thursday, they were unable to figure what is going on with me, and that we should postpone the next round of Chemo until I recover...

On Thursday, they decided to stop the IV Antibiotics, and let me wing it for a few days. I still have a fever and still felt pretty crappy until about Saturday (Still way better then during chemo recovery crappy). Since it is possible that the Antibiotics themselves were giving me the fever, and making me feel bad, the decision was that we would give my own immune system have a go at it. The cough is back with a vengeance though, and I am living on Menthol. I am back again on Thursday for a CT scan at 7:30, and then up to LBMT for bloodwork, and the decision as to when to start the next round - It is looking like Monday.

So, fever the fever crept up to 38.8 (just shy of 102 F). Technically a Low Grade Fever, but when you're a chemo dude it gets their buns all in a knot (Them being the doctors and nurses). Especially when I have a growing cough and some nasal congestion. Anyway, net result is that what was going to be a nice drive in, get my bloodwork, and drive home adventure became the start of another round of intense IV Antibiotics. I also got to have a nasal flush for a specimen sample - That was FUN !! Now I have some idea what that "Waterboarding" torture technique must feel like. To boot, my Platelets haven't seemed to get the hint, and are not stable yet, so I needed a transfusion of them as well. My red cells (Oxygen) are holding steady but haven't made it out of the 80's yet. This, with the fungal infection, keeps me laying low. I get IV Benadryl injected before one of the Antibiotics or any transfusions, so that knocks me out pretty good, and keeps me unable to...

How many people can say they have over $6000 in antifungal drugs in there Danny pack ? That's some yeast infection.