Well, chemo will be ending this week and I am apprehensive about leaving and having the PET Scan done then having Dr. Schaefer tell me that I have to continue with more Chemo. I am taking this ending with stride and trying not to worry about it and concentrate on getting the house in order and my computer systems set up in the basement.
So for now I plan on getting the last treatment, then seeing Dr. Schaefer on Oct 10th and seeing what he has to say about the course of action and game plan is.
30 September 2008
23 September 2008
Chemotherapy is alomst over.
Well, I looked on the Schedule and realised that I have only 2 weeks left of Treatments, then on Oct 10th, I see Dr Schaefer, my Chemotherapist, and see what he plans on doing next. I suppose the next logical thing would be to have another PET Scan done and guage the size of the Nodals from there.
But, the one thing that I've learned is that logic does not play on the Cancer Team, so I will have to wait and see what happens. In the mean time, Carm and I are packing up our belongings and heading to a new House. We lucked out and found a house that is right around the corner from where we are now and it was for Rent. We called and walked through it and a couple days later, the Landlord put up a For Sale Sign in the Yard along with the For Rent sign. Carm called about this and asked if he would be interested in doing a Rent to Own option, and the answer was "YES!!" the landlord explained the situation on the Rent to Own option being this:
!.) $100 of the monthly rent would be set aside in an escrow account.
2.) 2 years, October 2010, we would be given the Escrow.
3.) We buy the House
Simple as 1,2, 3.....So we borrowed some money and prepaid for September, which was pro-rated, and started packing up. The plan is to be moved out by Oct 1st and into the New House, so far we have been using a couple of boxes, but today while I was at work I mentioned this to a co-worker and she was able to get some boxes set aside for me. So, after work I picked up about 3 dozen boxes and broguht them home. Now, we've got more boxes to pack up and move our stuff over to the House with, YAY!!!!
I cannot wait to get moved and settled into the New House, since it will allow us to work towards owning our own house and keep Noah in the local school district that he has friends in also. Well, I must be going to get some more boxes taped up and ready to be filled. Thursday will be fun with the Chemotherapy and packing.
But, the one thing that I've learned is that logic does not play on the Cancer Team, so I will have to wait and see what happens. In the mean time, Carm and I are packing up our belongings and heading to a new House. We lucked out and found a house that is right around the corner from where we are now and it was for Rent. We called and walked through it and a couple days later, the Landlord put up a For Sale Sign in the Yard along with the For Rent sign. Carm called about this and asked if he would be interested in doing a Rent to Own option, and the answer was "YES!!" the landlord explained the situation on the Rent to Own option being this:
!.) $100 of the monthly rent would be set aside in an escrow account.
2.) 2 years, October 2010, we would be given the Escrow.
3.) We buy the House
Simple as 1,2, 3.....So we borrowed some money and prepaid for September, which was pro-rated, and started packing up. The plan is to be moved out by Oct 1st and into the New House, so far we have been using a couple of boxes, but today while I was at work I mentioned this to a co-worker and she was able to get some boxes set aside for me. So, after work I picked up about 3 dozen boxes and broguht them home. Now, we've got more boxes to pack up and move our stuff over to the House with, YAY!!!!
I cannot wait to get moved and settled into the New House, since it will allow us to work towards owning our own house and keep Noah in the local school district that he has friends in also. Well, I must be going to get some more boxes taped up and ready to be filled. Thursday will be fun with the Chemotherapy and packing.
14 September 2008
Chemotherapy and General Life
Well, on thursday I went for the weekly Chemo treatment only to have the nurse ask,
"Did the Doctor say anything about stopping for a week and giving you a break?"
Me: "No, he mentioned that he wanted this round treatments to be for a straight 8 weeks, why?"
Nurse: "Well, the order is written Same as before, for 8 weeks! I am concerned since the previous order was written that you had 4 treatments, then 2 weeks off, then came back for 2 more."
Me: "I understood it to be a straight 8 weeks and no breaks."
Nurse: "Let me confirm with the Doctor to make sure that is what he wants, since you had the break the last time."
She walks away and calls the other Office and comes back to take care of another patient who is there to get treatment. approx 20 minutes later the Nurse comes up to me and asks.
Nurse: "Are you experiencing any heavy fatigue or uncontrollable diarrhea?"
Me: "What do you mean by Heavy Fatigue? Sure, I am tired when I get home from working 10 hours a day for 4 days in a row, but I usually fall asleep early and go about my day."
Nurse: "Heavy Fatigue would be like you are tired all the time and feel like you're not getting enough sleep at night! We are concerned since this one of the side-effects of the Comptosar, along with the uncontrollable diarrhea. Seeing how your blood counts are borderline and you seem to be doing really good with the treatment, the Doctor wants to make sure that you're not suffering for the Toxicity build up."
Me:"Well that is good to hear that someone is looking out for this and did not know of the side-effects of the Comptosar."
Nurse:"Well, what we will do then is re-evaluate you each week and if you are suffering from them, then we will not give you treatment that week and let have it off."
Me: Shrugging my shoulders "That is fine with me"
The Nurse walks away and gets things going, since I was already sitting in the Chair with the needle in my Port and ready to go. I forgot to grab the Cell Phone and also forgot to ask the Nurse to call Carmen to let her know of the delay. So needless to say Carmen, came to pick me up and was shocked that the treatment was running longer then the initial 2 hours.
On the home front, Noah went to the Homecoming Football Game Friday night and then to the Dance last night. He was reluctant about going to the Dance, since he thought that it was required that he have a Tux or Suit to wear, but we found out as long as he had a nice pair of dress slacks, shirt and a tie he would be able to go. So, Friday Morning Carmen made sure that he had the money for the Ticket, an made sure that he had his School ID and sent him off to school. Backing up a little, on Wednesday afternoon, Carmen and I looked at another house to rent, it is a 2 bed with full basement, which is dry, and it has Thermal Insulated Windows through out the house and the Landlord said that he had all the walls insulated with the Spray Foam and in the Winter his average heating bill was around $90. No Central Air, but he also said that 2 window AC Units would chill the enire first floor to near sub-zero in a matter of hours. After discussing the things that we found wrong, Kitchen Cabinet Drawers seemed to be dirty looking to Carmen and the Refrig being a little smaller then the one that we have, we've decided to call the Landlord back and tell him that we are interested in renting it. This will give us a house that has the Shower, Full Basement, Garage and a Dining Area, which we don't have now.
More about the house when we've had a chance to talk with the Landlord. Otherwise, everything is going pretty good. Carmen is still looking for work and scrapbooking when she has a chance too. Noah is settling into school and skating after school and on the weekends while the weather is still nice enough.
"Did the Doctor say anything about stopping for a week and giving you a break?"
Me: "No, he mentioned that he wanted this round treatments to be for a straight 8 weeks, why?"
Nurse: "Well, the order is written Same as before, for 8 weeks! I am concerned since the previous order was written that you had 4 treatments, then 2 weeks off, then came back for 2 more."
Me: "I understood it to be a straight 8 weeks and no breaks."
Nurse: "Let me confirm with the Doctor to make sure that is what he wants, since you had the break the last time."
She walks away and calls the other Office and comes back to take care of another patient who is there to get treatment. approx 20 minutes later the Nurse comes up to me and asks.
Nurse: "Are you experiencing any heavy fatigue or uncontrollable diarrhea?"
Me: "What do you mean by Heavy Fatigue? Sure, I am tired when I get home from working 10 hours a day for 4 days in a row, but I usually fall asleep early and go about my day."
Nurse: "Heavy Fatigue would be like you are tired all the time and feel like you're not getting enough sleep at night! We are concerned since this one of the side-effects of the Comptosar, along with the uncontrollable diarrhea. Seeing how your blood counts are borderline and you seem to be doing really good with the treatment, the Doctor wants to make sure that you're not suffering for the Toxicity build up."
Me:"Well that is good to hear that someone is looking out for this and did not know of the side-effects of the Comptosar."
Nurse:"Well, what we will do then is re-evaluate you each week and if you are suffering from them, then we will not give you treatment that week and let have it off."
Me: Shrugging my shoulders "That is fine with me"
The Nurse walks away and gets things going, since I was already sitting in the Chair with the needle in my Port and ready to go. I forgot to grab the Cell Phone and also forgot to ask the Nurse to call Carmen to let her know of the delay. So needless to say Carmen, came to pick me up and was shocked that the treatment was running longer then the initial 2 hours.
On the home front, Noah went to the Homecoming Football Game Friday night and then to the Dance last night. He was reluctant about going to the Dance, since he thought that it was required that he have a Tux or Suit to wear, but we found out as long as he had a nice pair of dress slacks, shirt and a tie he would be able to go. So, Friday Morning Carmen made sure that he had the money for the Ticket, an made sure that he had his School ID and sent him off to school. Backing up a little, on Wednesday afternoon, Carmen and I looked at another house to rent, it is a 2 bed with full basement, which is dry, and it has Thermal Insulated Windows through out the house and the Landlord said that he had all the walls insulated with the Spray Foam and in the Winter his average heating bill was around $90. No Central Air, but he also said that 2 window AC Units would chill the enire first floor to near sub-zero in a matter of hours. After discussing the things that we found wrong, Kitchen Cabinet Drawers seemed to be dirty looking to Carmen and the Refrig being a little smaller then the one that we have, we've decided to call the Landlord back and tell him that we are interested in renting it. This will give us a house that has the Shower, Full Basement, Garage and a Dining Area, which we don't have now.
More about the house when we've had a chance to talk with the Landlord. Otherwise, everything is going pretty good. Carmen is still looking for work and scrapbooking when she has a chance too. Noah is settling into school and skating after school and on the weekends while the weather is still nice enough.
04 September 2008
Chemotherapy, Radiologists and Family Doctor Visits
OK, went for the weekly Chemo Treatment, I put my headphones on and started listening to the Audiobook Caves of Steel, by Issac Asimonv. I fell asleep during the 2nd chapter, but I wasn't too worried about it though. Visited Dr. Steve again for a followup and of course the Billing System is messed up and would print the HIPPA Verfication form with the Insurance Provider info on it and the nurse was fussing about this and how she couldn't let me back to see the Doc until it was corrected. After 3 tries and putting in my Insurance info success. BP was elevated more, since aI had to deal with the Billing Crap, Dr. Steve took it again and everything was good at 138/82. WWWOOOOOHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!
Went to see Dr. Rubin, the Radiology Onocologist and reviewed the PET Scan from July 31st and he agrees with the initial report that the Nodal in my right lung has grown since the June Scan and advised that if I was concerned about it the next thong to do would be to get a CT Scan of my Lungs done and he could look at it and let me know for sure how much it has grown. So, I it looks like I'm going to be getting the CT Scan done and get on a program that best helps me to fight this, since Dr. Rubin advised that the Chemotherapy Drugs can be adjusted again to help fight this, but he was straight about the CT Scan helping him with the prognosis of whether or not I would need Radiation Therapy also. Otherwise I can wait until the next PET Scan and see what comes of it. Dr. Rubin advised also that the 64-slice PET Scan Machine is better for scanning Trauma Patients or seeing the Heart between beats, otherwise it was not a very good machine to use for Cancer. He said that the 16-slice machine is better since it scans slower and is more accurate, so the next scan will be completed on a 16-slicce machine instead.
Emotionally, I am going through the roller-coaster again and trying to determine the best course of action to take and also start looking for another house to rent/lease-to-own and see what we can find so that we can get on with our lives. I've also been thinking about going back to college and getting another degree, but this time in Networking so that I can make myself more marketable, so I'm going to look into this at a local Community College.
On Friday, I see the Eye Doc for my much over do eye exam and see how bad my eyes have changed in the last 13+ months. I know the distance vision has gone to a blur again and my close reading focus is also starting to be affected. We'll see what happens there tomorrow.
Went to see Dr. Rubin, the Radiology Onocologist and reviewed the PET Scan from July 31st and he agrees with the initial report that the Nodal in my right lung has grown since the June Scan and advised that if I was concerned about it the next thong to do would be to get a CT Scan of my Lungs done and he could look at it and let me know for sure how much it has grown. So, I it looks like I'm going to be getting the CT Scan done and get on a program that best helps me to fight this, since Dr. Rubin advised that the Chemotherapy Drugs can be adjusted again to help fight this, but he was straight about the CT Scan helping him with the prognosis of whether or not I would need Radiation Therapy also. Otherwise I can wait until the next PET Scan and see what comes of it. Dr. Rubin advised also that the 64-slice PET Scan Machine is better for scanning Trauma Patients or seeing the Heart between beats, otherwise it was not a very good machine to use for Cancer. He said that the 16-slice machine is better since it scans slower and is more accurate, so the next scan will be completed on a 16-slicce machine instead.
Emotionally, I am going through the roller-coaster again and trying to determine the best course of action to take and also start looking for another house to rent/lease-to-own and see what we can find so that we can get on with our lives. I've also been thinking about going back to college and getting another degree, but this time in Networking so that I can make myself more marketable, so I'm going to look into this at a local Community College.
On Friday, I see the Eye Doc for my much over do eye exam and see how bad my eyes have changed in the last 13+ months. I know the distance vision has gone to a blur again and my close reading focus is also starting to be affected. We'll see what happens there tomorrow.
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