This week I was weighed in at 298 lbs, BP was around 110/66, a and my temperature was right at 98.5. After getting this out of the way, the Nurse proceeded to access my port and draw the blood to sent off to the Lab. The Physician Assistant (PA) Margarette came up and gave me my quick "physical" to see how I was doing. She pronounced me fit for treatment and mentioned that my Lungs where sounding really good and moving air better then the last couple of weeks. I ate lunch while the blood was sent off to the Lab, the lunch was an Einstein Bagel BLT Wrap, which was good, but had a little bit too much of a bite to it; since there was Chitpolte Sauce on it, next time I'll get Mayo on it instead. As for desert, I had a handful of Fresh Gummy Bears (More on the freshness and tastiness later).
Well, while waiting for the blood results back from the Lab. I took a nap while waiting, with my sunglasses on, so that I could sleep without the light in my eyes. The sunglasses trick I learned early on with the Chemotherapy that I was getting preoperatively. It helps to block out most of the Fluorescent Lights and also makes the Nurses unsure what your conscious state is awake or asleep. Anyhow, I got the news that my White Blood Count was really good and then they started calculating the weight to treatment ratio, which has a buffer of +/- 5%, and everytime the 4 Nurses ran it they each got a different percentage, one got 5.2%, while another got 5%. So, one Nurse decided to get the most current weight on me and this put in at 4.9% of my original weight. When I started the Trial I was weighing in at around 318 lbs and as I mentioned earlier in this post, I've lost. The weigh loss is because since I've had the pneumonia, my apettite has not been like it was, I'm not eating as large of meals that I once was. The PA was consulted, along with Dr. Heath and it was decided to treat me.
The funny thing about this whole ordeal was when I was woke up from my nap, the Nurse took my BP again and it was 99/66, which she commented "That is too low for a Big Guy like you, you need to do some exercising." So she took it again and it came up to 100/77 and she was satisfied with that, but when she recorded it in the file, she recorded it at 99/66. The PA cut my Tekturnia down from 150mg to 75mg a day, and told me that she didn't want me fainting on her. So I came back with "Haven't ever had someone faint for you?" LOL. The PA chuckled and kept her composure and mentioned "I don't think I would be able to pick you up from the floor!" and that is how this ended.
So far, with the Post-treatment week, I have been coughing up phelm and at times it has been bigger then normal, so I am hopeful that this is a good sign; since the Trial is ending and on Monday I go for a Blood Draw, then my CT Scan is scheduled for August 6th in the Evening and I see Dr. Heath on the following Thursday. It will good to see who this trial has turned out, since I am anxious to get back to my normal life, but this past couple of months has been a little overwhelming for me and especially Carmen.
Personal issues are coming to the fore-front more and I am forced to start focusing on them, since it deals with how my Mom will be living and moving her stuff and sorting through a lot of my personal stuff that I have stored and deciding what to keep versuses what to just get rid of. I have sat down with Carmen and started putting together a list of some of the things that I want to keep, but I know I will be adding to it as this week progresses.
I have noticed that while eating the Gummy Bears that my Taste Buds just started bursting with their flavour and I was momentarily in euphoria. This was repeated on Thursday when I started to eat a Grape Popsicle, then a Cheery and an Orange flavoured one. I ended up downing like half a box of Popsicle, before I stopped myself. Later Thursday Evening Carmen commented on how fast the Popsicles had been ate, when normally they last for about a week. The other thing that I have noticed for the second consecutive week is that my Osteoarthritis in my knees has not been too much of a problem. Last week, I noticed this and felt good until late Thursday night, then the painful reminder came back to kick me. This week so far, I am still feeling good and walking with no pain in my knees. The neropathy in my hands seems to have increased a little more then normal and typing on the keyboard is almost challenging. My feet seem to be fine for now, but this may change. I mentioned to Carmen that perhaps the cooler weather is causing my hands to be like they are. I will mention this on Monday when I go to Karmanos and see what they have to say about it. For now, I will end this and see what happens this week and go from there.
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