Next Treatment

Had to leave the beach on Monday night after dinner to get home for my second chemo treatment on Tuesday.   Knowing you have a treatment coming up and you feel so good, can make for a little dark cloud in the back of your mind.  You try your best to live the 'right now', but it is hard knowing you will be spending the day having all the chemicals flooding into your body and the euphoria of feeling good will vanish.

When we got home, I watered my plants and tended to Nick and Holden, who were ever so excited to see us.  After the excitement died down we went to bed.  I don't know what made me reach up to rub my neck, but when I did, I felt the tube that runs from my port to my heart up over my shoulder blade.  It was kinked and sticking up.  I kept feeling of it and my first thought, oh no, I've got a problem.  I reached over to John and said, "Look at this, I think I have a boo boo."  He got up and turned on the light and looked at it.  All that was running through my mind was, I won't be able to have my treatment tomorrow and they may have to remove this port and put in another!  I was horrified.  Another one of those things that jump out and scare you....and you were never expecting.  John told me to stand up and see if it went away, it did, but when I got back in bed, there it was.  Oh well, I managed to go to sleep and by morning, it was gone.  When I got to the treatment room, I told the nurse about it and she felt around.  Everything seemed okay, but she inserted the butterfly needle and got a good blood flow, so all was okay, I guess.

My blood numbers were not as good as I thought they should be cause I felt pretty good, but they were good enough to get a treatment. Dr. Mahajan asked how I was doing and I told him I had been eating and sleeping well while I was at the beach.  He looked at me and said, "Go back." I was surprised with all I had been eating that I had gained only 1 pound.

I talked with Dr. Mahajan about my upcoming Duke trip.  I am scheduled to go to Duke Hospital on Friday to be assessed for a cancer trial they will be doing.  I had found out about it from an article John found in the News and Observer.  Apparently, Duke will be participating in a DNA trial for colon cancer.  Amazingly, my friend Tony's sister, Libby, was accessed for the same trial in California and started last week.  She has breast cancer and I found out she was joining the trial by accident when we were sharing our cancer war stories.

Anyway, I go to Duke on Friday, and I was asking Dr. Mahajan if he would check to see what the criteria was for the treatment so I wouldn't waste a trip to Durham.  He told me, "You need to go and get in the system.  Even if you aren't selected for this trial, the doctor may know of another one that you may fit in."  So, John and I will go to Durham and hope for the best.

I am back on the beach and my wagon's still rolling....
PCQ