Saturday, November 12, 2011

Chemo: Cycle 2

Had my second round of chemo last Monday.  Took longer than expected again... was there until 3 pm.  Figure it's going to be that way always.

Was up most of Monday night because of the cramping.  Better on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but had bad cramping again on Friday.  I didn't take the Miralax on Thursday because I needed to go to Sam's Club.  So I guess that proves that the Miralax is helping.  Still tired.

Labs showed my INR dropped again... so now I'm taking 7.5 mg of Coumadin 4 days a week, and 5 mg for 3 days a week.

Talked with the doctor about the bone marrow transplant.  We are going to finish this regimen of chemo to see if it works, if doesn't, then we'll go ahead with the bone marrow transplant.  She just wants me to keep going on the financial end so if and when it's time, we're prepared.  Even if this chemo puts me into remission for a while, with this type of cancer, eventually I will need the bone marrow transplant.  I opened a separate checking account to deposit the funds into, I've got the PayPal account set up to receive money, and you don't have to have a PayPal account to donate.  Now working on setting up the button and link.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Happy Birthday Marine Corps!



November 10th is a big day for Marines. It's the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.  My dad was a Marine in Vietnam. I believe this day is more important to him than his own birthday.


This is my dad.


Dad when he was in the Marines.
(he's the dark one in the cap, American Indian ancestry on his father's side, he gets so dark when exposed to the sun; I got more of my mother's fair complexion)




Saturday, November 5, 2011

Another Medication Change

Last Monday I quit taking that Bentyl (Dicyclomine) for the cramping.  It was causing a severe lack of concentration and I just could not focus at all, I was having a difficult time even thinking straight.  I spent most of my time laying in bed sleeping or staring at the tv or out the window... sometimes at my computer screen watching my bubbles screensaver.  I just wasn't accomplishing anything.  It also caused me to have real blurry and fuzzy vision, so much so I couldn't drive.  And weirdly enough, I started breaking out, which, in addition to all my other side effects, also cleared up a few days after stopping the medication.

I'm trying something a little different... I'm taking half a Miralax everyday to see if that will help.  So far I'm just having minor cramping.  Not sure if it's the Miralax regimen or just that it's been a couple of weeks since my chemo and maybe the medication has gone out of my system thus causing the cramping to diminish.  My next chemo is Monday so I guess we'll be finding out.  I'm going to talk to the doctor to see if there is some other medication I can try... not sure if taking Miralax everday is healthy.