It's 7pm on treatment day and I've already had a 3 hour nap upon getting back home. As usual the treatment itself was non-eventful although the tingles are back already and physical issues with regard to cold drink/food is also back. In the big scheme of things, as I've said numerous times, those should be my worst problems!
In 4-5 days those side affects will dissipate and I'll be looking ahead to the final treatment, #8.
Recent weeks have been great as even with the constant rain I've been able to sneak in at least one bike ride over the weekend. My last one with Bailey on the tandem was 24-miles and it was great. I look forward to getting back into a regular biking/exercise routine as I really do need to drop about 20 pounds. It's so funny to even say that since it's the polar opposite of the issues from last year where I had lost 45 pounds due to chemo.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
MUGA follow-up
It’s been a crazy week so I’m sorry for this belated follow-up to my visit with Dr. Richards on Monday.
As is the normal routine for each of these regular visits to Dr. Richards I had some blood taken and the counts were checked. Given that I didn’t have a neulasta injection with this treatment cycle I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But all was fine with my white blood cell count at the bottom of the normal range and my hemoglobin and platelets also good.
We then changed gears and focused on the MUGA scan results as well as discussion about the remaining chemo treatments. Dr. Richards pointed out that the number reported by this latest MUGA was identical to the results from the MUGA in early February. Since I hadn’t seen a copy of this latest report I wasn’t aware of this and I’m obviously thrilled to now know that the epirubicin hasn’t had a negative impact on my heart. The down side of these positive results is that Dr. Richards wants to bring the epirubicin back into play for the remaining two chemo treatments. I attempted to lobby against this but when it came right down to it I realized I was being wimpy and given that there hasn’t been a physical impact to this point I know I need to suck it up and focus on kicking some cancer cell butt for just two more treatments.
Work has been crazy busy lately. That coupled with the excitement leading up to Sasha’s prom, which is tomorrow, and graduation, which is Friday June 19th, means that we’ve had little time to even think about chemo and it’s side affects. This is all goodness and really I haven’t been feeling that bad. Mostly just tired. Therefore, I was able to get out on the tandem with Bailey last weekend for a 21-mile ride. I felt just fine physically and mentally the ride was HUGE! I may even join the Mentschen for the first 20-25 miles of their scheduled 40-45 mile training ride this Sunday.
As is the normal routine for each of these regular visits to Dr. Richards I had some blood taken and the counts were checked. Given that I didn’t have a neulasta injection with this treatment cycle I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But all was fine with my white blood cell count at the bottom of the normal range and my hemoglobin and platelets also good.
We then changed gears and focused on the MUGA scan results as well as discussion about the remaining chemo treatments. Dr. Richards pointed out that the number reported by this latest MUGA was identical to the results from the MUGA in early February. Since I hadn’t seen a copy of this latest report I wasn’t aware of this and I’m obviously thrilled to now know that the epirubicin hasn’t had a negative impact on my heart. The down side of these positive results is that Dr. Richards wants to bring the epirubicin back into play for the remaining two chemo treatments. I attempted to lobby against this but when it came right down to it I realized I was being wimpy and given that there hasn’t been a physical impact to this point I know I need to suck it up and focus on kicking some cancer cell butt for just two more treatments.
Work has been crazy busy lately. That coupled with the excitement leading up to Sasha’s prom, which is tomorrow, and graduation, which is Friday June 19th, means that we’ve had little time to even think about chemo and it’s side affects. This is all goodness and really I haven’t been feeling that bad. Mostly just tired. Therefore, I was able to get out on the tandem with Bailey last weekend for a 21-mile ride. I felt just fine physically and mentally the ride was HUGE! I may even join the Mentschen for the first 20-25 miles of their scheduled 40-45 mile training ride this Sunday.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
MUGA update
I received a call yesterday afternoon from Dr. Richards. He told me that the MUGA scan results came back in the "normal" range.
That's very much what I expected but given how much this chemo protocol has impacted my ability to do anything that is at all physical these results do provide some peace of mind.
So... the discussion regarding go-forward chemo plans, etc. will continue when I see Dr. Richards on Monday for my regular 10-day checkup.
That's very much what I expected but given how much this chemo protocol has impacted my ability to do anything that is at all physical these results do provide some peace of mind.
So... the discussion regarding go-forward chemo plans, etc. will continue when I see Dr. Richards on Monday for my regular 10-day checkup.
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