Today was Kel's 4th day of the 3rd cycle - off one day still since he had to miss Monday. Not a great day, he was feeling pretty sick to his stomach and had problems with his i.v. They left his line in since Tuesday, since it was in a good spot and he has really difficult veins to stick. However, today his arm started to swell and was painful. He had some infiltrate from the line into his tissue and they had to switch arms.
Kel was tired when he got home, since he is still not sleeping well at night, and slept for a while, which was good. He is supposed to be keeping his arm elevated to help with swelling too. We will see how he does tomorrow.
Even with a tough day, overall Kel is doing well. It is still surprising how well the physical side effects are controlled, especially the nausea. Kel says the most discomforting side effect is the metallic taste in his mouth (which was so strong the other night I could even smell it) and the loss of taste buds. (knock on wood) so far the peripheral pain was only transient. Psychologically is another story, I know he will feel better in April once the follow up CT is done and he knows if this is it (80% chance) or if he needs more surgery and chemo. The not knowing is the tough part.
Tomorrow will end the heavy chemo of cycle 3. To date he has 18 days down and from tonight he has 8 more days of chemo to go and ~ 2 months before knowing if he is done or more.
Oh, and good news too - his tumor markers are down even more from the 2nd cycle (bloodwork for those is only at the end of each cycle). His biggest one was AFP (normal is 0-7) at 13,700, down at the first cycle to 1700 and down now to under 300. All others are ~ in the normal range. After this 3rd cycle, we hope to see all back to normal with one more week of chemo to go!
David has been good for a few weeks now, mostly, and was again today. Even Saja was (mostly) good. He just wouldn't leave crochety old Hudson alone since the old man went to the groomer today and smelled different. Saja was constantly sniffing Hudson and getting growled at for his efforts. Stupid puppy just doesn't learn.
Sue has been a great help too - my dishes are never done this often! We had a nice dinner out last night at our favorite Thai restaurant in town (for those in Tucson, the place is Sa-ing in Rita Ranch) for my birthday. It was a good day.
I was informed that the next 'sux' was the metallic mouth. Kel had braces for almost 5 years, and now that the metal is gone from his mouth, chemo is putting it back. It is mainly on the first week of a cycle when he is getting daily cisplatin, but he can't get rid of it. Brushing is only a temporary relief. He hasn't tried ginger lozanges or anything yet, maybe those will help. It being so strong I could even smell it was pretty remarkable, and I can only imagine how much that effects Kel. Definitely a sux.
Getting some sleep before giving an exam tomorrow, so goodnight,
Tracy
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