Cancer Blog #90
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #90– Medical Update
July 27, 2023
Medical Update:
I had my status CT scan on July 19. I read the report and the two radiologists (one read the pelvis scan, the other thoracic) said that there no metastases and no change in number or size of cancer nodules in my lungs. So, a good report!
Yesterday (Wednesday, July 26) I received another chemo treatment, consisting of 2 drugs infused through my portacath. My appointment with the oncologist before the treatment and the chemo infusion lasted about 4 hours. My dear wife ferried me to and fro, as she usually does. The oncologist met with me before the treatment and told me several things.
First, he was surprised with the results of my status CT scan. He viewed it with his nurse practitioner, and I believe his exact words to her were: “Damn, he did it again!” (I’ve been going to that clinic for over 2 years and have never him curse). The fact that the cancer was not growing (and no metastases) and his surprise at that told me that he’s amazed that I’m still around! Plus, he commented on my CBC (complete blood count, which includes hemoglobin (from the red cells to carry oxygen), white cell level (to fight infection), and platelets (for clotting), which he said showed how resilient my bone marrow has been.
Second, another surprising comment (to me) was that he is stopping the chemo drug administered through my home pump over the course of 2 days. He explained that I’ve received a lot of chemo drugs over (more than) 2 years, and he thought I might regain some energy if he halted this drug. So, I’m to see if I detect any more energy over the next two treatment cycles (that’s 4 weeks as I’m treated every other week). If I do sense increased energy, the he’ll leave it off my treatment for the next 3 months (to the next status CT scan). Of course, he doesn’t really know how my cancer will react to this change. Are the two drugs enough to hold the cancer in check, or like last time we stopped a drug, it began to grow. But, it grew at a very slow rate. Any way, if I do not detect any increase in energy, then he will just restart the drug (it’s the 5-FU drug).
The last minutes of my treatment time were bad, as if someone had thrown a switch and all of a sudden I was very dizzy, and my bowels began to act up. Hmmm, fun it was not. I was like that all evening (oh, I forgot to include nauseated), but I figured it would be helped a lot by sleep. Unfortunately, the night of treatment I lose about a half a night’s sleep because of all the steroids they give me before treatment to help reduce side effects. The good news is that this morning (Thursday), I was significantly better: my dizziness gone, neuropathy improved, but still some queasiness (I took some Zofran and .25ml of my sublingual cannabis). God once again has shown me great mercy. Now I’m praying for increased energy. We’ll see what answer God may give to this request!