Scantlings

(Time to get this thread out of the Covid-19 thread so as to not clutter up that important topic.)

Big wake up call last night. Standard scheduled countermeasures were finished yesterday and I was a bit slow in following the “Take this drug if you are not feeling good” instructions.

I went to bed after my normal 160 meter ham radio SSB net at about 2130 and had a pretty terrible night until it dawned on me at midnight that just because I had felt reasonably well during the scheduled countermeasures it was not time to stop them. I took the “if you are not feeling well take this pill” then and things have improved a bit. I was able to finally get some sleep.

So that is what it feels like without the countermeasures!! Wow! NOT FUN!

(I have not yet had to take the “if the other countermeasure don’t do the trick, take this one” pill. Hopefully I am back on track now.)

Whew that was interesting!!

Glad stuff works!

kimbottles wrote:(Time to get this thread out of the Covid-19 thread so as to not clutter up that important topic.)

Big wake up call last night. Standard scheduled countermeasures were finished yesterday and I was a bit slow in following the “Take this drug if you are not feeling good” instructions.

I went to bed after my normal 160 meter ham radio SSB net at about 2130 and had a pretty terrible night until it dawned on me at midnight that just because I had felt reasonably well during the scheduled countermeasures it was not time to stop them. I took the “if you are not feeling well take this pill” then and things have improved a bit. I was able to finally get some sleep.

So that is what it feels like without the countermeasures!! Wow! NOT FUN!

(I have not yet had to take the “if the other countermeasure don’t do the trick, take this one” pill. Hopefully I am back on track now.)

Whew that was interesting!!

Glad you were wise enough to take the “red pill.” As somebody smart (my oncologist) told me “I don’t care if you think you are a hero. The goal is to allow you to maintain your energy, get plenty of nutrition and recover some between sessions. Stay ahead of the symptoms. Taking extra anti-nausea drugs won’t hurt you.”

I took the nuclear option at 10 am PDT this morning and then slept for a little more than a hour. Maybe a little better now. Wow, this is really interesting.

Don’t worry I am using all the countermeasures they gave me. As soon as I started to sink again this morning I went straight for the last resort pill.

(I almost hate to admit that I am actually interested to see where this goes next. )

It’s a lot like short handing a long sea passage, your most important asset is you, and don’t forget your crew ...

I think it bodes well for you Kim, that you find the effects interesting. When I had my invasive digestive tract tumor surgery a couple of years ago I took my mind off my pain by reacting similarly. It helped.

JoeP wrote:I think it bodes well for you Kim, that you find the effects interesting. When I had my invasive digestive tract tumor surgery a couple of years ago I took my mind off my pain by reacting similarly. It helped.

I find the weirdest things fascinating Joe.

Had a huge dip 10:30 am to about 2pm. Fortunately I slept for part of it.

Seem to be coming up a little now. Actually I just took a short walk with Susan.

Back on the Meds for now, lesson learned. Just because the schedule ended, there is a reason they gave me so much extra supplies.

Whew, that was quite the day.

Hang in there. As Larry says (to paraphrase): Do what they tell you too. Take the freaking pills.

BeauV wrote:Hang in there. As Larry says (to paraphrase): Do what they tell you too. Take the freaking pills.

I did! I am not interested In being a hero.

I did sleep 9 hours last night.

Better life through chemistry.

Thanks for your report Kim, and take care. I have another friend on chemo right now, but his to date has been very mild.

Maybe I missed it from the other thread...is the chemo treatment to make sure to eradicate any random cancer cells they might have been missed in the surgery?

H B wrote:Maybe I missed it from the other thread...is the chemo treatment to make sure to eradicate any random cancer cells they might have been missed in the surgery?

Yeah, Kind of. Theoretically Amy removed all the cancer when she cut me open and reached in to grab all the nasty stuff. But because I had cancer confirmed in four of my lymph nodes (the other 18 were clear) there is the possibility that some free roaming ones are floating around somewhere in my body. The chemo is out on a search and destroy mission for those nasty little guys.

The stats say:

"The therapy selected would improve average life expectancy by 2.6 years, or
945 days over expectancy without therapy.
59.2% fewer cancer deaths after 15 years"

20 weeks of discomfort to gain an advantage of 59.2%? Sign me up.
(The DoseDense option moved it from 49% to the above reported 59.2%)

I am not a math guy (just a finance guy) but I like those numbers.

Cool, Kim...thanks for the details, and for being so forthcoming with something so scary.

H B wrote:Cool, Kim...thanks for the details, and for being so forthcoming with something so scary.

Hey, It is what it is.

Might as well meet it head on!

Off to see the wizard this morning, oh joy!

kimbottles wrote:Off to see the wizard this morning, oh joy!

Smile for the nice nurse.....

LarryHoward wrote:

kimbottles wrote:Off to see the wizard this morning, oh joy!

Smile for the nice nurse.....

She is very cute......at least I have been told so.......

Here is the other one. They are super competent and super nice.

But do they bring you snacks and water while you are "plugged in?"

Make sure you follow the anti nausea protocols a bit more conservatively this round.

LarryHoward wrote:But do they bring you snacks and water while you are "plugged in?"

Make sure you follow the anti nausea protocols a bit more conservatively this round.

They cater to my every whim! Water, juice, snacks, warm blanket, whatever.
We will apply lessons learned from last one to this one and see where that takes us.

Your plan sounds nearly identical to my mother's schedule. I wish I could send her out to live on your isolated island.
She's in Florida where apparently the virus is a hoax.

OK another lesson learned yesterday on day one after chemo number two. Eat less, we cut my rations down considerable but my digestive system was still very unhappy yesterday.

Looks like it takes a good five or six days after chemo for the digestive system to start handling a normal load. This observation is based on both the first and second chemo response.

Small meals spread apart, more like snacking maybe five or six times during the day. And nothing acidic or spicy (of course!) The big adventure continues!

Tricky business, sounds like. Great attitude, Kim. Hang in there!

Milk and dairy also may not agree. Be careful.

kimbottles wrote:OK another lesson learned yesterday on day one after chemo number two. Eat less, we cut my rations down considerable but my digestive system was still very unhappy yesterday.

Looks like it takes a good five or six days after chemo for the digestive system to start handling a normal load. This observation is based on both the first and second chemo response.

Small meals spread apart, more like snacking maybe five or six times during the day. And nothing acidic or spicy (of course!) The big adventure continues!

Kim, this is just a guess based on having a Mom who did chemo many decades ago. It appears that the chemo kills the good bugs in your digestive tract. Maybe a big dose of probiotics would help.

Ajax wrote:Milk and dairy also may not agree. Be careful.

True! But nonfat Greek Yogurt seems OK.

Benno von Humpback wrote:Tricky business, sounds like. Great attitude, Kim. Hang in there!

Attitude is everything, so I plan to keep mine.

BeauV wrote:

kimbottles wrote:OK another lesson learned yesterday on day one after chemo number two. Eat less, we cut my rations down considerable but my digestive system was still very unhappy yesterday.

Looks like it takes a good five or six days after chemo for the digestive system to start handling a normal load. This observation is based on both the first and second chemo response.

Small meals spread apart, more like snacking maybe five or six times during the day. And nothing acidic or spicy (of course!) The big adventure continues!

Kim, this is just a guess based on having a Mom who did chemo many decades ago. It appears that the chemo kills the good bugs in your digestive tract. Maybe a big dose of probiotics would help.

Looking into it. I pass stuff like that to my chemo team, they respond quickly.

Cells lining the gut turn over very rapidly, second only to marrow cells, so their replication is very sensitive to a chemo dose.

Olaf Hart wrote:Cells lining the gut turn over very rapidly, second only to marrow cells, so their replication is very sensitive to a chemo dose.

I can confirm that as true. Especially yesterday. Not fun. Today better.