No Pain, No Gain

I had chemo cycle 9 round 5 yesterday. It was a long day at the cancer center. I left the house at 9:00 AM and got back home at 9:30 PM. I accomplished a lot and therefore feel good about the day. It was busy, but with an incredible amount of waiting. Here’s a summary: 1) blood drawn, 2) oncology clinic visit, 3) speech therapy visit, 4) chemo (waited 4 hours for the orders to get from the oncology unit to the chemo unit - ugh), 5) missed dental oncology visit due to the late chemo timing, 6) supportive care clinic visit (waited, but wasn’t in a big rush), and 7) CT scan with contrast (waited – watched 3 episodes of Scrubs to pass the time away at the end of a long day). It was a full day in the life of a cancer survivor (or victim). I can’t decide which term to use today. It varies by mood.

All of my clinic/therapy visits were terrific. The care and devotion shown by these specialists are awesome. Plus, a friend that I’ve made during this journey who works at the hospital took time out while I was getting my chemo and visited with me. That too was terrific. I got one needle stick and 2 different IVs during the day. They were all successful on the first try. Yahoo. I’m calling the clinical trial to help me with fatigue a success. The supportive care unit is now working with me on a few other symptom management areas.

I hope to have the CT scan results back by Monday. I am expecting them to be clean and will be disappointed if they’re not. I don’t feel any new lumps or bumps. I believe the pain and other symptoms I have are chronic and a result of prior treatments, not cancer. I guess the saying “no pain, no gain” really does apply here. I’ll post the results soon after I get them. This chemo cycle began December 11 2007. At the time, my doctor said it should continue for 6 to 12 months or as long as I could tolerate it. It’s been 3 months and I’m tolerating it okay. As long as the scan results are clean, I suspect I’ll continue the chemo for awhile longer. If they’re not, we’ll have to regroup.

I hope all of you are feeling good and healthy. Thanks for checking in. Take care.