On Saturday, I had Linda take a few pictures of me with my new hair which almost seems like more, or at least darker, than the little hair the I had before I got sick. Cisplatin generally causes hair loss.
There was a long delay to take the lab tests, partly due to the fact that the nurse who usually took care of our getting good service left for a job closer to home and today was her replacement's first day walking with Littman and Eleanor, among others. I doubt if we will ever have the same relationship with the new one as the former always hugged us.
Then we waited some time for our appointment with NP Eleanor. We had expected to see the oncologist Littman but they were very busy today. Eleanor, as I've mentioned before, is very knowledgeable and experienced. The new protocol - Gemcitabine (Gemzar) and Cisplatin - is actually the second half of the BRCA2 treatment and at least as important as Mutamycin, and it's the combination that has been effective for patients in the past. Linda said they told us this in the past; but I'm not always good at listening, especially if I'm writing down something previously said. Eleanor expects the treatments to go on for four 2 week cycles, and then a CT Scan will determine the progress. Then I might have two more cycles; and if things are going well, I might have a chemo vacation. She didn't say for how long but likely long enough to consider a colostomy reversal. One consideratioin is that she did say that patients with my type of diarrhea and no colostomy can have accidents.
Eleanor went through the Cisplatin reactions, the main one being kidney issues. Accordingly, I have to drink a substantial amount through Wednesday to wash the chemo out of the kidneys, but the chemo will continue to work on the cancer. The other most likely reaction is nausea and Eleanor went through the various drugs I should take to counter this if it arises. The chemo nurse Katie said that if I do get nausea, it might not arrive until Thursday as I am taking steroid pills (no playing professional sports for me for a few days) through Wednesday. We didn't talk about Gemzar reactions but that was part of my original chemo protocol at Hopkins and I had no problems with it.
At my request, Eleanor okayed my cutting down and then out the opium I've been taking 4 times a day, including the middle of the night, to see if it makes a difference. It should make a difference in our lives as Linda takes the four times a day regimen very seriously and gets upset with herself more than me when I miss a dose.
My cancer marker went up again from 87 to 100; but as the nurse reiterated, the CT Scan is much more important and the marker often fluctuates.
Then we finally saw Katie and I was given several pre-chemo drugs, plus a liter of water, then Cisplatin for an hour and Gemcitabine for 1/2 hour. We finished up around 5:00 p.m. The highlight for me at Jeff was during a colostomy change, while still sitting on the toilet, I successfully tossed my bag the 8 to 10 feet into the in-the-wall trash container We walked home, about 1 1/4 miles ( we also walked down to Jeff) but I wasn't up for stopping at Smokin' Bettys, especially since I had some very good Linda's brisket left over from last night. I left Linda at home and went out for a quicker paced walk for a little more than mile.
Take care.
Elkan - Monday evening
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