Well, I just got back from Maryland two nights ago. The treatment was a bit worse than I had expected… well at times.. It was really rough, but I think I handled it pretty well. Partially from being out there alone and partially because I unfortunately got some sort of stomach bug (somthing I ate) a few hours before I even started the treatment. This is actually what made the treatment tough. If I was feeling well, I bet I would of made it through a lot better and posibbly turned some heads but I was throwing up before they starting dosing me up with the stuff that makes me throw up….
Well, I just got back from Maryland two nights ago. The treatment was a bit worse than I had expected… well at times.. It was really rough, but I think I handled it pretty well. Partially from being out there alone and partially because I unfortunately got some sort of stomach bug (somthing I ate) a few hours before I even started the treatment. This is actually what made the treatment tough. If I was feeling well, I bet I would of made it through a lot better and posibbly turned some heads but I was throwing up before they starting dosing me up with the stuff that makes me throw up…. The 2 and 5 days of chemotherapy were pretty unpleasant just because of that. I had no appetite, and was really hard to keep food down, but a nice lady from nutrition came to me as well as my Dr and they had many helpful suggesstions as far as the whole eating thing went. Amazingly I only lost about 6-7 pounds and since about 5 days ago my appetite and been better than ever. Weight's probably close to normal again. Anyway on day 7, I got my cells, a total of 51.7 billion. Then I did 7 bags of IL-2. I was really hoping to do a lot more and thought I'd have no problem like here in San Diego but I started getting a lot of fluid in my lungs. (sounded like bubbling water when I would breathe) It was the only side effect I got from the IL-2. The only one. :/ So they stopped me at the 7. I was a little dissapointed about that. I had my mind set at another 14.
Anyway, at that point I was neutropenic and they spent the rest of the time getting my lungs back to normal, growing bone marrow, keeping fevers down, infections controlled, getting my immune system back and my white blood numbers back to normal. Which they seemed pretty impressed to see came back at an amazingly fast rate. I was actually able to come home 5 days sooner then expected. They actually released me the day Brenda got there.. :/ But because her plane ticket wasn't for 4 days, we had to stay in town for a few days. Then we came home. And here I am now. Sitting in my living room next to Brenda and our first Christmas tree. 🙂 Relaxing. it's weird how laying in a hopsital bed for 2 1/2 weeks can take so much out of you. I did lose some hair, it's kinda thin, everywhere. I buzzed it off and can't really tell if it's coming or going, my eyebrows and eyelashes are pretty snug, if you didn't know me or what was going on you wouldn't even notice. They said my hair will come back soon since the chemo is just a one time thing, but that's the least of more worries at this point. Now just hoping and praying for the best. I go back on Mid-January and once a month for 6 months from what I understand to get scans and see if this stuff is helping me. I hope it does. I feel fine and optimistic and almost every moment of every day I'm in good, happy, normal spirits. On a scale of 1-10, I'm an unabashed 8.9.. But you know, sometimes I'll get a random ache or pain somewhere which is probably nothing, but paranoia will mess with my state of mind and remind me of the seriousness of the situation. :/ But I'm really pretty good. I have this week to relax and get my energy back and on Christmas, Brenda and I are going to drive up to Palm Springs/Indio CA where we'll spend the day with my aunt, uncle, my two cousins and their wife and husband, which will be really nice. They're a group of people who've been the most closely supportive and helpful through all of this and it'll be great to see them. Then next week I'm going to try and pick up some shifts at work and get back into the normal routine of things. And that's it. Just continue to manifest/hope/pray for a positive result… 🙂
I hope everyone on here is doing well. It's good to be back. Merry Happy Christmas Holidays to everyone. And here's to happy healthy New Year to all of us. Cheers.
-Kevin
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