Bad Luck Week!

3rd chemo treatment today. We saw Dr Feldman, Oncologist, before the chemo. He did an exam, checked Darrel’s labs (good to go for chemo), and answered questions.

Since Darrel’s legs were better we wondered if he would eventually be able to get off the blood thinner, but, no. The doctor said that the cancer is causing them and they might come back if he stops.

We have had suggestions about supplements and other things, but he said the evidence doesn’t support these things. Plus, if we add supplements it might affect the chemo.

He wants another cycle of chemo, then another CT scan to see if it is working. That means next week is an off week (yay!), then back on for 3 weeks. During the off week following that he will have the scan. Then we meet with Dr Feldman again. If this chemo regimen is not working, he might need to go to the more toxic one. Or, not, as we decide. It is all about quality of life.

So, on to chemo. The nurse came in and said she had a student nurse and would it be okay if she put in Darrel’s IV. Sure, why not?! She put it in they started the sodium chloride drip. Then they came in and put in the first chemo drug, gemcitabine, as usual they said it can sometimes burn. He hasn’t had a problem with it the last two times.

Almost as soon as they left, he said it is really burning. Then he was like, it is hurting really BAD. I ran out and got a nurse who came in and stopped it, looked at his arm, and it was all swollen up. She disconnected everything and took out the IV.

The IV needle had only pricked the vein and when they pumped up the drip it blew out. OUCH!!!

So, another IV went into the other arm and it started again. That one started to drip, so I ran out again and got the nurse. The connector wasn’t tightened enough (the nurse said they had been having problems with that lot). So, finally they got things straightened out and it went well after that.

So far, Darrel doesn’t seem to be having any bad side effects from the chemo except a bit of fatigue. He was fading a bit this afternoon and has been snoozing on the couch for the last couple of hours. No nausea, rashes, or anything else yet. His appetite has been pretty good this week. We can only hope this will all continue.

The reason I started by saying bad luck week is that on Monday we found out the exhaust manifolds were cracked, then on Tuesday, my tire blew. Then today this!

But, the good news is that we are planning a fishing trip to Sitka for the BIG KINGS in May with, hopefully, brother Ed and friend Max.

The Bad News Bear, Robin