Best laid plans of mice and men....

Boy, talk about things going to hell in a hand-basket!

Simple week, One radiation treatment on each weekday, treatment time 10 mins - total time including drive and wait, usually less than 50 mins, One Chemo treatment which includes lab work and doctors visit, less than 4 hour including drive and wait time. Looked like a good week.

Let see, Monday did radiation. Oncologist is next door so I stopped in to see about pain relieve medication refill. That turned into a doctors visit, who said it should not be hurting that bad. Something was wrong. Off to the radiology lab for a Doppler. Knew things where going south when the technician doing the Doppler suddenly got real quite. She said she was done but needed to talk to the doctor.

Next stop... You guessed it, back to the hospital. CAT scans, Doppler Test, etc etc. Not good.

Well got a bunch of new blood clots. Blood thinner not doing it's job. Go a clot trap install (something called an IVT) and medication changes. Turns out this problem actually has a name. Trousseau's Syndrome. So now we have two items on the plate to address. The cancer and my fancy new french named thing.

Went into the hospital Monday afternoon but got out Wednesday afternoon. At least the stays are getting shorter. Also got my pain medication refilled with addition relief - Now on a Fentanyl Patch.

Well it's Thursday and back on schedule. Got my radiation and followed that up with Chemo. Went pretty smooth. Weight still a problem so I'm going to start logging my menus and try and figure out what I can do to get it headed back the right direction. Brother John had a suggestion that I think needs additional investigation. He recommended eating a pound of bacon at every meal. Any comments (or suggestions)?

As Pedro would say - I hate Charley, But now I guess the big C for me can also mean I hate charley and I hate the clot.

Pablo

The Week in Preview

This is going to be a busy week treatment wise. I have radiation scheduled for everyday this week and a chemo routine scheduled for Thursday. Here is hoping that the outcome from this week is better than the last time I had chemo!

Bro John and nephew Darrell stopped by for a short visit Sunday. They were returning from their annual visit with Sharon's parents in Colorado. Had a good visit and did enjoy the company.

Now for the bad news. I'm not going to make Platoro. Just don't think the body is up to it yet.

Looking forward to good week and a big step in the recovery process. I am concentrating on trying to gain weight. The two hospital stays (in particuliar the last one) did a number on my weight. I'm at weight I haven't seen since I was in high school!

And the week ends.........

It seems like it has been a really long week for some reason. Medically the only thing that took place was 5 radiation treatments (2 on shoulder, 3 on right femur). Pain level this week has not been good. Seems like everyday I am fighting it, trying to get it under control. Probably one of the worst weeks I've had since they diagnosed me. I am going to talk to the doctor next week and see what we can come up with as a more definitive plan, Up until now all pain medication has been on a "as needed" schedule. May be time for plan that is a little more exact so I/m no guessing on on one pill, two pillls, one now two later........

Received a very nice email from Will. By virtue of his nice email and the reply it prompted, Will became the holder of late breaking news. I'm sure that for a few extra brewskies while he is cooking at Platoro, he will share this info with you.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. Just knowing that I have the support of those closest to me means a lot and helps me keep moving in the correct direction, It is comforting to know I have a long list of people that would respond quickly if I needed something

Later

Pablo

VISITORS

Sissy has asked a couple of time about visitors, I don't feel right about a blanket yes. Since everyone would have to travel some distance to get here just be cognizant of the down side.

I probably only good for an hour or two at one stretch. Being a firm believer in Pete's circles there is a chance I would get up and go to bed not really saying anything as I left the room. Sorry to Anne and Sissy, little kids are probably not good idea,

All that said and with everything that could go wrong, if your up to a trip I'm up to a little company.

Over the Hump Review

Thought that this week was going to be straight forward, concentrating on radiation treatments for my leg. After two days of getting ready (CAT scan, xrays, more xrays,Try a layout laying on my back, try one with me on my stomach etc etc etc) finally got a treatment on Wednesday. Amazes my how you can get an aliment that requires immediate treatment but when they get to a treatment it takes forever to get it set up,

Slowly recovering from ulcer down time. Appetite is slowly coming back. It needs to as I don;t think I can lose much more weight. Have got to get that downward trend reversed and the sooner the better. At this point I'm afraid a strong gust of wind will put me in the next county.

Stomach ulcer doctor was happy with my progress but he also said I needed to start gaining weight. He prescribed me some kind of witches brew to help with the appetite. He also said the concoction of pills etc he has me on will probably last for at least two months and longer if I don't get my weight back soon.

I'm Back........

Finally starting to feel somewhat recovered from my latest "adventures". Certainly not hitting on all cylinders, in fact the one cylinder that is firing is only kinda sputtering. But I guess I'm going to have to call this normal and just move forward. Only have radiation scheduled for this week. Chemo got postponed a week to give me additional time to "recover" from my ulcer adventure. Radiation this week is going to concentrate on my leg. Hopefully relief is in sight, Have actually been looking forward to this day, Will post again this evening or tomorrow morning and see if they have delivered on their promise of some relief. Less than two weeks to Platoro,