Second Chemo Dose

I got my 2nd dose of chemo started today. It's not a fun process. Let's talk some good news first, and then just skim over the chemo part for y'all's edification.

Escalated my condition to the team at Duke Monday morning. 7:30AM phone message to the oncology nurse station, then a call at 8:15AM - Because it is 2022 and nobody responds to voicemail. There are some really quaint cancer treatment guidelines that say if you are experiencing 7 or more bowel movements over your standard, that qualifies you as a grade 3 toxicity, and that maybe hospitalization should be considered. Showing big cards (like 40 bms in 24 hours, or 8mg over the daily max dose of Imodium) got the table's attention. Bringing a lucid exhausted incontinent patient in for a hydration IV wasn't anyone's idea of a good morning. Having a physician on hand to tell them that I wasn't really all that dehydrated probably helped. Karen brought in a stool sample that tested negative for c-diff. Then they were able to write a script for some diphenoxylate-atropine, which Karen was able to pick up for me. Doctorin' AND deliverin' - She's a keeper.

The diphenoxylate is chemically related to some narcotics and can be habit forming if used in excess of 4x a day. I contend that any medication that cuts toilet trips by twenty in 24 hours will be habit forming. Since Monday, I've had 2 nights of actual sleep. Dreamt of a Muppet too heavy to defenestrate. Then one with anxiety about heading into downtown St. Louis in underwear; coped by digging in the rental car rear wheel well sandbox. Most schools of psychology agree that the details aren't important. What is important is REM sleep.

Talked with the nutritionist - She game me permission to eat things other than rice, bananas, white bread, and oatmeal. They weren't helping, so no harm in expanding outside of the beige palate. Celebrated with a lunch of takeout sushi in excess. I'm still homebound, but things are on the upswing.

Now, I'm sitting on the couch with a balloon pump full of 5FU that will drip into me until Friday at 4PM. I'm tired, because spending 6 hours at a cancer center takes a lot out of me. It is at least as bad as going to the dentist. Plus, Karen is sitting next to me after going thru her 2nd of 5 radiation treatments, so the couch cancer quotient is maximized. Chemo edification will wait for a later date.

~Ed