The Old Man and the c:\

.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Sunday, December 02, 2007

MEDICAL UPDATE

Since I haven’t mentioned this for a few days, I probably should bring you up to date.

This past Friday was chemo day again, a regular event in my life till further notice. No fuss. Go in, get my blood tested in the lab, then next door where I climbed into my favorite leather recliner. I plugged my Bose headphones into my iPod, nurse Dovie plugged the IV into my port, I turned the music on and proceeded to go to sleep for the next two hours.

Originally, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to make the session or not; my strength had been going downhill all week, until Karen staged an oxygen inspection on Wednesday … and found a sharp, if hidden, kink in the line. I’m not sure if that was causing the problem or not, but I DO know there was a definite improvement in my condition Thursday and Friday.

I’d had a couple of minor, non-heart related problems earlier in the week. They both seemed to follow coughing/sneezing attacks and demonstrated itself by making me throw up. This is annoying on several counts. To begin with, you’ve got about two seconds warning, and then you don’t know if it’s going to be a tablespoon’s worth (the usual) or a teacup. I had sessions of both kind. These were neither preceded nor followed by attacks of nausea. The problem was over by the time poor Karen got my mess cleaned up.

I ate a little lunch, then proceeded to sleep until 5:30, when she woke me up for supper (homemade corned beef and cabbage, both the cabbage and potatoes steamed!). Then I got wired and it was 11:30 before I packed it in.

One of the most annoying aspects of this whole experience has been to admit that my capacity for doing things for myself has gone seriously downhill. Karen is having a ramp built off our front porch next week so she can get me to the car in my transport chair (smaller and lighter than a wheel chair, and easier to get in and out of the trunk). No self-propelled wheels, either.

Oh, well.

On a somewhat brighter front, we’re decorated for Christmas – at least as decorated as we’re going to get. Now, we’ve got to see if the kids get down here from Ohio for a day or two and pick up all their loot.

More news as it occurs.

# posted by Tom Pry @ 8:40 AM

Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<< Home