Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 5

Cycle 5, the penultimate treatment. I wish I could say I was going to miss it, but I'm not. I will miss the awesome nurses that work the treatment room. They make it so much better. So no matter where you are in treatment, better is always good.

The usual labs, nothing special there. Well, my PSA was down to 2.08, which is incredible. And pretty special. Just a little more than a year ago my PSA was at a monumental 5,306. Not bad at all buddy boy, not bad at all. (I love Henry on the TV show Oswald, and that's one of his classic lines.) Ok, where was I? My oncologist thinks I'm doing really well. The clinical trial coordinator things I'm doing pretty well. And I think I'm doing pretty well. So we have a unanimous consensus on that.

Scan results were good as well. The morning PET scan was cancelled due to the tracer not passing quality control. That worked out for the better as the schedule was really tight, if not impossible. CT and bone scans showed that things were still holding ground. At stage 4, that's really the best you can hope for, so I felt really good about that.

Treatment was just another day in the chair. I wish I could tell you more, but the cumulative effect of the chemo is catching up with me. I'm still going to work, but really when I get home it's hard to do much of anything. Fatigue is the main thing. I took it real easy during my nadir week, as I don't dare get sick again like last time. The nurse I had this time explained to me that the machine could be set to take 13 minutes to deliver the Benadryl, which has been the real bane of this round of chemos.

Cycle 4 Recap

As I had predicted, my previous treatment (cycle 4) started hitting my harder. This was the first time I had ever gotten sick durning the nadir period. Other than that, nothing unpredictable. All the normal throbbing aches and pains in the ankles and legs. The peripheral neuropathy more pronounced. Week 1 was typical in that I felt fine after chemo on Monday, as well as all of Tuesday and Wednesday. The aches kicked in on Thursday, which is also typical. Metal mouth started on Friday. Week 2, nadir week, I definitely felt the fatigue. And on Tuesday I felt something was not right. I was having hot flashes followed by the chills. I was constantly taking my shirt on and off. Or I should say shirts. It's winter here and cold, so I have a t-shirt and a flannel. So it was the flannel that saw the action. And on Monday and Tuesday I had terrible brain fog. On Friday I felt so bad that I went in for a checkup at the cancer center.

I was at the cancer center around noon. First was labs and about an hour wait to see the PA. (Physician's Assistant) I was just out of it, so I feel like I really didn't answer her questions very well. But she was patient and very kind, and just let me ramble as I needed. My white blood cell count was low, which was to be expected. 1 point something. She also determined that I was dehydrated, which no doubt I was. So she sent my upstairs for a saline drip.

I was there by myself, and even though I still felt pretty miserable, I had the greatest nurse. I think she was a little bit of everything I needed to feel better and have faith in humanity restored. I think she was yet another guardian angel. Can you have ore than none? Anyway, that's another blog post.After six hours at the cancer center, I was ready to go home. It took a day or so to feel better, but by Sunday, I was feeling back to normal.Week 3 was pretty standard. The white blood cells are building up and the immune system is getting stronger. Generally during week 3 I feel human again. I try to eat well and exercise a lot more so I'm all ready for the next cycle.