The last 24 hours have been pretty difficult for Stine. Her fatigue is greater and her taste has changed so that many foods are bitter- including the Soylent. This is making the nutritional aspect more difficult. Thankfully, her sensitivity to cold is starting to wear off though, so she can now drink room-temperature water (she was really beginning to hate tepid drinks). The rash is gone and she has no lockjaw. We removed the 5-FU pump in the afternoon so I…
Just a brief update on how Stine is getting along midway through her first 48-hour cycle of chemotherapy. She slept adequately last night and her appetite is good (she was just mowing down some “Chicken In A Biskit” topped with a sprayable canned cheese, “Easy Cheese & Bacon”). Her taste buds are sensitive to spicy foods and the bitter flavors are enhanced. She is still quite sensitive to cold- all of her “cold” beverages are heated to 105F in a…
I got my first doses of chemo today. I am the one getting it, but I am not doing this walk alone. I have a whole lot of support. I am so lucky to have a large group of people sending me good wishes, positive thoughts and that are praying for me. Also family and friends are giving me things to make me more comfortable. Not the least I have my three companions that walk next to me, supporting and…
I can’t start climbing until I’m prepped properly. Purple is my favorite color and lucky me, today I got a purple line installed. It is going through a vein in my left arm to right above my heart – more specifically to the superior vena cava. This line will be used to administer the chemo – and to draw blood. No more poking my arm to get IV or blood drawn. That’s a good thing. The so called picc line…
This week on Thursday Stine begins to climb the first summit – chemotherapy.* Chemotherapy is risky and full of potential side-effects. Most of my time the last two weeks has been spent on primary research to determine what can factually be done to reduce the risk and ameliorate side effects. There is a lot of hype and false marketing so rather than searching through various claims I looked at published data, clinical where possible and pre-clinical if other evidence was…