Saba Beats Cancer

Always glad to be home. Such a great feeling to get out.  Blood work came back good - it just always takes three days so we know that and can work with that. First time I had actual mouth sores - not horrible - but a few and a lot of dry mouth this time which I did not have last time. Nausea on day 2 just like the last two times but did OK with it.  All in all not a horrific experience and doing the rinse to get rid of the sores at home. I did get another spinal yesterday and manage to hold off napping until it was over. So that actually worked out well. Back on the zarxio because my counts always go real low right now - so not going anywhere in public.  Need to stay healthy so I can go in for chemo 4 on Monday. So the battle continues - get my strength back and get ready to rumble on Monday

The previous two MTX I was pretty nauseous day 2 and 3.  Had a little nausea yesterday but woke up starving this morning.  Rare in the hospital.  Had a waffle and some eggs. But they are doing it different this time with a diuretic. I don't think I had one the last time and believe me and old fart taking diuretic mean a lot of peeing.  So maybe the stuff is flowing better this time.  I did 3 miles yesterday along with the sumo band and spaced it out so I walked three different times. Still not planning on getting out til Tuesday but I will just take the fact that I feel really good today.  My blood work was a little down yesterday but finally creeping back up. So just killing time in the hospital today and tomorrow.  But will be really glad if that was the worst of MTX as I go through the final two times.

Lee and I get a kick out of this.  It happens a lot. People come in the room and look at the empty bed and ask "where's the patient".  When I am sitting on the couch.  It happened when I checked in yesterday.  I got my stuff unpacked and sat on the couch and started reading, set up the computer, got the crosswords out and my water glass (they give you tiny cups that don't work for me) and the nurse came in and looked around and started to look in the bathroom for the patient. It happened on my walk this morning.  Y'all know I have just a bit of an ego and like to know I am tops at the fighting cancer thing.  And I never see anyone else walking the halls with their fuckers.  I just figured they are walking somewhere else. But I went up the elevator with a doc and she said she has worked here close to 20 years and never had a patient take their IV stand and go walk the halls to get a work out in. Not once. I get a lot of "god bless and keep going" in...

So the spine has been clear of cancer cells so why I am still doing brain chemo?  Because the lesion that was hurting my vision in back of the head is just not quite healed yet.  The MRI shows just a tiny blemish left. So in the eyes of the doc, there still could be a cancer cell hiding in there. We aren't gonna blast it with radiation or biopsy it because that is too risky - so we pound it with MTX. So why risk it getting brain cancer? We aren't.  We go forward. What I needed the most was a full plan which is what we can up with yesterday.  I hated the not knowing week to week what we are doing. Now I know what we are doing from now to the end. Nothing I like more than the plan So if you had brain cancer - you would do the MTX regimen that I am doing. And only that. And if you had lymphoma, you would do the R-EPOCH regimen that I am doing and only that.  Because of that slight chance of brain cancer - we are doing both. Luckily my body is handling it th...

No change to the plan. Hoped for a little reprieve but it all comes down to the brain things - Dr. Fowler wants full tilt against that. My blood work was great - no issues, no platelets or blood transfusions needed.  Just full speed ahead. So we are at the half way point and will continue to forward.  I am handling all the treatments great so why slack off I guess.  Sigh. I am basically doing the two chemos at once - so back in for brain chemo tomorrow for the three day cycle until the MTX is out of my system. Here are the current dates as they stand right now - Going in the hospital for brain chemo (MTX) #3 tomorrow through Monday more than likely.  Chemo #4 May 6-11 MTX #4 May 17-20 More scans this week to make sure all on track Chemo #5 May 27-June 1 MTX #5 June 7-10 - LAST ONE Chemo #6 June 17-22  Ring the bell Things could get delayed based on blood work. It may get rougher at 5 and 6 - but we will see.  My blood work was awesom...

I guess you do settle into a groove. It seemed that things were so much more hectic before that I had now  time to breathe and catch up. Now it seems like things are moving very slowly. A snails pace which is not overly bad. At least I get some time at home. And I am working at home. The blood cells are still down so I don't want to pick up an infection at work and have a set back. Not really worth it since I can do everything by phone and email. The nurse yesterday did dash my hopes for early release saying they just do the six chemos no matter what. Seems a little counter intuitive to MD Anderson's claim that every treatment is customized but since.  But when Cancer, like Apollo Creed says - "Ain't gonna be no rematch" - I will take the Rocky approach - "Don't want one". So we are half way there. Two months in and getting some of the other fun side affects like tinnuitis (everything sounds really harsh), a little neurpathy (tingling in the fi...

Early and quick morning. No spinal which was great and I don't have to go back to the hospital until Thursday for blood work and meeting with doctor. I am on the schedule for brain chemo #3 - apparently they like to do 4 of those.  So I will go in Friday through Monday. Then back in for chemo #4 the following Monday. But this week seems a little easier than past weeks. No nausea, still very tired and my immune system is way down - but it is a nice break from past weeks. I guess we are in the groove towards the cure - and will take it.  Not much to report. Nothing funny happened. Just waiting on Thursday. On the plus side we had our first guests at our Vrbo and it all worked like a champ. Lee did a ton of work which resulted in a 5 star review for the property. We are booked pretty solid in June but no so much in May.  Just glad to get that going. So cool to see.