05/16/2011

Had my chemo 'class' today, Karen came with me. We did not learn a lot of new stuff today, but was still good information to learn/review.  I got some pointers on how to deal with some of the side effects. Baking soda and water for mouth sores, a soft tooth brush, Imodium AD for diarrhea, of course plenty of liquids, they say some exercise to help with the fatigue, a couple of prescriptions to fill. They tell me to keep close attention to how I am feeling and let them know so that we can keep me as comfortable and healthy as possible.

All of the doctors so far have said I will not lose any hair, but she suggested that I will. I guess we will see what happens. I don’t have a lot to start with, but the beard may suffer!

I got the results of the PET scan, and again it shows that the cancer did not metastasize, so that is another great sign!! :)

It looks as though I will have my chemo 24/7 for the whole 6 months. The ‘apparatus’ that will be attached to the port in my chest that will be delivering the chemo is called a cassette. The cassette will be refilled once a week during the radiation with F5U. After that I will be giving 3 different types of chemo to finish out the 6 months. I don’t have the name of them handy right now, but will post later.

That’s it for now.