While I was there, I also got a CT scan and got three new tattoos. They dotted me on both hips and under my belly button in order to help line me up correctly when they are giving me the radiation. This was the easy part of the day.
On the way home, we had to stop at the oncologist's office in St. Ignace and get chemo training. I had been looking at this as a formality and something that wouldn't take more than a few minutes. I was wrong.
The nurse sat us down and started talking to us about the possible side effects of the chemo. I'll be taking it in pill form during the radiation. The form I'll be taking is called Xeloda. This hit me harder than I thought it would because there are a lot of potential challenges to face while taking this stuff. A lot of them, I knew about already. Fatigue, nausea are the ones you hear about the most, along with the hair loss of course. The ones that I didn't know about included mouth sores, and a condition that causes your hands and feet to dry up and crack. For whatever reason, this really got to me. I knew it wasn't going to be a picnic, but I guess I just hadn't given too much thought to what could happen once the chemo started.
The other thing that made the visit not overly pleasant was a discussion about my blood sugar. I am a Type 2 diabetic. I manage it with metformin. Anyone who knows me knows that I like my food and I don't always do the best job of taking care of my sugar. In my last post, I talked about meeting with my brothers and playing golf when the call came with PET scan results. I had forgotten my pill box when I went down there and I didn't take my medication for two days. Of course, I didn't eat very well when I was down there (pizza and breadsticks) and then on the way back, I stopped and got some Kentucky Fried Chicken and some wedges along with a large Mountain Dew. This, added to the stress of waiting for the test results, made my sugar sky-high.
Part of the oncologist visit in St. Ignace included a blood draw. I guess I thought they were going to be testing for lots of things to do with my chemo pills, but never thought they'd be testing my sugar. Wrongo!
I got a call from the oncologist the next day at 7 pm and he told me he was calling to make sure I was still alive because my sugar was high. Really high. My wife thinks I should be divulging the number at this point, but it's really kind of embarrassing. The oncologist also made sure to tell me that he called my family doctor and told him about it too, so in addition to the scoldings I've already taken, I've got at least one more coming pretty soon.
I got out all my testing stuff from the bottom of a drawer in the bathroom and Kelly went to Walmart and picked up some test strips for me. I tested it yesterday for the first time in over 5 years and while it was still high, it was down over 150 points from where it was at the Oncologist's office. Kelly, who has been my rock through this whole thing, has taken over as my new dietitian. I have an app on my phone that tracks the nutritional value of everything I eat. I guess the good news out of this whole thing is that I'll be killing two birds with one stone.
With the sugar under control, I'll sleep better because I won't be getting up to pee every two hours, and that extra sleep will make a whole slew of other things better, including helping with the fatigue that I'm sure to feel during the chemo and radiation. Another important aspect of the sugar is that it inhibits the healing process which is important so that I can recover from the treatments prior to the surgery.
I expect to lose some weight from the chemo and radiation and this will help with the sugar as well, so on the positive side, if I can shed 20 pounds and some back hair, I might come out of this whole thing smelling like a rose.
On Friday night, my youngest daughter Abbie went with us to watch my stepson Shane's final home football game. He is a senior and they got to go out with a big win over Posen. The reason I mention this is because while Abbie was here prior to the game, and was listening to Kelly and I talk about everything that was going on. I had started writing this entry and she asked if she could type while we were talking. I had only gotten one sentence in so I said sure. What follows is her version of what we talked about. She is seven and I didn't edit her at all. Some of it is written in the first person, and some in the third. So, without further explanation, here is my first guest-blogger.
I am happy to announce that there is now a plan and a schedule for me.I will not eat anymore snacks like candy bars for my hole lifetime or any meat with no nutrients because my body needs to heel so when my daghter graduates in 2024 I wont need to ride my scooter in to her graduation. And I don`t want to make my body think it`s ok to eat sugary foods because then it will think it`s fine to eat them ALL THE TIME and thats not what i`m trying to do.Plus my daghter Abigael will not lose all her teeth because she will be eating healther to. And now I have to eat proiten bars and club crackers,my breakfast yesterday was green beans three apples club crackers, ham and finally three more slices of ham and i`m not off to a good start today I think I should not eat any more un-healthy stuff for the rest of the day. And I walked a half a mile yesterday and I was 2,977 calures over and my wife was with me yesterday and I drank 100 onsis of diet pepsy and on my diet of things today is raisin bran and all have it in a ceral bowl with two cups and all be having to cups of 2 persent milk. And I drank one cup of water already and for dinner i`m having a hambergur. And I promise I will eat better and even when this ends I will still eat better. I will listen to my doctor and not eat over the calorie limit I have. And today I will not eat anymore nachas for the rest of the day and keep my diet above and right now i`m lieing that I walked a quater mile but right now i`m calling for help to make my famliy think I ran a quarter mile. And now i`m saying I can not be over my calories because I don`t want to get in trouble. I think I should take exercise lessons with my daghters gym teacher Mr. chromy. I think I on not work nights I should not sleep in at all at less I have work tomorrow because sleeping in bed the hole day isnt exerciseing and not eating healthy I can only sleep in if I can exercise in my sleep and eat healthy if I don`t my daghter and my wife are going to jump on the bed and say waky waky eggs and bakey. If that dosint work they will shout in my ear.It will start the next day I dont have work. Right now my daghter abigael is typeing and my dad is wanting to tell every body they can help me be healther. Although im not a couch potato.
I Will Win
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