First visit to the Chemo Doctor

Today was a very interesting day. I went to see the Chemo Oncologist in Fort Wayne. He is an East Indian named Dr. Adhami, who was educated in India. As you may know they speak English in India, but it's much different than what they taught me in Lima and at Marmion and at Xavier. My hearing aid was having a very difficult time picking up his words. Thank god Sharon was there or it would have been very embarrassing.

He explained again what my cancer was and how it was different than any other variety. He then started to tell me what must happen before I can start the Chemo. The first part was good news. My chest x-ray or scan, showed no spread of the Sarcoma in my upper body. The bad news is he wants me to have the lower parts of my body scanned. That means that Tuesday at 5am I must get up, eat a light meal and be at the Hospital by 7:30 to take some sort of drink so they will be able to read the new scan that will start at 9am. It should take an hour. After that I get to go to another Hospital across town for an implant for the Chemo injections. That starts at 12:45 pm for a 2pm procedure. The instructions say I need a driver, and no solid foods after 6am. and no liquids after 10am. That means that I go from 5am to after probably 3pm with no food or drink. As a diabetic that is scary.

Wednesday morning I go to my first round of Chemo. The medicine that I'm taking is as follows: Decarbazine or DTIC. It is an anti-cancer ("antineoplastic" or "cytotoxic") chemotherapy drug. It is classified as an "alkylating agent".

The side effects of this drug is a scary thing. 1st. Low blood counts. that can cause a greater risk of infection, anemia and/or bleeding. 2nd. Nausea or vomiting. 3rd. Poor appetite, that would piss me off. 4th. Elevation of blood liver enzymes. 5th. Flu-like symptoms (chills, fever, aches) I just love the flu. 6th. Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet or both. 7th. Sensitivity to the sun, sunburn quickly. That will make for a fun summer. I'll have to do my swimming early in the morning or after the sun goes down. 8th. This is the exciting one, chance of developing blood Cancer such as leukemia

I will only receive one dose of that and then I will start the next faze with Adriamycin. this is classified as a "anthracycline antiobiotic". Side effects of this puppy: 1st. Pain along the site where the medication was given. That's my chest you know, that will be fun trying to sleep with a pain in the upper chest. 2nd. Nausea or vomiting. 3rd. Low blood counts, risk of infection, anemia and/or bleeding 4th. Mouth sores. 5th. This is the one I'm sure I will love. Hair loss or (alopecia). He said with my chemo I will lose every bit of hair on my entire body. That's everywhere!!!!! 6th. Eyes watering. 7th. Urine may appear red etc. 8th. Darkening of the nail beds, darkening of the skin, Problems with fertility, I don't think I need to worry about that. Then there is the last but by no means least: Possibly developing blood cancer, or leukemia years after taking the drug.

One of the neat things I found was the fact that Scotty Hamilton's CARES foundation supplied all the information about the drugs.

I also asked the doctor about using ginger for the nausea, he said no one he knows uses that. He did say that they have new medicine that is both for nausea and vomiting.

I then headed over to see Bob at the health food store to see what he had to say about Chemo and nausea etc. He then told me about his grandmother and the fact that she was given 6 months to live, but with his help she lived twelve months. that didn't give me much of a lift I must say. He grabbed three things off the shelf and said I would need them for the low blood count. One of the supplements is $100.00 for a 30 day supply and the other one is $50.00. In reading the label I noticed I take everything in the $100.00 bottle except for one ingredient. My regular pills don't cost that much a month and my Insurance covers it. I'm not sure what to do, my feeling is that some of what Bob said can help me, but the nurse told me the best thing for low blood count are leafy green veggies. I can eat a lot of veggies for $150.00 a month.

I have my work cut out for me for the summer. The biggest thing that Dr. Rushing, the Sarcoma specialist said was keep active, work out each day in the early morning in the sunshine. He said the sunshine is very important in fighting cancer but that I can't afford to get a sunburn while taking Chemo. He said the early morning sun will not hurt me but to get inside after about 10 or 10:30.

I'm going to get the pool open today and tomorrow so Sammy can enjoy the weekend and the rest of summer. Debby D was over today and said she will mind the pool if she can swim. I put her in charge of everything after 10am.

That's it for today I'll pray for all of you, please return the prayers.