Catching Up

It has been nice catching up with Amy, hearing about what’s up with her, and discussing issues about me. (It’s all about me, don’tcha’ know!) So we took up a bunch of time that I would have spent writing to you talking to her. Don’t hate her for it, OK?

AND, this round of chemo has taken its toll on me as well. My weight has gone from 197 on Thursday after the start of chemo to 174, a new low, this morning. But, with the edema and diuretics, it was expected.

Amy left Tuesday night and I went home and slept from 6PM to midnight, got a chance to talk to Ben for a couple of hours, slept again until 7AM, was up for less than 2 hours, and slept again until noon. Call it 14 hours of sleep.

While I was up and about, I started to feel lousy. Then the diarrhea kicked in. So, between that and the shakes, I figured that I might have to go back in to the VLCC.

Have I bragged on my kids lately? I didn’t mean to forget, so I’d like to take this opportunity to rectify the situation.

Ben, seeing how I looked, (this has to be hard on him, BTW) called into work, letting them know that he wouldn’t be in so he could take care of me if necessary. I didn’t ask; he just did it! I felt bad that he took off work, but I was glad that he did so. I do love my kids!

So, I called the VLCC and waited for over a half hour for a call back. I described what was going on and received some advice, with instructions to call back when and if things changed for the worse.

Here’s the fun part. Remember the issue I had with my diarrhea meds that I described in Late, but Still Today? I was given very specific verbal instructions on how to take the meds. When I received the meds, however, the written instructions were different. I started taking the meds that night, but called the VLCC the next day to clarify dosing instructions. Then I was told to follow the verbal instructions.

NOW, I’m being told to follow the label directions, not the very specific verbal instructions I had been given. Is that any way to run a clinic?

So, I took anti-diarrhea meds and crashed. Ben ran out and got a few things he needed including the first season of a TV series that he has had opportunity to catch. We watched the first four episodes.

Between the meds, the rest, and everything, by evening, I was feeling better. I ran off to bed about 10PM only to find that I couldn’t sleep most of the night. The same thing was happening the last time I had problems with diarrhea, so I’m guessing one S-FX (side effect) of that particular med is insomnia.

Anyway, I’m getting tired right now, so I think I’ll post this and try to take a nap. Maybe later….