O-Dark-Thirty

  I had a biopsy of my liver yesterday. Not a horrible procedure, but I suppose there is always some trauma to your body when someone sticks a ten inch needle into you. I’m still tired today. I was supposed to have my second chemo session this morning, but after a conversation with my Doctor, we plan to change things up a bit. The side effects from my chemo were more severe than he anticipated. This, even after he reduced the drug potency, knowing I have low tolerance. There is also the point of diminishing returns. Doctor said to me that the chemo would only add months to my life expectancy. Well, I replied, if it takes months of chemo and chemo-related misery to add months of less misery, then what’s the point? He replied “That’s fair.” After talking about the side effects of the first session he said to me “If you were my brother, I’d not want you to keep doing this.” I thought about how nice a response that is. He really is a great guy, as well as a good Doctor. We’ll upgrade him t

Dec 5 I feel better today. I checked my pulse rate and it is in the low 70s for the first time since the Chemo. Yeah, I think it is related. Still tired, but not feeling beat up. I’ll take it. God bless you all! Dec 6 Yeah, that didn’t last. By the afternoon I ached all over. Last night my pillow got covered in hair - my hair. So, this morning we cut it short. I don’t think this will work, though. It’s still falling out in handfuls. As much as I don’t want to admit it, my beard is coming out too. Too bad. I liked my hair. Dec 7 We cut my hair very short, to minimize shedding. My pillow this morning was still covered with my - now shorter - hair. I cut my beard off.  Yeah, I look like a different man.

I think I'm starting to lose my hair, which is too bad. I have great hair. Even my brother Barry says so. Many of the other side-effects of the Chemo beset me as well. Literature mentions mouth sores, but I wasn't sure what to expect on that front. I found out. It's like I was too quick to take a bite of hot pizza all over the roof of my mouth and partly down my throat. So, not to be too obvious, but it feels the same way on the other side of that gastrointestinal tract. You figure it out. I've gone full circle, I think. Thank you, Desitin. Yeah, you probably didn't want to hear that one. I have the leg pains. Some days I feel like someone kicked me in the crotch five minutes ago - except it feels like that all day. Like today. Other than that, I feel better today. So ... yeah! I spend a lot of time complaining about the side effects, but I don't think I want to do that for this post. There are other side-effects to talk about. The blessings. I sat with Darling