My current challenge: I have a really high output into my ileostomy bag. I drink 8 ozs and 6 oz comes out almost immediately. Since I was in the hospital, they were tracking this very closely. I was outputting 1000 ccs by noon, when acceptable range is 1500 per day.
thus, the dehydration and weight challenges. They tried a mix of Lomodil and Opium tincture 2 days in the hospital to slow it down. Didn't work. They upped the Opium dosage when I got home and KNOCK ON WOOD - it "seems" to be slowing it down.
What I pray for, is that the drugs work, because next step would be an IV feeding tube. I can't go there folks. Failure not an option. The Gastro Intestinal Cancer team is meeting today and will discuss my case to come up with plan. They need me stable and strong to keep on with chemo then Radiation.
Radiation- the word just scares me. The Breast Cancer ladies say it's a cake-walk compared to chemo and it's side effects. However, won't be the case for me, due to location. I mean, come on, I'm gonna get poison lasered up my Butt. Sores, fistulas, rashes, pain in the rectal area is different than your arm or armpit, you can still sit and lay down and walk with a scabby armpit.
I have to try and not get worked up about it. Lee keeps saying that this is the price to pay to get healed from the cancer. And that's the goal.
Another bump in the road- I got a rash all around my porta-cath- the exact size of the bandage covering. I can't get the 3 primary chemo drugs in my arm, only via port. So please lift a prayer that this rash heals and DOESN'T turn into an infection, I need to get back on full chemo cycles.
Other than that, just another day in Cancer Paradise!
XOXOX Peggy
Peg, you know me, humor is a big part of getting through difficult times and healing. I thought I would share this with you in hopes it will make you smile. I love you! April
ReplyDeleteTOP 10 REASONS I CAN'T BE SICK ANYMORE
This is a contribution by Betty Cea, a woman with a sense of humor who just happens to also have lymphoma.
It is a good illustration of how some cancer patients use humor to relieve tension and shine a bit of light into the dark corners of their world. As she wrote in the e-mail giving us permission to use her name, "My hair left, my dysfunctional family whom I love very much stayed, and the cancer has come back. I might as well laugh while I fight . . . cancer hates a sense of humor . . ."
Especially if you are not married and if you also have a dysfunctional family that you nevertheless love very much, you are likely to enjoy her commentary on living with a recurrence of cancer under those conditions.
10. My cat and I have gotten too familiar. She has started using the toilet and I have started meowing.
9. Did you know when you are home all the time you can see pieces of dirt no one else can see?
8. Every bodily function you have chooses to dysfunction, but only when you are in public.
7. Your entire family becomes hyper-dysfunctional. Therefore, you must take care of them as well as yourself. I wonder if the psycho ward down the road has group rates
6. If you get sick, be prepared to give up your bed, as whoever comes to take care of you will find an immediate reason they cannot use your fold out couch, i.e. I can't get out of the bed, I am afraid of the cat, I am allergic to the cat, I am allergic to the material of the couch. In short, your couch has cooties.
5. Did you know that your fully functional kitchen now becomes totally ill equipped? Never mind that you are the one making the meals. My God, how did you live this long without knowing this?
4. True, your medicine says you shouldn't drive. But don't worry. You can be the designated driver and be on chemo too . . . your caretaker can wake you up . . . no problem. In the event you have a caretaker that will drive and has their own car, they will insist on driving yours just so you will never get your seats and mirrors back to the right place.
3. Be prepared for your caretaker to take over the television and the remote and sit on your bed (which is the sofa) until 3 in the morning. Your couch doesn't have cooties when they are watching TV. It's a miracle.
2. You know that book you bought to keep yourself busy so everyone else can watch television? Guess what, they need that too, to entertain themselves. Remember, you are sick, so you are entitled to no creature pleasures.
And the top reason you can't be sick . . .
1. YOU NEED TO GET LAID AFTER ALL THIS!!!!!
I had skin problems from what I thought were the adhesives ... turns out I was allergic to the chlorhexidine antiseptic wipes they used to clean the area. Check if they are using that on you and maybe see if they could switch to something else for a while.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you have to have that radiation. It sounds like it will be tough but hang in there girl.