Second chemo session

-Second Chemo Session

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Today I had my second chemo. I have accompanied this entry with photos that include needles inserted into me. Just so you are prepared. Two drugs, Aloxi and Pepcid, are “pushed” into me.  The saline, dexamethasone and texotere flow from bags hung on a stand at my side. This stand has wheels so I can take it to the restroom should I need that. Also the IV department provides comfy recliners for me for the two hours I sit there.

We left home about 9:45 for a 10 am appointment at Mayo Clinic Health System-Red Cedar. After a few preliminaries of registering and checking my vitals, the actual session began at 10:15.  First the needle was inserted into a vein on my left hand. I had had a bit of redness last time with the needle at my right elbow. If a problem develops, it will be easier to care for on the hand.  You can see the arrangement in the photo below.

Then in succession came a few minutes of saline solution followed by 20 mg of dexamethasone, a steroid.  The dex started into me at 10:15 and flowed until 10:30.  After an 8-minute preparation, the next drug, an anti-nausea medication, Aloxi, .25 mg, flowed in, and then 20 mg of Pepcid, another stomach calmer.  The last two drugs took 7 minutes to enter me.  At 10:43 the 150 mg of Taxotere began to flow.  At 11:58 the bag was empty. After a Lupron shot, something I receive every 4 months, we left for home about 12:10.

Every drug is scanned before it is set up to flow into me. Also, before the Texotere is hooked up to me, two people have to read the labels and confirm that it is Texotere and it is meant for me. I have a picture of the scanner below also. 

The session takes place in a normal sized consultation room. Everyone is attentive, very professional, yet willing to carry on conversations about whatever topic arises. Today we discussed Dexter cattle, an Irish breed, for a bit.  I read most of the time. My current book is Our Daily Bread, a socioeconomic history of Germany from 1500-1850. I have amassed a large amount of data on my ggg grandfather Jacob Reiser and I have decided to turn all that material into some kind of small book. Our Daily Bread is part of my research.

I type this at 1:30 pm after lunch.  I feel fine and will go for a walk of about 2 miles shortly.  I don’t know how I will feel tomorrow so I want to get the walk in today.  Last time I really felt ok except for tiredness and constipation issues.  I am not sure that those issues were caused by the chemo; they had been present for several weeks prior as I worked through the ascites problems in my abdominal cavity.

I have been thinking about an entry on my emotional state as my cancer has taken the turn that it has, but I will wait a bit before I write that. The short version is that I am blessed with a makeup that allows me to say truly that I am not worried and not afraid. But there is more to that and I would like to explain it.

The lead up to chemotherapy

My cancer after eight years became aggressive on September 18. I had a vomiting attack which I initially attributed to a virus; however I had another one on September 22. That same day I went to see my oncologist.  The PSA drawn that day indicated that Zytiga had failed. He started me on Xtandi. In addition I complained about my back hurting; he decided I should have a CT scan. That scan showed that I had an abnormal amount of  ascites fluid in my abdominal cavity. We decided to have the cavity drained which happened a few days later on October 1. They removed 5.5 liters of fluid from my cavity.  That process is pretty interesting. I was awake through all of it and talked to the doctor and the nurse. At one point near the end they actually tipped me over so all the fluid would run down toward the  tap needle. In addition the sudden increase of ascites caused the doctor to suggest I stop  Xtandi and begin chemotherapy as soon as possible which I did on October 8. I will have the therapy, which takes about 90 minutes, every three weeks.  They are not sure how many sessions I will need.

 The only side effect I am having is a constipation diarrhea problem. I believe I will have this straightened around in the next day or two. What I will say is that MiraLAX really works on constipation.

The other thing that happened is that my  doctor thinks that I have about a year to live. I have announced this to my family and friends and of course they have found that hard. I have known for some time that this day would come and I am actually more prepared for it than I thought. I do not expect, however, to sit around and wait to die. I have many curiosities and enjoyments and I intend to do them until I am physically or mentally no longer able. I will comment more on the emotional side of this in future posts.

One last thing -- I will go to Rochester clinic for a thorough examination of my case in early November. They have asked for a complete set of records including slides and images back to 2007. I think a lot of us are waiting to see the results of all the tests there. One thing I have not liked is that I have had to cancel some of the speeches that I had been asked to give. But so it goes.

Beginning Chemo

 On October 8, 2015 I begin chemotherapy for my prostate cancer. The drug being uses Taxotere apparently the usual drug to use in this situation. Since the first treatment I have not had so far any of the usual side effects such as hair loss or metallic taste but I am having ongoing problems with my lower G.I. system. I will detail of these in later blog.