Metaphors

I'm in the weeds
It's ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag
Let's get the quarterback off the field before he gets hurt
It's a full house!
I'm a quart low
Oh, so your in for a quick tune up?
When it rains it pours
Up a creek

These are all metaphors I've been living lately.

Up a creek
After round seven I got sick.  I had a cold for about a week, but when you are on chemo, a cold isn't a small thing.  I took antibiotics and was monitored very closely.  After I was done coughing, I developed some canker type sores in my throat making it very uncomfortable to swallow.  Canker sores are very common for chemo patients, since all of our mucus membranes are under attack.  There is this amazing mouthwash, developed at Stanford,  that takes away the pain while healing these sores.  It is called 'magic mouthwash' and it is!  Luckily, with the sores being in my throat gargling with this amazing stuff reached it and I could soon swallow comfortably.  

I'm in the weeds
Then we had round eight.  For some reason it was rough on me, really rough.  These medications have always been harsher than the short round, and with receiving them more days in a row my body was just worn out.  In the hospital lots of vomiting, constipation and weakness.  I received a transfusion shortly before discharge, and walked out of the hospital.  The following week the constipation lead to diarrhea, and hemorrhoids.  Coupled with an inability to eat dehydration got worse.  I spoke with my medical foundation nurse every day, went in for blood work and ultimately scheduled a meeting with a nephrologist because we were now concerned about my kidney.  

It's ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag
I was nervous about this meeting.  Only having one kidney makes me anxious about anything having to do with hydration and I was afraid I now had another life long disease to deal with.  She ordered an ultrasound and I was surprised when they checked and captured images from both sides of my abdomen.  The results read, "Left kidney surgically absent, right kidney unremarkable."  There is nothing better than the term 'unremarkable' when used medically.  After speaking with the nephrologist, who is amazing by the way, I have learned that chemo has injured my kidney.  The filters inside my kidney are damaged because they are being made to filter toxic medications, and they need time to heal.  They are so full of stuff they need time to filter even just water.  She also recommended I change some of my chemo regime and remove some of the harshest medications, my oncologist and I will have to discuss this.  She wants to monitor my kidney more closely, weekly blood and urine tests to check levels. I will be taking a break from chemo, I do not know how long, but I am fine with a break given everything else going on. So, let's get the quarterback off the field before he gets hurt.

Yesterday, I went to have my midway PET scan.  YES we are almost exactly half way through chemo!  Before I started chemo I had a PET scan to see if there was any accumulation of cancer cells anywhere else, and to check my bone marrow.  Though I have gotten results back from this test, as I do not completely understand them, I'll let you know more after I talk with my doctor.

Oh, so your in for a quick tune up?
After my PET scan yesterday I started on my now weekly blood work.  While sitting on the couch later in the afternoon, I got a concerned call from my medical foundation nurse asking me to please get to the hospital as soon as possible to get a bag of platelets because I was low.  I figured I was about a quart low.  No problem, my dad hurried me down there with my iPad and a bottle of water for my two hour stay.  By the time I arrived, I had been admitted for the night.  My platelets were LOW, like so low that my nurse told me to sit down and she would unpack me.  There was nothing to unpack, I didn't know I was staying, Shac brought me a bag later with jammies and toothbrush.  So last night I had two bags of platelets, three bags of blood and eight potassium pills. My medical foundation nurse said I got a full house of blood products, with the 2 bags of platelets and 3 of blood.  I'm still putting together what all of this means, but I feel pretty good for the first time since December.  

When it rains it pours
Whew!  That is a lot going on!  But wait, there's more.
Next Sunday my sister is getting married.  I am so excited to get to participate, and hope I continue to feel good.  Two weekends ago, I missed her bachelorette party which of course was in Disneyland.  Here is the picture of me in my Bachelorette party swank, notice I have a slurpee, not a drink from the tiki bar like she did.  Cheers to moving forward healthily.