Only nine more weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy left! I start my countdown weeks on a Tuesday since that's the day I started both chemo and radiation. Once my radiation ends, my chemo ends as well...that means my last day of therapy will be July 19th.
Damage report: My throat is very sore, hurts even when I swallow, I can still eat soft foods, but may eventually need to use my feeding tube in the near future. Note: my first six weeks of therapy is done on my neck, throat and tongue, the next six weeks of therapy will be on my right chest...I'm hoping that once the first six weeks are done with my throat, that I may not need the feeding tube. I also have five heat blisters on my neck skin, which is normal; my radiation doctor, Dr. Treadwell says that the blisters will get worse. Interestingly, I haven't lost any hair yet, but my beard has gone totally GRAY!!
Catching up since my last post:
Wednesday, 5/11: First visit from my Home Nurse, who will visit my home every Wednesday for a health check-up and to keep an eye on any feeding tube complications. His name is Charlie Derzotti, RN., who works for "Family Health Care Services," was very friendly and positive. Today he showed my how to clean my feeding tube and the stomach connection, how to add new gauze twice a day, and I must clean the feeding tube itself every 12-hours whether or not I use it for feeding. He also brought me extra boxes of gauze and tapes, several piston tube syringes, Wound Cleanser (Name brand, Skintegrity), Adhesive Tape Remover Pads, Protective Wipes, etc. I showed him my blog as to show my great support group, "Team Bruce." He stated, that when he saw the "Team Bruce" pictures he actually had a tingles running up his spine! Charlie eventually left after two hours.
Thursday, 5/12: First home visit from my dietitian, her name is Joanna Gorman who also works for "Family Health Care Services." She brought a booklet called, "Tube Feeding At Home." Asked me questions about my knowledge of nutrition; explained to her that as a runner I keep my food ratio to about 50% carbs, 25% protein, and 25% healthy fats, but I will probably add more protein and less carbs since I'm no longer running. She said that I'm not like most people don't have such a deep knowledge of nutrition nor any idea what are their nutritional needs. I said I have read several nutrition books from a runner's viewpoint and showed her my two running nutritional books, "Performance Nutrition For Runners," by Matt Fitzgerald, and "Nancy Clark's Food Guide For Marathoners, by Nancy Clark, MS, RD" She was particularly pleased with Nancy Clark's book as she noted the author is also a nutritionist. She then proceeded to take my weight with her own electronic weight scale, I currently weigh 166.2 pounds, which is the lightest I've been in many years. She stated that most doctors would strongly want me to weigh at least 180+ pounds as to assure that I'm not becoming malnourised...but she is very confident that I'm fullfilling my needs at the current time. She calculated that I should be consuming at least 2,200 daily calories. In the future I may need to eventually use my feeding tube and consuming enough quality calories would be problemetic, therefore she recommended the product, "Resource 2.0," that would easily provide nutrition needs as it's calorically and protein dense (480 calories and 20 grams of protein per 8 fl oz box.) Just in case, the THC Pharmacy has my name on file, and would deliver a case of "Resource 2.0" anytime I call and will deliver the product at anytime as it's open 24 hours!
I haven't been on my computer very often as I've been hard pressed for extra time due to my working 12-hours days, treatments, visits, and being totally exhausted most of the time. I had a very big surprise when I visited my favorite running forum at "about.com running/jogging site, where the "Bruce's Team" resides...the following picture was posted:
8 comments:
Haven't you shaved your head yet??!! I thought we said you were going to be a cool bald guy?? ;-)
I'm glad your home nurse was appreciative of your Team!! ...and it sounds like your dietician is impressed with your knowledge of her subject.
Only 3 weeks of radiation left for your neck and tongue. I think somehow the next 6 weeks after that will somehow be easier, as the radiation won't be in such a tender place.
Stay strong! :-)
Hi Bruce,
A visitor to my blog left a message for you. He is a cancer survivor.
I haven't been blog hopping in a really long time and just read about your cancer and treatments. praying for you!
So you are half way through the throat treatment, YAY!! You are doing amazing! Keep up the great attitude, you are amazing!
Howdy bizzilizzie! Nope, I haven't shaved my head yet, but I did get a butch cut, which makes me look rather military...I noticed today that my head is also having streaks of gray too...after three weeks of therapy I look 10 years older...Allen looks like my younger brother!
Howdy Allen! I did respond to Pennsy and will keep up with him on his blog too. Thanks for paying-it-forward to me!
Bruce, you may not lose your hair. I didn't, but I did shave it off in a desparate bid for pity. It worked pretty well. The silver lining for me on the nutrition front was that I weighed 397 on the day of my surgery. Down to 271 now. No more chemo/radiation though. I'm going to have to continue weight loss through more conventional means... I don't reccomend it as a program, but when life gives you lemons... LiveStrong, brother.
Gee, I've always wanted an older brother! Need a better way to get one, though.
Your progress sounds great, Bruce!
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