The Day Dawns
May. 14th, 2011 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mlerulesNot quite up w/the crows today. Got some intermittent sleep. Will try napping some later, but the new dryer's due for delivery 'n' installation here sometime 'tween 9-11am so I wanna be awake 'n' functional for that. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jaylake slept some last night, too, but I'm very glad he's crashed out again on the couch right now, as the exhaustion w/this round o' chemo's been extreme and last night's sleep was fairly fitful.
Have discovered thatjaylake's chemo-infuser pump* goes click/whir every so slightly every minute, so I find myself listening for it (or, rather, listening for not it). Sorta silly, actually, b'c if'n something does go wonky - crimped line, low battery, &c. - an alarm'll go off. And beeping'll apparently happen as well once the well's nearly run dry (approx 2:05pm tomorrow aka Sunday, about 48 hours after it began filling his bloodstream w/toxic chemicals).
He reports that this version of chemo (FOLFIRI) so far has far less harsh mental side-effects than the FOLFOX did last time. (It hasn't halved his IQ 'n' brain capacity.) The new regimen, however, does have far harsher physical side-effects, the ones most commonly associated w/chemo (serious exhaustion & major nausea). Ah, balance...
Yesterday featured a chunk o' time in the OHSU Cancer Care Center (7th floor of waterfront clinic). Lovely views, very nice facilities, and really good staff by 'n' large. I got to watch lotsa boats out on the Willamette cruise by and around Ross Island - dragon boats, canoes, kayaks, power boats, a barge pushed along by a bright yellow tugboat, the Spirit of Portland (if'n that's it's real name - I'm tip-tapping along here w/out paying a lotta attention to what I'm saying now), &c. The window also looks out onto a functioning boatyard, where I could see a guy welding as part of the building of a new boat (possibly a barge). Apparentlyjaylake &c. were there to see the last barge built there launch into the river, which was quite the occasion!
*a Cudd Prizm, which puts me in mind of him as a calf suckling while teathered to a medicinal teat
jaylake slept some last night, too, but I'm very glad he's crashed out again on the couch right now, as the exhaustion w/this round o' chemo's been extreme and last night's sleep was fairly fitful.Have discovered that
jaylake's chemo-infuser pump* goes click/whir every so slightly every minute, so I find myself listening for it (or, rather, listening for not it). Sorta silly, actually, b'c if'n something does go wonky - crimped line, low battery, &c. - an alarm'll go off. And beeping'll apparently happen as well once the well's nearly run dry (approx 2:05pm tomorrow aka Sunday, about 48 hours after it began filling his bloodstream w/toxic chemicals). He reports that this version of chemo (FOLFIRI) so far has far less harsh mental side-effects than the FOLFOX did last time. (It hasn't halved his IQ 'n' brain capacity.) The new regimen, however, does have far harsher physical side-effects, the ones most commonly associated w/chemo (serious exhaustion & major nausea). Ah, balance...
Yesterday featured a chunk o' time in the OHSU Cancer Care Center (7th floor of waterfront clinic). Lovely views, very nice facilities, and really good staff by 'n' large. I got to watch lotsa boats out on the Willamette cruise by and around Ross Island - dragon boats, canoes, kayaks, power boats, a barge pushed along by a bright yellow tugboat, the Spirit of Portland (if'n that's it's real name - I'm tip-tapping along here w/out paying a lotta attention to what I'm saying now), &c. The window also looks out onto a functioning boatyard, where I could see a guy welding as part of the building of a new boat (possibly a barge). Apparently
jaylake &c. were there to see the last barge built there launch into the river, which was quite the occasion! *a Cudd Prizm, which puts me in mind of him as a calf suckling while teathered to a medicinal teat
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 05:11 pm (UTC)Yeah, I know what you mean about the pump. I listened for that and to hear him breathe. The sounds mark time, slowly, slowly but they mean all is well.
Not to be a bummer but...The first two or three chemos on FOLFOX didn't affect him mentally either. The mental stuff is cummulative. He's probably forgotten but he did a lot of stuff the first 3 or 4 chemos before it really got to him.
I'm hoping the nausea will pass. I taught him to eat a little fairly often, that helps a lot. Protein is better than carbs. Protein shakes probably a good idea although those things in the can suck--but you can use them for a base with a banana.
I gota run but I'll be home after 5 if either of you want to call and talk.
Anon
no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 12:45 am (UTC)Worse parts were when he had nightmares at the chemo infusions and again at home.
Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 08:29 pm (UTC)::hugs:: and wishes for speedy healing and the best of humor while you work through this together.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-14 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 08:57 am (UTC)Give him a hug for me.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 01:09 pm (UTC)