The first day in the chair

  Yesterday I rode the chemo chair for the first time.  It was fatiguing but not painful.  I was in the chair for about four hours.  The chair is a functional but comfortable recliner.  One side of the cubical has a machine to monitor your vitals and the other side has a fancy IV stand that meters the drugs into your veins.  They have wifi, a TV and a cubby hole for your books and stuff.  My wife and mom took turns accompanying me.  I am very lucky to have such caring caregivers. 

I try to stay away from drugs.  We as a society medicate symptoms rather than address the underlying cause.  Just one example is the use of pain medications.  In my former career as a special operation paratrooper one would get injured; perhaps a sprained ankle.  Being a tough guy just use a little bit of speed tape and a few Motrin to mask the pain and allow mission completion.  Once back from the operation hobble around the shop and lay off PT and in hopes that it would heal.  The joint and surrounding tissues would be weak from a lack of real rest which is required for true healing.  The next very important mission would come around and the cycle would repeat until one day the compromised pieces parts would fail and make it so the tough guy could not walk, much less complete the mission.  So I try hard to avoid medications that just allow me to drive on, I still drive on just no pain meds…this means it hurts when I do a particular motion…so I don't do that motion. I watched a bunch of really good operators medically retire because they ate “ranger candy” and toughed it out until the body caved.  I compromised my long term health because I was an idiot in many ways, and needless pride filled “cowboy up” episodes were but one of the methods of self destruction…

Anyway now I am a chemical cocktail.  I took three types of preventative medications almost as soon as I sat down; Benadryl, decadron, and zofran.  The stick was no drama and soon I was receiving a saline solution to flush my veins.  The first drug may have scary side effects including something similar to anaphylactic shock.  To minimize the risk of making cancer a moot point the nurse started a very slow drip and monitored my vitals.  After several stepped increasing the flow and remaining non-reactive we were able to go full bore.  I suppose the advertisement would be if it does not kill you in the first fifteen minutes it is a great treatment.  Since I am not allergic to the drug next time we do not have to do the stepped approach.  The first drug was Carboplatin: heavy metal platinum interferes with mitosis.  One theory is that it works like cisplatin by binding stronger than guanine, one of the building blocks of DNA. Heavy metal chemo <http://tinyurl.com/colpp2z>

After a flush of the IV we started on the second drug.  I was able to fool around on my tablet, watch you tube videos and check email.  The second drug was Paclitaxel: a cytoskeletal creates defects in mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome segregation, and cell division. It keeps the microtubules from disassembly and thus keeps the cell from completing mitosis.  Originally derived from Yew tree bark…funny that the alternate medicine folks that complain that medicines from nature are ignored fought this cure to “save the trees”… Cytoskeletal was that a He-man character?  I think of the Aflac duck every time I say Paclitaxel.  

I watched a video that was slamming the cancer industry.  Some points are valid.  Big pharma, big medicine, big insurance, and the lawsuit industry are driven by profit.  Western medicine tends to tackle the symptom rather than address many underlying lifestyle root causes.  You are depressed because you live an unhealthy lifestyle and do bad things all the time…here is a pill.  You can not sleep because you ingest stimulants all day and/or you conscious bothers you…here have a pill.  Your penis is not functioning because your body is falling apart and you receive very little stimulus from your partners…have a pill.  But as a species we are living longer, healthier, wealthier lives and a lot of the credit goes to advances in medicine.  <http://tinyurl.com/bngnnbk>

Steve Jobs is the non-example of the effectiveness of alternate medicine.  A friend of mine asks “do you know what they call medicine verified by multiple double blind studies?”  Medicine…bad um bump

The weather was stormy cold and rainy when we left.  It was almost as if the director was working the mood-o-meter.  When we finished the skies opened up and a gorgeous Spring day emerged.  My wife drove back and that was a good thing.  I was very tired and drifted off to sleep a few times.  I have to take a 1000mg of Lapatinib everyday.  Lapatinib has a long track record with breast cancer…it is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor which means it interferes with the production of many proteins by interfering with the signals that cause the cell to produce and regulate many proteins essential for cell growth.  They gave me some anti-nausea pills with the instructions to take it at the first sign.  I woke up about four hours after taking the first dose feeling a little queasy.  The other symptoms so far are fatigue, a slight reddness, some itchiness and I am more sensitive to smells.  The conflicting side-effects of diarrhea and constipation seem to be minimal and I am thankful. 

I am very thankful that God has blessed me with so many AWESOME friends and an extremely supportive family.  I am very thankful for my healthcare team.  First round, not bad…I can not tell any changes in Limpoolio either size, mood or consistency

The first day in the chair

  Yesterday I rode the chemo chair for the first time.  It was fatiguing but not painful.  I was in the chair for about four hours.  The chair is a functional but comfortable recliner.  One side of the cubical has a machine to monitor your vitals and the other side has a fancy IV stand that meters the drugs into your veins.  They have wifi, a TV and a cubby hole for your books and stuff.  My wife and mom took turns accompanying me.  I am very lucky to have such caring caregivers. 

I try to stay away from drugs.  We as a society medicate symptoms rather than address the underlying cause.  Just one example is the use of pain medications.  In my former career as a special operation paratrooper one would get injured; perhaps a sprained ankle.  Being a tough guy just use a little bit of speed tape and a few Motrin to mask the pain and allow mission completion.  Once back from the operation hobble around the shop and lay off PT and in hopes that it would heal.  The joint and surrounding tissues would be weak from a lack of real rest which is required for true healing.  The next very important mission would come around and the cycle would repeat until one day the compromised pieces parts would fail and make it so the tough guy could not walk, much less complete the mission.  So I try hard to avoid medications that just allow me to drive on, I still drive on just no pain meds…this means it hurts when I do a particular motion…so I don’t do that motion. I watched a bunch of really good operators medically retire because they ate “ranger candy” and toughed it out until the body caved.  I compromised my long term health because I was an idiot in many ways, and needless pride filled “cowboy up” episodes were but one of the methods of self destruction…

Anyway now I am a chemical cocktail.  I took three types of preventative medications almost as soon as I sat down; Benadryl, decadron, and zofran.  The stick was no drama and soon I was receiving a saline solution to flush my veins.  The first drug may have scary side effects including something similar to anaphylactic shock.  To minimize the risk of making cancer a moot point the nurse started a very slow drip and monitored my vitals.  After several stepped increasing the flow and remaining non-reactive we were able to go full bore.  I suppose the advertisement would be if it does not kill you in the first fifteen minutes it is a great treatment.  Since I am not allergic to the drug next time we do not have to do the stepped approach.  The first drug was Carboplatin: heavy metal platinum interferes with mitosis.  One theory is that it works like cisplatin by binding stronger than guanine, one of the building blocks of DNA. Heavy metal chemo http://tinyurl.com/colpp2z

After a flush of the IV we started on the second drug.  I was able to fool around on my tablet, watch you tube videos and check email.  The second drug was Paclitaxel: a cytoskeletal creates defects in mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome segregation, and cell division. It keeps the microtubules from disassembly and thus keeps the cell from completing mitosis.  Originally derived from Yew tree bark…funny that the alternate medicine folks that complain that medicines from nature are ignored fought this cure to “save the trees”… Cytoskeletal was that a He-man character?  I think of the Aflac duck every time I say Paclitaxel.   

I watched a video that was slamming the cancer industry.  Some points are valid.  Big pharma, big medicine, big insurance, and the lawsuit industry are driven by profit.  Western medicine tends to tackle the symptom rather than address many underlying lifestyle root causes.  You are depressed because you live an unhealthy lifestyle and do bad things all the time…here is a pill.  You can not sleep because you ingest stimulants all day and/or you conscious bothers you…here have a pill.  Your penis is not functioning because your body is falling apart and you receive very little stimulus from your partners…have a pill.  But as a species we are living longer, healthier, wealthier lives and a lot of the credit goes to advances in medicine.  http://tinyurl.com/bngnnbk

Steve Jobs is the non-example of the effectiveness of alternate medicine.  A friend of mine asks “do you know what they call medicine verified by multiple double blind studies?”  Medicine…bad um bump

The weather was stormy cold and rainy when we left.  It was almost as if the director was working the mood-o-meter.  When we finished the skies opened up and a gorgeous Spring day emerged.  My wife drove back and that was a good thing.  I was very tired and drifted off to sleep a few times.  I have to take a 1000mg of Lapatinib everyday.  Lapatinib has a long track record with breast cancer…it is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor which means it interferes with the production of many proteins by interfering with the signals that cause the cell to produce and regulate many proteins essential for cell growth.  They gave me some anti-nausea pills with the instructions to take it at the first sign.  I woke up about four hours after taking the first dose feeling a little queasy.  The other symptoms so far are fatigue, my face seems a little red, shortly after consumption of the Lapatinib I get a little itchy but it only lasted a little while,  and I am more sensitive to smells.  The conflicting side-effects of diarrhea and constipation seem to be minimal so far and I am thankful. 

I am very thankful that God has blessed me with so many AWESOME friends and an extremely supportive family.  I am very thankful for my talented healthcare team.  First round, not bad…I can not tell any changes in Limpoolio either in size or consistency