Treatment #9

Another long day at OHSU. We drove up this morning for his 9:30 appointment with Dr. Chui. Curt weighed about 155 lbs. (lost about 5 pounds). As usual, he saw a Resident Doctor (they are always different) first. Dr. Chui wore a mask, because he had been sick. I was actually encouraged with what Dr. Chui had to say. He looked at the CT scan from Illinois and thought it looked good. It showed what had been done during his past surgeries around his sinuses, but didn't show any new tumors or growth. He said the discharge was to be expected from his sinuses, and he needed to watch for infection there. The odor was probably from old gunk that has been accumulating there. The lack of feeling and weakness in his feet, and somewhat in his hands, is a side effect of the Taxotere chemo. Dr. Chui decided to skip the Taxotere and just do the Cisplatin this time. He thinks the Taxotere might have been doing the best job on the cancer, but we will wait 3 weeks to see how the Cisplatin is doing. At that time they will decide on what to do for the next treatment (if any). Dr. Chui really thinks the chemo is helping. Another major problem is the pain around his left ear and jaw. Dr. Chui said that is to be expected with a "tumor eating away at the base of your skull." Curt has switched to Oxycodone for that and hopes he doesn't get too constipated. Another major problem is his tiredness and lack of energy. The nurse had a hard time opening up his Port to draw blood. We had to wait about an hour for something to dissolve and open it up. The first blood he drew was not conclusive, so he did another draw. This was a better draw. It showed his kidneys were borderline and his red cell count was way down again. So we are returning at 9 AM tomorrow for another blood transfusion. This time we came prepared to spend the night at Angie's. He can get his followup shot here after that. I thought we would be out of there sooner, but it took a long time to get the Cisplatin started, and he also had 2 big bags of saline fluid. It was after 4 before we left. I am worried that he is not eating enough. It is hard for him to chew, and because he has no feeling, he often bites his tongue. He did eat breakfast at home, but has only had an Ensure, a little soft drink, and a piece of candy so far today. We got to Bakers' after 4:30, and he immediately went to lie down (after trying to sleep in the lounge chair the whole day at OHSU). Sure hope the transfusion does better this time! Curt is also going to start to take an antidepressant. He has expressed some emotional these past few weeks. Dr. Chui said that is to be expected too.