Blood Transfusion

It seemed like another long day today. We left here after 8 and were a few minutes late to his 10 o'clock appointment. I don't drive as fast in the rain, and we ran into a traffic jam in Portland. They had trouble drawing blood again from his Port, but it didn't matter for this. He got a little clear fluid before starting the 2 units of blood. The transfusion was just like a chemo treatment - just added blood and did not remove anything. It was almost 3 PM when it finished. His BP was low before they started (117 over 70 something). After the first unit, it went up to 134/80. The nurse slowed up the process a little on the second unit. She said it was probably low due to the lack of red blood cells. He weighed about 163 lbs. after getting all these fluids the past 2 days. The nurse said it will take a couple days for him to perk up. After the tranfusion, he got his shot to buiild up his white blood cells. When we got home, Curt took an Excedrin for "a little bit" of pain. We are looking forward to riding in a limousine to the airport this Thursday and heading to Chicago.

Treatment #8

Today was a long day. We left after 7:30 AM and got home after 7:30 PM. They had a little mix up and got Curt started later than 9:30. They took his "vitals" before seeing the Nurse Practioner (he usually sees the doctor or NP first). He weighed about 157.6 lbs. (4 pounds less than last week), his BP was 121/77, and his temperature was 99.3 (slightly higher). Maybe that is why the NP asked us if we were visiting a big city with hospitals available in case of infection or something. She told Curt to wash his hands a lot and move away from anyone coughing or sneezing on the airplane. He could wear a mask if he wants (he doesn't want). We told the NP about Curt's tiredness (he has been sleeping A LOT) and doesn't have any energy. The blood test showed he is severely anemic (his "RBC" and "HGB" were half of what they should be), but the white count and other things were good enough for him to have the treatment. The good news is that Curt took an oxycodone at 7:00 am before we left (he had been alternating between oxycodone and Excedrin every 4-6 hours) and has not had to take another oxycodone or excedrin all day. Tomorrow we are returning at 10 AM for him to have a blood transfusion (2 units). Hopefully this transfusion will do as good a job of raising the red cell count (and restoring energy) as the treatment did for his pain. I guess the transfusion takes about 4 hours. After that he will get his followup shot for the white blood cell count there. We didn't get out of OHSU until 4 PM. We then stopped by the Bakers for about half an hour and ate supper in Albany. It was a nice drive up in the morning, but it was raining hard driving home in the dark. We are cancelling our trip to California at the end of January (for now). They have scheduled another treatment on January 4 and possibly another on January 25. Curt might have another MRI around this time depending on how he feels.

Dr. Chui

Curt weighed about 161 lbs. and his bp was 134/84 today. He saw another Resident Doctor before seeing Dr. Chui. Curt told them about the pain in his ear (we think they already knew about that) and his mouth (caused partly by his difficulty with chewing and biting his tongue) , his tiredness, and his tingly feet and ankles. They recommended he take the oxycodone for the pain (the pain is not much better with the drops). The nurse recommended another over-the-counter stool softener/laxative to take for his oxycodone side effects. The tiredness is from the chemo and tumor. The tingly feet and ankles are also from the chemo (it can destroy muscles, and his kidneys might not be taking care of potasium and magnesium that could cause this feeling - Dr. Chui will watch this, because this could also lead to his heart stopping). Dr. Chui also thought Curt's eye was drooping more (I think so too) and wanted to restart the chemotherapy ASAP. It will be the same thing (taxotere and cisplatin). They didn't have time until next Monday, December 14. Right after Dr. Chui said he wanted to start ASAP, he left the room. Shortly after a nurse came in to help us schedule it. We had a few more questions to ask, but asked the nurse some and will ask about going to California at the end of January (one of the 3 week treatments would be right in the middle of our week at San Diego) next week. We asked about going to Illinois from December 17-28 and didn't get a direct answer. However, we are assuming that will be okay. We also don't know for sure how many more treatments he will receive (that will probably depend on several things), but they did say they would be 3 weeks apart. Hopefully we will find out more about that next week too and these treatments will help!

Ear Pain and Dr. Gross

Curt has been having pain and clogging of his left ear. He e-mailed Dr. Gross a week ago Sunday about a thick yellow drainage. Dr. Gross said it was probably from the tumor, but to let him know if he had a temperature (for an infection). For the past several days it had been getting more painful and bothering Curt more (he was taking Excedrin everyday for the pain), so he e-mailed Dr. Gross again last Sunday and told him we were coming to Lake Oswego from Wednesday to Friday. Dr. Gross said he could see Curt on Tuesday, so Curt called for an appointment. He saw Dr. Gross' new Resident doctor first this afternoon. The Resident couldn't see very far into his ear and had to clean it out first. He commented about his crooked ear canal. It took him a little while to get it cleaned out so he could see the drainage tube. He said the tube looked good, but there was "debris". They prescribed ear drops ($83 worth for 3 weeks - 4 drops twice a day). The drops have both a steroid for swelling and an antibiotic. They also looked with their "snake" in his nose and saw a polyp that didn't seem to bother them. Dr. Gross also looked at his MRI and its results. He thinks the ear pain is from the tumor. The tumor is not just one lump. It branches out. Some of it has been destroyed, but not all of it. The tumor is deep inside where his ear is. He also said there are other chemo treatments that might work. It will be up to Dr. Chui to decide what to do (Curt sees him on December 7). Dr. Gross said the MRI can't tell you everything. They also have to go on how Curt feels, etc.

Good or Bad News?

Curt saw Dr. Chui this morning. His weight was good (161.1 lbs.), but his blood pressure was up a little (143/82). He first saw another Resident Doctor who asked questions and examined him (briefly). Curt told her all his "problems". One of his two biggest complaints are runny nose (that causes congestion - especially at night), ear, & eye (with a little pain above his eye a couple times where he took some Excedrin, and some blurry eyes for reading). The second biggest complaint is tiredness. He needs to rest while doing most things, like mowing the grass, and then take a nap afterwards. Some of his other complaints are tingling in his ankles and feet; feeling cold at times; nausea that lasted longer; and some minor memory problems. All of the symptoms can be from the chemotherapy or cancer. Dr. Chui said he didn't know what to say about the MRI. It showed some "enhancement" that could be caused by swelling from the treatments or by more cancer. We believe he said the "enhancement" is an enlargement of nerves around the large tumor that was at the base of his skull. One good thing is that this tumor is about the same or smaller. Dr. Chui said the only way he could tell if the enhancement was more cancer would be how Curt felt and looked. He thought Curt looked pretty good (especially after receiving doses 30% HIGHER than normal dosages). Dr. Chui said Curt was tough and a fighter. The Resident doctor wondered how much daytime Curt spent "resting". We thought it was over 50% of his time. He said Curt could drop the treatments for 4 weeks and then return to see Dr. Chui. If Curt continued to feel better, then the treatments were probably working. If Curt felt worse or had more pain, then it is possible the cancer has returned or spread. He won't have another MRI unless Dr. Chui thinks he needs one after his visit on Monday, December 7. If there is more cancer, we would have to discuss what to do next. He could possibly try another treatment, but it wouldn't be as good and could cause worse symptoms. He thought we should go to Illinois from December 17-28, and he could work around it.
Last Thursday is when Curt had his MRI at OHSU. Afterwards, we picked up Vega at school about 2:30. She was at school while Angie was doing some work from home. Later we celebrated Vega's 5th birthday at Build-a-Bear and McDonalds in the Mall with them and then went back to their place to open some presents. On Sunday we were going to go up to Vega's party at the Little Gym at 12:30. However, Vega had a temperature (102), so they postponed the party until next Sunday. Jef was cooking a big a turkey on the grill for his family and us after the party. So we drove up about 4:30. Jef's parents were also there. We tried to keep our distance from Vega. She feels better for awhile after some Tylenol and eating. When Angie e-mailed Vega's pre-kindergarten teacher about school today, the teacher e-mailed back that she only had 4 of her 10 students. Curt was able to get the seasonal flu vaccine last Friday. There isn't any H1N1 vaccine available around here yet.
So we wait and see how Curt feels during the next few weeks.

Treatment #7

We spent last night at the Bakers because Curt had to see the Nurse Practioner at 8 AM this morning. He is gaining weight (162.6 lbs.)! He thought maybe his jeans contributed to some of the weight, but noticed they were feeling tighter. Curt mentioned how much his runny nose bothers him. His eye is also watering more and affecting his reading some. I noticed water running out of his ear the other day too and his ear sometimes feels clogged. The NP said these can all be side effects of the chemo. She also mentioned some of his eyelashes and nose hairs have probably disappeared and contributed to the problem. She recommended he take both Benadryl (which he has been taking every night) and either Claritin or Zyrtec. All of this makes him lightheaded at times too. Curt also told her how tired he has been feeling. The only tennis he played since his last treatment was with my group once. He also had to rest between mowing the front and back yards and takes naps almost every day. Walking doesn't seem to bother him as much.
The NP thought since the symptoms seem to be increasing, he should have another MRI before his next scheduled treatment on November 9. So they scheduled one on November 5 (Vega's 5th birthday). He will then see Dr. Chui on November 9th too. She hinted it might be time to take a break on the chemo. She also said he could get flu shots (not nose sprays) just before his next treatment. This will give his blood counts time to build up again.
The blood tests were all about the same as last time. The kidney portion was almost exactly the same. Curt has been working on drinking more fluids. So they went ahead with this treatment. We were out of there a little after 1 and stopped several places for shopping on the way home. We didn't get home until after 6.