The Battle Plan

Sorry for the long blog break...Jay has been feeling pretty good the past couple of weeks and we took advantage of the time to do a few normal things (more on that later).  But it's back to the battleground this week and we are in a full-on attack.

The first line of defense will be chemotherapy.  These little bottles now populate our window sill and they are the foot soldiers in this battle.  The plan involves 3 types of chemotherapy drugs.  Two of them are taken orally and the third is given in shot form once a week.  Mondays are the big chemo day.  At the clinic, his blood is tested to make sure he is fit for the treatment then the Velcade (Bortezomib) shot is given, usually in the stomach.  After that he takes an oral medication Cyclophosphamide, 13 nasty looking capsules.  The third drug is actually a steroid, Dexamethasone, it helps reduce the inflammation in the tumors but it also kills cancer cells - double-whammy!  This is taken about 4 days per week.  It has some interesting side effects, in a personality modification sort of way.  We've had a few experiences with the "Dex Monster" that I'll share just as soon as I can laugh about it.  Together this regimen is called CyBorD.  It is a relatively new strategy that is showing a lot of promise.

Then there are all the drugs that are taken to counteract the effects of the chemo drugs.  Like the anti-nausea medicine, anti-shingles medication, the anti-reflux medication and (dare I say it) the stool softeners.  Blissfully, we added the prescription sleep aide this week.  As if that isn't enough, once a month he will be given a bone strengthener Zometa, that is the only infusion drug he will have and it takes about 1/2 hour from an IV.

The initial plan is for 4 rounds/months of Chemotherapy.  At that point, some time in early April, they will evaluate his levels and most likely prepare him for a stem cell transplant.  There is a lot to discuss about how the transplant works so I'll save that for a future post.

We did get a bit of bad news today from a follow-up visit with the surgeon that did his gall bladder surgery.  Jay developed a strange bulge on his abdomen right after the surgery.  It turns out he has a medium-sized hernia as a result of the surgery.  It will need to be surgically repaired with mesh but the chemo will need to be stopped for about two weeks.  They are consulting with the oncologists to determine the best timing for the surgery.  It is a set-back we weren't planning on but I guess we will just need to learn to roll with things like this.

You may be happy (and a few of you may be distressed) to learn that Jay hasn't lost his goofy sense of humor through all of this, although the nurses at the clinic are still trying to figure him out.  Just to give you one example, as the nurses were going over his medical history he could only give serious answers for so long.

"Mr. Wood, what surgeries have your had?"
    .......he gave a real answers to that question, "Two knee surguries, both shoulders, etc."

"How about your last immunizations"
     ......Uh, flu shot last week.

"When was your last BM".
    ....he even stayed serious on that one,  "uuuhhmmm this morning"

But when they asked this next question, he just couldn't contain himself any longer.

"Mr. Wood when was your last prostate exam?"

    ....with out so much as a blink he replied, "Well I give myself a self-exam every month just like you're supposed to".

I don't know about you but I'm not aware of that guideline and judging by the confused look on the nurse's face, they didn't know about the procedure either.

She just replied, "Okay, I'll make sure to put that in your chart".


Today is Monday so he is drugged up and feeling pretty yuck, but by the weekends he has been feeling almost himself.  Looking forward to Saturday already!

Step-by-step, we'll get there.

Lynn