Mikenh and Surgery

Mikenh

Trubrit said:

It is easy

(so different from my last post to you, on the other thread. HA!)

It should be a doddle.  Give you some Propofol and send you to la la land. Wake up, feel sore. Don't overuse the arm closest to the port for a while. Expect bruising. Follow Doctor's orders and you'll be on your way to happy Chemoing. 

Tru

No propofil this time. I'll

No propofil this time. I'll be awake while they do it.

abita

Mikenh said:

No propofil this time. I'll

No propofil this time. I'll be awake while they do it.

I was awake during my chemo

I was awake during my chemo port surgery. 90 minutes.

Trubrit

Mikenh said:

No propofil this time. I'll

No propofil this time. I'll be awake while they do it.

That surprises me.  I thought they put you out for sure.  I will watch this space for your post port placement report. 

Tru

NewHere

Mikenh said:

I'll ask about Tree Nuts but

I'll ask about Tree Nuts but Vitamin D3 is already on my Medication list (probably the only thing left now) so he will know that I'm taking it. I'll ask about the port if it's more than Xeloda. And I added the dentist question.

thanks,

mike

On Dental

At the very least you should get anitbiotics.  I stopped dental treatments during chemo.  After chemo, need to take anitbitoics before each visit since I have a port.  (Port makes things a lot easier.  Get the cream (lidocaine), it helps a bit, but I have forgotten it more than once and it really is not too bad when accessed.  

NewHere

Trubrit said:

That surprises me.  I thought they put you out for sure.  I will watch this space for your post port placement report. 

Tru

I Was Awake Also

THere gave me stuff to make me not feel things, but I was talking the whole time and cracking jokes.  Until the part where the doc told me to shut-up he needs to pay attention to something he was doing.  He had a scapel in his hand.  I shut-up.  Afterwards they put on Pink Floyd for me in the recovery room.

Mikenh

I was sitting in my office

I was sitting in my office working away and rather engrossed and suddenly noticed that the bag was half full and puffy with gas. So I waddled to the bathroom, grabbed a few sheets of toilet paper to clean with, dropped some in and released the bag and it shot out. That s the sort of thing that I worry about, either sleeping or otherwise busy. So maybe I should do bag alarms? I guess that the weight and the pressure might be a signal but an alarm might work too. My watch does alarms to get me to get up and walk throughout the day. Maybe I could piggy back on that.

The good thing is that I was so engrossed in work that it took my mind off the cancer stuff which can make me feel like what I’m doing is rewarding. It pushed out the worry and anxiety. I’m probably in the office until 9:30 tonight to make up for time I won’t be working Friday and next week on the infusion day.

BRHMichigan

Working with Cancer

I am also enjoying the distraction of work. It is such a gift to be able to work again. I work some evening & weekend hours too in order to make up for appointments and treatments.

I am looking forward to spending more time in the gym in January. With winter upon us, it's harder to take walks and enjoy it outside. My feet and hands are still super sensitive to cold! 

As for the bag...I think it's easy to forget to check it when you are busy. I have GOT to remember it's especially important to check frequently when I am anywhere other than home.

Mikenh

BRHMichigan said:

Working with Cancer

I am also enjoying the distraction of work. It is such a gift to be able to work again. I work some evening & weekend hours too in order to make up for appointments and treatments.

I am looking forward to spending more time in the gym in January. With winter upon us, it's harder to take walks and enjoy it outside. My feet and hands are still super sensitive to cold! 

As for the bag...I think it's easy to forget to check it when you are busy. I have GOT to remember it's especially important to check frequently when I am anywhere other than home.

It sounds like you're doing a

It sounds like you're doing a lot better (less tiredness) than before if you're enjoying work. I just spent 15 minutes scraping ice and snow off of a car as we had snow and freezing rain today. Tomorrow it's in the 20s and teens for a couple of days but thankfully warms up a little next week.

Mikenh

Just back from the dentist.

Just back from the dentist. Filling took about 20 minutes. No painkillers which makes things easier as you can feel whether or not the fit is right. Temps are mid-20s and windspeeds will be 30-35 this afternoon. So I'm bundled up when I go outside.

Mikenh

Sent a note to the doctor

Sent a note to the doctor asking about the Chemo pills as they have to be shipped and we're a week out and there are shipping delays because of volume and weather. I had some shipping problems in the past with the mail order company. There's so much stuff to keep an eye on.

Trubrit

Mikenh said:

Sent a note to the doctor

Sent a note to the doctor asking about the Chemo pills as they have to be shipped and we're a week out and there are shipping delays because of volume and weather. I had some shipping problems in the past with the mail order company. There's so much stuff to keep an eye on.

2˚ F for us

It is cold here in the Nevada desert. 

I do hope that your meds arrive and soon. It must be a worry, when you have to keep to the plan. 

Tru

Mikenh

I'm going to place my second

I'm going to place my second order for Ostomy supplies. I'm going to go with Convatec Convex Natura 1 1/4 Convex Wafers, Convatec 1 1/4 Beige bags, Stomahesive Paste, and Stoma Powder. I ordered the Cavilon Spray from Amazon as it isn't covered by insurance although the wipes are. I still have a two-month supply of the stuff that I started with and will use those until the new stuff arrives. The new combination of stuff had the best skin results in terms of comfort and ease of installation. The Convex Wafers don't require any cutting and the Cavilon and Powder are a lot easier to apply than the barrier wipes and I think that the powder provides a good level of protection for the skin. I just need to figure out how long the spray and powder will last. The spray is about $9/bottle. The nurse just gave one short squirt per layer (she did two layers).

I have a couple of Coloplast Mios as well along with some barriers. I just have not had time to try them out and I wanted to get the powder before trying them as well. I will eventually get around to trying them when I get into a routine with Adjuvant Chemo. Just too much stuff to do the past few weeks and the next week.

Mikenh

Trubrit said:

2˚ F for us

It is cold here in the Nevada desert. 

I do hope that your meds arrive and soon. It must be a worry, when you have to keep to the plan. 

Tru

That's cold. The day temps

That's cold. The day temps here are in the 20s and I'd guess that it's in the teens at night. I don't know whether or not we got into the single digits last night but it isn't even winter yet so I'm sure we will get them eventually. I'm glad that there isn't any snow in the forecast.

Mikenh

My surgeon got back to me on

My surgeon got back to me on when I can do what I used to in terms of a timeframe: 8 weeks. I'm on the 7th week right now. So I guess another two weeks. I think that I'll try a bit of abs stuff in two weeks.

The oncology doctor's nurse got back to me on the pills and they placed the order today. It kind of bugs me that I had to remind them to do this. I would normally expect the doctor to do this as part of standard office procedure. The mail-order pharmacy will call me to verify the order and then it takes two days to get to me. Not a lot of time left if I'm going to start on Wednesday. At least it will be fewer pills this time. The pills come in 500 mg and 150 mg. So 4,000 mg per day is 8 pills. I had 1,700 x 2 per day before and coming up with that number meant a lot of 150s.

Mikenh

I found a video of the

I found a video of the infusion centers and on chemotherapy sessions. They provide a lot of recommendations and suggestions for sessions. They do provide light refreshments. I think that I'll bring a small duffel with water, a snack and maybe some clothes.

Mikenh

abita said:

Did you get lidocaine? I put

Did you get lidocaine? I put mine on before I leave for the hospital. The first time, I didn't put enough. It didn't hurt that much. The second time I overdid it, and put too much

Cool that you see a video and that they provide light refreshments. The other location of my hospital has more than fruit, according to their website.

 Mine has a video you are supposed to watch your first infusion, but she couldn't get that channel to work.

This prompted me to look at my hospital's website. The east side location has a snack area that also has a coffee and tea machine. And the give a light lunch. Hmmm! Good thing I love my doctor's so much, or I would feel like we are getting the short end of the stick. I am curious if Monday I will see any upgrades in the new infusion suite. Truth be told though, I am happy that my location is as nice as it is. And I wouldn't trade my oncologist or surgeon for more amenities.

The one for my hospital chain

The one for my hospital chain is on YouTube. I just saw someone pushing a cart of refreshments. I could make out sandwiches but I couldn't make out the other objects (I didn't max the video to fullscreen).

abita

Mikenh said:

I found a video of the

I found a video of the infusion centers and on chemotherapy sessions. They provide a lot of recommendations and suggestions for sessions. They do provide light refreshments. I think that I'll bring a small duffel with water, a snack and maybe some clothes.

Did you get lidocaine? I put

Did you get lidocaine? I put mine on before I leave for the hospital. The first time, I didn't put enough. It didn't hurt that much. The second time I overdid it, and put too much

Cool that you see a video and that they provide light refreshments. The other location of my hospital has more than fruit, according to their website.

 Mine has a video you are supposed to watch your first infusion, but she couldn't get that channel to work.

This prompted me to look at my hospital's website. The east side location has a snack area that also has a coffee and tea machine. And the give a light lunch. Hmmm! Good thing I love my doctor's so much, or I would feel like we are getting the short end of the stick. I am curious if Monday I will see any upgrades in the new infusion suite. Truth be told though, I am happy that my location is as nice as it is. And I wouldn't trade my oncologist or surgeon for more amenities.

Mikenh

Went to take a nap as I was

Went to take a nap as I was feeling tired and wound up sleeping for a few hours. I came down to dinner but didn't feel like eating. There was some noticeable pain around the neck though it's subsided after sitting for a awhile. The sleepiness might be from the antibiotics or from not sleeping that much last night or the fentynal wearing off. I will probably sleep a lot more.

Mikenh

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a chemotherapeutical agent used to treat cancers including breast and colorectal. Working as an antimetabolite to prevent cell proliferation, it primarily inhibits the enzyme thymidylate synthase blocking the thymidine formation required for DNA synthesis. Although having a relatively short half-life (< 30 mins) it readily enters the brain by passive diffusion. Clinically, it is used both as a single agent or in combination with other chemotherapies and has been associated with the long-term side effects of cognitive impairment, known as "chemo brain" or "chemo fog" These accounts have come primarily from patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer who report symptoms including confusion and memory impairment, which can last for months to years. Psychometric studies of patients have suffered from confounding variables, which has led to the use of rodent models to assess the cognitive effects of this drug. Researchers have used behavioral and physiological tests including the Morris water maze, novel object location/recognition tests, shock motivated T-maze, sensory gating and conditioning, to investigate the effect of this drug on cognition. The variety of cognitive tests and the difference in dosing and administration of 5-FU has led to varied results, possibly due to the different brain regions associated with each test and the subtlety of the drug's effect, but overall these studies indicates that 5-FU has a negative effect on memory, executive function and sensory gating. 5-FU has also been demonstrated to have biochemical and structural changes on specific regions of the brain. Evidence shows it can induce apoptosis and depress cell proliferation in the neurogenic regions of the adult brain including the sub granular zone (SGZ) within the hippocampus and in oligodendrocyte precursor populations within white matter tracts. Furthermore, investigations indicate levels ofdoublecortin, a marker for newly formed neurons and brain derived neurotrophic factor, a cell survival modulator, are also reduced by 5-FU in the SGZ. Thus, 5-FU appears to have a lasting negative impact on cognition and to affect cellular and biochemical markers in various brain regions. Further work is needed to understand the exact mechanisms involved and to devise strategies for the prevention or recovery from these symptoms.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20738018

abita

Mikenh said:

Went to take a nap as I was

Went to take a nap as I was feeling tired and wound up sleeping for a few hours. I came down to dinner but didn't feel like eating. There was some noticeable pain around the neck though it's subsided after sitting for a awhile. The sleepiness might be from the antibiotics or from not sleeping that much last night or the fentynal wearing off. I will probably sleep a lot more.

did your chemo port go in the

did your chemo port go in the neck? Mine did as he couldn't find the scapula vein. My access is about the level of my armpit. Is yours sealed with glue? Mine was. I felt pain much longer than expected. When the glue finally came off, I realized it was the glue pulling on my neck when I moved it that hurt. My neck doesn't hurt now, but it does feel very uncomfortable. I just try to remind myself the end game is that I am healed and get to live a long healthy happy life.