Saturday's Update

I'm sorry to report that the past thirty-six hours have been among my worse along the journey. I had my monthly evaluation with the oncologist on Thursday and, upon reviewing the blood tests, he gave approval to begin round three of my chemo treatment. Within twelve hours I was deathly sick from nausea and pain. To this point, the nausea has been controlled with Zofran, but not this time. I was up all night Thursday dealing with gut-wrenching nausea, accompanied by some pretty severe abdominal pain, unlike what I had experienced before.

Anita was able to reach the nurse Friday morning and she asked us to come to the office. We spent several hours there, talking with the nurses and taking various tests. They did an x-ray to see if my lung had collapsed (it hadn't). None of the other tests showed anything that could be causing the difficulty.

Apparently I'm at the stage in the chemo treatment where the buildup is causing the increased nausea. The abdominal pain, we assume, is caused by referred pain from the celiac plexus nerve oblation.

I was given some additional medication for nausea and encouraged to take additional Oxycontin for break-through abdominal pain. I'm happy to report that I had a relatively peaceful night and was able to sleep. I dropped ten pounds of weight in 36 hours, primarily because I wasn't able to eat or drink anything. I'm hoping to reverse this trend today!

I told Anita this morning that this is a new day! I'm feeling much better and have already had my early morning walk. The sun is shining and I am full of hope!

I'm sorry to share this less-than-positive news, but wanted you to know the latest in the saga. Thank you so much for your concern and for your prayers.

Jack