'Roids and More Tests

Well the dexamethasone worked wonders and I was able to help out at Meals for Missions last night with my Scout troop and then get a real night's sleep - almost 6 hours!!  The combinations of the steroid and morphine has made me almost feel like a normal human being today. But I've come to learn that there is a lower valley after each and every one of these chemically improved peaks so I fear what's coming along next!

Today was spent catching up on work and then a visit to the hospital for an echo-cardiogram of my heart to establish a baseline before I start the chemo.  Apparently some of the drugs can do some major cardiac damage so they want to establish a baseline and then continue to monitor throughout treatment.  The appointment went well, just a lot of cold gel and an ultrasound wand.  Now I can empathize with what Donna went through during our pregnancies!!

On a different note, I've literally been overwhelmed by calls, texts, emails, messages, etc. from friends and family wishing me well and offering to help.  I'm prideful and stubborn so haven't asked for much help other than prayers but even what little I've asked has been provided in an overabundance of love. I had a small wish list on Amazon for some comfort items to help with chemo as well as a few gift cards to help us buy lunches at the hospital and pay for medicine co-pays and non-covered items. It seems like I now have enough to last for much longer than treatment.

Some of the gifts didn't come with information on the sender but for those that did, I've just finished writing hand-written thank you cards to send out in the mail tomorrow. To those that didn't, I humbly and lovingly say thank you from the bottom of my heart!  You know who you are and so does God. That's all that matters!

And thanks to everyone who has sent prayers and love my way. We're all truly blessed and all we really need in life is the love and support of others to get us through the hard times so that we're strong enough to return the favor in the good times.  That's how we all get through this thing called life.

Spoke too soon!

So my pain level, even with morphine, has been gradually increasing since Saturday night, 12/1.  I've tried to take the morphine only when needed which is generally at night but the pain is creeping earlier and earlier into the evening and afternoon.

Today was actually a good day, my new normal, and I fell asleep in the recliner around 9:30 PM.  I woke up at close to midnight with some of the worse back pain I've ever experienced at around midnight. Seriously on a scale from 1-10, this would be an 11.5 or 12.  I was shaking/shivering uncontrollably and couldn't formulate complete sentences to tell Donna and Chey what I needed. I took some meds and moved from the recliner to the bed without any relief but with the hopes that the meds would prevail and I could drift off to sleep. It never really happened.

I finally emailed my oncologist around 5:15 in the morning to let her know what I was experiencing.  She was quick in getting back to me by mid-morning and seemed genuinely concerned. We added a new steroid, Dexamethasone, to my ever-growing list of prescriptions.  She's also going to try to move my chemo up from Thursday to Tuesday which is the same day I have my port-a-cath installed. I'm a little nervous about that since I know both treatments are a little tough and doubling down on a single day will also be more difficult, but I trust her judgement.

Finally received some good news from a doctor today! The orthopedic specialist doesn't think that there is any long term damage to my spine. She thinks the tumor, which is wrapped around my L4, is primarily in the softer spinal cord tissue and hasn't caused any major damage to the bone so surgery probably won't be necessary. Thanks for all the prayers!