Catching Up and Jim's Last Chemo Treatment

DeBary, FL.

76 deg. clear, S. wind @ 5 mph.

Forecast for Sunday =  Partly cloudy. High around 80F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph.


Well, most of Jim's hair is gone. Linda did cut it last Saturday and now it's only about 1/2 inch long. Jim said that he hadn't had hair this short since his military days back in the early 60's!! ;-)

Sunday, not much happened around here, but Monday, Linda and Jim decided to go grocery shopping. They went to the  Publix Grocery store in Orange City and they both grabbed one of those electric shopping carts to ride around on in the store. Everything went fine, but by the time they had carried the groceries into the house, Jim was completely wiped out and Linda was dragging her feet too. (These stronger Chemo treatments are really taking a toll on Jim's energy level).

For dinner, they had a Pizza delivered here to the house so no work was involved.

Wednesday was a "recoup day" but by Thursday evening, it was decided to use one of the gift cards that they had received for Christmas and head over to the 5 Guys hamburger place in Orange City. The burgers were good, but neither Jim nor Linda thought they were worth the price and were glad they had the Gift card to pay for them.

Yesterday morning, Lila took Jim and Linda up to Deland for Jim's Last Chemo Treatment. It was another one of the stronger treatments and by the time they stopped at Gram's Kitchen for a bite to eat and got back here, Jim was really tired and starting to have a lot of bone and muscle pain. Some medications that Jim had received from the doctor, helped that a quite a bit though.

If you remember, the last time Jim had received one of these stronger treatments, his white blood cell count had dropped to a level where he could have easily caught some type of an infection. Well, this time after the treatment, they put this "On Body Injector" on Jim and as of about 7 PM this evening, it will inject a drug call "Neulasta" into his body.  "Neulasta" stimulates the bone marrow which raises the white blood cell count. It also causes bone pain, so I'm sure Jim will have to take more medications tonight. :-(

This is the little device that Jim has stuck to his body. There's a little green light that flashes about every 4 or 5 seconds and tonight, it's supposed to "beep" 2 minutes before it starts injecting the drug and then it will take about 45 minutes to inject the drug. Then, after it "beeps" again, Jim can remove the device.

What won't they think of next??? Oh!! I guess I'd better explain that this Neulasta drug has to be administered no less than 24 hours after the chemo treatment. It was about 4:00 yesterday when the chemo treatment was finished. so 7 PM tonight will be 27 hours. 

This last treatment has really sapped Jim's strength and endurance. Hopefully this side effect won't last too long and he'll be able to do some things without getting tired right away. 

Did you know that on this date in 1833 - Peterborough, NH, opened the first municipally supported public library in the United States? 

Woof!!!

Doing Better and Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

DeBary, FL.

75 deg., overcast, SE wind @ 5 mph.

Forecast = Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. High 84F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.


To all that e-mailed, commented, called or contacted Jim this last week, Thank You very much!!! He needed that after the rough week he had.

Jim has continued to feel better this week. He's been eating better and drinking lots of fluids and has gotten some of his energy back. :-) In fact, yesterday when he went to get his blood test, the test showed that all of his counts have come back up to normal or near normal readings so he doesn't have to worry too much about his resistance to germs, etc. so much.

Through all the chemo treatments so far, Jim's hair has not fallen out. He's had times when it seemed like there was an excess of hair in his comb after combing his hair, but nothing real serious. But, yesterday, Jim noticed a whole lot of hair is starting to fall out, so Linda called Laura yesterday afternoon and last evening, she and Lindsey brought their hair clippers over so that it could be cut. More than likely, sometime today, Jim will get his last haircut for quite awhile. :-(

Jim's not looking forward to not having any hair, but there's really nothing that can be done about it. If it's not cut off, he'll end up with bald spots and that will look really bad. And eventually, it'll all fall out anyway. :-(

If everything goes according to plan, Jim will get his last Chemo treatment this next Friday. It'll be another large dose treatment, so he probably won't be feeling too well for awhile after he has it. Then, if the PET Scan shows that all these treatments were successful, the recovery will begin.

On a lighter note, Jim and Linda went out to eat at the Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant in Orange City yesterday evening. From what I understand, the food was pretty good, but overall, neither Jim or Linda were too impressed with the place. They enjoyed themselves though and it was nice to get out of the house for a change.


Did you know that April is "National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month"?

Woof!!!

More Improvement But Also More Side Effects

DeBary, FL.

59 deg. clear, West wind with gusts to 20 mph.

Forecast = tonight, Clear skies. Low 33F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.


The day-to-day happenings around here have been pretty boring. Just normal living.

Monday, Jim had a radiation treatment at 8:45 in the morning and then headed up to DeLand to have his weekly chemo treatment which always includes a chemo doctor's appointment.

When Jim goes for chemo treatment, the first step is to get weighed, have blood drawn and then see the doctor. They have a lab right there, and by the time he sees the doctor, (Doctor Saferali),  she already has the results of the blood test. So far, Jim 's weight has been stable and the blood test results have been pretty good, but this time, he had lost some weight since last week and some of the numbers on the blood test were out of the "normal range".

Jim's appetite has not been real good lately and so he has not been eating as much as usual, thus the weight loss. And, his white blood count is getting low and this can be a very serious thing. You see, if your white count gets too low, you loose your resistance to any infections, such as colds, or other bugs you may pick up by being with other people or eating any fruit or vegetables that are raw and not washed thoroughly or not cooked properly.

So, what does this mean? Well, the doctor recommended that for now, Jim stay away from crowded places, like busy restaurants, stores or any place where there may be a lot of  "germs" floating around in the air. She also said that washing produce was very important and being very careful to cook things completely.  She also said that if the white count hasn't improved by next week, the best thing to do would be to skip a week of chemo and then resume treatment after the bone marrow has a chance to bring the count up some.

Jim is also starting to have more side effects from the chemo. He's noticed more fatigue, loss of appetite, some weakness, and some bowel problems. He pretty much expected these things to happen eventually so wasn't too surprised. Oh, and he's also noticed a lot of  hair in his comb when combing his hair, so that means soon he'll be losing all his hair. :-(

But,  ,  ,  ,  the good news!!!!

Jim's lung is working very well!! In fact the chemo doctor said that she couldn't tell any difference between the left and right lung when she listened to his breathing with her stethoscope!!! That means that the lung has completely re-inflated and the tumor has shrunk enough to allow good passage of air in and out of the lung!!!! :-)

Yesterday morning, Jim had his usual radiation treatment and then saw the radiation doctor. (He sees Dr. Graham every Tuesday after his treatment), He confirmed Dr. Saferali's diagnosis about the function of the lung and was very pleased with the results. If everything goes a planned, Jim has just 12 more radiation treatments. That means that on or about the 26th of this month, he'll be finished with the every day treatments.

He also only has only 4 more chemo treatments left, but that will stretch out into April as the last 2 treatments will be at 21 day intervals. (More on that in a future post).

The weather around here has been bouncing around all over the place. We've had high temps in the 80's with lows at night in the 60's. But we've also had high's in the 50's with low's near the freezing point. We've had quite a bit of sunshine, but also some very stormy days with very heavy rain. I can't complain though, it sure has been better than the weather up north in Illinois!! ;-)


A Quote to Ponder : “Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.”
Braveheart

Woof!!!

More RVing Friends Coming To Visit and Linda's New Hat

Rantoul, IL.

52 deg, clear, no wind.
Forecast =  Partly cloudy. Highs around 79°F. East southeast wind to 5 MPH.

At an RV RV Dreams Rally, quite a few years ago, Jim and Linda met a couple named Hank and Selene.  Well, after sending some messages back and forth, and since they are traveling through this area, they've decided to stop here at Prairie Pines for awhile. :-)  Mike and Terri also know them, so it should be a fun time. ;-)

Oh, speaking of Mike and Terri, I forgot to mention this yesterday. Most of you know that Linda had chemo treatments for her cancer. Well, you probably also know that chemo makes all of your hair fall out. Linda has been wearing some knit hats that she got from the American Cancer Society and they are very nice, but she only has a few of them that she likes. Well, the other night when Mike and Terri went to the Apple Dumplin' Restaurant with Jim and Linda, Terri gave Linda a really nice knit hat that she made!

That was really nice of Terri. Linda wore the hat most of yesterday and really likes it. Thank You Terri!!!! :-)

Hank and Selene should be arriving sometime this afternoon. The family with the 5th wheel that was in the site right next to us left yesterday and I'm thinking that Louise may put them in that site when they get here.

Did you know that  one of the earliest known examples of true knitting was cotton socks with stranded knit color patterns found in Egypt from the end of the first millennium AD?

Woof!!!

Linda's First Outing With Her "No-Do"

DeBary, FL.

54 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Generally cloudy. High around 70F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday evening, Linda made the statement that she wanted to go to Walgreen's with Jim when it was time to pick up the rest of the prescriptions. She said that she wanted to go inside rather that through the drive-up window because there were some items she wanted to buy in the store. So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  after Walgreen's called early yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over there.

Now, some of you that know Linda, know that she is the type of person who doesn't believe in hiding things or beating around the bush, so when they got there, she took off the hat that she was wearing and went inside bare headed!!!  :-O

The first stop in the store was the cosmetic counter where a sweet little clerk helped her pick out some makeup. (Linda hadn't worn any makeup for years, so she wasn't sure what she needed). From there she headed to where the turbines were (like the one Jim bought the day before), and picked out a purple one, (Jim had bought her a brown one). and then headed to the pharmacy to pick up her prescription.

All this with her new no-do and no hat!!!!

You see, she had made up her mind that her shaved head wasn't going to stop her from doing things and she had decided that the outing to Walgreen's would be a good "icebreaker". Well, it worked!!!! No one laughed at her or made any remarks and now she doesn't have to worry about going out in public. She'll probably be wearing some kind of head covering most of the time because she says that her head feels cold, but now she knows that she can go out and everything will be fine. ;-)

Yesterday evening, Laura stopped by to visit for awhile. (I'm sure she was curious to see how her mother looked without any hair). Then after she left, Jim and Linda watched TV until bedtime.  

Oh! Just one last thing. If your're going to be celebrating New Years Eve tonight, have a great time, but please be careful and watch for the crazies out there.

Did you know that the tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was started by ancient Greeks around 600 B.C? They would carry a baby around in a basket to honor Dionysus, the God of Fertility and symbolize his annual rebirth.

Woof!!!

Prescriptions, A Hat For Linda and Ashley Saves The Day

DeBary, FL.

59 deg. overcast, NE wind @2 mph.
Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. High 71F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday morning, Linda was pretty sore from the surgery, so Jim headed to Walgreen's to get Linda's regular prescriptions refilled and pick up a few other items. He would have had to wait for at least an hour for them to have the prescriptions ready, so he told them he'd come back later.

One of the things he found while roaming around in Walgreen's, was a turbine type head covering that the ladies wear after they've washed their hair. Jim though it may make a nice head covering for Linda after she lost her hair, so he bought her one.

From Walgreen's, he headed over to Winn Dixie, (which is just across the street), and picked up some essentials before coming back here to the house.

When he got back here to the house, he showed Linda the head covering, and she was thrilled to death!!! :-) She thought it was just great, and said that she thought she'd wear it a lot.  

After lunch, Jim went back to Walgreen's and picked up most of the prescriptions. I say "most" because again, they didn't have enough of one of the meds, so now today, (Monday), he'll need to go back again! :-(

By Saturday evening, Linda was feeling better and she asked Jim what he thought about going out to eat someplace? She was also thinking about Ashley coming Sunday morning to shave her head, and said that she'd like to go out to eat before that happened.

So, about 4:30 they took CLT and headed over to Gram's Kitchen and had their Prime Rib Special!!! Both of them were still talking about how good the steak was when they returned and it made my mouth water as Linda was wrapping up the leftovers to put into the fridge and freezer! .-)

Sunday morning, (about 11:00), Ashley came over took care of Linda's hair. By this time, the hair was starting to come out by the handful so Linda was glad that she had made plans to get it removed. Ashley was very caring but yet  professional and in just a short time, it was done.

After finishing, Ashley stayed and talked for awhile and then headed to one of her friends house for lunch.

Linda wants to thank Ashley so much for the way she handled the whole thing. Because of the way she went about it, she kept it from being the traumatic experience that Linda was dreading.

Thank you so much, Ashley!!!!!!!

A Point to Ponder :  Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.

Catching Up, The "Port" and Hair

DeBary, FL.

66 deg. overcast, NE wind @ 3 mph.
Cloudy. High around 80F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.

Wow!!! I've really gotten behind with this blog, so I'll try to catch you up on what's been happening around here for the last 4 or 5 days.

Let's see now,    ,   ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   Christmas Eve, Laura, Lindsey and Anna stopped by for awhile just to visit and then Christmas morning, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over to their house to exchange and open presents with Laura, Lindsey, Ashley, Chris, (Ashley's boyfriend), and Anna. From there, they all headed over to Marv and Inez's, (Lindsey's parents house in DeLand), where they had a nice meal and visited for awhile.

Again, Jim and Linda want to thank Marv and Inez for their hospitality. It was really nice of them to include Jim and Linda in their holiday celebration.

Jim and Linda didn't exchange gifts this year because they had just bought this new laptop computer for Jim and the Kindle Paper White for Linda. Besides that, they both said that they have just about everything else they need and there really wasn't anything else they needed or wanted this year.

Thursday was a busy day with 2 appointments. First they had to go over to the Florida Hospital in Orange City for a pre-op procedure, so they could do blood test and get all of Linda's medical information in preparation for getting the "port" inserted on Friday. After that, they had to hurry over to the Chemo place where they took more blood to make sure Linda's white cells were still plentiful so that her immune system keeps working.

Thursday was a hard day for Linda.  First of all, she wasn't happy about having the "port" inserted in her body and then, when she took her shower in the evening and combed out her hair, the comb was full of hair!! :-(   Yep, the chemo is doing it's thing on her hair and it's starting to fall out. This was expected, but was still was a traumatic time for her. :-(

Yesterday morning, bright and early, Jim and Linda headed over to the Florida Hospital where they implanted the "port" in Linda's upper chest. This was what they call an "outpatient procedure", so by about 3:00 or so, they were pulling back into the driveway.

Linda doesn't like the idea of the "port" thing at all, but she's trying to look at the good points. It will now be easier to get blood drawn for tests and will be easier on her veins when they are giving her further chemo treatments. As for the hair thing, she says that she won't have to worry about washing and combing her hair for awhile and will be able to easily wash her head.

Yesterday evening, Laura stopped by for while because she knew that Linda wasn't having a good day. By the time she left Linda was in a much better mood and was feeling much better though. :-)

So,  ,  ,  ,  that catches you up on the blog. Linda is feeling fine and only has minor pain from the insertion of the "port" yesterday. I don't know of anything special planned for today, but Sunday morning, because she has worked as a beautician,  Ashley is going to come over here and shave Linda's head before she starts getting bald spots. She will also be helping Linda with some eye make-up.

Yet again, Linda and Jim want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement. It has really meant a lot.

Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Did you know that New Year is the oldest of all holidays, as it was first observed in ancient Babylon as many as 4000 years ago?

Woof!!!