Health Update – Very Slowly Recovering (6/1/2008)

I am very, very slowing recovering from my stomach and pancreas problems that had me hospitalized last week.  I attempted to eat soft foods (banana, watermelon) at Mom and Dad's late last week.  That didn't work.  Since then, I've been at home eating a strictly liquid diet of ice water and Ensure drinks.  I have been trying to drink four Ensure drinks every day since each has 25% of most vitamins I need every day.  My thought process is that the more nutrition I get the better chance my body will heal more quickly.

I was able to go to church this morning.  It was the first time I was out of the house by myself doing something "normal."  It felt great to get out, but it did make me really tired.  I came home and lied around for most of the afternoon.  Mom and Dad came by to do some chores for me and I was able to help a little, but for only about 15 minutes at a time.  Then I'd have to go inside and sit down.

I visited with Rob and Jeanesse from Seattle this evening before doing some research on the CyberKnife.  You can also read about it at http://www.accuray.com/  I am pretty happy with what I read about it.  Again, I'll be meeting with my oncologist on Thursday to discuss my procedure.

Overall I don't feel all that well.  I'm generally uncomfortable most of the day.  I do believe that each better has been getting a little better.  Although, sometimes I feel like I might be lying to myself, hoping that I'm getting better than I am.  I am going to try to go to work in the morning.  I've been so tired doing things so I don't expect being able to stay there all day.  My goal right now is to stay until noon.  We'll see how it goes.  Wish me luck!

Health Update – I'm Back Home (5/30/2008)

I have had a long two weeks with stomach / pancreas problems.  I will try to remember everything as I write this blog.

I attended an employee appreciation cook-out on Friday afternoon (5/16/2008).  I ate too much food and very quickly started feeling poorly.  I ended up leaving work at 3:45 that afternoon.  I sat around my house that weekend eating very little while I dealt with very painful stomach pains.  I finally started feeling well enough on Sunday to mow my yard and then eventually go down to Mom and Dad's to eat dinner.  It was the first real meal I'd had since Friday afternoon, and it didn't sit with me at all (or all that long).

I went to work on Monday morning, but called my family doctor to see what's wrong with me.  She listened to my symptoms and originally thought that I might have a bowel obstruction.  She sent me to Decatur Memorial Hospital to get an x-ray and have some blood work done.  I wasn't able to leave the hospital until the x-ray was read to see that I did not have an obstruction.  I then went home on a clear liquid diet, i.e. water (obviously), Jell-O, juices, and broth.

I called my doctor back on Tuesday morning to see what we should do now, because I wasn't feeling any better.  She told me that I have an inflamed pancreas.  She ordered more blood work to see if the inflammation was getting better or worse.  She also called my oncologist in St. Louis and told him about my problems.  I was already scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday morning and appointment with my oncologist on Thursday afternoon.  Since I was having problems, my oncologist wanted to see me right after my MRI.

I went down to Mom and Dad's Tuesday night so relax before going down to St. Louis.  I packed a bag for the hospital because I had a feeling that I would be admitted with all of the problems that I'd been having.  I hardly slept that night.  I could only lie down for 50-60 minutes before I would have to get up to burp a lot to release the gas and pressure in my stomach.  I also got sick twice that night.

Dad took me down to St. Louis on Wednesday morning.  I had to stop twice on the way over to get out of the truck, walk around, and burp to release the gas and pressure.  I was surprisingly comfortable in the MRI.  I then met with my oncologist about the stomach pain.  He listened to my symptoms and admitted me to the hospital.

My port was quickly accessed and then my nurse came in with a tube to stick down my nose and throat.  She tried twice, but I clamped up with pain so she couldn't get the tube to go from my nose to my throat.  One of the floor doctors had to come in to insert the tube.  My nurse then set up suction on the end of the tube to start evacuating my stomach of all food.

On Thursday morning, I was sent up to the 10^th floor to have an endoscopy.  The doctors removed my tube and sent a camera down my throat.  They replaced the suction tube when they were finished.  Luckily, I was still knocked out from the scope, but the new tube was larger than my original tube so it was uncomfortable.  The scope didn't show a blockage at the exit of my stomach.  It did show that my entire stomach was inflamed, similar to my pancreas.

I went for another x-ray on Friday morning.  The x-ray took a long time.  The tech first took many pictures without contrast.  He then filled my stomach with a Barium contrast.  Luckily, he was able to insert the contrast through my tube so that I didn't have to taste it.  I then had a bunch more pictures taken.  The pictures were showing that nothing was leaving my stomach (go figure!).  They asked me to lie on my left side for about 15 minutes to see if gravity could help anything leave my stomach.  This just barely worked as there was a sliver of contrast leaving my stomach on the new x-rays.  They then asked me to lie there for about another 30 minutes.  This did show that the contrast was starting to leave my stomach.

At this point, the doctors were not convinced that there wasn't some sort of obstruction because so little was leaving my stomach.  My oncologist also met me Friday afternoon to tell me that the MRI from Wednesday showed that I have a reoccurrence of cancer in my liver.  He told me that he would like to use the Cyber Knife to remove the tumor.  He didn't want to follow the procedure with chemotherapy.  He also said that he wasn't convinced that the Nexavar was beneficial.  I'll talk with him again on Thursday, June 5, but I am now under the assumption that I will have this tumor removed with the Cyber Knife, continue 3-month CT scanning, stop Nexavar, and use the Cyber-Knife to remove future tumors.  Again, I'll know more for sure on Thursday.

Friday night and Saturday was difficult and painful.  The contrast was very thick and difficult to remove from my stomach.  I had to start taking pain medicine to keep comfortable.  Not much really happened over the weekend until Sunday night.

On Saturday night my night nurse thought that my tube had been slipping from my nose.  She worked the tube about a couple inches back into my nose.  That wasn't pleasant.  Then she marked the tube with a magic marker just under my nose for future reference.  She told me that the tube was probably slipping because of the tape that was used on my nose.  These tubes are typically attached with silk tape, but I'm allergic to it.  Therefore, they had to attach the tube with paper tape which isn't as strong.

My night nurse came in on Sunday night to find that my tube was almost completely outside of my nose.  The black mark was down near my belly button.  She grabbed the tube and was able to remove it with just a small quick pull.  It felt great to have the tube out of my nose, but even better than that was the fact that I no longer tied to the wall and the suction.  I was able to get out and take a walk.

My night nurse told me that they wouldn't put the tube back in my nose until I needed it.  She even convinced the weekend floor doctor to leave the tube out, even though the doctor wanted to put it back in as soon as possible.

One of the GI doctors came in on Tuesday afternoon to see that I was doing well without the tube.  We told him how long the tube had been out.  He decided that I should be trying a clear liquid diet since I had been able to keep fluids in my stomach.  The liquid diet went well so I was moved up to a soft diet on Wednesday at lunch.  I was able to eat soup, milk, and pudding.

I was then quickly discharged from the hospital with the orders to slowly increase my diet as I started to feel better.  Dad and I couldn't believe how fast we were discharged.  We were home to Sullivan by 6:00 that evening.

I was in Sullivan all day yesterday and I've been spending today at my house.  I'm very slowly getting better, but I was hoping that I would be feeling better by now.  I am really hoping that I am able to eat more food and feel well enough to work by Monday morning.  Until then, it'll be another slow weekend.

Health Update – More Questions than Answers

I went down to St. Louis today for a CT scan and oncologist appointment.  The radiologist reviewing the scan found a darker area on my liver near the area of my last surgery.  My oncologist compared today's scan and my January scan to find that the dark area has grown by about 5 mm or so.  He even let Mom and I take a look at the two scans ourselves.  He doesn't know what the dark area is, and more than once said that he couldn't tell me that it's a reoccurrence.  I asked him what it could be, but as always; he wants more information before he tells me anything.  He has scheduled me for a MRI on Wednesday, May 21.  We'll discuss the results on Thursday.

Initially I wasn't at all concerned about the spot.  I was much more annoyed that I now have to go back down to St. Louis two more times to deal with this.  Although, the more I think about them, the more concerned I become.  Fortunately, I have a lot of stuff planned for the next couple of weeks, so I shouldn't have a lot of time to think about it!

Health Update – Nexavar side effects are surfacing (3/21/2008)

My skin has become irritated and dry again since re-starting Nexavar about two weeks ago.  I was fully expecting this to happen this week.

The City of Decatur changed health insurance providers on January 1.  I was concerned that my new provider wouldn’t cover Nexavar.  I was first told that this was the case.  I was then told that it was covered and I could pick it up at Walgreens.  After talking with everyone that I shouldn’t have, I called the Nexavar Reach program.  They were able to help me very quickly.  They told me that my Nexavar is covered, but I needed to go through a new special pharmacy that distributes the drug.  Needless to say, all of these discussions took a lot of time and I ran out of my supply.

I received my new shipment of Nexavar about two weeks ago.  I started the drug slowly in hopes of preventing severe side effects.  Even with being careful, I fully expected to get at least dry skin and most likely a mild rash about two weeks after starting the drug.  This has been the case every time I’ve increased my dosage.

My skin is starting to dry out considerably, and tonight I’ve started to feel irritation on my feet and neck.  I’ve applied lotions to try to calm the rash and sooth the skin.  It’s working well so far.

I also started feeling like I had heartburn-like symptoms about two weeks ago.  I dealt with the discomfort for the weekend and called my doctor on Monday morning.  She ran some tests and determined that my ulcer had returned.  She told me to double my dosage of Protonix and start a mild diet until the symptoms went away.

Unfortunately, the return of the ulcer was partially my fault.  When I ran out of Nexavar, I stopped taking my medications.  I forgot that I wasn’t only on Nexavar, but I was also on Protonix.  I was off of my Protonix for about 1 ½ weeks before I remembered that I should be taking it.  I can only assume that it was too late by that time and my ulcer problems were inevitable.

I’ve doubled my Protonix dose, and I ate a mild diet for about 1 ½ weeks.  I started drinking soda again while I was at home studying for my Professional Engineer exam.  I ate a greasy burger and pizza as well.  I think those foods started to irritate my ulcer again.  I’ll have to resume my mild diet for a while longer in hopes that it, and the drug, will heal the ulcer again.

Dealing with the new insurance company was frustrating, but I told my dad, "I’d rather be fighting with an insurance company than not have one at all."  I’ve also had to deal with a couple reoccurring health problems, but I know that things could be much, much worse.  I continue to feel very blessed that things have gone as smoothly as they have for all of these years I’ve fought cancer.

Health Update – Another Good Check-Up (2/8/2008)

It took over 24 hours to find out, but the news was worth the wait.  Mom and I went down to St. Louis Thursday morning for a CT scan and oncology appointment, and I again received a "clean" report.

Everything was different and/or out of order on this trip.  I usually have my blood drawn before my appointment in the afternoon, but on Thursday I had my blood drawn before my CT scan.  Then the technician that gives me my scan was able to start my IV with very little pain.  I dread getting the IV during the scan because he usually has to dig around in my arm to find a vein, but it was a breeze this time.

After lunch, Mom and I made it back to the hospital for my appointment.  I didn't need my blood drawn, but I did have to go get my port flushed.  The nurse was very surprised that I was voluntarily getting my port accessed.  I told her that I didn't want to be there, but I knew that it had been three months and I should really get a flush.  It turns out that I had really good blood return and I probably didn't need to be there.  Oh well, better safe than sorry.

I then met with my nurse to find out that my blood pressure is continuing to drop towards an acceptable level.  We went over the standard questions about how I'm feeling, and I was able to tell her that I had very little problems over the last month.

It didn't take very long for my oncologist to come in.  He was frustrated because he hadn't seen the films from my morning exam.  He asked how early the scan was and said that he should have seen something by now.  Then he realized that my nurse didn't take my temperature, so he had to do that.  It wasn't a big deal, and he didn't mind at all, I just noticed it because everything else was so out of the ordinary.

My physical check-up went just fine and my blood test showed no problems.  He quickly sent Mom and me on my way with the instructions to up the dose of my Nexavar to 800mg every other day.  I will stay at 600mg the other days.  We're hoping that I can handle the slight increase in the dosage for a month before I try to take the full 800mg every day.

My oncologist told me that he would call today with the results of my scan.  I hadn't heard from him or my nurse by 1:00 so I called.  I had to leave a message for my nurse.  I didn't hear anything by 3:00 so I called again.  I didn't want to be a pest, but I was obviously very anxious about getting my results.

I was able to get a hold of my nurse and she gave me the good news that my scan was clean and showed nothing out of the ordinary (for me anyway).  She also apologized for not calling me back.

All in all, it was a very strange and slow check-up, but I am obviously happy with the results.  I am ready to try increasing my dosage of Nexavar again.  For whatever reason, I think that I'll be able to handle the higher dosage this time.

I'll see my oncologist again in about a month.  Hopefully there will be no new updated between now and then!

-Travis

Health Update – Still Can't Handle the Full Dose (1/7/2008)

It only took 7 days into the new year before I developed my first health problem.  I was sitting at my desk this morning at 8:00 when my face started to feel warm.  It was the same feeling I had when I first started my cholesterol pill.  The warmth was quickly accompanied by the sensation of needles sticking me all over my head, the back of my neck, and the top of my hands.

Shortly after that, I then noticed that my arms were getting red and I realized that this was more than a reaction to my cholesterol pill.  It took me 30 minutes of trying to work through the heat and pain before I was told that I should go home and take care of it.

I went home, soaked in an oatmeal bath, and put my strong lotion on.  I immediately felt better so I put my work clothes on to sit around the house.  My thought process was that if I was comfortable in those clothes around the house, I could be comfortable at work too.

I called my oncologist's nurse.  She and my doctor decided that I needed to go back down to a 600 mg dose for the rest of this month.  If I am able to make it through the rest of the month with no more reactions, he will increase my dose to 700 mg on February 7.  Hopefully I can make it through February with no reactions so that I can try 800 mg again in March.

I made it back to work at 10:30.  I was very determined to get back to work as soon as I could.  I missed too much work last year and I did not want to start doing that again this year.  My boss was surprised to see me back at work, but my friends didn't see surprised at all.

I worked all day with no problems.  I then came home and threw darts with Donnie until the big football game.  Making it through the day turned a disappointing morning into a very good day, and gave me even more confidence that I can handle whatever health problem that arises.

Health Update – Starting the New Year Healthy (1/3/2008)

I went down to St. Louis this morning to see my oncologist to get yet another good report.  I have been seeing him once a month since I started Nexavar in October.  My skin and stomach are both handling the drug very well so I will bump back up to the full 800mg dose tonight.

The biggest concern of my oncologist (and family doctor) is my blood pressure.  It has been slightly too high for a couple of months now.  It actually went down a touch from last month's reading.  My oncologist suggested that I check it at the grocery store some time since most people have slightly elevated blood pressure in the doctor's office.  I'll have to give that a shot because I always have it checked shortly after getting stuck in my arm for a blood draw.  I am much better with the needle, but I'm sure it affects my blood pressure a little bit.

I will see my oncologist on February 7 for a CT scan and another check-up.

I have made it 8 days without taking any pain medicine or muscle relaxer for my back, at least on purpose that is. 

Last week I started taking a pill for high cholesterol.  I take the pill before bed and its major side effect is a flushing sensation in the morning.  The first morning was very painful.  I was flushed and had a red rash from my chest up that was accompanied by very sharp sensations in my shoulders and scalp.  I used lotion after my shower to calm the rash and it worked.  I was flushed the next morning, but it was much more subdued. 

I didn't have any side effects the next two nights so I thought that I had gotten accustom to the drug.  The cholesterol pill looks very similar to the muscle relaxer, and I got the two switched for two nights in a row.  So I didn't have side effects those nights and slept like a baby.

I'm very happy to start 2008 healthy.  I'm not thrilled that I have to take so much medication to stay healthy, but it's better than the alternative.