My Hair Hurts

Well, It has been just under a week since the treatment ended and MY HAIR HURTS! No one told me if that is part of losing your hair during chemo, but it is odd, I never knew it could hurt (and nothing is coming out anyway).

I have rearranged these notes so they appear blog-like with the newest entries at the top and the older stuff at the bottom. I also dredged out my older (pre-pictures) notes and added them for those who might have missed out on my earlier missives.

Yesterday, Cheryl and I went to the chemo lab for blood work and everything looked great. We also had a chance to discuss medication issues with a Physician's Assistant who had a bunch of helpful ideas.

Back in my Air Force days, we joked that the local hospital was the Air Force School for Experimental Medicine, since we seemed to experiment with drugs a lot before we found something that worked. Well it seems that that school has expanded to cover most of health care these days!

I found out (the hard way) that just because the treatments are over, the pain is not. Those last few radiation doses set me up for some serious pain over the weekend, and I got to the point where taking pills by mouth just was not working. So, the PA worked through the list of meds and came up with a set of drugs that can go through the feeding tube. He also cranked up the dosage of my pain patch and my desire for cigars went away also. Actually, the patch is doing what it is supposed to do, raise the level of pain that I notice and kill off the lower level pain. Wonder of wonders, I got a good night's sleep last night.

We still need to play with timing, but things are looking much better, and the PA says that another week and I should start to see daily improvements. To say I can hardly wait is an understatement - eh?

It ain't over yet, but we seem to be winning the battle over pain and living a reasonable life. Please do not stop with the well wishes and prayers, that are helping as well.

Thanks to all, and good night (that was one of the "may make you drowsy" meds speaking!)