10 October 2023
I made it to 3:45 am this morning. I probably should take a Xanax the night before every infusion but those things really give me a hangover and I don’t like to drive the day after taking one of those. I don’t really mind getting up so early. I seem to get a lot accomplished.
Food tends to be frustrating right now. Some things seem like they would taste good and don’t. Other things just hit the spot. Yesterday afternoon I put some dried black-eyed peas on to soak and then cooked them for dinner. It was a 14 oz. bag and I used half of them. After cooking, I ate the entire pot. I added a little extra salt and chopped up some red onion and pigged out.
Compare that to the homemade spaghetti sauce on Sunday which I ate only half of what was on my plate and you can see somethings work out and some don’t. I have noticed that I have to cut back significantly on spicy foods. If I do use some spice, I now add half as much so my mouth doesn’t go on strike.
For being up so early this morning, I feel pretty good. I may try to take my morning walk for the first time in a while. Me staggering down the street will give the neighborhood something to talk about.
Yesterday was a domestic dispute on Riverland Road at a house that I walk past quite frequently. A woman was injured and a man barricaded himself in the house and fired on police officers. I knew something was up when I saw three helicopters over the area and a litany of police sirens. The man who barricaded himself in the house finally surrendered around 8:15 last night. I’m sure they closed off the road all day and they had the middle school on lockdown until they could evacuate it.
When I do walk Riverland, kids on the way to school constantly pass me on my walk. I’m sure it was an exciting albeit scary day for them.
Today is just a Taxol/saline/magnesium day. I probably will talk to Dr. Velez as he makes his rounds in the infusion ward. I have a list of questions ready for him. I made a list of effects of the chemo and I want to ask him how many of those will persist and how many will abate after my final Taxol treatment. Foremost in my mind is what he anticipates the effects of every three weeks of Herceptin for a year will be.
It’s taken two years but the DeSantis administration has settled a lawsuit about restricting data of Covid infections in the state in order to put the state in a more favorable light. The state of Florida must reimburse the lawyers for the plaintiffs who sought the release of the data and the state must begin to release all data associated with Covid infections in the state. The DeSantis administration is not admitting any fault but it looks like everything went the plantiffs’ way.
I was riding that horse three years ago claiming that there was incomplete and insufficient data on the state’s website for Covid. Add to that a surgeon general for the state who is encouraging people under 65 to not get the new vaccine and you have a recipe for disaster. Florida leads the nation for hospitalizations for Covid. At what point do these actions become criminal?
9:00 am
Phaila took my vitals and Pat is my nurse. That’s my second time with Pat. She’s great.
9:21 am
Getting hooked up to saline and magnesium. Waiting for lab reports before Taxol infusion.
9:38 am
CBC with Auto Differential
The lab report came back with low white blood cells (4.0 with normal 4.5-11.0 K/mcL), low red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Neutrophils relative were high and lymphocytes relative were low. Lymphocytes absolute were low and monocytes absolute were also low. So far, situation normal.
9:55 am
Magnesium is low, of course. It’s 1.4 with normal 1.9-2.7 mg/dL.
The Comprehensive Metabolic Panel miraculously showed my sodium level normal for the first time in a while. Glucose was high because of breakfast and sterols (288). My calcium continues to be low at 8.4 (normal 8.6-10.3 mg/dL). A new thing is my bilirubin total is low (0.2 with normal 0.3-1.0 mg/dL). This is probably a side effect of the medications I’m on.
11:08 am
Pat’s getting ready to administer the premeds for the Taxol. Looks like the Taxol will be about an hour and I still have some magnesium and saline left. She’ll give me the Taxol and then finish with the saline and magnesium.
Noon
Pat started the Taxol. In for 1 hour.
Stay tuned!
