The Shine is Off

Greetings All,

I apologize for not being in contact the last couple days. I have been remiss in documenting parts of the journey. Unfortunately it is not because I've been lazy, which is usually the case. Lately I have had an acute case of the "I can't keep my eyes open".

As I mentioned in my last post, the actual treatment went very well and I felt good the rest of that day and mostly into the next. Friday I was tired but for the most part felt OK. Saturday through today proved to be a struggle. They were right about the fatigue, it is omnipresent. It' kind of like having Mono only you sometimes have the aches more associated with the flu. That is slowly getting better, I feel a little more energetic each day now. According to the treatments my blood platelets, white cell, and red cell counts should all be the lowest tomorrow so to have a little more energy now is a good sign.

So three things started to happen on Saturday, and I apologize if I make anyone uncomfortable here. The first thing is I started to exhibit signs of a urinary tract infection, that's as much detail as I'll offer on that. So it's been rather uncomfortable but the antibiotics are finally doing their job. The second is my arm where they put the IV in started to get very sore and swollen around the wrist. This led me to the decision to get a port put in before the next treatment. A port is a device that is installed either in your arm or chest and it stays just under the skin for the duration of treatment. It has a tube that stays in your vein and they can hook up the IV to the access part near the skin. It is much easier on the veins, and I'd kind of like to keep mine healthy for the rest of my life. The last thing that developed was my mouth and tongue became extremely raw and sensitive. It was almost like I was going to develop sores but they never came. This made it very difficult to chew and made eating, well, not very appetizing. I was told to swish with warm water with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and baking soda to get rid of the food particles that were agitating my mouth after every time I ate. It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds and it did make my mouth feel better. All of these, except for the infection, are common side effects and I'm happy to report that they all are getting better.

I've been able to go to work every day this week, which is good. I had let people at work know of my condition at one of our sales meetings last week and asked that, while I appreciate their concern, it would really help me if they didn't ask how I was doing all the time. For the most part it helps to do work while I'm at work, it keeps my mind off things and makes the day go by faster. With the fatigue it makes me pretty worthless by the time I get home. My wife has been amazing and we have good help from family near us.

One thing the nurse told me definitely is becoming more clear. She told us at our first session that I'll come to dread my next appointment. It's true. It's right about the time that I will probably feel normal again that I'll have to go back. That makes the next 4 months seem like a long time. On the other hand, I'm already a week away from my next treatment and the holidays will fly by. Now that I've gotten a taste of what we are in for I ask that you continue to pray not just for me but for my wife and kids. I need to have the strength to be there for them as much as I can and my wife is so amazing taking care of everything right now.

Peace to all of you,
Ben