Chemo #6: Good news again

Yesterday was the regular drive to Melaka for chemo. Left home at 6.10am, drove out of the car park, and then had to drive straight back in as Husband's stomach started "yelling" for attention! We finally did leave at 6.25pm, stopped once at the Dengkil rest stop, then just continued all the way to the hospital in Melaka! Got there at 8.40am, registered, went to the lab for them to get Husband's blood for testing, then went to see the gastro surgeon.

He poked and prodded Husband's stomach and was happy to be able to tell us the first piece of good news - which is that everything there, considering he has had fairly major surgery, is in good shape. However, as a common side effect of the surgery, the small intestines (which are all normally nicely free floating in the abdominal region) have somewhat "adhered" (stuck) to each other so that they are not QUITE so free floating. This makes the digestive process in the small intestines more difficult - ie, the small intestines have to work much harder to push the food along. And this adhesion is NOT going to go away. To better handle the stomach discomfort (this has nothing to do with the diarrhoea which is a side effect of the UFT chemo pills), the doctor recommended taking smaller meals, more often, and esuring that anything fibrous (eg, green veg, fruits, etc) is cut into SMALL pieces and chewed EXTREMELY thoroughly so that it is easier for the small intestine to push it along. Also, do NOT eat the skin of fruits.

From there we had breakfast then went to see the oncologist. The second piece of good news was that the cancer marker in the blood has gone down even further - it now stands at 146.8, which is GREAT! We are now back down to the point we were before chemo even started. We also talked about the extreme diarrheoa which Husband is suffering from - and the oncologist has cut the UFT down to half the dosage (3 pills a day, rather than 6). However, he has also said if the extreme diarrhoea continues, then we have to consider not taking the UFT at all. So, let's see how it goes.

Also, to make life a little easier, instead of having to take the pills 3 times a day at precise 8 hour intervals, he can take them just twice a day, at precise 12 hour intervals - 2 of the chemo pills in the morning dosage, and 1 in the evening dosage. So, 7am and 7pm are the pill times, followed by a meal one hour later (ie, 8am breakfast, 8pm dinner). Fingers crossed that Husband's system finds it easier to tolerate the medication at this lower dosage. As it is, just from the last few days of bad diarrhoea, Husband has lost SIX AND A HALF KILOS! Pity I can't transfer some of my body weight across to him to make up for his loss, and to help me lose :-D

Husband's hair has also started shedding - but, looking at him, you can't tell at all that he is losing hair! Once it starts being obvious, then he wants to go shave his head and start showing off his rather large collection of baseball caps.

His back is still sore (somewhat aggravated by having to run for the toilet so often), but he is getting more used to it, the pain killer dosage is lower than before, and he is more mobile (when he has the strength!).

So, that's it folks. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers and, till next time, stay safe, stay HEALTHY!