Third day in...

Hey, this carboplatin is a breeze! Whoo hoo! I am eating, only using half of the nausea drugs, and keeping everything down... yes, everything. I have yet to vomit since the introduction of the carboplatin into my system on Tuesday.

There have been 'hiccups'. But with the judicious application of that anti-psychotic novo-chlorpromazine, we seemed to have nipped that particularly ugly side effect in the bud.

One of the questions that immediately jumps to mind is 'why didn't they use this drug before?' Well, apparently it takes between 3 and 6 doses of carboplatin to have the same butt-kicking effect on the cancer cells that the cisplatin does. What they will do is give you three to six days of carboplatin in a row, which, by the end, you're not in much better shape than with the cisplatin, anyway. And you just know the cisplatin is that much stronger, potent and deadly 'cause they store and serve it in glass containers, while everything else we've noticed on the IV stands has been in plastic...

I am a little fatigued, maybe a bit dehydrated, and just a tiny bit deluded into thinking that I've got the outward manifestations of these damned therapies under control. Gail, good caregiver that she is, still makes me wear masks out in the great wide world, ensures that I am using the various creams, lotions and swishes, and is only just a bit bossy in doing any of it. Just a bit bossy, and somewhat pushy when it comes to the calorie count... I am starting my mornings with the "Plus" version of Ensure, followed almost immediately by two fried eggs and a glass of milk. Lunch (if I actually got out of bed to make 'lunch' a different time period) is a soup of some sort... Uncle Pete's chicken soup has been getting the most play so far this week. Evenings have been one or another chili, or the three potato casserole that Gail makes, or some of her fish pie. Between meals there is usually a yogurt or pudding cup on offer, and, of course, the ever present glass of milk. I still can't quite taste the sugars, but most of the savoury flavours are coming through. The chemo doctor, after a heavy sigh, did tell me that it could be 'many, many weeks' before the tastes are back to normal. Open cans of almost-room-temperature-and-slightly-stale soda water to cleanse the stickier saliva are strategically placed throughout the house.

Which reminds me... I haven't really pointed out that the thick saliva has pretty much subsided. Mornings (teeth brushing time) are the worst. But it really isn't getting in the way too much during the day. Add another 'whoo hoo' to the stack!

Hiccups are bad. Hate 'em.

The continuing fallout from chemo therapy seems to be centering around the hiccups that keep coming back and back and back. This morning, after radiation (by the way, they cut the eyes out of the Iron Maiden for me!) we waited to see Dr. Koski and her intern to see what can/should be done about the hiccups. They have become absolutely disruptive to everything... my sleeping, my eating, my drinking. (Hell, the whole chemo thing is devastating my drinking, not just the hiccups. I can't keep up with my scotch consumption... just kidding!) What happens is that I get sudden bout of gut shaking hiccups that goes on for three or four minutes. Then, after walking about, drinking cool water, and anything else I can think of, they'll subside. If I have taken meds lately, or had anything to eat, then it becomes a waiting game; will my system sudden toss it all?

New drugs are on the way... a little anti-psychotic called 'chlorpromazine-oral'. If they were to ever offer it to you, make sure you read the fine print. Its got some potentially nasty side effects that I personally don't want... and one that I might similar to Viagra. The warnings say 'in the unlikely event that you have a painful, prolonged erection (lasting more than 4 hours), stop using this drug'. Okay... four hours would be good, right? Not so sure about the 'painful' part though.

I'm also doing a bit of research on the nerve that may be causing all of this... I'm not sure that I got it right the last time...