Off and running…

Interpret that as you may. I had my Erbitux treatment on Tuesday - Round 2, dose 2, or as the nurse put it, Round 9. I must have been extremely exhausted because about 5 minutes after they hooked up the Benadryl, I fell asleep. And woke up 3 hours later when the last drips of saline were finishing. Pat dropped me off at home while he returned to work. I crawled into bed and slept until 8pm, when he came home and woke me up for dinner and the season finale of Gilmore Girls. I’m not ashamed to admit that I like this show. Usually when I sleep this much during the day, I can’t sleep that night, but not this week. Without adding any more chemicals to my system, I slept soundly until about 4 AM the next morning.

Before falling asleep, I talked with the nurses about my side effects. The week off and the addition of Kytril didn’t stop the diarrhea. I have slowed down a little so that I am back under double digits, most days. We are now trying a combination of codeine, diluted tincture of opium, and Lomotil, which is the active ingredient in Imodium and is cheaper to get by prescription than over the counter. So far it seems to have slowed me down, but I’m not going to dance a jig and claim to be cured just yet. I also heard about a study being done at the Cleveland Clinic that involves electronic impulses, the sciatic nerve and the bowel – sort of Frankensteinish. I don’t know all the details and I’m guessing my previous chemotherapy and radiation may rule me out of any clinical trial, but like I have said previously I’m willing to try just about anything at this point.

So far it’s been a chilly rainy spring here in New England, but one of these days the sun is going to come out and stay out. We’ve had 3 “rainy” weekends in a row and they are predicting yet another one. They’ve meant Pat has been able to go in the office and work even more without feeling guilty about missing out on any outdoor activities we might do together. We did find some time this past Sunday morning, before the clouds rolled in, to take a nice long walk along the beach and clear both our heads. I should have the house in perfect order with all this free time, but I’ve managed to find other less boring things to do and they haven’t all involved shopping.

That’s it from here.