Sunday, November 25, 2007
Treatment Update -- Doing Okay
In the month since my last update, there have been some new developments in my health and treatment for colon cancer.
Viral Infection? In the last two weeks of October, I battled a fever daily, unrelated to the colon cancer. What now appears to have been a viral infection caused what was diagnosed on October 30 as a severe cardiomegaly (heart enlargement). However, one week later, testing showed a remarkable recovery (“I don’t know how to explain this”) allowing me to resume normal activities and to commence chemo-therapy the following day.
Chemo-Therapy. It was snowing outside on November 6 as I took my first chemo-therapy session. Our daughter, Rebecca, a resident in family medicine, sat with me through almost five hours of treatmen
t, providing companionship and coaching for a “treatment rookie”. I took home a little pump to help me finish the session over the next 48 hours. Although I have had some severe fatigue, a few digestion issues, and some upper body pain, the 12 days of recovery were relatively side-effect free – no severe nausea, no hair loss, no mouth sores, no skin irritations, or other challenges. The medication provided has made my treatment bearable. Dianne accompanied me on November 20 for the second chemo-therapy session and I’m doing pretty well in handling the second recovery period.Next? The next meeting with the oncologist is scheduled for December 3. Rebecca will accompany me to this appointment to review progress as well as make any modifications needed. My chemo-therapy sessions in December are currently scheduled for the 4th and 18th, assuming all goes well. A thorough assessment of my condition will probably occur after the completion of the sixth cycle of treatment.
Activities. Life is “home focused” right now. It’s great to have visitors to the house and be receiving so many calls and pieces of mail. We are looking forward to attending the graduation of our son, Paul, from his training program with the Toronto Fire Service on November 30. At Paul’s request, I will co-present to him (with the metro fire chief) his badge as a certified City of Toronto firefighter. We are very proud of him!
Perseverance. And speaking of perseverance (4.5 years from acceptance to badge for Paul!), we are finding we will need some of the same stuff. Our support team people keep encouraging us. The care we are receiving is excellent. Thanks for your prayers and contact. You can reach us at
ggibson@outeach.ca. GG
