Cancer and now an ulcer!!
Keep sending those prayers and thoughts: they ARE helping.
It's been an interesting 3 weeks.On Monday, Oct 14, I was admitted to the Markey wing of the UK Hospital with a red cell count of 19 after two episodes that weekend in the UK emergency room after vomiting and pooping large amounts of blood. The chemo and anti-nausea drugs left me with a 4 centimeter pouch ulcer right at the stoma.
After 3 "scopes", my team decided to see if a clot that had formed in the pouch could sustain healing as surgery was life threatening. With 6 units of blood and protonix to aid in healing, I weathered this latest hitch and went home Monday, the 22. We left the hospital and had a great day. At 7:00 PM, I was getting out of a recliner when my feeding tube came completely out so we drove to the UK emergency room. After 7 hours (the computers had been hit by a lightening strike and were down), we drove back with a new tube installed. Turns out, putting a new tube in is actually fairly simple, if all goes right.
I received 5 days of radio last week: 12 more to go!
The ulcer continues to heal!!! I see Dr. Neighbert, my bariatric Dr. after the last radio.
We accepted Dr. Arnold's advice to quit chemo. She indicates that my ulcer was life threatening, the chemo way overachieved, and we can revisit it if the cancer returns later, which is unlikely. She will be monitoring my red counts twice weekly. I'm a pin cushion.
I took several days to "catch up" on my sleep. I'm also sleeping even more as the radio makes me exhausted.
This is most difficult, but also, most rewarding.
Shrinking in more ways than one,
Dave