Doing much better…

From Mike:
Things have improved considerably since Saturday:

• Pain: thanks to the continued pain meds, the pain has been steady and only about a 2-out-of-10 (a big improvement over last week). We may still tweak the Oxycontin dosage once there are a few “normal” days in a row to get a better baseline. (The meds are working well enough that Linda wondered today how she’ll know when the pain (without meds) is gone. We’re in no rush to figure that out, though!)
• Nausea (from pain meds): hasn’t really been a problem. Seems to have only been an issue with the initial doses of Oxycontin, but now her body seems to have gotten used to it. Appetite is closer to normal. (See below for nausea due to chemo.)
  
• Fevers: also seem to have gone away.
• Mental haze: (from painkillers) is also much better, with her thoughts and words and energy being much closer to normal now. She does still occasionally struggle to think of a word, and the limited typing that she does is a bit of a struggle (hand/eye coordination issues), but hopefully those minor problems will improve with time as her body gets used to the narcotics.
• Sleep: seems back to normal, with 8 or 9 continuous hours through the night plus a short nap or two during the day. She does pass through a short narcotic/hallucinogenic dreamworld as she falls asleep at night (Ativan on top of Oxycontin), but hopefully this will stop as meds/pain/etc equilibrate over the coming week or so.

Linda had visits from Char and Regan on Saturday and Sunday, which always lifts spirits around here.

Monday was Linda’s first trip out of the house in many days. Linda’s MUGA scan (Monday afternoon) showed no abnormalities in heart function (as expected), so Adriamycin will continue to be the “flavor of the month” in battling the cancer. We celebrated the news with a short walk through Bed Bath & Beyond on the way home.

Unfortunately, this cancer isn’t taking any breaks, so neither is Linda! A couple days of feeling much better and even getting out of the house were rewarded with… that’s right: straight back to the hospital for chemo day #2 with Adriamycin on Tuesday. Since the side/breathing pain is more under control now, we’re getting a better idea of the side effects from the Adria this week. It seems to be better news: the side effects are not as harsh as Ixempra (the chemo from a month ago), although also nowhere near as "easy" as Abraxane (the chemo from a year ago). Linda seems a little fatigued and a has some lingering nausea (enough to slightly lower her appetite, but she’s still eating pretty well and not vomiting).

Perhaps the best sign of her progress is that we’re planning a bit of a trip this weekend (based on a last-minute desire from Linda). More details on that later (hopefully a blog post from Linda). But we’re approaching this trip with much excitement, along with some adjusted expectations and plenty of realistic planning to make sure we aren’t overdoing it. We hope you also have a great weekend!