Entering the Final Week

(WARNING! This is a relatively long blog!)

Yes, I know it has been awhile since my last blog and there have been incidents of note since then. During Week 3, I was reminded of what I was told at the beginning about the treatment process. They told me the effects would be cumulative (check!). They also told me I would be increasingly tired (check, check!). Thursday of Week 3 was my worst day to date (and even since). Weak, a little nauseous, tired, and overall blaahh. I went home that night and slept as much as I have in a long time and that seemed to help, as the next day I was significantly better. Then getting off everything over the weekend really helped me feel even better by the following Monday.

Then, on Tuesday of Week 4, I began to notice tightness in my chest that would come and go. It was occasionally accompanied by some numbness in my right arm, as if it had fallen asleep (but that wasn’t it). I had no arm numbness after Thursday but the tightness (which was more of a noticeable feeling that a sharp pain) was there off and on throughout the week. I mentioned this to the nurse last Friday when I was getting disconnected from my chemo treatment and that must have set off a red flag to them. She talked to one of the doctors (Dr. Y later didn’t remember that incident so it might not have been him) who relayed back to me to go next door to the hospital Emergency Room and get an EKG test. I had had these before and they went quickly so I didn’t think this whole thing would take too long, maybe an hour, and then I would go back to work as usual. Silly me! First of all I waited in ER over 5 hours, although they did do some preliminary blood drawing and vital sign checking, took a chest x-ray, and also set me up for being able to receive an IV during that time and then sent me back out to the waiting room each time. While I was waiting, Cyndy came over to be with me. Finally, I was sent to a private room where they hooked me up to some monitoring equipment (blood pressure and pulse). In the ER room my blood pressure was higher than it has ever been: the first number (the systolic) was 160 on several readings (I’m almost never over 120 on that). In the private room I was still in the 140’s but coming down. An ER doctor, Dr. McSwane, came in and suggested that for the best measurement of my heart, I needed to take a stress test the next day. I told him I could but that one effect of my treatment is that my stamina is much lower than before (not that I was Carl Lewis or anything like that before). He suggested they admit me to the hospital to (a) be there in the morning for the stress test and (b) be there in case I had a heart problem in the night (I have learned in the past that ER’s tend to err on the side of caution.). So I agreed and was eventually admitted and got into my room around 11 p.m.

The next morning at 8:30 a.m. they came and got me and took me for some nuclear imaging. They inject a dye through my IV port and then have me lay on my back for pictures of my heart for about 20 minutes. Then I went for the stress test. The goal of the stress test is to get your heart rate up to at least 139 beats/min and measure things from there. It turns out that my ER doctor from the night before, no doubt influenced by my increased fatigue factor, had suggested I have a chemical test instead, in which I would be injected with chemicals to simulate raising my heart rate and then measuring things from there. But it would take a lot longer and possibly have some side effects. So I asked if they could give me the physical treadmill stress test anyway. I was concerned about this because of my stamina but thought it was worth a shot. If it failed, then they could do the chemical test. I did the physical test and got my heart rate up to the 140’s in 6½ minutes (quite average). I was pretty happy about that. The nurse told me the initial results on their chart were consistent with someone who reports sharp chest pains right after the test. I told them I felt fine with no pains at all. But they were still concerned and brought a doctor in who told me that after they do the nuclear imaging again (they do it before and after the stress test), they will look at those results and if they see any blockage around my heart, I would need an angiogram, to happen on Monday, which could lead to angioplasty (and who knows how long I’d have to stay in the hospital if that happened?). So when I went back for the nuclear imaging, all I did was pray that my results would be good and not show any blockage.

After the second round of nuclear imaging, I went back to my room and eventually another doctor came to tell me the results. First, she said they never get the results back so quickly, although I didn’t know if that was a good sign or not. Like when the jury comes back quickly. Does that the verdict is "Guilty" or "Not Guilty"? Anyway then she said, “I have good news. All the results look wonderful. Your heart is operating at 70% efficiency (55% is considered good for anybody), which is excellent for a man your age. You can go home today.” Definitely the best news I had had for awhile. Ultimately I was discharged and went home and took it easy. I still felt rather weak on Sunday and took it easy then as well. Now I just have one more week of radiation/chemo treatment to look forward to. (PIE ALERT: if we can remember this doctor's name, she wants blueberry.)

One side note on my hospital stay. In the next room was a woman,Jody, who has been good friends with the Tumminaros (our daughter Marcia married a Tumminaro). In fact she used to baby sit the children of Marcia’s aunt (by marriage) years ago. Cyndy just happened to get into a conversation with this woman while she was waiting for me to come back from my stress test. And if you know Cyndy, once you get into a conversation with her, she tends to get a lot of information out of you. We called Marcia and told her to call her in-laws and let her aunt know about this woman being in the hospital. She was probably a little lonely (she and Cyndy probably talked 3 or 4 hours) and a visit by them would be nice. So file this under the “Small World” department.

Sorry this was so long but I just wanted to document my hospital stay. At least there’s now more documentation that for the most part, my health is very good so at least on top of the cancer, there aren’t other health issues piling on. I am reminded of the story of Jimmy Piersall, the former Boston Red Sox centerfielder. He had some mental issues (bipolar disorder) years ago which led him to be in a state mental hospital for awhile. In fact there was a movie about him in the 50’s called “Fear Strikes Out” where Anthony Perkins (“Norman Bates”) played Jimmy (Jimmy also complained that Perkins couldn’t throw a baseball though). For years after Jimmy’s release from the hospital he would famously say to anyone who would listen, “I have a piece of paper that says I’m sane. Do you?” Well, I have lots of test results that say that almost all aspects of my general health are good to excellent for a man my age. As of a couple of months ago, I didn’t have them. These give me hope that (a) my otherwise good health will help me beat this cancer and (b) once I do, I won’t have other health issues to at least immediately worry about (though I will certainly monitor myself and act upon any unusual symptoms. That lesson I have learned the hard way).

I'm now in the middle of Week 5. I'm just trying to get through each day - one at a time. I feel pretty tired and weak and am just looking forward to Friday afternoon when the last radiation is done; I am unhooked from the chemo for this go-round; and I have a three day weekend. One reason I haven't done much blogging lately is that I just haven't felt up to it. Today I met with Razzle Dazzle (the urologist) who set me up for an ultrasound a few days before my surgery along with a 12 needle biopsy, in which they take small spaghetti type slices of my prostate - six from the right side and six from the left. My PSA earlier was good but that is only about an 80% measure of whether there is any problem. I guess there's a chance that all or part of my prostate might need to be removed. At this point, I don't know the ramifications of that. I'm sure I'll learn in time but I'll pray that it is not necessary.

That’s it for now. If you made it to the end, thanks for reading.