So bad to me (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
Monday mornin, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh monday mornin, monday mornin couldnt guarantee (ba-da ba-da-da-da)
That monday evenin you wouldn't horribly nauseate me
Monday, monday, can't trust that day
Monday, monday, it always just turns out that way
Oh monday mornin you gave me no warnin of what was to be
Oh monday, monday, how could you create such nausea in me.
Every other day (every other day), every other day
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever monday comes, but whenever monday comes
A-you can find me nauseous all of the time
Mary was doing fine on Sunday, enjoyed Monday morning and then we went to Stanford. First was the blood draw and that went off with no problems. Then, to the radiation department where Mary was again loaded into ol' number 9 and blasted with x-rays. She has explained to me that the machine is targeted directly on the right side, it raises up a bit and blasts again, raises some more and blasts. Again directly over her bellybutton with the fourth shot. Then one between her belly button and her left side followed by directly on her left side and finally one targeted at her back. Seven shots in all. If you use clock face locations and put noon directly over her belly button and 6 directly underneath her spine, the blasts are done at 3 (right side), 2, 1, Noon, 10:30, 9 and 6. The techies among you will get it.
From there, we met with Dr. Chang. He is looking for signs of radiation sickness and Mary's nausea is the prime symptom. However, the three nausea meds tend to keep it under control (Zofran, Compazine and Phenergan). Mary uses Zofran as prescribed while using compazine a bit more often but much less than prescribed and phenergan only as need dictates which means almost not at all. Otherwise, Mary is showing no other signs of being zapped with x-rays. Her weight is stable and her blood tests are nominal. You go girl!
Hospitals! When Mary comes in on Monday, they weigh her. She apparently gained two pounds last week. Mary then noticed that the mechanical scale used in that department was not correctly set to zero and was probably weighing 2-3 pounds heavy. The attendant said, "Oh, no problem, it really doesn't matter."
So, Dr. Chang starts with, "I see you've gained a couple of pounds." Ah, no, the scale was not zeroed correctly, the staff said it didn't matter, blah, blah, blah
After Dr. Chang on Monday was the visit with the nurse who primarily is concerned with diet. She starts with, "I see you've gained two pounds since last Monday." Ah no, blah, blah, blah.
Tuesdays are Dr. Taniguchi, the chief radiation resident. How does he start the conversation, "Oh, its impressive, you have gained a couple of pounds since last week." We explain to him including the fact that Dr. Chang, Nurse Lois and himself all commented on the weight gain although it was really an improperly set scale. I would guess by his response that the staff will now find it important to make sure the scale is properly zeroed. Why they don't have a digital scale in radiation like they do in the patient examination area upstairs is beyond me.
As for the rest of Monday, it was a really downer. Mary felt poorly, nauseous and very tired and sleepy. She did wake up about 5 PM, took compazine on top of the zofran and then we cooked our tuna from Sunday's Farmers' Market outing. We also cooked another ear of corn which we divide 2/3rds, 1/3rd and normally Mary comfortably finishes the 1/3rd portion with the rest of her meal. And we microwaved some fresh string beans--for some reason, string bean (and broccoli) are the veggies easiest to eat and digest for Mary. On Monday, she ate the corn and stopped. She then asked me to run to the store to get fresh ginger so she could make ginger tea which has been recommended by the dietary staff to assist with nausea. A few hours later she ate a bit of fruit and cheese and that was it.
Compare that to Sunday when Mary ate everything on her plate which was fresh Alaskan salmon grilled on the BBQ, corn on the cob, green beans and roasted red potatoes. Even more telling is that Mary was in the kitchen with me on Sunday helping to prepare the meal for us. On Monday, she dragged herself to her chair only after everything was prepared and in place on the table.
Dr. Taniguchi said that Mary's overall condition is "amazing, fantastic even". He said that she is getting heavy duty irradiation and she is taking it very well. And, given her only symptom is nausea and the meds tend to handle it most of the time, she is doing great.
This morning, I had a conference call at 7AM. Mary got up, fixed her own breakfast (cottage cheese, cantaloup, toast and tea) and then took her shower. However, at that point she sat down and fell asleep for over an hour until it was time to go to Stanford. Clearly, the Monday blasts had an effect into Tuesday. For dinner tonight, I picked up a chicken at Lunardi's with a baked potato. We warmed up some broccoli to go with it and Mary ate pretty reasonably. I expect tomorrow will be much better overall.
Monday's dose is the same as every other day. There is no change from day to day. Basically, its a reaction to being off of radiation and chemo for two days so Monday is a restart and it hits her pretty hard. Bummer.
Mary has six radiation and chemo days remaining. Wednesday the 19th of August is the last day. Hooray! Then she is off radiation, chemo et al for 4.5 weeks and we are hoping she can recover nicely during this time. She is hoping both Harry Potter and Julie and Julia are still in the theaters.
On Sept 21, Monday, she again meets the Oncologist, Dr. Fisher, and we then learn if Mary will do heavy duty chemo (hair falling out kind of chemo), chemo light (oral pills, no hair loss) or no chemo at all. If she does do chemo, it could be for four or six months, ending in either January or March.
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