Aggressive treatment

I saw the doctor yesterday who assured me that I am strong even if I don't feel like it. She said radiation is very aggressive treatment and at the moment I need all the rest I can get to heal.

She also said that I should be in no hurry to go off the pain meds because the more comfortable I am, the better I heal. I should expect to be tired for several weeks and will probably be on pain meds for awhile.

I asked why my hands shake and ahe said I am probably just weak now because my body is doing so much to heal from radiation.

My acupuncturist told me that this is my most challenging time with this disease and reminded me that now I am in a very yin time - I just need to hole up and rest. But yin eventually turns to yang so eventually I will gain more energy. The only constant is change.

I occasionally get blood in my urine and I think I notice it more when I don't drink as much water.

The wound in my arm is weeping more, sometimes with more blood. The tumor is shrinking, though.

I get Herceptin tomorrow. Hopefully that keeps other tumors at bay for awhile. Imreallymstart need to gain strength.

The doctor said fact that I don't have an infection and am maintaining my weight is good.

Please let me get through these next 8 treatments. Injust wish I felt better.

Infusion, Infection, CEA, Sleep, and Shakiness

I had my regularly scheduled infused yesterday - well, it was a week late - but I was a bit nervous about how it would affect me. So, I opted to also get an anti-nausea (which I don't really need usually). I also had an antibiotic infused.

When I saw the wound care nurse yesterday, she noted that the armpit wound was a bit bigger - up to 3cm x 1.5cm, up from 2.3cm x 1cm a few days ago. We attributed it to an infection, especially since the swelling near the armpit is quite red and inflamed and the scar tissue area looked larger. We were glad that I had an antibiotic given to me. But now I need to take it orally for a few more days.

I also found out that with lymphedema, you don't want to be wearing compression bandages with an active infection, so I took off the sleeve (which I just got on Thursday the 7th) and won't wear the compression wrap until the infection goes away.

Also, there was a light infection on the chest tumor wound, so she covered it quite thick with a silver gel to kill any microbes. The less I open it to air, the better, so I will only change it once every two days. Another good reason to stay on an antibiotic.

But for now, I need to take Keflex, which really gave me nausea last week. My digestive system is still not recovered, but it is better. I am eating more and a greater variety and more at one sitting. A good thing.

My CEA was 10.5, down from 12.5 in late May. Down is good, but I hoped it would be down more after two additional surgeries to remove the second brain tumor and the chest tumor.

I am feeling shaky today - and also for the last week or so, I can't focus on anything close. I am trying not to tense my shoulders, but it's hard. I took Valium last night and slept maybe 6 hours or so. After eating breakfast, I went back to bed and got another 30 min of sleep.

So, that's the news. Another day of taking it easy. I wanted to be stronger. But I guess now is the time to rest. My acupuncturist called me a "yang-addicted personality". I guess she's right. I feel like I've been resting for 3 months. But I really should give myself a break. Three surgeries in five weeks - I guess I should give myself five weeks from the last surgery to really feel human. That's three more weeks. Especially since I'm back on the antibiotic for awhile.

Let's hope the MRI shows nothing cooking because that buys me some time to get stronger.