I Swear, I Really Did It, ThisTime

As you know, I spend most of my days watching "food porn" on Food Network and The Cooking Channel. It's not really torture and mostly I am plotting what my dream meals will be when I can eat again. In my last post, I asked if you were in a similar position, say rescued off a desert island, what would your first meal be? Now I have tried to eat during this period, but it either hurt so bad and eventually came back up, so I was very careful what I'd try. I figured if I couldn't swallow water, I'd have a problem with food. I had to carry a bag around just to spit out my saliva because it wouldn't go down and stay. Not trying to be gross, but I was a mess!

So I watched and plotted. What would be my go to first meal? All of a sudden, this week I was able to swallow with no pain and decided it was time to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Meal number 1: Barbecue chicken, collards and potato salad. Now I do have two favorite restaurants in mind that I go to for this. Big Ed's in Raleigh and Carolina Barbecue in Garner. I wasn't confident enough to go inside a restaurant with my blue bag in hand, so I opted for Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue drive thru in Zebulon. I don't like their sauce, but at least it had potato salad and I was able to eat quite a bit of it and count it as a success in fine dining. I still need me some collards.

Meal number 2: Spaghetti with meat sauce. I was actually ready for some Chef Boyardee, but my kitchen staff refused to heat it up for me. We keep some cans on hand for "hurricane food" in case we are stuck without power and need something to tie us over. We ended up with a frozen entree fresh from the grocery store and I have to admit, it was actually very, very good. I was able to get quite a bit of it down without any issues.

Meal number 3: Pork ribs and taters. There's lots of places around here with good ribs, but we kinda missed our romps to Ruby Tuesday's and I decided to get them, even if I had to take them home for later. Well, it actually was uneventful, as far as the handy blue bag I toted was concerned, and I was able to eat several ribs and post it on Facebook. The brussel sprouts were a bid had, but the tips were good and they were sauteed with onions, which were amazing. The mashed potatoes were a bit firm, but that wasn't what my main attention was on. It was the first attempt to eat in public, and I had no problem that might be embarrassing or sickening to other diners. Success!

Meal number 4: Prime Rib/Filet Mignon and baked potato. Prime Rib is the special at Tripp's in Garner on Wednesday night and I knew Keith deserved it, although I wasn't really ready for it quite yet. I did figure out on my own that I should disconnect from the feeding tube an hour or so before dinner, so I could trick my system into accepting more food. I was being filled up with a half plate because I was being filled by the tube. It worked and I was able to eat an adult sized meal of crab cakes and a whole baked potato. I think I found the magic formula!

Meal number 5: Chinese. Like I posted on Facebook, I owed Keith a birthday meal at P F Chang's since I began Chemo and Radiation on his birthday in July.Again I pulled the plug on the feeding tube and took all my tummy pills and headed to the restaurant. We got our usual order of salt and pepper calamari, entrees and the Great Wall of Chocolate for desert. I was over-stuffed, fat and happy!

Today, Friday 9/30, I had an appointment with the surgeon at Duke Raleigh Cancer Center. Naturally I was my old bubbly self and was even more thrilled that I had gained 5 pounds! I now weigh what I did back in the Eighties. Dr. White was amazed and happy about it, and a little surprised I had started eating all of a sudden. He said most people gradually work up to it, but go ahead and eat anything and as much as I want. Don't have to tell me that twice!

Meal number 6: Good Mexican, not Taco Bell. Nailed that tonight at El Senor in Knightdale. Again I pulled the feeding tube and we headed out for fajitas for two. It was amazing and again I got my belly full! Another public success, but I was so incensed by the food I forgot to take a picture.


Meal number 6: A juicy cheeseburger. I have not yet tried this, so I am still researching the best burger place, or cook it myself. We were near Steak and Shake this afternoon, but I wasn't hungry since I was still on the tube, but it might be a bit too greasy to try just yet. We'll have to wait and see!

Still to come on my list is Meatloaf, Sloppy Joes, Chili and nearly anything edible you can think of. I also need a trip to Pei Wei for more Chinese. Each meal has truly been a celebration and I have two weeks to fill up before my surgery. Then I go back fully on the tube feedings for a few weeks and start my list all over again!

I Swear, I Did Not Do It!

It was nerve racking to watch my family and friend's posts of flooding in my hometown and surrounding areas from 15" of rain last week. Fortunately all my family made it through it fine, but businesses in Windsor caught the worst of it when the flood waters rose. The good news is nobody died and the buildings can be dried out and cleaned.

I had a busy day scheduled on Wednesday at Duke Raleigh Cancer Center. First was a pulmonary test, which is a pipe tied to a computer, I had to blow into and breath from. I passed, which proves it's good to be full of hot air!

Next I met with the surgeon, Dr. White. He was in a much better mood and pretty upbeat describing the surgery and when I needed to be there. It's scheduled for October 10 th at Noon, so I don't need to wake up early. I have one more appointment with him before then so he will give the final go ahead.

He then sent me over to the hospital's Pre-Admission  office for labs and more info. Mental note: never go to the restroom before having labs. Yep, they needed a sample in a cup, and I was dry as a bone in the desert. After a lot of coaxing, I finally squeezed enough for them to test. I reviewed the results online and in my non-medical opinion, everything looks good. (They give you a min/max level for each item and my numbers were in the range).

I still get fluids on Tuesday and Thursday, but that only takes an hour and gets me out of the house. I did get to stop by the station and see a few folks and bring them up to date on my progress. Now on Thursday, I actually ate some Cheetos! The hard crunchy ones, not to soft melt in your mouth poofs! That's major for someone that has not eaten food since June! I mentioned before, that I spend a lot of time watching food porn on TV. It's not really torture because I have been mentally dreaming what my first meal will be when I can eat. Try to imagine if you were stranded on Gilligan's Island eating coconut cream pies and drinking coconut water, what favorite meal would you want when you get rescued? Leave your dream meal in the comments below. I made my list and ate a little Friday night, although it wasn't from the restaurant I was hoping for. I am still skiddish about eating in public, because some things "might" not stay down at the table!

In my last post, I ended by asking if you think I'm stupid enough to ask "what can happen next". I totally did not ask it, mutter it, or even think it, but as luck would have it, the week ended with another automotive issue. As we were about to leave my sister's house, the AC compressor made horrible screeching noises. It clearly wouldn't make it home without throwing the belt off and stranding us beside the road, so Vicki let us use her Escape to get home, since she recently got her van back from the shop. Made it home and figured I could go fix it on Friday, since I only had appointments on Tuesday and Thursday. The freak storm leaving Bertie County under water last week delayed that trip, but the water went down enough we went on Saturday to replace the compressor. After watching a You Tube video, Keith and Glenn got dirty and swapped the compressor and we got it back home. We can vacuum it down here at home and recharge it after replacing the accumulator. (that's a tank that removes moisture from the system since the lines were opened to the atmosphere).

Hopefully that will be the last automotive repair for a while until after I recover from the surgery!

Fixin' To Get Ready For The Next Step- Surgery!

Last week, I had another PET scan. Not an intensive investigation from our dog Zeus, but a Positron Emission Tomography where they can see everything inside my body. They injected me with a radioactive sugar that makes cancer cells glow during the test and takes thousands of pictures from every angle. Unfortunately they require your blood sugar levels to be under 200, and my first reading was 204. The second prick was 238. She called the PET guru and they gave her the go ahead to run the test. Whew! Once the dye is injected, I had to wait an hour for it to reach every nook and cranny. Once I was in the machine, the scan only takes 20 minutes. This time she let me see the overall image and I could tell there were squiggly things inside me, but she didn't zoom in so I could see the tumor site, so it would be a week before I learn the results.

Tuesday was the big day. I had an appointment for fluids since I'm still dehydrated, although I was able to drink water last weekend! An appointment with my Oncologist Dr. Agrawal, and my surgeon Dr. White. Dr. White's PA showed us the results of the PET scan in detail, starting from my brain down the entire esophagus. She was pretty good at identifying what we were looking at on the way down and stopped at the blockage. It's still mostly closed off from allowing food to pass, but it was pretty clear that very little could still get around it, so no steak anytime soon.

The results showed no active cancer cells in the area! The surgeon came in and checked my side to be sure he could access it with his scopes and explained the procedure and what to expect. Basically, a few holes, then a day or so in ICU before heading to a room for a week or so. Yeah, sounds like fun to me! Let's get this thing scheduled already. He looked at the calendar and said possibly the first week in October, depending on a stress test and approval from my Cardiologist,Dr. Kelly and some tests he scheduled for next week.

I called my Cardiologist's office for an appointment and the first available was the second week of October. Eeeek! I need it sooner than that, so I left a message with his Nurse with my info. She called me back last night and said she'd work on it and get me in as fast as possible. You may recall, I have a history of issues with getting timely appointments and showing up at the wrong place at the right time.

Today, Thursday, I had an appointment for fluids at 12:30 and the Radiologist, Dr. Coradetti at 2:00. As I was getting ready to leave this morning, I got a call from Dr. Kelly's office that they had an opening at 2:45 today. Yep, I will make it somehow! There's no telling when the next opportunity may be. I figured if I went early, got the fluids early, I could go down to see Dr. Coradetti earlier and still make it down to Dr. Kelly's office down the road a little ways. I checked in after my fluids for the radiologist. Shortly his Nurse came out and said he was running a half hour late and it would be a while. I told her about the stress test and she said to go for it, and come back afterwards. I asked her how late Dr. Coradetti would be in the office and she replied "until everybody has been seen", and I was on the list to be seen. 

We dashed out and down the street and arrived at Dr. Kelly's office a little early. It didn't take long for them to call me back, hook me up to the ECG and throw me on the treadmill. Mind you, only recently like, the last week, have I had enough energy to make it out to the car, now I'm on a treadmill. Fortunately this wasn't a full test, he just wanted me to go long enough to wear me out and see how I did. I done good!

We dashed back to Duke Raleigh Cancer Center and re-checked in for the follow up appointment for the radiologist. He was pleased with my results, and explained why surgery was needed as the next step and set up an appointment for January. 

You should know by now nothing runs that smoothly in my life. On our way to Knightdale on Monday, Keith's water pump went bad and threw the belt off in front of Knightdale International Airport, Car sales, and bait. We lucked out and got a tow truck in 20 minutes and got it back home. I've never seen a car water pump with 18 bolts of three different sizes before, but GM sure made one! 

The whole mechanical luck continued when the battery died on my car. No biggie since the parking deck at Duke is angled and it would be easy to get it rolling and pop the clutch to start it. That works when the battery has enough juice to run the computer and injectors, but being a full Moon, it did not work. Fortunately a nice man jumped it and got us home, so now I have a new battery!

Ask me if I'm stupid enough to ask "what else can happen?"

Last Week Of Chemo and Radiation!

I made it through six weeks of chemo and radiation without any major issues. My white blood count went low the last couple of weeks, but they gave me two shots a week apart, and my last blood work was normal! Both Doctors and their nurses warned me not to expect instant recovery for the next two weeks. They weren't kidding!It has actually been three weeks and I'm only now seeing improvement.

One of the coolest infusion Nurses, Vickie, suggested I should go outside and run the water hose in my mouth to get some hydration. Although she was joking, she actually had a brilliant suggestion! Instead of the water hose, I went outside behind the fence and turned up a bottle of water and was able to get it down. I went to the back yard behind the fence for my experiment in case I had to throw it up. I'm a little shy about losing it on the front porch where people can see it, but I had a private are in the yard and believe it or not it worked!

I guzzled a whole bottle of water and kept it down with only a little pain as it passed the tumor on its way to my belly. Only problem is, I can only do it while standing up and I have to guzzle it like I was in a field pulling tobacco at the end of the row. I can't get cold water down, but if it is room temperature or warmer, it does not hurt so much.

The Doctor thinks it should be healing up enough to not hurt, and it is much better than it was. It does seem to be getting better each week. He also thinks I need to gain 15 pounds before the surgery, but that's a bit of a stretch since I can barely get water down. Maybe I can soon get a Pepsi, Coke or something with fattening calories down soon. I keep trying!

Time seems to pass faster now during the day, but I still look forward to trips to Raleigh to get fluids or go to Walmart, but I still can't walk very far at a time. It was all I could muster to get from my chair to the car or even the bathroom the first two weeks after chemo, but this past week I was able to go outside and wander around the yard a little, as long as there is a chair close by. It has just been so hot I don't venture out that much.


Last week, I had another PET Scan. They shoot you full of radioactive sugar that attaches to any cancer cells so they glow and show up on the MRI. I will see all three Doctors this coming week, so hopefully I will get good news from them and we can proceed with the surgery and get this over with. Keep your fingers crossed and good vibrations next Tuesday!