Friday, August 12, 2011

New Chemo/New Side Effects



Ron's new Chemo is called Gemzar. It is given once a week for 3 weeks and one week off, then repeat. We are now navigating our way through the side effects of this regime. (Next to Ron's name in the dictionary it says,"Most likely to experience every possible side effect including the rare ones.")

After 2 days, Ron has had fever, chills, nausea, and extreme fatigue. On the bright side, his "cement mixer" of a colon has started to empty out. It won't officially be a side effect unless it progresses to diarrhea.

I have made 2 more after hours on-call oncology calls and one more trip to the pharmacy for some tylenol for his fever....

I am so thankful to have "our" support team here. I don't know how I was managing before Ron's family arrived.
We each have taken on our areas of responsibilty: Florrie is master chef, seamstress, and late nite massage therapist. Denis is maintenance, gardening, master food sampler, and random acts of comic relief. Jamie is IT dept.(all things technology),purchasing (online and off), wine steward, butler, and is fast becoming a rival to the master chef of the house.(His latest raspberry almond muffins were delicious!) I continue my role as lead pharmacist, poopologist, appointment setter, litter box scooper, driver and shift supervisor.



3 comments:

Mary Ann said...

I just love you guys... taking care of family is what it is all about!!!!

Lee Bennett said...

Hiya Ron and family,
What a pain in the arse trying to leave a message on this thing!!
Glad to see Ron hasnt lost his youthful good looks as he continues to kick this little afflictions arse!!
I'm no expert on these matters but a friend of mine who was in a similar situation found great strength in reading Lance Armstrongs autobiography.
You are lucky we are still friends mate after having a shocking day at wembley last year Bolton v Stoke!!
Best wishes to you all.

Lee

Robyn Joi said...

Patricia, my heart goes out to all of you. Melvin has been keeping me updated and he pointed me to this blog. Give Ron a hug from us both and please let us know if you need anything or if you and Ron are up for visitors.