Today, I emerge from latest infusion of chemo in relatively good health and spirits.

Don’t get me wrong. The first ~96 hours were pure torture on my body and I questioned whether I could make it or not. Not only was the chemo poison coursing through my veins, but I have two stents sitting in the middle of my chest, one inside the other in my esophagus to protect the perforation that is still healing, which cause constant pain and discomfort.

The doctor’s provided a “GI cocktail” to help alleviate the pain…Mylanta mixed with lidocaine to numb my digestive track. However, after a week of drinking the disgusting concoction every few hours, the positive effects diminished significantly.

Therefore, this past Saturday, I ended up in the Walter Reed’s after-hour’s pharmacy to pick up more potent pain meds that now do a pretty good job of breaking through the discomfort and provide relief…especially at night, that then allows me to sleep.

Now that I survived the latest chemo session, and thanks to the daily 1900 calorie TPN infusion, my health and weight are holding steady. My energy levels are up, allowing me to get out of the house for a bit each day by either going to a store or locale with my wife or just taking a walk around the neighborhood…especially one that ends with me picking up my kids from their bus stop at the end of the school day.

And go figure, just as I start chemo again, my hair and beard return…just in time to fall out again in the coming days.

Oh, to be folically challenged with winter rapidly approaching!

At least now I know I can have a full beard back within about 60 days of my last chemo infusion. Which means I’ll have a hairy Valentine’s! But it also means I’ll be slick skinned for Movember’s men’s health awareness month. Bummer : (

Compared to my beard, the hair on top of my head is slowly growing back…all bit a little greyer, but more distinguishing. It will probably be a good six months for my Hollywood locks to regain their prior splendor and appearance.

Three more sessions. Six more weeks. I’ve got this.

I finished my first infusion of chemo for the second and final round.

If you ask me how I feel…terrible. And will be for the next week or so.

Just as I start to feel a little better, the doc’s will hit me again. Yeah! #chemolife!

Regardless, though my body is broken, my will is strong.

On Friday, 11 October, I returned home from my latest stay in Walter Reed’s finest.

I am back in my own castle and getting additional nutrition from a home TPN regime of 1800 calories that my wife hooks up to a port in my right bicep every afternoon that pumps until the next morning, 12-14 hours later.

I augment the TPN with an additional 200-400 calories that I eat on my own. Usually, I meet my intake goal by consuming calorie dense soups or mash potatoes (bring on the butter and heavy cream) or protein shakes (but ones that I make as pre-made types cause me to throw up now).

I am already gaining weight, vice losing any more. I was down to around
140 lbs, which sits about 25 lbs below my average weight of 165 lbs.

I put on 4 lbs in the hospital and have put on another 4 lbs since getting home.

With my weight and strength trending positive, I start chemotherapy on Tuesday.

Now begins another health battle to make sure I withstand the treatment regime while also keeping a healthy weight.

I have to stay strong through Thanksgiving as that is when I will complete my last infusion.

Here’s to the battle that continues to rage! Here’s to joining the survivors!

So, I can’t seem to get enough of the hospital.

Yesterday, I had my bloodwork in preparation for chemo later in the week. I did not look my best…nor was I feeling my best.

After an impromptu office call with my oncologist, I was admitted into the hospital to come up with a better nutrition plan as I discussed in my last blob post.

I now have new PICC line placed in my right bicep…and in about an hour, I will start on TPN to provide me the calories and nutrients I will need to make it through chemo.

I’ll ramp up my TPN dosage over the next couple of days and then start chemo on Friday.

I feel renewed with this new nutrition strategy and know that I’ll endure my last sessions of chemo well…or at least as best as can be expected.

This Wednesday, October 9th, I start my second phase of chemotherapy.

Four grueling infusion sessions over eight weeks that will once again fill me with the FLOT chemotherapy regime as it is the currently designated most effective drug cocktail to deal with stomach cancer.

*** As mentioned before, a side benefit of this chemo is that other cancer cell types (esophageal, intestinal, colon, prostate, and testicular) will die, too.***

I am not looking forward to the chemo treatment…and not for the reasons you may think.

My first round of chemo went fairly “well”. I never threw up. I did lose my hair, but I only lost a few pounds, that I quickly gained back. And I only ended up in the hospital once for a brief 24-hour stay that may or may not have been chemo-related (the doc’s still don’t know what happened).

I am not looking forward to the treatment this time because my post gastrectomy healing has not been going as well as planned and hoped.

I have been home from the hospital for almost two weeks now. I am still in a bit of pain from the two stents placed to isolate the perforation between my esophagus and jejunum…the reason I ended up in the hospital for almost a month.

Though I have no leakage out of the perforation, the stents apply considerable pressure in my chest that makes eating and drinking difficult. Along with the fact that the two stents effectively render my esophagus to be no larger than 2-3 centimeters in diameter…which means my food has to be very finely chewed or blended to make its way into my small intestines. If the food is too big…I’ll just say that eating (or even drinking) becomes a very unpleasant experience.

Also, while the doctor’s told me I would have a reduced desire or sensation to want to eat, I never imagined that I would never feel hungry. Ever.

I mean I am never, ever, ever, never hungry.

I force anything I do eat or drink. And only done on a time table according to the last time I ingested something (about every 2-3 hours).

I, unfortunately, am not getting enough calories a day. With the aid of a nutritionist, I am trying to “cheat” my way to more calories through meal supplements – fortified milk (whole milk with added dry milk), heavy cream, mayo, ranch dressing, and / or specially formulated food enhancers to boost my raw calories and protein (like Benecalorie and Boost Very High Calorie supplements).

I fear it will not be enough to get me through chemo.

I reached out to the doctors to share my concerns and the fact that I continue to lose weight (I tip the scales at a burly 140 lbs – I went into surgery on August 26th at 175 lbs).

The current plan is to set me up with a home Total Parenteral Nutrition or TPN feeding regime. In short, it is an intravenous means to get me the nutrition I need to endure chemo.

Another option could be a feeding tube direct into my small intestines.

I had both means of nutrition while I was in the hospital. I had a PICC line placed for the TPN and a tube in my nose down to my intestines for the feeding tube.

I would need surgery to place a new feeding tube in my abdomen. Surgery and chemotherapy do not go well together, minimizing a feeding tube as an option. So the doctors will most likely place another PICC line or some other catheter in me and proceed with TPN for the duration of my chemo.

I’ll be able to run the TPN at night while sleeping at home. It should provide the daily nutrition I need to endure these last sessions of chemo.

This has been a long, hard road. It is not over yet, but the end is near.

Though I have endured much of my treatment and recovery alone, I still share a sense of community and support as never before in my life. We have gotten this far together, and will finish together – stronger and better for the effort!