Setback
Well, what we hoped wouldn’t happen…has happened. Yesterday, Steve’s blood pressure was so low and he was so dehydrated from the nausea, that his treatment plan had to be altered. Radiation has been postponed for at least one week, possibly two. His chemotherapy was scheduled to be four days on the pump then 28 days off. His reaction was so bad they have had to change it to once a week treatments. This is not good news. His chances of remission are greatly improved if he can stick to his treatment plan. Unfortunately, his quality of life is apparently decreased if he sticks to the treatment plan.
This is one of the devastating things about cancer, the cure, at least in the short term, is definitely worse than the disease. Before treatment he had pain and difficulty swallowing, but he did feel like getting out, playing golf and doing things. During treatment, he can’t even stand up and is so ill that nothing is possible. And nothing seems to help. They did say that they were going to treat it aggressively. But perhaps this treatment plan was a little too aggressive for his system to tolerate. It seems that it would be better to set a slightly less aggressive plan that he can stick to. The most important thing here is to get to the radiation treatments. It is the radiation that will shrink the tumor so he can eat solid food and swallow more comfortably. And, hopefully, shrink the tumor enough to make surgery feasible.
His appointment with the radiologist is at 8:30am this morning. Everything depends on how things went last night. If he was sick all night again, George will take him back to the hospital so they can hydrate him and give him some more meds. And, if that is the case, radiation therapy will definitely be postponed more that one week. Keep your fingers crossed that he had a better night last night.
Tags: 28 Days, Aggressive Plan, Appointment, Blood pressure, Cancer, Cancer Cure, chemotherapy, Conditions and Diseases, Difficulty Swallowing, Fingers, Health, Medicine, Nausea, Oncology, Playing Golf, Quality Of Life, Radiation Therapy, Radiation Treatments, Radiologist, Radiotherapy, Setback, Solid Food, Swallow, Tumor Posted | 
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