Well, we got on the plane on the 20th and flew to Florida. Kathe made me wear a mask and she cleaned the seats on both planes with alcohol and put a towel behind my head--all to avoid my getting something while my immune system is compromised. The trip was fine for me the whole way. I had no discomfort at all. The only difficulty was that somehow at some point I broke a blood vessel in my eye, making me freaky-looking--especially wearing my mask.
On the shuttle from Orlando to The Villages I sat up front and Kathe sat behind the driver. The van was totally full and we were the last stop. During the trip Kathe got car sick and wouldn't trade seats with me.
I don't know whether it was the car sickness that lowered her immunity or it was just bad luck combined with not taking the prerequisite GSE that I always take before traveling to boost my immunity, but she ended up contracting a bad cold. Of course I have appreciated all of the steps she was taking to prevent me from catching anything, but in the meantime she is now my biggest threat. We are avoiding each other as much as possible. I have developed a runny nose, but I am pretty sure it is allergy to Florida because I have no other symptoms.
From a chemo treatment standpoint I seem to be in the period when my body is trying to recover from the chemo onslaught by hopefully rebuilding my white blood cell count. I do want my body to be working on this process instead of trying to fight a cold.
As has often been the case during my ordeal, I received more suggestions for treatment that in this case the van driver, who had retired from owning 30 doctor's practices, gave me. The first was alkaline water since cancer apparently "likes" acidity. The second was to drink a cabbage smoothie every morning to rebuild my damaged digestive tract. The third was to eat Saltine crackers because they contain pectin or some such chemical that attacks cancer cells. So far, I went with the cabbage smoothie and have made two so far. My digestive system thanks me because it seems to be returning to normal.
The bottom line in all of this: The first chemo treatment has been pretty tolerable. I just hope it is doing its job along with the Lupron. We'll get results the day before the next treatment on 1/3.
Merry Christmas to all!
Les
I had two recent eye "bleeds", which my ophthalmologist called them, about three weeks apart. He assured me that they can happen any time, and not too worry as he had a patient with six bleeds in a year with no subsequent eye damage.
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