On the whole, I’ve had better weeks

I posted this on Facebook, but I’m disappointed I didn’t get to ring a bell! I’ll take getting hugs from everyone from the radiation tech to Dr. Cheek.

Thanks Gavin!

We’ve had a chilly snap this week (I realize my friends who live further north will be laughing at what I call chilly), but before long it will be hot. Pleasant spring temps don’t last long here, but I plan to take advantage.

No, no worries. I was, pre-diagnosis, one of those people who avoided sugar as much as possible. I shopped the outer edges of the grocery, I didn’t buy things that came in a box (and if I did, I read labels very carefully). I really did (and do) believe in Michael Pollan’s ‘food rules’.

I do eat nuts, etc. a friend (a really good friend) gave me a vitamix blender for great smoothies. I’ve switched to a full fat vanilla yogurt instead of the much lower fat Greek I did eat. Yes, it probably has more sugar, but not crazy amounts.

Yesterday, when I finished radiation, I splurged and got a donut. I honestly don’t remember the last time I had one. Years. I couldn’t eat it (a plain one), it was so sickeningly sweet. How do people eat them with all the extra goop on them?

I have talked to a dietitian throughout. My radiation oncologist didn’t care what I ate, just that I was getting calories, but I did. I will say I’ve eaten more red meat (which I hardly ever ate) because the smell of fish (which we did eat a lot of) really got to me and sometimes I had trouble handling the taste of roasted chicken. I guess my splurge was giving myself permission to eat burgers more often. I could usually get down half a plain burger from one or two places near us or part of a margarita pizza.

Thanks for weighing in, Carl.

PS, i went back and read some of your earlier posts. Your wife and I are the same age. She was diagnosed 6 months before me. I had many of the same conversations with my oncologist re gem/cis versus the folfurinox (and he said much the same thing about toxicity and promise in pancreatic cancers). We also opted to start with gem/cis and did well enough with it to move to radiation.

L

Duke, my husband’s been trying to fatten me up with dove bars. Ironically, I’m not a big chocolate cake or other sweets eater (or ice cream). If I could add 10 lbs, I’d be satisfied and I could quit cinching up my belt on all my pants so tight! I realize that’s a minor problem. Yes, I agree with you re the exercise. I’ve continued to walk my dog throughout (although in truth, not on days I deemed ‘too cold’ – left those for husband to handle). The beauty of living with a border collie is that you WILL walk or you WILL regret it.

I’ve gotten back on my bike. Before I was diagnosed, I was downright athletic looking – cyclist legs. I want them back. I’ve signed up to ride around Lake Tahoe in September, so I need to get back to longer rides and weekly spin class. I think finishing all this treatment, I’ll have more energy to do that. Now, if they will only say my bile drain tubes can come out when I do my scans. That’s what I’m hoping for and I have to say, my oncologist has been too.

Well, this morning was my 30th radiation treatment. I got hugs from my radiation tech, the nurse, the nurse practitioner, and the radiation oncologist when I was done. I finished my planned chemo last week, getting the 5FU pump off on Friday. I also finished the iv antibiotics, so they took my picc line out Friday. I’m on an oral antibiotic to keep from getting another bile drain tube infection for the next month.

So, now I wait. That’s the part I have the hardest time with. I’ll meet with my oncologist next Wednesday. I assume he’ll do lab work and then he’ll schedule my scans, looking at about a month or so from today to do them.

Anyway, I seem to be hanging in there okay. My goal for now is to gain back a little weight. I was down to 114 this morning. I can’t believe The words “I need to gain a few pounds” would ever come out of my mouth, but it’s true. I am hoping I will have more appetite and foods will go back to tasting normal. That’s been my biggest issue.

Lisa