Progress

With my brother Tim in June 1978 on the "poof" as we called it.  I spent most of my entire day on the "poof"
when I was home and sick.

Just over a month into my treatment, positive progress was taking place.  I continued to feel worse in many ways and looked more unhealthy as time went by, but the chemotherapy was killing cancer cells.  More and more of my hair was falling out and I added a wig for a time.  I always wore a baseball hat though, as the wig just looked weird and fake.  It itched like crazy and I remember one day at school just scrapping the whole program and going commando you could say.  For the rest of my treatment (22 months) I went bald everyday. 



Reading through my mom's journal, her February 16, 1981 post was a surprise to me.  I was moving into some of the toughest days in this fight, but there were increasing signs of success....

2/16 - Clinic Vincristine wt. 53# WBC 3.3, HGB 10.6 x-ray chest - no tumors!

I never knew that in a month the 22 golf ball sized tumors had shrunk to the point that they were no longer visible on x-ray.  I'm sure some very good news for my mom and dad to hear.  

2/17 - c/o stomach ache, headache
2/18 - B&O supp.
2/19 - Glycerin supp. 1815, B&O supp. 2000

After never having a suppository one time in my life, I sure had a lot of unwanted back door invasion going on....

2/20 - B&O supp. @1500 
2/21 - Feeling better B&O x2 (cmon!) appetite good
2/22 - codeine 2130, B&O x2
2/23 - wt. 52 1/4 # Vincristine, WBC 5,600 HGB 11.5 Platelets 700,000 Bactrim started.
- Bactrim contains a combination of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim and is supplied in tablets and a liquid suspension. Sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim are both antibiotics that treat different types of infection caused by bacteria.

2/24 - Intake 1100 / output 900, c/0 stomach pain, B&O 2145, mineral oil.
2/25 - good appetite today, Bactrim cont., up at midnight complained of pain in penis, B&O given. 

Thank god my mom was an ICU nurse, because she was on call 24 hours a day now, taking care of an important patient.