Killing Cancer—Round 2

Chemotherapy Treatment Day 2. In general, the first round of treatment 3 weeks ago had a slight learning curve.  I learned that nausea does not always involve puking.  I had an upset stomach for a few days that wound up going away almost immediately when I started my nausea medicine (so, that medicine will begin tonight after today’s round).  After day 6 or 7 I had no real side affects at all.  Which means the last 14 days I’ve felt very normal.

The other obstacle was what the three days of steroid medicine did to spike my glucose numbers.  That was a little distressing as my Alaska diabetes doctor was unable to treat me out of state.  So, Diane and I found an amazing Endocrinologist here in Phoenix who gave us plenty of attention and prescribed some insulin and taught us how to offset the high numbers (which started again with yesterday’s first steroid)  We consider the appointment another way God has looked out for us.  This doctor group could not see me before May 24 but I really did not want to go through the second round of Chemo without something to control the high numbers.  On a long shot we called and asked if there was any way to see us sooner and they checked the schedule and said they had an opening the following day!

One other glitch this week was the onset of a blood clot in my left calf.  About a week ago, in the middle of the day, my calf started aching.  In my heart I knew it might be a clot.  I hadn’t done anything athletic or bumped my leg so I knew it was not an injury.  Plus, it was not my first blood clot.

For those of you who have known me for at least 17 years might recall that I discovered a blood clot a few days before my Colon cancer surgery in 2005.  My surgery was on a Tuesday and we flew down to Portland to surprise Rachel the prior weekend to break the cancer news to her in person.  My leg ached on the flight down and, even worse on the way back.  It just so happens that 2005 was my busiest year ever on airplanes. In fact, it is the only year I ever qualified for Alaska Airlines Gold which requires 75,000 miles!  I took a half day off work that Monday to go do some pre-op stuff at the hospital and told them my leg ached and they did an ultrasound which confirmed the clot.  The bad news is they admitted me overnight and I never made it back to my office to tidy up my pending absence by forwarding my phone and email. Oh well, the Post Office survived that trauma in spite of me!

My final medical addition this week can be credited to my personal Medical Marijuana Consultant, Diane’s sister Barb Hodson!  She works at AK Frost in Anchorage and has become quite an expert on the world of Marijuana as medicine.  She encouraged me to get my Arizona Medical card and to check out Rick Simpson Oil (RSO).  You can look it up on your own as it has a great reputation for easing side effects from Chemotherapy.  Barb has been such a blessing in this journey and in our lives.  We appreciate her more she will ever know!

Barb even found a quality Marijuana shop in Phoenix for me at Arizona Organix. In the store we had a live phone consultation with Barb and the store employee to make sure I got the right RSO product and dosage.

This blog seems a little dry so here’s a fun story.  For those that have known me for 50 years you would know this is not my first experience with Marijuana…just saying!  So, the discussion on dosage was a matter of 10mg or the higher dose of 33mg.  In my previous days I recall more was better!  My consultant (Barb) convinced me to get the 10mg and if it’s not right then take more.  

So, leaving the store I took one 10mg.  We went from the store to Mom’s house to have lunch with her and Melissa, who both just returned from a trip to Palm Springs.  They went for Mom’s brother Bobby’s 90 birthday.  I was not really feeling any affects from the RSO and had sort of forgotten I had taken it until they placed a bowl of Chocolate Chip ice cream in front of me.  The first spoonful I was like, “whoa Dude, this is good!). Then Melissa launched into one of her crazy stories about the trip.  I’ll be much more brief than her.  She is explaining that cousin Erin rented a cottage at some 5 star resort right across the street from La Quinta where cousin Kelly was staying.  And I got stuck there as Melissa rambled on.  When she came up for air I said, “Wait a minute, Erin stayed at a 5 star resort and Kelly stayed at a La Quinta?”  In my mind, Kelly has never seen the inside of a La Quinta Hotel.  Melissa said “sure, it’s 5 star resort just like Erin’s place”. I mulled that over and asked, “are you saying La Quinta has cottages?”  They were looking at me like I was crazy.  I was so stoned I just started cracking up. And we laughed and we laughed, just like the old days! The only La Quinta I’ve ever been in was pretty much a hotel room in need of remodeling.  Apparently, when Waldorf Astoria buys one they do some upgrades. 

We also had a great visit from our favorite little family.  We had a Hale of a good time with Nick, Emily, Austin and Taylor from Alaska.  We played in their AirBnb pool and yesterday they stopped by to give me a family prayer on their way to Disneyland.  And, the best part is they brought a load of Alaska salmon and Halibut!   

I will close this post with a song for everyone.  It’s a very dramatic Christian song for healing by an artist named Katy Nichole called, In Jesus Name-God of Possible. We all have our favorite songs and even though this one applies to all sorts of pain and healing when we hear it we feel it was written especially for us.  I hope you enjoy it. My first time attaching a link. 

Thanks everyone.

https://youtu.be/YqHjjZz1Syg