[9-04-08] Nausea

[4:27pm]
     I am located on the boat, sitting cross-legged, and stationed in front of the television. The Giants vs. Redskins game is on. My cell phone, a thermometer, my laptop, a bottle of Ativan, some food and drink, and an empty fed-ex bag are all within my reach. Why the fed-ex bag? It was the nearest disposable container I could find.

     In other words, this has been a very rough day for nausea... probably the worst. The kind of nausea where you gag and cough, have your mouth water, and grab the nearest container. Not fun. Anyhow, this is somewhat surprising to me -- you would think that the worst nausea would be during chemo, not afterwards. My theory is not that I am experiencing nausea directly from the chemo, instead, I am experiencing nausea due to the havoc that has been wrought to my gastrointestinal system. I hear chemo can due that. So, maybe, my stomach is so delicate right now, that it has difficulty holding anything.
     This also may explain another side-effect I've been having. I was thinking that I was having some of those common mouth-sores under my tongue due to chemo, so the doctors prescribed some of that numbing mouthwash. However, now that I think about it, the pain was more located in the throat than in the mouth. In addition, occasionally it would be quite painful to talk, drink fluids, or swallow. Maybe it's part of the same problem: chemo killing those sensitive gastrointestinal cells.

     Regardless of the cause, my only strategy is to take Ativan. I've also been trying to get something in my stomach (thinking that an empty stomach is contributing to my problem), but I can only eat a very small amount at a time. So that's where I'm at today. I'm sure the nausea will get better though -- it usually has it's bad moments, then goes away (especially with pill support).

     It's also a bummer to miss watching the first football game of the season alone. But I still got to keep from getting sick.

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     There's been some developments on the Stanford front. Firstly, I may not need a BMT after all! The Stanford nurse has reported that I need the following tests:
     1: A pulmonary function test (which I just had)
     2: A Resting cardiac echo with doppler and estimated ejection fraction (which I'll need to get)
     3: A Bone marrow biopsy with aspirate and cytogenetics (if the biopsy done late July included cytogenetics then another does not need to be done)

     Please tell me the cytogenetics has been done!

     The other news is that I have an appointment at Stanford on Monday at 10am. So things are progressing! It's mainly an appointment to collect my consent and my latest Pet/CT results. Nothing too big, I think, but maybe it'll establish a schedule for the next treatments.
     The bummer is that I have to bring my latest Pet/CT CD, which means I have to drive to Berkeley and collect the CD in the morning, then drive to Stanford and deliver the CD. Cancer causes lots of driving!