Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happiest of New Years to all

23 December 2009
Vaseline

The nose dryness got to the point where I asked the doctor for more help. His suggestion: vaseline. Google seems paranoid that this will cause lung problems like pneumonia, but it’s been working amazingly well so far.

22 December 2009
Current Daily Symptoms

A muscle pain in my neck that sometimes almost feels like a bruise; dryness of the nasal cavities that sometimes leads to nosebleeds; and mouth sores of various shapes, sizes, and locations.

21 December 2009
Our Other Doctor — Dr. Mario

R plays Tetris to help manage his anxiety when it starts feeling a little out of control. He plays an interactive variation where he plays against other people over the internet on his Nintendo DS. Everyone joining the Tetris network gets a rating so they can be optimally matched. R was noticing today that he was playing someone with a much higher rating than his, but R was totally winning. R’s rating fluctuates a lot because of his health. On the worse days it drops, and on the better days it rises. Today his rating’s rising!

21 December 2009
Another Dose

Got my bleomycin today. The visit was quick and painless and I was probably the least lightheaded as I’ve been getting outpatient chemo.


18 December 2009
Flying

Back in July, we booked plane tickets to travel to see my folks for the holidays. We haven’t been sure in the last couple of months that we were going to be able to use them, but we are planning on it at this point (though everything is tentative until the plane takes off).

R’s estimated lowest day (day 10 in Round 2) was today — and he went in for a full day of work. Nothing like day 10 in Round 1, where he spent most of the day semi-conscious and in bed. So we think he’ll be in pretty good form to fly on Tuesday next week. It will still take a lot of energy and cause a bit of stress, though, so we’re trying to figure out how to maximally alleviate that.

I called the airline today and got special accommodations set up. The person who helped me put a wheelchair request in for R. Supposedly the wheelchair (and the person who pushes it) gets you in a special security queue, and lines you up for priority boarding. So R hopefully won’t have to wear himself out too much with flying.

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