If you know me well enough you know I used to avoid going to the doctor or taking medicine at all cost. For the past 4 weeks I have been struggling with some old digestion issues as well as nausea and vomiting. My oncologist prescribed another new drug to hopefully help with theses side effects of chemo. Even though I am excited that this new drug might improve my situation I couldn’t help but think about this Off-Road adventure and the irony it brings. I think we can learn from life’s irony, it takes sadness to know what happiness is, it takes sickness to truly appreciate your health and more importantly it takes helplessness to know God’s grace and provision in our lives.
I have kept many notes since I was diagnosed and when I read over the my list of medicines all I could do was laugh at the amount medicine I have taken over the last 20 months, so I thought I would share it (simply version) with you for fun.
-Two months of high dose Ibuprofen for pain and inflammation during diagnosis
-One week Morphine taken after exploratory surgery/ biopsy
-Six weeks of steroids at start of chemo treatment
Chemotherapy
-88 weekly IV treatments, cocktail of 5 different drugs
-30 chemo injections into legs
-15 chemo injections into spine
-88 weeks of chemo pills, every day for two weeks then one week off
-88 weeks of steroid pills, every day for five days then 16 days off
Antibiotics
-88 weeks of antibiotics pills, every other day
-Over 20 months, five high dose IV/oral antibiotics for pneumonia
-Puffer steroid to help avoid pneumonia, as needed
Other Miscellaneous
-Ten cranial radiation treatments
-88 weekly oral medicine to help prevent osteoporosis caused by chemotherapy
-18 weeks of daily injections of blood thinner, to avoid blood clots caused by chemotherapy
-Oral medicine for relentless hiccups caused by steroids, as needed
-Three different oral medicines to help reduce nausea caused by Chemotherapy, as needed
-Four different oral medicines for GI issues caused by steroids, as needed
-Six weeks of oral(wash) medicine to repair mouth sores
-Daily high dose calcium and other vitamins
This week I started steroids and that new drug for digestion so I have been feeling better and I hope I can start pulling out of this slump. Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for your support and prayers.