Wednesday has come

Not going to work today. Still extremely tired. Medicine is giving me fevers. I was fully clothed under 3 blankets last night, freezing and Cindy swore it was reading 79 in the house. This is really weird stuff.
I have been off of my sleeping medicine for the last 3 nights. And was off oxycottyn for 24 hours yesterday. I am trying to reduce the chemicals in my system during this increased medicine time. It is really playing hell on my body.
The sleeping medicine would just be overkill right now anyway since I could go to sleep standing in a hurricane this week.
Speaking of Hurricanes they are up 2 games to 0 over the Devils in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in case anyone knows that professional hockey still exists after last years lockout. GO CANES!
I have absolutley no appetite and only eat meals so that I can take medicine anymore. So I have to go make some breakfast now, so I can take some more poison pills.
Plus my hands are freezing from typing.
Bye for now.
Your constant bitcher and complainer.
Greg

New medicine update

I have been complely wiped out since starting the new medicine.
Fatigue is the biggest problem with it. I can barley get around the house.
Took all of Monday off and tried to work Tuesday.
I made it until about 2pm then gave up and came home.
Only 3 more days of taking this junk then my system gets a week off.

Sunday night after taking it for the first time, I slept all night and into Monday afternoon.
Woke up and ate a bowl of Apple Jacks and went back to bed. Next thing I know Cindy is coming home from work. I stayed up for a few hours with her, long enough to eat and hover over the barf bag for an hour, take more pills, then back to bed.
So I am getting rest, but I want 24 hours a day of rest and that is not possible.

One week into Oral Medicine.

Have not updated in a while so I am doing several in a batch, if you have not read previous postings please stop now and look at those first. Thanks.

Well the oral medicine started out pretty good, no real effects but some dizziness and mild stomach pain after taking the pills.

I think that they finally have gotten into my system good now, as the last three nights have been pretty bad after taking the medicine. About half hour after taking the pills, which I take a half hour after dinner, I have gotten terribly sick. Shaky, sweats, stomach pain, nausea, I have not actually thrown up yet, but man I wish I had. (I think the costs of the pills are the only thing keeping them down.) For about 1 to 2 hours I have these symptoms, and I am very weak. Flopping on the bathroom floor, you know, the whole enchilada. Cindy is always quick on the draw with a wet rag and our version of a homemade barf bag. Bless her.

The bag is quite the invention:
We put a plastic kitchen trash bag inside a paper grocery bag (for stability) and then just fold up the paper bag for easy storage under the couch or bed. We have them stashed everywhere in our house. It is quite amazing. Just whip it out and open the paper bag and there you go, a big enough bag for Thanksgiving dinner. You should give it a shot. It is just one of those fringe benefits you get with this sickness; you learn things you never thought you would learn. Necessity is the mother of invention. Here is a picture if you want to try one yourself:


Strangest thing though, after 2 hours the symptoms completely disappear. I go from a catatonic state to feeling actually quite good. Its truly bizarre.

Anyway I am still only on pill #1, which is not supposed to have many effects. It is when I start pill #2 (which will be Sunday May 7th) that I am supposed to really feel bad. The Dr. prepared me for it as best they can. They said if you think you get sick from the first pill, you aint seen nothing yet, wait till you start the second pill.

So I am on a doomsday clock counting down to Sunday night. I plan having to call in sick some next week. I will let you know of the fallout if and when it comes. There is always something to look forward to, just another of those fringe benefits. At least I don’t get bored with the same old thing all the time!

Oral Chemo Medicine Chapter 2

Have not updated in a while so I am doing several in a batch, if you have not read previous postings please stop now and look at those first. Thanks.

When I filled the prescription for Xeloda (Chemo medicine 1) I had to leave the other Chemo medicine, called Temodar (Chemo medicine 2), to be filled as they did not have it in stock. Several days later I went back to pick it up. If you thought you had sticker shock from the Xeloda prescription price at $927 for 14 days worth, wait till you hear this one.

Temodar (which must be an Indian word for me-fuckum-money-outta-white-man) in the world of free market pharmaceuticals in the 21st century, is more expensive than diamonds. Want to see what $177.73 looks like to a pharmaceutical company?


That’s right, 1 little white capsule. I have to take 3 of these a day starting on day 10 of Oral Medicine #1, continuing for 5 days. So if you are keeping up with the math, you have figured out that 1 day’s dosage costs $533.20. Total retail price of a 5 day regimen is a whopping $2,666.00. Now for some reason the insurance gave me a break on this one and I only had to pay $20. Remember I had to pay $40 for the cheaper one.


So I am out 60 bucks for 14 days worth of pills, which seems like a lot to me. But the insurance really got it up the whazoo for the remaining $3,533. Gee, I wonder why insurance rates are so high these days?

And for those of you really paying attention, the pill intake meter is up to 25 pills a day when I feel good.

Welcome to Oral Chemo Medicine!

It’s been a while since I have updated, I know.
Anyway here is some info…

I started on the Chemo pills Thursday 4-27. We have opted to try this route first rather than go intravenously, as the side effects are supposed to not be as bad with the oral version, and quite frankly seeing the intravenous stuff hooked up to people in the cancer center here, it just plain old freaks me out.

I am taking a medicine called Xeloda (for which there is no generic equivalent of course) for 14 days. When I went to get the prescription filled it took 3 pharmacies to even figure out what it was. So I was relieved when the third stop actually knew what it was and had it in stock.

So I get the medicine filled and go to checkout, they tell me it is $40, I am used to only paying $10 or $20 with my insurance so I ask if they filled it with the generic version and the girl tells me that the actual price is $927 for the prescription. After that I was not too pissed off at the $40 premium medicine price. Keep in mind this is only for a 14 day regimen, which figures out to $66.21 per day, retail. How ridiculous is that?

Just for fun a co-worker and I figured out how many pills I was taking on a daily basis. With the addition of these Chemo pills it is 22 pills a day assuming I do not have to take anything extra for actually feeling bad or any over the counter medicine.

No wonder I do not have any appetite! I am full of pills.

Picture Above Toilet in Nuclear Medicine

Here is the actual sign I talked aobut earlier in the
Nuclear Medicine Departments restroom.















If that does not give you stage fright nothing will!
Why not just say, "If your peter is glowing, you may
want to cut it off at this point."