Chemotherapy Plan

The first pass of chemotherapy medication was 150 MG of Temozolomide every day for 42 days concurrent with the 30 days (week ends off) of radiation therapy.  That ended about three weeks ago. The MRI was as expected with no cancer visible outside the original tumor that was removed.  An MRI does not have the resolution to see the spreading cancer until it grows larger and more dense.

The new 4 week regimen will be 5 days of 300 MG of Temozolomide followed by 23 days of no medication.   An MRI is scheduled every eight weeks.

I've been taking 4 MG a day of the steroid Dexamethasone since the beginning of treatment.  The steroid was to prevent brain swelling.  The MRI showed no evidence of any swelling in the brain, so I'm now off the steroid!!!. I can't imagine why anybody would take this steroid by choice.  You don't sleep.  Your bones are soft so if you tweak a knee, it doesn't heal. Bruises and cuts don't heal. They give you energy, but it's not real in that your muscles get weaker and weaker.  If you work out too hard, you get injured. At least that's my experience.

So, my body is a mess right now. I'm unable to do more than a few hours a day of anything physical. So, I pick and choose what I use my limited energy for.  I'm hoping to remedy this now that I'm off the steroids.

My mind seems to be working fine though.  I seem to have recovered a good portion of my short term memory that I was missing after the radiation ended.  My spelling seems fine again.  I still have lost words, but that's from removing the tumor.  One odd thing occurs as my brain remakes connections is that random and often annoying songs (like old Beatles tunes I'd rather forget) get stuck in my head and won't go away.

I guess that's enough info for today.

I read aloud page 74 of 531 of the Book of Mormon today.  Jacob teaches us about the judgement, the resurrection and the atonement of Christ.  If we will "hearken unto his voice" we are saved because of the atonement.

Constipation

Chemotherapy causes bad constipation.  I have the answer.  Most of the information on the web is not helpful. Ideas like eat lots of fruit and fiber.  Sure, good ideas, but I have the answer.  It's cheap and it's simple.

Wheat Bran.

That's it.  It's cheap, you can buy it in bulk.  A small spoonful on your cereal or on toast a few times a day completely solves the problem for me.  No more prunes or prune juice.  I still eat fruit and other fiber, but because it's healthy, not for constipation.

I want to thank those who encouraged me to post this instead of health status info.  You know who you are :-) :-)

I read aloud page 70 of 531 of the Book of Mormon today.  What are the odds that my last post quoted Isaiah and this post does too? Nephi asked Jacob to teach the people wisdom from Isaiah from the brass plates.  See 2 Nephi 8 verse 3 last phrase is "thanksgiving and the voice of melody".