The Road to New Chemotheraphy

Pills! As we all get older most of us will start to take them on a regular basis. But for now, most of us take them for a headache, backache, and perhaps constipation and or the dreaded diarrhea. YUCK!

I was at my parents the other day and remember when I was the only one taking pills for my heart as a teenager. Now my parents kitchen table is chocked full of them. Heart pills, high blood pressure, diabetes, pain killers, hell they were spread all over the place. My Mom told me that she takes 19 pills a day now while my Dad is close behind at 11. Both of my parents are 77 years of age.

When I had my last heart surgery in the year 2000 to replace an overused valve, I had some other things corrected as well and was thankfully taken off the blood thinning pill, coumadin. For the first time since I was a teenager I was free of a daily pill. That lasted 8 years.

Beginning this past July, I was put back on pills recently for this dreaded cancer. This time, it's a potential life extending chemotherapy treatment in a pill form called Capecitabine. Disappointed with the thought of choking down another pill or two per day I was happy, however, to be receiving something that would hopefully take the cancer in my lungs away. Or if anything, slow the bastard of a disease down.

When I received the first prescription of Capecitabine I was surprised to learn that it wasn't just one or two pills per day but a total of eight. Four in the morning and four at night. I was informed I had to take them 12 hours apart and they must be taken within 30-minutes after I have eaten. This is the difficult part. You see, we usually eat at around 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm at night. This means that I would have to get up at 6:00 or 7:00 in the am to eat breakfast and then force 4 pills down my throat. There's no way my body could do it. I need my sleep at 6:00 am. Don't you?

In a compromise, I now take my pills between 10:00 and 11:00 am so therefore I can enjoy a 12 hour break just in time for a bedtime snack in the PM in order to take my pills. Confused? Don't worry; the bottom line is that taking pills are a pain in the ass but it's something I have to do.

The only good thing about these pills is that it appears that the cancer is slowing, according to the results of my last CT-Scan. That's great news. I suppose the other good news is that I have not lost any of my strawberry blonde locks, nor am I visiting the infamous porcelain bowl vomiting. I have one side effect which is a hand and foot disorder where my fingers and feet tingle, swell and get red and sore. They can also blister which is very bad because it opens you to infection. Thankfully, I have just endued the tingling, swelling and soreness, no blisters yet. The other side effect, very common to all forms of chemo, is fatigue. This is a daily occurrence and I have simply learned to live with it.

So this is where we are now. I am currently on week 2 of my fourth round of pill chemo. After two weeks of taking 4 pills, every 12 hours, I then go on a one week break where I recoup my system, blood count and energy. I then go to PMH (Princess Margaret Hospital) for blood work and a meeting with my doctor to ensure the side effects are not to strenuous on the body. If blood work is OK, then I return home to do it all over again. Pills, pills and more pills. Don't worry, you never get used to it.

Just ask my parents.

Thanks for reading and sharing.... Next Blog.... September 23, 2008