For Maureen

Doesn't it seem like some people say things at just the right time? Over the last week I've heard from several people who've mentioned that they read the blog almost every day. My friend Maureen told me that it's part of her morning routine. Hearing that is enough to keep me going. True, I write the blog in part for myself. It's theraputic. But I also write the blog because I hope to update people on Jim's chemo. I sometimes get to wondering if people are actually reading it.

This is Joan (on the left) and Brenda (on the right). I can't explain the hats ... except ... they are Joan and Brenda, and if they want to wear hats like that, whether it be for a picture or dinner with the President, then they are allowed. Joan actually gave Brenda a pair of reindeer antlers with jingle bells on them at Christmas, and Brenda wore them all day and said things like "are you looking at my rack?" - funny.

So, here's my theory (for those of you who haven't already heard it). I think that Jim gets sick on the phases where he's less active. Sitting around and "resting" is contrary to everything that Jim is about. Mentally and physically, he's just not that guy. Even on the best of days, he can't sit through an entire Jets game. It's just not in his nature. He gets impatient and has to get up and DO something. So my theory is this: since he's unaccustomed to so much sitting, on the treatments where he does try to rest, the chemo and his chi are "pooling". He suffers from sitting around - mentally and physically. I think movement is what helps him feel less sick. Case in point: the treatment at Christmas. He had a treatment the week before Christmas, but because we had so many relatives coming into town, he was active. And he wasn't sick.

So this week, we've tested my theory. Yesterday I made Jim MALL WALK. Laugh if you will. (Okay, get it out...) It was me, Jim, and every white-haired in the Sheboygan area. The golf courses are covered with snow - it was me, Jim, and a lot of white-haireds. But he made it. He didn't get sick yesterday. In fact, he felt well enough to carry a lot of books upstairs for the new bookshelves he built for me. Now, that's not to say that he hasn't been sick - he has. He got sick before he left to have the pump removed today. And he got sick when he got home. BUT, on the sickness scale, he rated the nausea at a 3 this time, as opposed to a rating of 8 the last time. That's a pretty significant improvement. I hope my theory is right.

Maureen asked me to clarify a few things in the blog: (it's good to get feedback, by the way...)

1. The port is under Jim's skin. It's implanted through an outpatient surgical procedure. None of the port sticks out. The port has a membrane in the center of it, and the nurses can feel the membrane through his skin. That's how they know where to stick the chemo needle. When he's finished with chemo, they take the needle out and the membrane and his skin reseal. The port has a long skinny tube that is implanted in one of his veins that goes directly to his heart.

2. When Jim sits for chemo at the Vince, he gets three drugs: Avastin, which is the strongest drug; Oxaliplatin, which is the one that tends to cause neuropathy; and Leukovorin, which is a chemo enhancer. When he's done with those three drugs (when the IV bags are empty), they hook up a pump.

3. The pump is an IV bag of 5-FU (another chemo drug) that administers "shots" of chemo over a 46 hour period. The IV bag is in a black fanny pack. Most people don't even know that he's wearing it because he wears a big shirt over it. (Or they just think he's a giant dork for wearing a fanny pack...) The pump is hooked in through his port.

4. When they access the port to give him his chemo while he sits at the Vince, they use a single needle with a tube hanging off it that has splitters. That's how they administer the hanging IVs while he sits. When they put the pump on, they unhook the other IVs and hook up the pump IV. The pump IV has a tube that's about 3 feet long that goes from the fanny pack into the needle in Jim's chest. That's why he can hang the pump on the bedpost - it's a long cord, and the needle is taped into Jim's chest with a TON of gauze and tape.

5. When they remove the pump, they unhook the IV, flush out the port, and remove the needle. And then he's done until the next round of chemo. They have to flush out the port with saline so that blood clots don't form around the port.

Still have questions about how the port or pump work? Write me an email.

So, Jim got the pump out today. He's feeling better tonight. He had tai chi last night. He felt pretty good after that. And he got Joan for taking out the pump. Lucky day.