Prince George Serial Killer part 8

  Well, surprise! It is still 2023 and I did not expect to sit down with you folks again this year but life has slapped me in the face more than once, so I am continuing on the story of our journey yet again.

  Just a week or so after we got home from radiation, the phone rang. It was the Cancer clinic calling in regards to chemo treatments. They offered him the chance to begin this month or next. Well clearly if we are going to have a fair fight, the sooner we begin the better, so after more than one trip to the lab and a couple of gallons of blood taken, we headed off on the 18th for a consultation with the Cancer Dr. in Smithers and the Chemo team nurse. Very efficient. and the Dr. had been through his file (always a huge relief when you know they take that time to understand their patient). I personally already have my favourite on the team, Loretta, the Chemo nurse is amazing, she went through the whole process, with explanations on possible side effects, promises to take good care of him, and altthough Chemo is a bit of a daunting process, and we of course had a few fears (well a lot), she made us feel confident he was in good hands. One more blood test in Smithers, took a bit longer than usual because it was not on the computer system, since it is not a usual test, basically some sort of genetic test, that is not done on a regular basis, again, feeling pretty good, this means they are going above and beyond the norm.

  Now I am going to go into a part of all of this, that is very personal, but, again, to understand this whole process, this part of it, is something that has to be told. Cancer, a word that strikes fear into everyone, has an enormous impact on the lives it hits. Our world has changed completely. We have gone from a family that lives a fairly "normal" life, to one that we have absolutely no control of. The usual pay day we relied on for decades, is gone! Imagine what that would mean in your world. Bills do not stop, in fact, you are suddenly having to purchase things you didn't need before, feeding tube bandages, mixtures to use, making 3 meals a day, and ensuring they are healthy, learning to have things done to help with delicate immune systems, giving up your time, that you are so used to, because , this is not just a day or so out of your life, it is now the constant in your day. For someone who has worked so hard to provide for his family, suddenly the rug is pulled out from under him. Now he has to rely on others, he can't do much of anything, because his body no longer works efficiently. He is tired all the time,and now, even the cold air is an enemy. his hands are super sensitive, touching something cold is like touching metal in the minuses. Yes, folks this is something we were warned about, Loretta said some folks even have to use gloves to take something out of their freezer,and lo and behold, we now understand. So now he is limited to time out doors, he has to wear gloves to drive! This is someone, who, for the past 20 years, has pretty much worked away from home during the week, now he has to adjust to being home, and unable to do all those jobs he used to plan for when he was home. Catch 22 hey? For us others, it is a constant concern. We want to make sure he is comfortable, and always annoying him with our questions " are you feeling o.k?" "are you cold? do you need anything?" "are you hungry, thirsty?" . Yes, we know we are annoying, but he has now become our whole focus. We have stopped thinking about bills, social activities, anyone, or anything else, and we know it drives him batty, because, this is not how things are suppose to be. Life does not stop because we are living a nightmare, and like everyone else who heads down this road, we were not prepared . It is difficult to explain how many changes we have had to make, but they have been enormous, and somehow we are managing, because if some struggles are all we need to deal with to get through, we are more than capable! It is just very, very hard to lose control, none of us are good at this. The rest of the world continues on, but your world has stopped, put on pause, until you jump through all the hurdles along the way

  So the days up to the point of treatment, are not easy. The fear of the unknown weighs pretty damn heavy. You have heard of others who have traveled this road, and in our case, we have walked besides other loved ones, more than once, so it becomes a worry that hangs there every minute of ones day, and of course, night. Up early the morning of, life is still moving along, right? Animals need care, food and water, dogs need a time out, breakfast must be made, so that he has a full stomach throughout the planned 4.5 hrs of treatment, then there is the long drive in the dark to the hospital in Smithers. It is a tense time, can't be silent so we both concentrate on what is about to happen, so small talk, neither of us speaking of our fears. Did we ever imagine ourselves here? Not really, maybe the thought has come around in passing, but it is not something folks really sit down and discuss, right? 

  In the doors, lady greets us with the required mask and hand sanitizer, honest to goodness, folks, wearing a mask for long periods of time when you are stressed is NOT healthy! Breathing in all your hot air when you are anxious is a lot of extra energy, but..we all know times could be worse, right? It is time. There are a couple of others being treated when we arrive, the team is very up beat, and in goes the IV, first they put some sugar water in while they wait for the medication to be delivered by the pharmacy. Everything is documented and questions are asked to ensure the medication is being given to the right person. Things are checked by the attending nurse, and then double checked by another nurse. We are given coffee, and settle in. We enjoy a strange (remember the circumstances) visit with a friend from back in the day, who is also in for chemo. It kind of breaks the focus for a few, looks like all is going good. In the midst of this, we had to go into a private room to take a phone call from the pharmacist in PG, who talked us through the pills that Chuck is to take twice a day for home chemo, for 2 weeks,after every IV day, it was around this time,things went wonky. He started to sweat big time, his nose started to run, his eyes started to water, and then he started to retch, non stop. IV was stopped, he was given gravol through the IV port, and then benedryl, then a shot to the stomach. Shit!! we were afraid the chemo was not going to be a possibility at that point. Our plans had us finishing Chemo, and then driving onto Burns Lake, where he was suppose to get his echocardiogram. With all the nausea medications, he was toasted. He had lasted until the last 4 tsps. of medication, but the second bag was not a possibility. He was done for the day.Instead of Burns Lake, we ended up in a motel in Smithers for the night.He pretty much passed out for 4 hrs. and woke up to eat something and take the prescribed pill. He complained his fingers were tingling non stop, and his arm .He was not feeling very good at all, but the retching had died down. Next morning, back to the hospital. They had contacted his oncologist who was going to tweak the medication for the next time, and the second medication went in fine and dandy. As we waited Loretta was on the phone, trying to get the echocardiogram re arranged, and she did it! So over and done before lunch, stopped and ate lunch and drove home (he drove). Next day, we were off to Burns Lake. I think we knew the day might be better when we checked the mail on the way, and finally, since October 20th, his last day worked, he got his medical EI! The test in Burns was super quick, we actually had a chance to pick up a few gifts for Christmas, trust me, this is not a Merry time for us, but we need to attempt some season spirit, grabbed some groceries,and finally came home.Most folks who know me, know I seldom leave home. I hate going anywhere, just like to stay in my little comfort zone. This has been so out of character for me. I have been out of town,more in the past 3 months, then the past 5 years. Being home is wonderful and we will all enjoy this peace until Jan.8th when we begin the next cycle.

  I honestly hope all of this writing is of some help to someone else who gets blindsided by this crap. It really does take over absolutely every single aspect of your life, and all you can do is go with the flow, until you reach that glimmering light. We can see it, but it is a long ways away and we indeed have miles to go before it shines bright again. 

  We will arrive at that bright place next year, winter, spring, and then summer once again!

Prince George's Serial Killer Part 7

 So , this will be my last blog for a litte while. no matter what life throws at you, some things just continue on as usual, and hopefully we can take some time to try and get our little "I think I can" train back on it's tracks. 

  So update. radiation treatments are all done. We were "lucky" he did not suffer many of the pre-warned side effects. However he is indeed struggling with the lack of energy. He can do normal things, but definitely not for the same amount of time as before. Stairs, lifting, even walking has been downgraded 50-60%. That is apparently very common, and as he goes into week 2 without treatment, hopefully he regains more ability. 

  We did drive out to Prince George on Sunday, sadly we did not get to stay at Kordyban Lodge, we were put up in a hotel. I can't believe how disappointed we were not to go back to this wonderful place. No fear, we did indeed visit on the Monday after his appointment. Brought a few very tiny tokens of appreciation for some of the amazing staff, and a couple of jars of our honey to our new friends still on their journey. Somehow they have become so very important to us, and we will keep in touch for our lifetimes with these beautiful folks, who we share this roller coaster of Cancer with.

  Our reason for the trip was to meet the oncologist who will be the one to plan out Chuck's future battle. I know, I mentioned my horror of being told we would have to deal with the same Dr. my beloved sister-in-law had, and the relief when the director of the center was able to give us one from Victoria, what a blessing this was! First, of course I would have been extremely uncomfortable with Dr. Ho and second we would have had absolutely no trust in her plan, so this meeting was eagerly anticipated. We were not disappointed. Every thing through the appointment seemed comfortable. His nurse who did the pre- stuff was very pleasant, and also very professional, that was such a relief. Dr. Saltman came in and once he closed the door, we were his main focus. He actually did a hands on check with Chuck, that is a first since we started treatment, both of us felt a weight drop off. Then he sat across from us, on the table and began to explain everything. He provided options, and followed each one with an explanation of how they could be done. He had clearly read Chuck's file, which was another weight that dropped off of us, unlike Dr. Padma, who clearly was not up to date on anything! He explained that Chuck's cancer cells were a specific type, he is one of 15% of patients with his type of cancer cell in regards to his type of cancer, and that there is a specific medication that targets these specific cells. His cells are very common with many breast cancer patients.He gave us different ways the treatment could be offered, ie. IV or pills . Then he explained what we could clearly tell was the option he favoured. He said that Chuck needed a bit more time to recover from the radiation. He also needs an echocardiogram to ensure his heart is up to what is to come, along with an EKG , tumour marking blood test, and another blood test, which he would be requisitioning from Terrace and Smithers, marking them URGENT. Then after these are all done, and he has a chance to go over them, Chuck will start on a 21 day cycle. He will have chemo on day one, along with one of the specific cancer cell targetting pills. Then 13 more days at home with the pills, then a week off to recover. This will go on for 9 consecutive cycles. Dr. Saltman then told us, he will follow the progress and reports from the Smithers Cancer team, during which time he will be calling us himself. Yep, we were warned this was going to be a long road. He also assured us, if for some unknown reason Chuck did not take to this treatment, there are others to try. The nurse stayed for the whole appointment, taking notes, and when he was sure he had answered all of our questions he was out the door stating the nurse would get us a print out of everything they had decided to do. She did indeed print out pages for us, explaining the whole cycle routine, and what to expect in the way of side effects, etc, how to set up a calender for ourselves so we could mark every day down. Extremely helpful! It was a great change from our meeting with the radiology oncologist. 

  So off we headed the next morning to home. We made it to Fraser Lake when the phone rang. It was the nurse. She told me that she had sent all the requisitions in, to Terrace, Smithers and Hazelton, and that she wanted us to stop at the hospital in Smithers to get the tumour marking blood test done! Holy cow, moving fast!!Paper work was there when we stopped, test was done, and home. Today, Chuck got a call from the hospital in Burns Lake???? Apparently Terrace referred him to Burns Lake for his echocariogram, and he has an appointment there December 21st. Kind of sucks the big one, instead of an hour and 1/2 drive to Terrace, we now have a 2 1/2 hr drive to Burns Lake I imagine we will be very tired that day, as I have had an echocardiogram, and it is a fairly long test, Oh well, that will be one more thing off our list. We figure he can get the other two tests done here in Hazelton, so we can have all the boxes ticked before Christmas. Next appointment will be January 12th from the radiology oncologist from Vancouver, So I promise to continue keeping you all updated next year. 

  Guess this is my chance to Wish each of you following along on our journey a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS  and trust me WISHING EACH AND EVERYONE OF US THE HAPPIEST OF NEW YEARS!!!!