Rob's Oncology visit, mostly OT

"Jane" wrote in message
...

Pam,

Get some barley tea if you can find it, and see if that helps with the
chemo nausea.
I've been reading about it, and it says that it helps with the
toxicity caused by chemo
and radiation therapy. I know it helps my blood sugar a whole lot.
I get bags of barley tea bags at the local asian grocery store and
just plop them into
a bottle of cold water to make cold tea. It's supposed to be good
hot, too, just like
any kind of tea.

Both Princess Rita and I wish you and Rob our very best.

==================

I'd never heard of Barley tea. I'll have to find some. Thanks. We can
use the advice and help from you all.

Pam S.

I am with you Pam. When the kids were little. I would stand them in the
bathtub with a little water running, the leave. When they were done, I
would go clean them and the bathroom up. Considering the things I learned
to do in later years for my DH, I can't believe I was ever that way. We
will all pray it doesn't happen that way for Rob.
"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...

"Christine K" wrote in message
...


Sorry if I'm being gross, but maybe the Shirks don't mind a bit of black
humour... as when I read the wellwishes of "flying colours", the first
thing that came to mind was the "technicolour yawn" (slang for vomiting)
that chemo tends to induce... So Rob will very probably come through with
flying colours, but I really, really hope everything goes well too...
You're all such good people and don't deserve this hardship...

Laku is purring so loud these days and he purrs practically non-stop
since I was on my vacation in Greece and he was at a pet hotel for two
weeks (he must have missed me...???), so purrs are in abundance here,
plenty to spare for Rob.


I'd never heard of chemo vomiting as Flying Colors before. I'm just
hoping that he doesn't arf at all. I'm an equal opportunity vomiter. I
see, hear, or smell vomit and I have to add to the occasion.

Pam S. already nauseated.

tanadashoes kirjoitti:
"Christine K" wrote in message
...

Sorry if I'm being gross, but maybe the Shirks don't mind a bit of black
humour... as when I read the wellwishes of "flying colours", the first
thing that came to mind was the "technicolour yawn" (slang for vomiting)
that chemo tends to induce... So Rob will very probably come through with
flying colours, but I really, really hope everything goes well too...
You're all such good people and don't deserve this hardship...

Laku is purring so loud these days and he purrs practically non-stop since
I was on my vacation in Greece and he was at a pet hotel for two weeks (he
must have missed me...???), so purrs are in abundance here, plenty to
spare for Rob.


I'd never heard of chemo vomiting as Flying Colors before. I'm just hoping
that he doesn't arf at all. I'm an equal opportunity vomiter. I see, hear,
or smell vomit and I have to add to the occasion.

Pam S. already nauseated.


I didn't mean that vomiting was called "flying colours", but that the
saying flying colours brought to my mind the slang expression for
vomiting, technicolour yawn... I'm sorry for being unclear...

And I'm the same about vomiting, especially if I smell it, but seeing or
hearing it does the trick too... so I hope, for your sake, that Rob
doesn't upchuck, or you'll need an extra bucket in the toilet for
yourself, when he's on the "porcelain phone"...

--
Christine in Laitila, Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com
photos: http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb108/christal63/
photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63

On Aug 24, 1:00*pm, "tanadashoes" wrote:
*I'm an equal opportunity vomiter. *I see, hear,
or smell vomit and I have to add to the occasion.

Hear and see I can live with but the smell whilst I don't add to the
occasion I have to swallow rather hard a lot

Funny thing is a cat puking doesn't bother me at all. I am more worred
about whether they're going to be sick on the carpet (harder to clean
up) than anything else

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Christine K" wrote in message
...
tanadashoes kirjoitti:
"Christine K" wrote in message
...

Sorry if I'm being gross, but maybe the Shirks don't mind a bit of black
humour... as when I read the wellwishes of "flying colours", the first
thing that came to mind was the "technicolour yawn" (slang for vomiting)
that chemo tends to induce... So Rob will very probably come through
with flying colours, but I really, really hope everything goes well
too... You're all such good people and don't deserve this hardship...

Laku is purring so loud these days and he purrs practically non-stop
since I was on my vacation in Greece and he was at a pet hotel for two
weeks (he must have missed me...???), so purrs are in abundance here,
plenty to spare for Rob.


I'd never heard of chemo vomiting as Flying Colors before. I'm just
hoping that he doesn't arf at all. I'm an equal opportunity vomiter. I
see, hear, or smell vomit and I have to add to the occasion.

Pam S. already nauseated.

I didn't mean that vomiting was called "flying colours", but that the
saying flying colours brought to my mind the slang expression for
vomiting, technicolour yawn... I'm sorry for being unclear...

And I'm the same about vomiting, especially if I smell it, but seeing or
hearing it does the trick too... so I hope, for your sake, that Rob
doesn't upchuck, or you'll need an extra bucket in the toilet for
yourself, when he's on the "porcelain phone"...


You were clear, I was not. I meant Technicolor yawn, but wrote flying
colors. Thank Bast that we have two bathrooms so that when Rob gets the
eurps, I can duck into the other bathroom and contribute to the load in the
septic tank. I told him about barley tea and such and we're going to track
down the stuff you've all recommended and pick it up.

The porta-catheter was installed yesterday by a radiologist/surgeon (who has
also been reading Rob's MRIs BTW) with a wicked sense of humor. Last
Halloween he and his son spent a small fortune on costumes and such and
went around as a father/son Borg team. He calls it letting out his Geek. I
like it. Womack, where the porta-cath was inserted likes to install them on
the arms, less trouble, less invasive for the patient, and less chance of
complications. The cancer center where the chemo will be administered
prefers the catheter be installed in the chest. Easier to find, supposedly,
and may fuss about it. I told the radiologist that I like the arm insertion
and if the cancer center doesn't like it, we can transfer Rob to Womack for
the rest of his chemo. I don't think the cancer center will really like
having their military patients leave them.

Rob's arm looks like raw meat today from the surgery, but doesn't hurt much,
Rob says. Last night, he went through several ice packs and some Advil for
the pain. The incisions bled a little bit so I made him put waterproof
bandages on his arms. It helps.

I called the chemo coordinator for the cancer center and was sent to voice
mail. I hate voice mail. I haven't heard back yet. If I don't hear back
by tomorrow, I'll call again. Sigh. I really hate voice mail. The cats
are sticking with him and have even called a sort of truce on their
domination competitions. Cats are so funny. Tanada and Merlin took turns
sleeping under Rob's knees (he sleeps on his back with his knees in the air
to accommodate them, I won't) which meant that he didn't have to worry about
sleeping on his right arm, which is where the porta-cath is. The rest of
the cats slept between us or on my pillow, which means in my hair. QC ate
her pork rind (her and Tanada adore the things) in my hair which made things
pretty gritty for a while. YUK! Tanada demanded a pork rind, but I had to
throw it right to where she wanted it, and she wouldn't go get it from where
I missed. I finally gave up, so she came over, waited until I was talking
to Rob and pawed one out of the bag. I later cleaned up the pork rinds I'd
tossed and missed the target with.

More when I can, Love and purrs to everyone who needs them.

Pam S.

tanadashoes wrote:
When I first read the MRI report, I said that it wasn't all that clear to
me. Sorta like kissing your sibling. Well, it was clear to the oncologist.
It is back for sure and we are now going into the next phase of Rob's
odyssey through chemoland.

Tomorrow, we go to Womack Army Medical Center to arrange for a surgeon to
put in a Porta-Cath. This is to make administering his new chemo therapy
easier. Then, after it is in, he will be put on a course or two of Avastin
and CPT-11. He will be on these through two courses of each then they will
have another MRI done.

Rob's Doctor states that the prognosis depends mainly on Rob. If he can
handle the chemo well, shows up on the right days and times for chemo (a
stab at me because they called to change his appointment and didn't have an
up to date phone number for us, or so they said), is able to keep his blood
count looking good, and so on and so forth, he will do much better than
expected. If he doesn't do all those things, he will not last long. My
money is on Rob. He's pig headed.

The cats have known for over a month now. Right now Rob is sleeping with
QC, Merlin, and Huey with him and Tanada is waiting her turn.

I asked about taking Rob to Kentucky. I was told to do it as soon as I can
arrange it. Sigh. Mike wants us to go down to Disney World as soon as we
can too. He understands that Kentucky is our first priority. Somehow.

Pam S.


We are thinking of you both.
Lots and lots of purrs and hugs,
Polonca and Soncek

tanadashoes wrote:
"Christine K" wrote in message
...
tanadashoes kirjoitti:
"Christine K" wrote in message
...

Sorry if I'm being gross, but maybe the Shirks don't mind a bit of black
humour... as when I read the wellwishes of "flying colours", the first
thing that came to mind was the "technicolour yawn" (slang for vomiting)
that chemo tends to induce... So Rob will very probably come through
with flying colours, but I really, really hope everything goes well
too... You're all such good people and don't deserve this hardship...

Laku is purring so loud these days and he purrs practically non-stop
since I was on my vacation in Greece and he was at a pet hotel for two
weeks (he must have missed me...???), so purrs are in abundance here,
plenty to spare for Rob.

I'd never heard of chemo vomiting as Flying Colors before. I'm just
hoping that he doesn't arf at all. I'm an equal opportunity vomiter. I
see, hear, or smell vomit and I have to add to the occasion.

Pam S. already nauseated.
I didn't mean that vomiting was called "flying colours", but that the
saying flying colours brought to my mind the slang expression for
vomiting, technicolour yawn... I'm sorry for being unclear...

And I'm the same about vomiting, especially if I smell it, but seeing or
hearing it does the trick too... so I hope, for your sake, that Rob
doesn't upchuck, or you'll need an extra bucket in the toilet for
yourself, when he's on the "porcelain phone"...


You were clear, I was not. I meant Technicolor yawn, but wrote flying
colors. Thank Bast that we have two bathrooms so that when Rob gets the
eurps, I can duck into the other bathroom and contribute to the load in the
septic tank. I told him about barley tea and such and we're going to track
down the stuff you've all recommended and pick it up.

The porta-catheter was installed yesterday by a radiologist/surgeon (who has
also been reading Rob's MRIs BTW) with a wicked sense of humor. Last
Halloween he and his son spent a small fortune on costumes and such and
went around as a father/son Borg team. He calls it letting out his Geek. I
like it. Womack, where the porta-cath was inserted likes to install them on
the arms, less trouble, less invasive for the patient, and less chance of
complications. The cancer center where the chemo will be administered
prefers the catheter be installed in the chest. Easier to find, supposedly,
and may fuss about it. I told the radiologist that I like the arm insertion
and if the cancer center doesn't like it, we can transfer Rob to Womack for
the rest of his chemo. I don't think the cancer center will really like
having their military patients leave them.

Rob's arm looks like raw meat today from the surgery, but doesn't hurt much,
Rob says. Last night, he went through several ice packs and some Advil for
the pain. The incisions bled a little bit so I made him put waterproof
bandages on his arms. It helps.

I called the chemo coordinator for the cancer center and was sent to voice
mail. I hate voice mail. I haven't heard back yet. If I don't hear back
by tomorrow, I'll call again. Sigh. I really hate voice mail. The cats
are sticking with him and have even called a sort of truce on their
domination competitions. Cats are so funny. Tanada and Merlin took turns
sleeping under Rob's knees (he sleeps on his back with his knees in the air
to accommodate them, I won't) which meant that he didn't have to worry about
sleeping on his right arm, which is where the porta-cath is. The rest of
the cats slept between us or on my pillow, which means in my hair. QC ate
her pork rind (her and Tanada adore the things) in my hair which made things
pretty gritty for a while. YUK! Tanada demanded a pork rind, but I had to
throw it right to where she wanted it, and she wouldn't go get it from where
I missed. I finally gave up, so she came over, waited until I was talking
to Rob and pawed one out of the bag. I later cleaned up the pork rinds I'd
tossed and missed the target with.

More when I can, Love and purrs to everyone who needs them.

Pam S.


Purrs right back at 'cha, Pam. You and Rob are in our thoughts and
prayers. Mistletoe sends purrs.

Sam, supervised by Mistletoe