Cycle 5

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By the end of this cycle, my dad's ALT has dropped to 20+, which is his usual reading. So that's good.

Another good news is that the gap between morphine intake has widen to 7 hours now. Fantastic!

Everything else is under control, except that every now and then he has low appetite but kudos to him (after much persuasion from his family and the hospice nurse) for having small amount of food but more frequently when that happens.

The daycare oncology section in their own building (the "green" building) has finished undergoing renovation. Although we've been to that building before, it was in the clinic side. It was then our first time going to the daycare section. Luckily it wasn't too cold. However there is a change in procedure: they asked all carers to leave the section once chemo started. Don't know why the change.

When we asked the oncologist for the tumour marker result, he didn't find any lab report in my dad's file. I also observed that the nurses didn't attempt to try to find it. Quite strange. The doctor surmised that it wasn't ready. Okkkkk.

The next chemo session, Cycle 6 Day 1, was supposed to be scheduled in 2 weeks time but all staff would be attending a course. So they proposed a 4-day postponement to Tuesday. However, my dad asked for Friday i.e. postponed for 1 week, which would be 3 weeks away. This is because Friday session is reserved for patients that require only 1 type of chemo drug and so we get to leave about 1.5 - 2 hours earlier compared to other days.

Hours later, when chemo was done and we were ready to leave, we asked the nurses for the tumour marker result, saying that perhaps it was now available. They tried searching through 2 folders but to no avail. Then one of them left and went to the clinic side. Meanwhile, I suggested to my dad that if it wasn't ready, we could ask whether it would be fine for us to call the following week for the result. Fortunately that was a moot point because the nurse managed to get the results: 47, down from 49.

Although it's a small drop, it's still good news because it's going in the desired direction.

Well, next cycle is the last one for my dad. I hope it'll be good news all the way.

Comments

Twilight Man said…
I am very happy to hear about your father's recovery progress.
Sometimes things may take a sudden turn and we need to be alert & mentally prepared always to have a Plan B options. I always found the Hospis nurses & doctors to be the best in giving advice, suggestions and honest sharing of other cases that could comfort our mind & worries during the difficult times. Stay strong & united always and remember I am here too!
November 29, 2017 at 12:26 PM
Jaded Jeremy said…
Twilight Man,
Thank you.
November 30, 2017 at 11:00 AM
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