June 30 - Another week of chemo completed

This past week (June 26-30) - was different yet again.  Instead of the abdominal wall side effects (I guess I have those under control with antihistamines) and the nausea (thank you, Zofran!) - I just had to deal with the fatigue and then...  All the other GI side effects -- early in the week, (how do I put this delicately)...I was the "post-Drano" commercial and late in the week and through the weekend, I was the "pre-Drano" commercial! Yikes!  Back on track now ... thank God!

I pressed the oncologist last week (after Jan left for another appointment) like this: "Nick, this is taking so long... Can you give me more intense therapy to get me along this path quicker!".  He wisely and kindly replied that the chemo I'm getting is at the right dose and the right pace. I pressed harder: "I can take this...(after all I used to push myself through pain on long triathlons and open water swims for goodness sake!)".  He softly pushed back: "Tripp, the research points to being less intensive [3 days per month] but is not conclusive".  Ok, ok - I relinquished this line of questioning. I realized I had to be [a] patient!

I have always tried to be empathetic and understanding of what my patients go through.  This 'sensitivity training' (to undertstand what it's like to be a patient and have chemo side effects) is instructive although tough to take...  [God has an interesting way of teaching me!]... Now on to recovering...  

I keep busy with the EMR Village and other things to help fellow physicians and their staff to keep my mind off such ...

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