"A corner being turned" is how Woody described the way he felt the other night after he broke out into a sweat and started feeling better. He also broke out into a sweat last night in the middle of the night--after that he said that he just felt the same--but at least he seems to be slowly climbing up and out of feeling so badly. I guess Dr. Sosman knew what he was talking about when he said that Woody would be feeling better by Wednesday when he can again enter Vanderbilt for the next round of IL-2.
At this point it does look like he plans to go back in for the next round. We know a little more this time and will know when it is time to say "enough is enough!" On the Vanderbilt site there is a way for a patient to log on and view their personal lab work results and see a graph of prior results for the same test. I can guarantee you that I will be watching Woody's creatinine levels very carefully this time--last time I didn't know what to look for till after they got too high--often I could get results of the lab work before the doctors came in--and now that I know what to watch we will have a little more leverage in deciding if he should continue or not. One of the options during the IL-2 treatments is to skip a dose and then take the next dose--so we will be ready to opt out for that also if the after effects get too much for Woody. We also know a little more of what to look for in regards to the side effects that happen within an hour or so after the infusion has finished and can hopefully stop some of them before they get started.
Today Woody walked outside and got the mail and also made his own sandwich at lunch and is now getting what he wants for supper--big improvement! Food is starting to taste better to him--although he says that lots of things still don't taste exactly right. He continues to feel very cold. But all in all he is definitely feeling better.
Woody, you might check with your Dr or nurse to ask if you can have Ibuprofin before and after the infusions. Maybe, even take them around the clock for all five days. This is the only thing that helps with my Interferon side effects. I tried Tylenol once, but it didn't help at all. The only concern with Ibuprofin is that I think that too much of it can be hard on the kidneys.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the "door" opening of your cubicle at work has been widened to the proper width. We're all "legal" now.
Hang in there, man.