The X-ray of my right femur on Tuesday showed the presence of a tumour which is weakening the bone. The plan is to put a "nail" down the middle of the bone to strengthen it. They want me to go in on Monday and I'll be in the hospital for most of the week.
I'll see the oncologist in his clinic next Thursday to discuss radiation treatment to the tumour in my spine that is pressing on the spinal chord. If I'm still recovering he'll come to my bedside apparently.
It'll be another busy week. I just hope the pain gets sorted.
25 March, 2010
24 March, 2010
Ouch
Yesterday I was due to have my second Zometa infusion. This time I drove to the hospital because my right leg had been playing up and I wasn't sure I could manage to walk the 2+ miles. I couldn't find a parking place so drove about half a mile home and walked (hobbled) in from there and arrived with 5 minutes to spare.
It was a different Clinical Nurse Specialist who was to give me the medicine this time. She asked me how things were going. I told her that my bone pain had generally reduced but that I was getting sciatica like pain in the right leg and the three smaller toes on my right foot were somewhat numb. She pricked her ears up at this and said she'd get a doctor to check me over.
The doctor asked some questions then examined me. He checked whether touch sensations on the right leg were the same as the left. Then he checked on the strength of each leg and it was plain that the right leg was weaker. He also prodded my lower abdomen and gave me a DRE (digital rectal examination). He said there was a possibility that I had some spinal cord compression and would need an MRI scan. He said he'd admit me into the hospital until a scan could be arranged - probably the next day.
As it happened there was a slot available and I was taken in a wheelchair, pushed by a porter, and accompanied by the CNS to the MRI department. The scan was uneventful but the hard scanner bed was uncomfortable and I had to grit my teeth a few times so that I didn't move to relieve the discomfort and pain. After waiting a while for a porter the CNS wheeled me back to the urology department. It was now lunch time and the CNS rustled up a large salad filled bap for me.
Having examined the scan results the doctor confirmed that there was some SCC and arranged for me to be seen by and orthopaedic consultant in his out patients clinic. The CNS had to leave to make some home calls so a different nurse accompanied my to the out patients clinic whilst I travelled in style in the porter pushed wheelchair.
There was some confusion at the clinic because the arrangement had been made directly with the consultant and the receptionists didn't have me on their lists. I was first seen by a registrar who asked similar questions to those posed by the doctor in the urology department. He checked out each of my vertebra. The only one that gave me any pain was the one between my shoulder blades (I suspect this is the cause of some weakness in my arms). He then checked out my legs. The consultant joined him and told me that the Multi-Disciplinary Team would meet tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss how to proceed, the options being an operation or a single dose of radiotherapy. Seeing as I was passing water and moving my bowels OK he didn't see the need for me to be admitted but before going home he wanted me to have an X-ray of my right femur. A nurse will call me on Thursday morning to let me know what the MDT had decided and what I will need to do.
So another wheelchair ride to the X-Ray department. A bit of a wait then a walk (hobble) back to the car and home. The longish walk to the car made the wheelchair rides seem unnecessary but I am pleased they were provided. Walking between the various departments would have been slower and may have left me with some difficulty getting back to the car.
I'll be pleased when the SCC gets sorted because the pain it causes is worse when I have been sitting or lying down for a while and the various pain killers I have don't seem to have much effect. Consequently I have not been getting much sleep nor even very much rest.
I've just had a 'phone call from the CNS asking how I had got on with the orthopaedic guys and whether I am OK. Isn't that nice?
It was a different Clinical Nurse Specialist who was to give me the medicine this time. She asked me how things were going. I told her that my bone pain had generally reduced but that I was getting sciatica like pain in the right leg and the three smaller toes on my right foot were somewhat numb. She pricked her ears up at this and said she'd get a doctor to check me over.
The doctor asked some questions then examined me. He checked whether touch sensations on the right leg were the same as the left. Then he checked on the strength of each leg and it was plain that the right leg was weaker. He also prodded my lower abdomen and gave me a DRE (digital rectal examination). He said there was a possibility that I had some spinal cord compression and would need an MRI scan. He said he'd admit me into the hospital until a scan could be arranged - probably the next day.
As it happened there was a slot available and I was taken in a wheelchair, pushed by a porter, and accompanied by the CNS to the MRI department. The scan was uneventful but the hard scanner bed was uncomfortable and I had to grit my teeth a few times so that I didn't move to relieve the discomfort and pain. After waiting a while for a porter the CNS wheeled me back to the urology department. It was now lunch time and the CNS rustled up a large salad filled bap for me.
Having examined the scan results the doctor confirmed that there was some SCC and arranged for me to be seen by and orthopaedic consultant in his out patients clinic. The CNS had to leave to make some home calls so a different nurse accompanied my to the out patients clinic whilst I travelled in style in the porter pushed wheelchair.
There was some confusion at the clinic because the arrangement had been made directly with the consultant and the receptionists didn't have me on their lists. I was first seen by a registrar who asked similar questions to those posed by the doctor in the urology department. He checked out each of my vertebra. The only one that gave me any pain was the one between my shoulder blades (I suspect this is the cause of some weakness in my arms). He then checked out my legs. The consultant joined him and told me that the Multi-Disciplinary Team would meet tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss how to proceed, the options being an operation or a single dose of radiotherapy. Seeing as I was passing water and moving my bowels OK he didn't see the need for me to be admitted but before going home he wanted me to have an X-ray of my right femur. A nurse will call me on Thursday morning to let me know what the MDT had decided and what I will need to do.
So another wheelchair ride to the X-Ray department. A bit of a wait then a walk (hobble) back to the car and home. The longish walk to the car made the wheelchair rides seem unnecessary but I am pleased they were provided. Walking between the various departments would have been slower and may have left me with some difficulty getting back to the car.
I'll be pleased when the SCC gets sorted because the pain it causes is worse when I have been sitting or lying down for a while and the various pain killers I have don't seem to have much effect. Consequently I have not been getting much sleep nor even very much rest.
I've just had a 'phone call from the CNS asking how I had got on with the orthopaedic guys and whether I am OK. Isn't that nice?
06 March, 2010
Progress and a blockage
The busy week went well. Prostap injection Monday - no problems. Zometa infusion Tuesday- quite a pleasant experience, in as much as having a needle stuck in you can be pleasant. The infusion was done in one of the nurses' offices. I was sat in a comfortable reclining armchair and provided with a cup of tea whilst the Zometa was fed into my vein. Listening to and chatting with the nurses was a bonus.
On the Wednesday I received a letter telling me I had an appointment with the Oncologist on the multi-disciplinary team (I'd actually asked to see a different one, but never mind). The Oncologist was the one I was initially referred to for post operative treatment for my testicular cancer back in 2007, and I was pleased he remembered me. I learnt from him that the reason I am ineligible for clinical trials is that I have already had, and been treated for cancer. If the Bicalutamide (Casodex) treatment does not bring down my PSA or stops being effective later, then the next treatment to be tried will be oestrogen, followed by chemotherapy. He didn't think that the newer treatments - Arbiterone and Alpharadin - will be licensed for a year or two and will need to be OKed by NICE before they become available. Pretty much as I expected really. I'll have a PSA test at the same time as the blood tests that have to be done before each Zometa infusion in April. This should also fit in with the annual blood tests regarding my high blood pressure - not high at the moment the pills are working. The car had its service and passed its MOT that day too.
On the following Saturday I met up with some on-line friends from the FiftyPlusForum in Altrincham for a chat and a meal. It was good to actually meet some of the people I'd been exchanging messages with over the last year or so. I enjoyed the chatting and meal but the enjoyment was reduced a bit by a persistent pain in my right leg. That pain usually responds to a combination of Ibuprofen and Paracetemol (or Co-Codamol) but not that day.
The pain eased over the rest of the weekend but a side effect of the pain killers cut in - constipation. So on the Monday I made an appointment to see a GP on the Tuesday. He provided me with a couple of stronger pain killers for when needed (like on Saturday) and a couple of laxative options to try. The laxative, Movicol, did its work in as much as the backlog wanted to budge but couldn't get past my piles. After a few fruitless attempts at moving my bowels my wife 'phoned the pharmacy to ask if they had any suggestions. They said that I'd need to see a doctor who may arrange for the district nurse to sort me out (probably with an enema I suppose). I got an emergency appointment for later in the afternoon. Before then, however, the piles were breached and my bowels evacuated. Hurray. I saw the doctor anyway and he advised me to continue with the laxatives and aim to keep the stools soft. He prescribed a cream for the piles on the basis that it would have an anaesthetic effect and reduce pain but he doubted whether such creams do anything else worthwhile.
As of now the Zometa seems to be beginning to work in as much as I have less bone pain and have cut down on the pain killers. The constipation hasn't gone though and the laxative does not seem to be working. I'll have to up the dose a bit. Another good thing is that I have lost about half a stone over the last few weeks, shame my belly seems to have got bigger though.
On the Wednesday I received a letter telling me I had an appointment with the Oncologist on the multi-disciplinary team (I'd actually asked to see a different one, but never mind). The Oncologist was the one I was initially referred to for post operative treatment for my testicular cancer back in 2007, and I was pleased he remembered me. I learnt from him that the reason I am ineligible for clinical trials is that I have already had, and been treated for cancer. If the Bicalutamide (Casodex) treatment does not bring down my PSA or stops being effective later, then the next treatment to be tried will be oestrogen, followed by chemotherapy. He didn't think that the newer treatments - Arbiterone and Alpharadin - will be licensed for a year or two and will need to be OKed by NICE before they become available. Pretty much as I expected really. I'll have a PSA test at the same time as the blood tests that have to be done before each Zometa infusion in April. This should also fit in with the annual blood tests regarding my high blood pressure - not high at the moment the pills are working. The car had its service and passed its MOT that day too.
On the following Saturday I met up with some on-line friends from the FiftyPlusForum in Altrincham for a chat and a meal. It was good to actually meet some of the people I'd been exchanging messages with over the last year or so. I enjoyed the chatting and meal but the enjoyment was reduced a bit by a persistent pain in my right leg. That pain usually responds to a combination of Ibuprofen and Paracetemol (or Co-Codamol) but not that day.
The pain eased over the rest of the weekend but a side effect of the pain killers cut in - constipation. So on the Monday I made an appointment to see a GP on the Tuesday. He provided me with a couple of stronger pain killers for when needed (like on Saturday) and a couple of laxative options to try. The laxative, Movicol, did its work in as much as the backlog wanted to budge but couldn't get past my piles. After a few fruitless attempts at moving my bowels my wife 'phoned the pharmacy to ask if they had any suggestions. They said that I'd need to see a doctor who may arrange for the district nurse to sort me out (probably with an enema I suppose). I got an emergency appointment for later in the afternoon. Before then, however, the piles were breached and my bowels evacuated. Hurray. I saw the doctor anyway and he advised me to continue with the laxatives and aim to keep the stools soft. He prescribed a cream for the piles on the basis that it would have an anaesthetic effect and reduce pain but he doubted whether such creams do anything else worthwhile.
As of now the Zometa seems to be beginning to work in as much as I have less bone pain and have cut down on the pain killers. The constipation hasn't gone though and the laxative does not seem to be working. I'll have to up the dose a bit. Another good thing is that I have lost about half a stone over the last few weeks, shame my belly seems to have got bigger though.
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