Seth Cancer Blog

Chemo day, week 2 Back in the USSR Looking back to my first treatment day, it’s clear in hindsight that I was under-estimating what chemoradiation treatment would entail. I was so excited to finally get my treatment underway that at the end of Day 1 I was buzzing. That good feeling lasted until Wednesday when I was hit with some constipation with cramping and generalized fatigue that I attributed to the chemo along with mouth changes including xerostomia (dry mouth) and altered taste that I attributed to the daily radiation treatments.   I soon learned that the steroids I received as part of the pre-medication were preventing those symptoms for the first couple of days but as they washed out, I was starting to feel the normal side effects of my treatment. The dietitian had previously recommended a smoothie supplement to combat constipation that consisted of a 1:1:1 mix of prune juice, apple sauce and all-bran cereal and so I started adding a few tablespoons of that int...

A Day in the Life It starts with an early morning blood draw.   I show up at 7am at the Rogel Cancer Center at the University of Michigan. At the main entrance, off to the left, is the Pathology/Blood Draw desk.   I sign-in and am assigned number 20. The line moves pretty quickly. The other patients are like me.   Casually dressed, older in age, usually with a companion.   My number is called and I head back to the blood draw rooms.   The stick was painless and 4 tubes later I’m done. I head out with a bright blue wrap around my right forearm.   My next visit is 8am in the Cancer center, floor B1. I check in and sit down and wait until I’m called.   Meanwhile, behind the scenes, my blood is being analyzed to make sure that my kidney function is good and that the different blood cell types are in the normal range. I get called in and a nurse checks my weight, blood pressure and oral temperature.   Then I go back out and wait for the ne...