A Rude Intrusion :: Day 27

This is my blog for day 27 of cancer treatment, Saturday, 5 Aug 2017.

Today was another day to recover from chemotherapy. I did awake early, and read more in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mr Twain really took ol' Huck around a bit in this adventure, shore 'nuff he did. But I'm enjoying it, nonetheless.

Took a shower today, too, and weighed myself. Now, under normal circumstances, where weight loss was an thing to be done, I might happily say I weighed 250.8. But when weight loss is not a goal, but merely a side-effect of the treatments I'm going through, I will un-happily say I now weigh 250.8 pounds. I'm down 14 pounds from where I started on day 1.

To put this in perspective, I am expected to lose weight. And the tube feedings I'm supposed to be doing (see below for more on that fiasco) are expected to help. I'm still able to eat, I'm happy to say, but have no appetite. No desire for food whatsoever. Not only doesn't that help the cause of weight-maintenance, but it adds to the need to get nourishment through tube feedings. I'm hopeful that this is merely a side-effect of chemotherapy, and that my appetite will improve. (Can anyone image a Mark who didn't like to eat? It's part-and-parcel of who I am, rightly or wrongly.)

Another side-effect of chemo is a slight ringing in the ears, and a loss of hearing overall. This may or may not be retained once I'm done, but we'll simply have to wait and see. The ringing comes and goes, but, as I'm writing this, it is certainly with me.

I appreciate all the cards and the phone calls! I received a couple of cards recently, and they really do help to buoy my spirits. And don't be afraid to call; if I can't make time to talk to you at a particular moment, I'll certainly call you back!

So now to the Tube Feeding Incident. I fed myself through the G-Tube at lunch time, starting with 2 oz of water, adding some 2-3 oz of water to the feed (now I feel like a Sontaran in a Doctor Who episode, getting his daily clone feed), The feeding time was more than 20 minutes, and it left me feeling like I had consumed a far-too-large quantity of beer. Liquid gut. Should have been a clue.

I sat down in my dad's motorized recliner (brought over from my sister Jan's once we knew I'd be undergoing this cancer treatment) and tried to watch TV. After another some 20 minutes or so, I still felt bad, so decided to try to rest in our bedroom, with my head raised up off the bed by two pillows, laying only on my back. I seemed to be doing okay, drifting off into a little nap, when - EMERGENCY . . . EMERGENCY YOU ARE GOING TO . . . - yep, I puked up a bunch, all over my shirt. I called for Nancy, and was able to make my way into the bathroom to get cleaned up.

It's not necessary to describe the mess, but may be important to go into the particulars of what happened, just in case anyone needs to use tube feedings. Liquid, you may remember, flows to its lowest level. Forget density, forget oil-floats-on-water and all those other things, this is liquid contained in a vessel (me). So when I slipped lower in bed, the liquid, which had not yet evacuated my gut, flowed back into my esophagus and triggered, well, you know.

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP :: Do NOT recline until well after the feed has passed into your digestive system!

How can you tell, you might ask? Seems to me that all of the water is stripped out early in digestion, as I really had to pee (how else can I say this?) about an hour after taking the feeding. Really.

I was able to eat a little by dinner time, but not too much. Didn't even finish a Culver's "short" vanilla shake. Ate their mashed potatoes and gravy, that's about it. I know I have to do better.

Today's YouTube video is not just music - it IS a video, as well. It's called "Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 1 - An International Collaboration" (here) and features Rachel Flowers, a young lady whose talent would be considered monumental, but whose story is even more amazing. Read about it here.

For convenience sake, here a running list of all of the links I've posted to YouTube in the past few days:

According to Plan, Carolyn Arends - Link
And I Love Her - Link
Back In You Own Back Yard, Al Jolson - Link

Because We've Ended As Lovers, Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather - Link
Blessings, Laura Story - Link
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd - Link
Cross Road Blues, Robert Johnson Link
Crossroads, Eric Clapton and Cream Link
Groucho Movie Clips - Link
I Love Being Here With You, Diana Krall - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, from the movie Here Comes the Groom  - Link
Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 1, An International Collaboration - Link
Limbo Jazz, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington - Link
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield, Bill Kirchen - Link
Montana/We Are Not Alone, Univ. of Montana Percussion Ensemble - Link

My Funny Valentine, Kristin Chenoweth - Link

My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis - Link
On The Street Where You Live, Dean Martin - Link
Powdermilk Biscuit Break, Garrison Keillor, et al - Link
Questions 67 and 68, Chicago - Link
Route 66, Asleep at The Wheel - Link
She Used To Be Mine, Sara Bareilles - Link
Shim, Sham, Shimmy (dance) to Tain't What You Do, Jimmy Lunceford - Link
Sisters, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt - Link
Sisters, from White Christmas - Link
Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford - Link
St Louis Blues, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi - Link
Standing at the Crossroads, Elmore James - Link
Starts and Stripes Forever, United States Marine Band - Link
Sweet Georgia Brown, Wynton Marsalis/Mark O'Connor - Link
That's Jazz, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong & The All Stars - Link
Time, Pink Floyd - Link
Time to Blow, From That Thing You Do - Link
Zappa Medly, George Duke - Link