The week after last Taxol

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday not so bad. Terry went to the infusion center in Canton for his hydration - a nice, small center, with only a few beds and no TVs. For an hour/hour and a half, peace and quiet and a good book. Wouldn't have worked for the previous weeks, as there is no radiation oncology department there. But only a 10 minute drive from the house, instead of 45.

He really likes the nurse practitioner who's in charge. She spent some time talking with him - thinks red-heads are more sensitive to almost everything. So she was watching the place where the PICC was taken out really carefully - put antibiotic cream on it, and a bandage. She chatted with him - think it made him feel better.

Friday he started feeling not quite so good. Guess these are the last side effects - more tired and beat down than anything else. Friday they drew some blood - they really are worried about those kidneys. And a new nurse gave him a script for a stronger antibiotic cream.

He went into the main infusion center in Ann Arbor on Saturday - seems that the Canton center is closed on weekends. His favorite nurse was working there - he was glad to see her. She looked at him, and said - what are you drinking? He said coffee. He's been drinking a lot of coffee throughout infusions - nobody said it was a bad idea, and he really only drinks coffee when someone else is brewing it - I think it has something to do with making coffee at Panera all the time. Seems caffinated coffee is a diuretic, so he's been peeing more than he is getting in the infusions. Great. WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY SAY ANYTHING!
Oh, and she put him on a regular antibiotic. The PICC hole red area is getting a little bigger.
So, today is Sunday. He crashed when he got home. He's been sleeping pretty much since. I'm glad that I've read descriptions of how women I know feel after Taxol, so I can have some idea how he's feeling. Because all he's saying to me is he's feeling better.
Monday he goes in to get a blood draw, and talks to Heidi, the nurse. She is really honest - told us that the reason that he was having insulin issues was that they weren't following Dr Urbe's protocol with only 2 steroid pills before infusion, but gave him the 6 they use for other cancers. So, it wasn't his body - it was their stupidity (personal opinion). I'm glad that she doesn't lie, but I'm wishing that we'd waited the extra week to see Dr Urbe, instead of accepting a doctor who doesn't do esophageal cancer a lot. Oh, well, it's over, and I don't think any permanent damage was done.
And slapping her wouldn't get us anything. Even though it would make me feel better.

In a way, I'm kind of sorry this is over - next is CT scan, then surgery. I don't want to get results - right now, I can just float on the assumption that the chemo/rads has wiped everything out, and the surgery is just prophylactic. Need the reality to match up to my expectations.