6/14/16

When Democrats talk about "common sense" gun reforms, they have already given up the fight, signaling that there's no energy for meaningful regulation and that the status quo will remain the order of the day.

Yesterday was a recently scheduled trip to the oncologist.  The last week on Votrient had been marked by frequent and severe diarrhea.  We had hoped the last week, a break from the chemo, would change that fact and avoid the pitfalls of dehydration and low blood pressure.  But the diarrhea continued, and the question of the day was going to be whether to continue at the same level of Votrient or reduce the dosage once more.  The visit to the ER, however, added a second subject of discussion.

Over the weekend, I got around the house using a walker.  Because I was wearing a large abduction cast when I got the walker five years ago, it's oversized and difficult to maneuver through doors.  But it was helpful, and as the days passed, I achieved more mobility in my right leg.  I increased the dosage of Percocet to manage the pain.  Neither the x-rays nor the MRI at the emergency room had shown anything worrisome, but Dr. Hashmi wants further tests, since the pain is where the cancer first and most importantly manifested itself.  On the 24th, I'll have the regularly CT scan to check on the primary tumor; on the 29th, I'll have another MRI, this time not on my spine but on my hip and femur.  We changed the pain medication to a timed-release morphine, which I can supplement with Percocet if I get breakthrough pain. 

We're going to stick with the Votrient, though I'm taking this week, the second in a row, off to see if my body won't recover a bit more with the extra time off.  Then we'll resume the three weeks on, one week off schedule to see how that works.  During the week off the Votrient I take only one anti-hypertension medication.  Since the problem for the last 18 months has been low, not high, blood pressure, we had asked Dr. Van at KU Med whether I could stop taking even that one medication during the week off.  He had said no.  But Dr. Hashmi suggested that the dosages I was taking of the two meds during the weeks I was on Votrient and the one med during the week off were both rather strong, perhaps I should experiment with reducing the strength of the meds, while not going cold turkey.