My ever so kind and trusty Chemosabe and I took the well travelled path to the Foothills yesterday - you need a driver for this procedure as you are a bit of a bumbling mess after being sedated.
Hal and I have quite the system now that we’ve been hospital partners for the past year. Probably 50+ visits together I’m sure if you count chemo, blood transfusions and endoscopies.
For the endoscopy procedure I get on a bed, put on a gown, he goes for fries and gravy, waits patiently, and then picks up the babbling boy and gets him home safely. Whole process is just over 2 hours.
I appreciate him so much and will be forever grateful for his support. It’s been fun to tie our relationship even tighter than it was before so that’s an added bonus.
As for the Upper GI endoscopy - well it’s kinda inconclusive. What we know for sure is that there is no esophageal infection so I can stop that medication. Always good to reduce my pull intake. Ha, as I type this I realize Dr. R. The GI doc added a thyroid medication to my list so in the end I broke even.
The prevailing thought now is that the missing voice is related to the Cabozantinib. In talking with Dr.R. yesterday we have decided to reduce the chemotherapy dose from 40mg daily to 30 mg daily. With this possibly being yet another side effect we figured maybe we can give me a bit of a break. I’m hoping the reduction gives a bit better quality of life as the original dose has proven to be over-powering.
But in the area of looking at things from a positive lens the oncologist has in the past told me that often the greater the side effect the greater the efficacy of the treatment. Which is what I’ve always relied upon; if I suck it up then I’m getting better results. So just do it.
My results must be off the charts then!
Today I’m starting at 30mg and am hopefully going to sail through the next 6 weeks, which is when I have my next scan.
All that being said I hope to be talking your ear off soon!
