20201016 Cancer Treatment Update:

20201016 Cancer Treatment Update:

em·pa·thy, /ˈempəTHē/, noun:

defn.; The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

As I sit here in Swedish Medical Center, dealing with another episode of severe pain and irretractable vomiting, this is the word that popped into my mind. To me, this is the characteristic required to become a nurse.  And not all nurses possess this characteristic, but the truly selfless, caring, and effective nurses do.  Just like any profession, there are good and bad nurses, and the full gamut in between.  For the most part, all of my nurses and doctors have been phenomenal.  This goes for all of my doctors and nurses at IU Simon & IU Med., as well as here in Colorado at Swedish Medical, Rocky Mountain Cancer, and Sarah Canon Research.  But occasionally,  I have had nurses that are either in it for the wrong reasons, are having a bad day, posess zero empathy, or seemingly just don’t care.  On one occasion,  I actually had a nurse that couldn’t put a full sentence together.  She wasn’t following any protocol, such as wiping down the IV line when administering meds.  I am certain she was either diverting the Dilaudid, or taking something before she came to work.  I was so happy that Sonja was there to witness what was happening. I don’t mention the negative experiences I have had to complain or make anyone think this is the rule rather than the exception.  I just want to remind people; if you ever find yourself in the role of patient, be aware of your own healthcare, be your own advocate or better yet, have someone in your support system there with you as much as possible.  We are all human and even the best of us make mistakes and overlook things.  And when you have a nurse that is great at their job, clearly cares about their patients, is empathetic and compassionate, thank them.  Let the charge nurse or director know how great they are, went the extra mile, or took the time to understand your suffering.  Chances are they already know exactly, how good they are, but everyone likes to be appreciated and recognized, and noone deserves this more than our nurses!  On that note, I want to recognize Sonja Nickels, Brandy Dale, Pey Vaziri, Taylor Fink, and my Clinical Trial Nurse at IU Simon Cancer Center, Anne Younger.  As most of you know, Sonja is my world!  She is to me, what any nurse should model themselves after.  She is smart, caring, empathetic,  compassionate, professional, and has a heart of gold.  And I am thankful every day that she chose me!

So I guess I can actually get to the Cancer Treatment Update now. I went back to my Oncologist on Tuesday, 10.13.20 for labs and general check-up to monitor the effects of the new chemo regime.  Bloodwork looked good.  The red blood cell count was in the normal range, which was somewhat surprising considering chemo typically lowers the rbc.  This is crucial to my cycling performance and ability to climb mountains.  The more red blood cells, the more oxygen that gets delivered to my lungs and muscles.  This is why cyclists (among other sports) “blood dope”.  They will dose with Erythropoeitin (EPO) which boosts the rbc, extract their own blood, then transfuse the rbc rich blood back into their bodies at a later time, typically in the mountains.  I plan to discuss issues like this as I learn more about how my body tolerates and adapts to the training stress in unison with the chemotherapy.  But for now, I need to sleep.  So, until next time…Just Keep Moving!

KG