Last edited Sat Mar 1, 2014, 07:42 AM - Edit history (1)
I apologize for being so long in writing this update, but it's been a crazy up-and-down time (plus I've been ill, undoubtedly due to the stress and lack of sleep).
Since the chemo the doctors were currently giving him did not seem to be doing any good (they admitted it was a "hail Mary" chemo, and there was nothing left), at my husband's suggestion they added in two days of a chemo drug he'd previously used for his leukemia.
My husband had surgery to place stents in his ureters, since the lymphoma was crushing them and causing the kidneys to back up with fluid and shut down. After he came back from the operating room, he was spacey and out of it and, it seemed to me, particularly open to suggestion, so I sat beside him and repeated as many positive affirmations as I could think of (e.g., the chemo is working wonderfully, your lymph nodes are shrinking, etc.). The next day he really did seem better.
In fact, he got well enough that his kidney function gradually returned to normal! And one of the indices that we use to track how active the lymphoma is, his heart rate (I have no idea why his heart rate tracks with the lymphoma's activity, it just does), dropped from the 120's it was when he entered the hospital to the low 80's (and even, occasionally, high 70's)!
We were released (I stay with him 24/7 at the hospital) late on Wednesday night, and were to return the next day for a Neulasta shot. When they did his vitals on Thursday, prior to administering the shot, his heart rate was 115. The nurse repeated his vitals just to verify it. What had happened? What caused this very accurate tracking index to suddenly shoot up 30+ points in less than 24 hours? I wish I knew.
We got home last night, and he's been sleeping nearly nonstop ever since. When he's awake, he says his back hurts, but he says it's not like the pain he gets from the lymphoma. That's the other thing: when the lymphoma is increasing, the nodes press on the nerves on his back, at the worst causing excruciating pain that oxycodone barely touches. Truth be told, I'm fearful that this current pain is a result of the lymphoma.
He no longer has the strength to stand by himself.
I found a hypnotist -- here is the Phoenix area, no less! -- who studied with Dr. Michael Preston. Michael Preston was the author of "Hypnosis: Medicine of the Mind" and apparently had success curing cancer with hypnosis. This hypnotist specializes in cancer as well. We have an appointment with her on Monday.
I don't know how well (or not) my husband's doing, and because the hypnotist said that he's undoubtedly very susceptible to anything he hears right now, I don't want to question him about negative symptoms. So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that he's doing better than my fears warrant.
Thank you all for your positive energy. I really appreciate it.
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