It's been a while!

[Suzanna]

Hey LUNGevity friends! It's been too long and I just wanted to check in and say hi. Adam is still getting clean scans and having minimal side effects from Keytruda. The biggest is still fatigue, coupled with heightened anxiety and trouble sleeping, which we're addressing in various ways. His treatments are every six weeks for now, and the effects are worse for the two weeks immediately following treatment. I had a bit of a difficult revelation over the holidays when I accompanied him to his appointment for the first time in many months. He had been receiving his infusions here at our local hospital, but the infusion nurse left, and with housing and staffing challenges in our mountain town (and, well, all towns), they started sending him to Fort Collins for treatment. He went alone initially because visitors were not permitted thanks to rising COVID cases, but then it just became habit. I joined him last week because I was off for the holiday and he casually told me that sometimes he doesn't feel great when driving back, and being in the cancer center can be emotionally difficult for him. Hearing this broke my heart because I realized that I was able to have some distance from the reality of this still being in our lives by not going. So, for 2022, I'm taking him to his appointments. 

Despite his fatigue, we did get a hike in on our anniversary - 12/27. It was a short one in Rocky Mountain National Park where we were married. It was snowing beautifully and felt extra special this year. 

I hope to be around the forum more in 2022, and I'm wishing you all the best for this year. 

Suzanna

[LouT]

Suzanna,

So nice to hear from you and glad to hear that Adam is responding well to treatment, albeit with some of the side-effects I've heard others also experience (especially the fatigue).  It must be difficult to live in a remote area where any small change (one nurse leaving) can have such an impact.  It sounds like a good decision for you to go with Adam.  I lost my wife to memory care 2 years ago, but "back in the day" I would always want her with me when I had to go for any treatment.  It's just a real comfort to have your mate there.  Glad to hear that your hike went well.  Personally I'm less a snow person than a sunshine person.    Thanks so much for the update.  It's good to know that Adam is holding his own.  Have the doctors discussed any approaches to reduce the fatigue?  A few others here also complain about fatigue from the more targeted therapies.  I hope your medical team can help Adam in that regard.

Lou

[Suzanna]

12 hours ago, LouT said:

Suzanna,

So nice to hear from you and glad to hear that Adam is responding well to treatment, albeit with some of the side-effects I've heard others also experience (especially the fatigue).  It must be difficult to live in a remote area where any small change (one nurse leaving) can have such an impact.  It sounds like a good decision for you to go with Adam.  I lost my wife to memory care 2 years ago, but "back in the day" I would always want her with me when I had to go for any treatment.  It's just a real comfort to have your mate there.  Glad to hear that your hike went well.  Personally I'm less a snow person than a sunshine person.    Thanks so much for the update.  It's good to know that Adam is holding his own.  Have the doctors discussed any approaches to reduce the fatigue?  A few others here also complain about fatigue from the more targeted therapies.  I hope your medical team can help Adam in that regard.

Lou

Hi Lou,

Tough anniversary, sending good thoughts your way. Thank you for sharing your experiences. We often get so wrapped up in our lives and routine that we don’t stop to think of asking for support, or asking if it’s needed from us, when we should. It was a good lesson and I think it will help both of us. As for his fatigue, since he is still working full time and it causes minimal interruption to his life, he hasn’t thought about asking how to address it directly. However, we have another year of this, at least, so I think it may be worthy of a discussion. 
 

Thanks again and have a great day!