Avastin, Part Deux

Hi All - had my second (of eight) post-op avastin treatment yesterday. As usual, they first took vitals on me and then I met w/Dr I. When I had the procedure done last friday, they also took a bunch of cell samples and everything tested negative for cancer. My weight's down some but that's intentional on my part - I currently weigh about 175 and plan to get down to 160; Dr I agreed that that's probably a good weight for me longterm as long as I don't lose weight too fast and keep eating enough protein for my recovery. My regular aerobic workouts seem to be helping too - my blood pressure's great and my heart rate is about 50 bpm, which is an indication that I'm in pretty decent shape (last friday, the nurse kept checking my pulse rate and finally said "you're the most relaxed patient I've ever had" (to which I responded "well, I've had a lot of practice lately")). Dr I also cleared me for lifting so I'm going to start back on the weights next week - he did emphasize that he wants me to start easy and gradually increase with which I concurred. After my meeting w/Dr I, they administered the avastin and that went pretty smoothly. Last time I had a slight reaction a few hours afterwards (slightly dizzy and a bit of a sweat) but this time had no reaction whatsoever. My next appointment is in three weeks on 5/15 - that'll be an all day affair as, in addition to the avastin treatment, I will also be getting a cat scan as part of the standard monitoring and be meeting w/my surgeon, Dr B, so that he can check my recovery progress.

Pain is still a problem but is under control and continues to improve. It's nice to be back at work and it's going pretty well. The first week, I pushed it a bit too hard and got really tired by the end of the week but I've scaled things back a bit and it's made a huge difference. Of course, part of the problem is trying to re-adjust to a 'normal' sleep schedule; Dr I gave me a prescription for ambien but I was a bit nervous about taking it regularly for a few weeks so, instead, I started taking melatonin - it's worked out really well and I've been able to get to sleep at a 'normal' time.

I was planning to go to m/so to help set up the next stroller's play and hang out w/everyone but I got an email announcing that the play has been canceled (which is really bizarre - if anyone knows what happened, please let me know) so I have to figure out what I feel like doing this weekend - if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Be creative :p

reagards,

--Dr D

A Beautiful Weekend

I seemed to have recovered from the procedure pretty well. I had a sore throat on Friday and part of the day Saturday but I recovered from that pretty quickly. I haven't really pushed it eating-wise yet so I don't know for sure whether it solved the problem but things do feel better; guess I'll find out for sure over the next few days. And, yeah, I did get some ice cream :)

Rested a lot this weekend. Going back to work has been nice but between that and the gym and everything else, I got pretty tired by the end of the week. The weather was absolutely fantastic this weekend so I went to central park on both Saturday and Sunday and spent a lot of time wandering and reading - it was the first nice weather of the spring so there was a huge number of people out enjoying it w/me. Here are some pictures for those of you that are interested:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hmurakami51/CentralPark42207

Well, have to get up early so that I can hit the gym. Hope to hear from ya'll soon.

--Dr D