Wednesday 10-4-2006

I actually got some decent sleep last night as I was basically out for the night at around 8pm. I was still up at 5am but that's just how it is right now. I felt decent all day but was definitely a little fatigued and my stomach felt just a little off. It was not really nausea, but it was not exactly right either. I was never really hungry during the day but I still made sure to eat a lot and food still tasted good when I put it into my mouth. I can feel my tongue starting to get a little raw around the edges and some tastes are getting a little more intense. Towards the end of my first full cycle, I did experience some taste changes which were pretty trippy. I mean when you are expecting BBQ sauce and it tastes a little like wasabi, you know something weird is going on in your body. The rash is getting more pronounced. Go Erbitux!. My hair is thinner than before but I have not really lost much recently. One plus is that I have been saving money on hair gel for the last few months. I am getting a little worried about my appearance for the wedding. What will Eva do if she sees a fat, balding, acne covered man at the alter? I guess that, even if she runs, it does not really matter because we are already married. Looks like I pulled a fast one on her. I cannot say how happy I am that we already have some really nice wedding photos.

I had to make a trip back to UCLA today to have some blood drawn and tested to make sure my liver and kidneys are handling the Cisplatin acceptably. There had been a bit of a miscommunication and apparently I was supposed to have done this the last two times I got Cisplatin as well. They are checking to make sure that the Cisplatin is not just sitting in the kidneys and even if it is, all they do is give you another bag of hydration. I was pretty hydrated and definitely flushing things out so I am sure that everything was fine after the first two doses.

After the doctor's office I met up with a couple friends for lunch. Mike V. and Nick who I have known since high school, maybe even middle school. Mike is currently working on his PhD in math at UCLA and Nick is an electrical engineer working at a company in Santa Monica. We went to a really nice little french bistro and ate our sandwiches in their little patio in the back. Good food, wonderful atmosphere, and there were even a few characters at the other tables. One guy looked a bit like Howard Stern and a few others were just typical LA types.
Nick got to vent a bit as he has been working pretty insane hours for the last few months. He said the usual development time for an application for his company is around 6 months and somehow the sales department of the company committed to completing a project involving a suite of 7 applications in 3 months. Hmmm. Maybe the development team should have been brought into the loop when the deal was made. All in all, he seems to still be keeping it together and enjoying the few hours he has to himself each day. Mike is just plugging away at his research and it seems to be going well, though slow. He is taking a seminar from a professor that just won the Field's medal which should be a wonderful opportunity for him to interact with an incredibly intelligent man. It was a very pleasant lunch and good to catch up a bit with friends.

After lunch, I did the grocery shopping like a good house husband and then just veged on the couch like a lazy house husband. Eva and I had a little dinner and then I fell asleep on the couch at about 8pm. My energy was definitely a bit down but I guess that is to be expected.
-TN