Yesterday, Nana says, was the first time she has ever seen Dr. Malefatto smile in relation to Pop's test results. His blood apparently looks fine and the doctor was pleased with his condition - woot! He looked so good in fact, he doesn't have to go again until next Monday (which is quite a while around here). On Monday he is going to get a MUGA scan...
The MUGA scan (MUltiple Gated Acquisition scan) is a noninvasive test that produces a moving image of the heart. From this image, the health of the heart’s major pumping chamber (the left ventricle) can be assessed. This is important to do because Adriamycin (generic name – doxorubicin) - the chemotherapeutic drug he's on - can be toxic to the heart muscle, and can lead to heart failure. (More info about MUGA scan and Adriamycin can be found here http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/otherriskfactors/l/blmuga.htm)
So after we get this scan the doctor will be able adjust Pop's dosage and hopefully give Pop the full dosage come Wednesday. Two weeks ago he was in such bad shape he only got 1/2 a dose. Let's cross our fingers this goes well.
Oh yeah, and another thing, on Wednesday Dr. Malefatto told Nana that hearing loss is in fact NOT a side effect of chemo (Pop has been using this as an excuse lately). When Nana was explaining the MUGA test, Pop thought she was talking about an Indian guy... because apparently Muga sounds like an Indian last name to Pop.
At dinner Nana told Pop about the hearing thing and asked him if he wanted to consider a hearing aid. His first response was, "WHAT?!?!" and after that a vehement "No" with a string of angry utterings attached. In the end Nana and I decided it probably would be best if Pop couldn't hear everything we said. ^_^
But next time any of you talk to Pop and he blames his hearing on the fact that he's sick tell him he's full of beans - to which he'll probably respond, "Beans? yyyuck!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yeah, last Friday he told me the hearing loss was from the chemo. I played along, knowing full well that he hasn't heard much of anything for the past 20 years. He did mention that he was going to look into a hearing aid but that they were much too expensive for him right now. Silly old man...
ReplyDeleteMy father in law has hearing loss and we've had the same struggle to get him to 1) acknowledge it and 2) turn the TV down so the rest of us don't go deaf....sometimes it's good they can't hear us but it's frustrating none the less.
ReplyDeleteI hope the weather is improving down your way; we're all going nuts too up here in New Hampshire with the cool, wet weather; sure doesn't feel like summer. Brant is getting ready to go do some movie work and still working on house projects; I know Uncle Vic always asks what we're up to; tell him I'm still doing theater and working on a Shakespeare in the Park. Aunt Meta should also know that the bag of costumes/vintage clothing are being used! Thanks again to her! Love to you all, and yay about the good news from the Dr. and yay for your job!
Cousins Heidi and Brant
Haha, yeah, he flip flops between yelling at us for not speaking clearly, and acting like he wants to get a hearing aid or looking into it (mostly its the yelling though).
ReplyDeleteAnd its good to hear from you Heidi, Nan is glad all that old stuff got put to good use. And thank you for the love and well wishes.