Chapter 6: New Soldiers Enter the Battle

It's 10:30PM on September 23^rd and I had the first session with the new batch of chemicals. I was warned about the side effects of this particular batch. They include:
Diarrhea
Intestinal cramps
cold sweats
Skin rash or hives
Decreased platelets
Breathing problems
Fast heartbeat
Low blood pressure
Mouth sores
Nausea or vomiting
Numbness of hands and feet
And about six or eight others.

Well, so far so good. I haven't experienced any of them as of yet. The nurse told me that those effects could show up the next day or so I am to call in if any of them show up. I'm keeping my mental fingers crossed.

Well, another day later. It's September 24, 2014 and none of those symptoms have raised their ugly little heads to be dealt with. I'm getting the impression that I am quite lucky. I know for sure that it is not any talent on my part.

Just when things seem to be going smoothly; my J-tube feeding port has started leaking again but worse this time. I cannot drink anything by mouth without a substantial amount of it coming out beside the J-tube and soaking the dressing and my shirt. I'm going to have to get to the doctor's office to see what can be done about it. I have an appointment for a week from tomorrow but I am going to have to get in sooner than that.

In the mean time I get to thinking about my life so far. I am 74 years old as of two months ago and have led a very full life. I feel very fortunate to have made it this far in life without any major disasters along the way.

Every company I have worked for, when they let me go, I found an even better job.

When things got bad on the employment scene I started my own business and did quite well. I still dabble with fixing LCD TV sets for a little extra income to supplement my social security.

While I was a patrol deputy with the sheriff's department in Texas I never got shot at and only once had to pull my gun against an actor in a case of burglary of a business.

While I was on board the submarine USS Spikefish, SS404, any number of things could have gone wrong and I could be spending years on the bottom of Long Island Sound.

I've got very few things on my bucket list and some of them are repeats of things I have previously done but want to do again.

So, I'll close this chapter until something significant happens worthy of typing.