I need some advice.
Please forgive the length, I am one of these people who feels compelled to build the watch.

This last week has been exceptionally difficult. Harry is having a very difficult time with the treatments and I need to know if anyone else has experienced this problem and if so, do you have any suggestions on how to deal with it. There are actually 2 parts to this question.

1. Since one week ago Thursday, Harry has been gripped by anxiety. It got so bad by Sunday the 27th that I called the doctor and he said that I could give him some of my Xanax. Just to show how warped I am, I have to take the max dose of Xanax just to get near an airplane so my prescription is for 2mg tablets. When I told the doc this I thought he was going to fall out of his seat. He said that most folks would be almost comotose on a dose like that. Anyway, he recommended that I give Harry 1/4 of one of my pills or .5mg. So I did. Well he went right to sleep and was very very groggy for a long time Sunday night. When Monday morning arrived and it was time to take him in to the hospital to begin his chemo he was essentially nonfunctional. I had to almost carry him to the car. Granted he has lost almost 25 lbs. but he is still at 160 and I was afraid he would fall. I have a bad knee so I was worried but I did manage to get him into the car. He immediately fell back to sleep. When we got to the hospital he was back to being anxious again. He kept telling me that the people had forgotten him and that they weren't going to call his name, etc. etc.

I assured him that everything was on schedule but he just couldn't let it go. Finally, they called him back and while they were making preparations for his blood test I walked down the hall to the other unit where his oncologist was at the time. I told him that I was concerned about Harry's condition and he decided to admit him but he put the chemo on hold so they could evaluate him. Within 2 days Harry was as low as I had ever seen him. He was asking for the Xanax like every couple of hours according to the floor nurses. He can't be still, he can't sleep much and he will do things that put him in danger of getting hurt. I am worried.

He was able to start his chemo on Wed. and yesterday I brought him home. As soon as we got home I took him upstairs and he immediately got into bed. He was exhausted just from the ride home and the walk up the stairs. He laid down and within a few minutes he was calling my name. I rushed up to him and he started telling me that he felt worse than he has ever felt in his life and that he thought he was dying.

I assured him that if there were anything wrong the doctor would not have discharged him. He wanted me to call the doc. He said he didn't want to talk to the doc he just wanted me to. I asked him if he wanted me to give him a Xanax and he said no. He said that he felt like reality was slipping away from him and he was afraid that if he took the pill he would lose it all and he was convinced he was going to die.

It took some talking for me to convince him to take the pill so that he could calm down and I was able to get him to sleep for a while.

This very long story leads to this question.... Have any of you experienced such anxiety and if so was there anything that helped you to get through it? Is there anything I can do that will make it any better for him? Will the anxiety subside once he begins to recover from the treatments?

2. Harry is losing his hearing. I have to yell at him now to get him to hear anything I say. It has gotten much worse over the last couple of weeks. Is this temporary? Will he get his hearing back? Can the loss be permanent? If so is there anything we can do to try to make it better or some doctor we should consult?

Thanks,
Cindy