Cycle 2, Day 8

Today I had both chemo drugs. I also got two pints of blood. I was pretty anemic. When I left, everyone commented on how much pinker I looked. I must have been pretty pale. Almost 9 hours at the hospital. I slept and read. I feel pretty good. Just had some dinner.

Tomorrow I am going to a play with the sistahs. We'll have dinner and then the play. It should be fun. I think Michael and I will try to do a movie earlier in the day. He has to work tomorrow night and probably on Sunday.

My nurse today told me she did two tours in Iraq as an army nurse. That must have been a life-changing experience. I didn't ask any more questions. I did tell her that I, personally, really appreciate all the nurses in the chemo center for being so nice and helping to make a nasty situation, a little more tolerable. I think she really appreciated hearing that. I'm glad I said it.

Will probably go to bed early tonight.

Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates...

...you never know what you're going to get. That was yesterday. Tuesday I felt OK. Then Tuesday night I started getting this weird pulsing in my upper body. You know how the blood rushes to your head when you get up too quickly, well, this was like blood rushing to my whole torso. It was extremely painful and happened when I sat up and layed down. My back muscles cramped and it was just awful. That happened off and on all night and into the day. I didn't get up until 3:30 yesterday.

Today I feel fine, met a couple friends for lunch and meeting another shortly for coffee. I will definitely talk to the PA about it tomorrow when I go in for chemo.

So, thankfully my friends are gracious about my having to sometimes cancel plans at the last minute. I had planned to play pool, but wasn't up to it so I will have several make-up games to play next week. It makes things interesting for sure.

It has been about a year since we lost our dog Molly which was the harbinger of this whole cancer journey. I am still here. I am so grateful.

Back in the Saddle Again

We are home from San Diego. It was a nice trip. The weather was cool, sunny/cloudy, and rainy. We had a nice time out on the boat with our friends. We saw dolphins and sea lions, but not whales. That was kind of a bummer. But, I hadn't been on a boat for awhile, I brought the right clothes, and it was fun.

We took a behind-the-scenes educational tour at the Wild Animal Park. A group of 10 people. We were on the other side of a chain link fence from 3 cheetahs. We could hear them purring. We were in an observation room watching 5 half-grown lion cubs. One jumped up on his hind legs and pounded on the window in front of me. Those guys are really big. Then we did a little hands on with a snake, hedgehog, and something else I can't remember. We got to touch them which was cool.

We went to the zoo and saw the pandas, gorillas, and chimps. The day started out rainy, but by the time we got there the sun came out. We also visited Pt. Loma where the light houses are. Great views of San Diego bay.

We had dinner with friends of our friends who we also know and who were in Las Vegas last year for the surprise birthday party. They are a lot of fun. We played board games at night, hung out, talked, and just had a nice time.

Yesterday I started Cycle 2, and received both drugs. I feel pretty good today. Monday will go in for the study drug. Will have my next CT scan on Monday 3/16 and will have an idea what is going on.

Until then, chemo on Mon/Fri, pool on Wed, and hopefully some productive work around the house and down time the rest of the days.

Good to be sleeping in our own bed again.

Cycle 1, Day 18

I went in for my study drug infusion today. My platelets and white count are all good. Thursday I will have blood work and talk to the nurse practitioner, then it's off to the airport.

Nikki is healing well. She is taking things slowly, so that is good. Kohlbi is back to sucking on her ears.

I went to KMART on Saturday and bought some clothes that fit me. Everything was on extreme sale, so that was great. I really don't want to lose more weight, but the scale at the hospital didn't have good news today.

Tomorrow I will go to the hair salon and see what they can do with what I have. It sort of wants to go into a mohawk. Maybe they can just get it all one length and that will help.

Now it's the countdown to leaving town. Lots to do. Glad I didn't have the Gemzar today which would have made it more difficult this week. Hopefully I'll come home with pictures of flukes.

Good luck to my dog friends at the big show next weekend.

Carpet Cleaning and Dog Home from Vet

Nikki, our German Shorthair Pointer, came home from the vet late this afternoon. She's been there 3 days. She had surgery for a bowel obstruction on Tuesday morning. We've visited her each day and she's gone from not feeling good at all to being so happy to be home. She needs to take it easy, eat some special food for awhile, and take some meds, but she is as good as new. That was scary.

She vomited off and on over the weekend and we took her in on Monday when it became clear she didn't just have a bug. Today I got out the steam cleaner and cleaned up four rooms. Is it just me, or is that steam cleaner getting heavier? That was a lot of work.

Yesterday I took Kohlbi to a woman recommended by my breeder for grooming. I won't even say how long it's been since I worked on him. The groomer used to have Sammies and now has Siberian Huskies. She did an awesome job. He was starting to blow coat, so I suspect she got 25-30% of that hair out. I will take him in again in about a month to get the rest of his undercoat out, and then take him in on a regular basis just to keep up. It's nice to have that option, as it is a lot of work to bathe, dry, and comb him out.

Tomorrow is Cycle 1, Day 15 and the plan is to get both medications infused. Hopefully, nothing will stand in the way. Then Monday I'll have the last study drug infusion of this cycle and do blood work on the way to the airport on Thursday. So, I'll have 9 days of no infusion or hospital until after we get back from San Diego. WOOHOO!

I really have felt pretty good this week since my study drug on Monday. I just don't know if that is a good thing or not. But, I will enjoy it as long as it lasts. My face markings are starting to fade a bit now. But, it was an interesting experience.

A Picture Is Worth at Least a Few Words

I know, I still look like I'm on drugs, but it occurs to me that I haven't taken a pain pill since 6:00 am this morning.

And, yes, there is some substantial hair growth. The only question now is whether it will disappear with this round of chemo just as it turns into something I might actually be able to cut and style. SIGH!

No, I Was Not in a Fight

After my drug-induced face plant on the carpet Friday night, my face just keeps getting more interesting. There is a bruise under the scab on my nose, and I've got bruising under my eyes so it looks like I was in a fight. It's not real dramatic, but I've never had any kind of a black eye before. We're trying to get a good picture of it. I'll post it if we can get one. I find it pretty amusing. I'm amazed I didn't break my nose or have a good nose bleed considering I'm on blood thinners. One of my knees is scabbed and sore as is the back of my left arm. Now you know why I don't drink or do illegal drugs. I'd be black and blue all over all the time.

Thinking of You All

It's been a bit of rough weekend. The carpet diving Friday night apparently affected more than my nose. I have bruises and am sore all over. Last night we had a sick dog vomiting all night. Today I've just been hanging out with her and making sure she's doing OK and getting water. Still have to steam clean all the spots on the carpet. Not up to it today.

Tomorrow I have my 7:00 am appt for my study drug. Michael will drop me off and my friend MS will pick me up. Then I'll spend the afternoon with my sister at the house. I talked to a couple of friends over the weekend. I feel like I'm isolating myself in some ways. Part of it is that I don't feel comfortable driving much, and part of it is that it's a big effort to get ready to go out and do anything. I know that's pretty whiny, but it's the truth.

I'm anxious to find out how I'm doing on this regimen. I'm anxious about and excited to go to San Diego, but know that will be a hard trip in some ways.

I think about my friends and coworkers a lot, even if we're not in touch often enough. You all still mean a lot to me, and having you in my corner is so very important. Thank you.