Chemotherapy # 9

Tomorrow will be chemotherapy treatment number 9.  Each Monday afternoon for three Mondays in a row I get chemo. 

The fourth Monday I just get a blood test to see if my white and red blood cells, and platelets are good. 

So far I have received a shot of Neupogen (<-link)on each fourth Monday.  That gets the white blood cell count up and makes it possible for me to keep getting the chemo.

So a round of chemo is three weeks and I am finishing the third round tomorrow.

I take a steroid, Dexamethasone 4 mg., today, the day before chemo.  I have been able to reduce the number of these pills from 10 to 7, 4 in the morning and 3 at night.

The main enduring side affects of all this seem to be fatigue, hair loss, hoarseness, constipation, and a lot of burping and various aches and pains that can be attributed to age.

I am fortunate that I haven’t been throwing up.  I can thank all the preparation they do for that.  Those pills I take today as well as what they give me before the chemo.

At the chemo appointment I am given more steroids (IV) and benadryl  (IV) and then a half hour break before I get the Taxol.   They have this stuff pretty well figured out by now and that is a blessing.

Some of my hair continues to grow.  I seem to be growing my own Mohawk hairdo.  The hair on the very top of my head is growing while the rest is almost completely gone. 

If it was warmer weather I could go without a hat or wig, well, I might need sunscreen. 

If I fight the fatigue and do too much one day, I pay the next day. 

I think the hoarseness is due to sores in my throat.  One possible side effect of Taxol is sores in the mouth or throat.  

All this is more than I ever wanted to know about this stuff.  My main job seems to be taking care of me, hiding from people who have a cold, and – did I say – taking care of me.

Of course, there are a couple of animals who share this house.  Teddy is very sympathetic and comes to check on me if I sneeze or even get a little down. 

Bandit is all dog.  He wants his food and his treats and an occasional back or tummy rub.  He also wants to dominate Teddy. 

They are a great distraction from “taking care of me”. 

later…

Lunch With Friends

Didn’t take any pictures but we all looked wonderful.  We met at Panera Bread.  I had never been there before.

The chicken noodle soup was very tasty.  The smallest meal makes me feel full and burpy so I’m not really a good judge.  Some of my taste buds are working again so it tasted very good.

After lunch we brainstormed about how to improve business at the antique shop. <—link Everything from standing by the road and directing traffic into our parking lot to coupons in eggs at Easter was suggested. 

Maybe just put some flyers on windshield at the nearby shopping center? 

When I left, just down the street there was an “Estate Sale” sign.  OH NO.  The car turned of it’s own accord. 

This was the 2nd day of the sale so it was pretty picked over but I found a couple of pins to add to my collection.

A quick trip to the bank and then home. 

Now I have to get some stuff together to take to the shop.

later….

Thursday

Another plan has been made for a lunch out with my friends on Friday.  We will see what the weather man has to say about it.

Today I ventured out to the RV to find some paper plates.  I eat several times a day and paper plates help keep the dish washing down. 

While I was out there I tried to start it.  Right.  So there is another project, getting the battery charged up. 

The decongestant mucinex D is working pretty well.  I honk and blow and cough soon after taking the pills.   But the congestion is still there each time I take a pill.  I still have a hoarse voice most of the time.

Still taking antibiotics and have had no fever so I’ll assume I’m on the way to getting over this.  Maybe I’ve suddenly become allergic to the world.

There is nothing like watching the TV shows from New York to make us appreciate our weather.  They have had one snow storm after another.

I am so ready for spring to arrive.

later….

 

 

 

 

Number 2 Child’s Birthday

This is difficult to write and I’m sure it will be difficult to read. 

My number two child was a 9 lb boy named Laurence Wayne.  Named after the minister who married his father and I, and the middle name from his father and grandfather.

He was a fairly normal kid, bright and energetic. He had some health problems but overcame them as he grew.

When he was about 5 we attended a rodeo.  He was quiet through the whole show.  On the way back to the car I asked if he wanted to ride horses some day.  He answered “just one at a time”.  He was a very literal child.

He loved dinosaurs as do most kids.  Many discussions involved who would win in a fight between a Tyrannasaurus Rex and a Triceratops or some other beast.  If I remember right, the Rex was always the winner.

He went to school, made friends, even girls who were friends.  He was a good listener, being sandwiched between two sisters helped with that. He teased his older sister’s boyfriends unmercifully.

He made good grades but not as good as he could have made.

He was a Boy Scout.  He loved the Boy Scout Camp and worked there 2 summers.  He earned the Firecrafter rank which involved making fire by twirling a stick on a piece of wood.  He helped some of his leaders also earn that rank. 

He earned an open water scuba diving license while participating in Explorer scouts and made several trips to Florida to dive in springs.  I sat by the phone and worried.   He planned to join the Navy.

The last day of school for his senior class he went to pick up his cap and gown and then went to an afternoon party at his girl friend’s house. 

People got hungry so he was making a trip to get food when he took a corner too fast and rolled the car.

He was thrown out and killed.  I received a visit from the coroner.  I think I yelled and screamed and threw things.  I yelled at God and the whole world.

There is no sorrow so great as losing a child.  I still miss him even though that accident was May 22, 1984. 

He would have been a good husband and father.

The funeral was the day before graduation ceremonies.  A lot of his friends sent flowers and cards.  For most of them it was their first experience with death.  A lot of the ribbons on the flowers and notes in the cards had a message – “later”.

later…. 

Monday

Back from the doctors office.  Got my chemo.  They have suggested I use Mucinex D instead of Claritan for the sinus drainage I’ve been having. 

My kind friends who chauffeured me today stopped at the drug store so I could pick up the new pills.

Now that is one of those restricted drugs.  There are only cards on the shelf that you take to the drug counter to actually get the pills. 

I was cautioned not to go start making illegal drugs with these Mucinex-D. 

So tomorrow when the Claritan runs out I will try the other drug and see if it works better.

I slept 6 whole hours last night!  The meds worked. I still dozed some at the chemo.  They make me so comfortable it’s hard to stay awake.

Now all I have to do is get the trash out to the street.  But first I have to get off the phone with concerned family members. Love them dearly.

later…

 

Sunday

Today I am taking the steroids a little differently.  I took 4 this morning and plan to take 3 this evening.  This is how my doctor suggested I take them. 

Since I have a prescription for Ativan (Lorazepam .5 mg) to help me sleep tonight I will not be awake (I hope) to take the steroids at midnight as I have been doing in the past.

The antibiotics I’ve been taking since Friday have started to work.  I broke out in a major sweat this afternoon. 

I have a quick way to cool off, just take the scarf or hat off my bald head for a little while.

You bald people out there did not tell me about that advantage. 

I know it’s hard to comment on these blogs.  I’ve tried it myself.  You have to sign into google and then read and type in their squirrely letters.  I always get them wrong the first time and sometimes they don’t even show up the first time.

I can go onto google and delete “manage” comments.  The ones advertising their inappropriate websites can be taken off. 

It is supposed to snow a bit more tomorrow.  Hope it doesn’t make the roads bad. 

In the category of "things I didn’t want to tell” is the fact that I have slopped around in a bathrobe for 2 days now.  I’ll have to do better….

later….

Extra trip to the Dr.

Made an extra trip to the doctor’s office yesterday to get blood work etc.  They called in a prescription for an antibiotic. 

My temperature was getting very close to 101 and that’s the point at which I’m supposed to call them.

Since it was Friday afternoon I called.

Between the antibiotic and tylenol I am feeling some better. 

When my children were young and were sick it seemed they always got worse on Friday afternoon and I guess I am continuing that tradition.

The roads were pretty well cleared but my car hadn’t been cleaned off.  I gave up on some of the ice on the windshield, on the driver’s side of course.  It finally came off in the parking garage at the doctor’s office.

Today it is very cold and it isn’t supposed to get above freezing in the foreseeable future.  So I am again hibernating in spite of my good intentions to get out and about more.

Bears and groundhogs have the right idea.

later….

Snow, Sniff, and a Laugh

It snowed all day yesterday, 5 or 6 inches at least.  Someone, probably my good neighbor, shoveled my driveway.  Bless his heart. 

Not that I’m going anywhere.  Still have this cold going on.  Ran a low grade fever last night.  If I take enough stuff I can sleep fine – until the dogs decide it’s time to get up.

They go out and decide it’s too cold so they come right back inside only to ask to go out again when they get warm.  ARRGGG!

The news this morning had a story about a burglary of a woman’s home.  They took electronics and some jewelry and a couple of urns.  The urns were full of powder.  The thieves tried sniffing the powder.  It was the ashes of her deceased Great Danes.  How is that for a chuckle to start the day?

Ramble warning----

I have had dogs most of my life but I have only had one cremated.  He was born under the kitchen table in a box, 1/2 Siberian Husky and 1/2 German Shepherd rapist.  He had one blue eye and one brown eye. 

There were four pups and we decided to keep one of them.  We watched to see who got out of the box first, who ate regular food first etc.  For once we wanted the pick of the liter.  We tied a shoestring around his neck so we would be sure which one we wanted.  He became known as Shoestring Joe.

He slept with his head on the food dish.  His siblings went to new homes but he never left home.  He lived to be 16 years old which is really old for a 60 lb. dog.  

The first and only time he tried to lift his leg he fell over on his back.  Okay, so he was a bit clumsy.

If I needed to board him at the vet’s it was no problem, even the last minute on a holiday week-end.  They just let him wander around the office. 

He died of a tumor on his liver.  I carried the back half of him around for a couple of weeks before reality sunk in.  Surgery might have given him six more months.  We decided against it. 

We had him cremated. 

When I got the ashes back I decided to plant some flowers at the cemetery.  Ooops, the ashes fell in the hole.  He is with his family.

later….

Yucky Head Cold

The title says it all.

Plus the car started just fine this morning when I was taking it to the garage.  They sent me back home.  If it won’t stay broke it can’t get fixed. 

Maybe just some bad gas?  I try not to let the tank get below 1/2 full this time of year.

Time will tell, probably after I get stuck somewhere.  Right now I’d just like to breath through my nose and not have a head ache.

I’ve taken so many meds I’m afraid to take any more.  This is unusual for me, I don’t like taking pills etc.  Add a nausea pill to some laxatives, throw in some echinacea and a couple of effervescent tablets for cold relief – add some chicken soup – that’s about it. 

Oh yes, there was a bit of chocolate thrown in with all that.  No wonder I needed the nausea pill.

later….

 

Wednesday

The day after good news.  Now I have a cold, coughing and a slight rise in temperature.  Of course, when my temperature can range from 94.1 to 97.7 lately it is hard to tell.

The dogs went to the doggy beauty parlor this morning.  Bandit was not happy about it at all.  He pooped and peed on their floor immediately. 

They got them done in record time, 2 hours.  When they called to tell me to come get them I could hear Bandit barking. 

He spent several months in a kennel before I got him so I’m sure he thought he was going back there.

He was very happy to see me and was even more happy to get home.  While they were gone I washed all their beds and places they lay.  Then I had to clean out the washer and dryer and the dryer filter. 

Teddy had been there before so he wasn’t very upset by it. 

They said that each dog got upset when the other one was being worked on.  So they are great buddies when there but at home they compete for all the attention.

Kind of like brothers I guess.

I had trouble starting the car after a stop at the drug store so I went directly to the garage.  I now have an appointment tomorrow for them to check it out.  It’s not the battery as it is fairly new, they looked up the date I bought it last year. 

It’s always something.

It rained today, temps in the 40’s.  When it drops below freezing tonight there will be black ice.  Hope it’s all good in the morning even though I don’t have far to go to the garage.

Later….

 

HEALTH NEWS

Today’s visit with the doctor was attended by both my daughters.  Maybe they thought I wouldn’t tell them what the doctor said?

The news was the best possible.  All the spots on my liver are gone and the bone in my hip shows some improvement.

The doctor pointed out that it will come back sometime.  So I will keep getting Taxol – since it is working.

I need to take 7 or 8 pills of the steroids the day before chemo and the doctor gave me a prescription for 100 pills.  There is a message. 

She thinks I will be living with incurable cancer and chemo for a good long while.  At some point I may ask for some time off from it – at some point I may decide to stop it.  That is all in the future and doesn’t have to be dealt with today.

My daughters went out to celebrate at a Mexican restaurant while I went to sit in a very comfortable chair with a warmed blanket over me while I got my drugs in my port.

Since one of the side affects I am experiencing is loss of sense of taste I am having to use tricks.  I can taste sweet and salt and pickles.  I think it is the vinegar in pickles.  So pickles and relish are included in every meal, will – not breakfast. 

I don’t drink water much, just juice and ginger ale.  The ginger ale helps settle my stomach.  Of course, they recommend it should be room temperature and flat before I drink it.  They sure can take the fun out of it. 

The rash on my scalp is gone.  I got a little mesh stocking type thingy to put on my bare head under the wig so that is working better.  Putting a wig over hair you don’t notice how scratchy it is but on a bare scalp it is very scratchy so the stocking thing is great.

I have made an appointment to get the dogs to the doggy beauty parlor tomorrow for a bath.  I also have a date for lunch with the girls on Thursday.

I am working at getting used to this new “normal”.  Can’t hold up in the house week after week and play games and farmville on the computer.  That’s not living.

So forward I go into the unknown.  Everyone does that every day, they just might not realize it.

Later….

 

 

Graduation

Tonight my Granddaughter, Charlotte, graduated from high school.  It was a long and difficult struggle for her.  Everyone in the family had a hand in seeing that it did happen.

Charlotte with her proud parents. 

There were 26 students in this class.  It is an accredited alternative high school for students who are likely to drop out.  That diploma is all the more valuable because she worked so hard to achieve it; 

Her two children will be proud of her in the future.  They may also have struggles and she will be able to tell them how she had to work so hard and overcome obstacles.

We are all very proud of her.

later….

Monday and Tuesday

Monday –

The car started like a champ today.  I will be faithful to start it every few days from now on. 

Kept my appointment this afternoon and got another blood booster shot.  The nurse said my cancer markers were the same as they were in October.  I think that is a good thing.

There is snow predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

Tuesday -  

It is dark at 7:00 a.m. this time of year.  How could I have forgotten that?  Plus add a light snow falling and a little salty moisture on the windshield to reflect street lights, you have a white knuckle drive to the hospital for the PET scan this morning.

I made it.  Since I couldn’t eat until after the test I had made the early appointment.  Won’t make that mistake again.

The trip home was also harrowing due to the snow arriving with a vengeance.   4 wheel drive helped but there was still some fishtailing.  I tested the surface in the parking lot and found it bad. 

I had to coast through one slightly red light but no one was coming on the side streets so it was okay.  I was almost hoping some cop would try to give me a ticket.

This little oak tree in the backyard has most of it’s leaves so it gets extra snow to carry. 

And the poor old RV is idle in the driveway.  The RV and I would rather be in warmer places this time of year. 

Schools are cancelled and the snow is still coming.  They predict 3-5 inches with maybe another inch tomorrow.  It’s time to hibernate.

later….

Tame Sunday

A no steroids Sunday is a nice change.  A little excitement was in order.  I tried to start my car and it wouldn’t start. 

I tried to remember the last time I started it.  Finally figured out it had been 9 days.  I guess in this weather that’s too long.

After a search through the mud room, the basement, and the garage I found the extension cord the second time I looked in the mud room.

The battery charger was in the RV.  At least I remembered where that was.

I got it all hooked up and it worked and I was off to the post office, drop off the water bill at the city building, get gas, and get a couple of items at Walmart.

I was reassured when it started again at the gas station and Walmart. 

Since I have a doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon I will make sure it starts in the morning.

Saturday the bathroom got a first attempt at fixing the wallboard around the new bathtub.  Susan and Will stopped by to get it started.  It’s starting to look like it belongs in there.

The bathroom had an old fashioned shower curtain rod that fastened to the wall and since that part of the wall is being replaced I needed a new fashioned one.  Found one at Walmart and I managed to get it installed, too.  I’m pretty proud of myself. 

later….

 

Jailhouse Rock by Bad Influence

The bands performance got uploaded to youtube so here it is. 

Jailhouse Rock by Bad Influence

The snow continues to trickle down.  Some schools were delayed this morning.  Some country roads that the buses have to travel are slick and dangerous.

I need to do some running around but it can wait until another day.  My nose is a bit runny and my voice is hoarse.  It’s that time of year.  I’m glad next week is a week off from chemo.  I can use the time off.

later….

The Performance

The first public performance of this band was tonight at the Canal Street Tavern.  My grandson, Will, was the lead guitar.  He was amazing.  They were all amazing. 

He announced the songs and sang.  Jail House Rock was great.  He may not be able to talk tomorrow but he did a great job tonight.

This first picture is before the performance.  The hair???  Don’t ask.  That smile is for his Grandma.

The whole group on stage.  I know - the hair.

He even got a little of Elvis style into it a couple of times. 

They called their band Bad Influence.  He has played in a band before at their church.  From the choir to Bad Influence.  Hmmmmm.

The weather postponed their performance last month and today it started snowing in the afternoon.  Several fans didn’t show up because of the snow but they missed a great time.

The group was organized by the local music store.  There was a younger group who performed first. 

Can you tell I’m a proud Grandmother?

Later….

Chemo - 3rd installment, 2nd round

Sunday evening - Another Sunday taking steroids.  Baking cookies was my project today.  I have a plate full of them to take to the doctor’s office tomorrow, along with the recipe so people can see what is in them.

There are so many things that don’t agree with me and I hate to ask people what is in their baked goods.  So I will give people the ingredients and they can decide if they want to try them.

Bandit has been eating a food for older dogs for a few days and I can already see a difference.  He hops up the step into the house much easier and quicker.  He also asks to go out more often.  You can’t have everything. 

We are back to normal weather – cold and damp.

Monday evening – The cookies were a big hit at the doctor’s office.  I promoted them as medicinal since they have ginger for digestion, and cloves and cinnamon for everything else.

I am pretty wobbly and my ears ring but managed to keep up with Bandit when he ran the Basset 500 in glee that I was home.  His “run” is my fast shuffle walk.  That amounts to 2 or 3 trips from the kitchen to the living room and back, while barking (him, not me).

Got the trash out to the curb just after dark.

Lory and John drove me today.  We have it timed pretty well, a 1:00 appointment gets me out at 4:00.  The blood work was good.  Now I get a week off from chemo.   I can drive myself for next weeks stuff. 

I skipped lunch today and didn’t have any burps etc. while getting the chemo.  I ate a regular evening meal and feel okay so far.   The flat, warm ginger ale helps.

Had a slight nose bleed yesterday, very slight.  As a kid I had several severe nose bleeds so I know how to stop them.  Ice on the nose while pinching it.  Luckily it is in the lower part of my nose so pinching stops it. 

A sunny day today, in the 30’s.  One day closer to spring.

later….