Not one, but two!!!

Aren't you lucky? I promised one photo, but today is bonus day. Here are the photos, hot off the storage card.

Still no photo!!

This afternoon, I'm dragging Ed outdoors with me for the new car photo. It's really my fault that he hasn't taken one. I didn't want to be pictured in ratty shorts with my hair sticking out all over the place. The hair isn't really the problem, but the ratty shorts are.

I had my treatment on Friday and my counts were even higher than Monday's results. The chemo nurse said (somewhat under her breath) that maybe they had made a mistake the previous Friday. Terrific. I do know that I had been very tired the previous Sunday and Monday, but I don't know if that was due to the new anti-nausea medication (which is working very well) or due to low white counts. I suffered from the same problem this week, so I guess we'll see what the counts are on Friday. If I can have treatment on Friday, I'll be off one week (August 8) and then have the sixth treatment of this round on August 15. I had forgotten when I posted my last entry that I had three more treatments to complete, not two. Sorry for the confusion. My scans are still set for August 20.

Our friends Sue and Frank were over on Saturday and we spent some time in the pool despite the overcast conditions and temperatures in the low 80s. Sunday we had very strong thunderstorms in the afternoon, and I spent most of the day relaxing and trying to nap because I felt so exhausted. Yesterday I had to go into the city to take care of the mail, and that totally wiped me out. Today is a better day, though, hence the plan to get that photo taken and posted on here.

Guess I'd better go change my clothes!!

Strange readings

So the new facility insisted that I have bloodwork done on Monday to check my counts, even though I have no idea what they would have done if they were still low or lower. Nevertheless, I had the bloodwork done at another place and received the results the next day. Supposedly, my white cells, which were at 2.0, are now 6.2 and my baby white blood cells or ANCs, which were at 0.7, are now 4.2. Seems a little suspect to me that they could rise that high that fast. Anyway, based on my discussion with Kelly (thanks, Kelly!), I'm going to try for chemo this Friday and August 1. If I fail on August 1 and have to take a week off, I'll still have time to get in another treatment before my scans on August 20. I see Dr. K again on August 29, since she'll be on vacation the week I have my scans.

I received a notice from the thoracic surgeon that he wants to see me again following my scans, so my follow up with him is August 27. I guess I'll get a copy of my report from him.

I was feeling tired over the weekend, but Ed and I went out car shopping and came home Saturday afternoon with a 2008 Chevy Impala. We drove one last year in Las Vegas and loved it, so we bought one. If I can get him out there with the camera, I'll post a photo of me and my new car here one day soon.

Nothing else new, although the heat wave has broken. We had temperatures in the mid-90s since last Wednesday, and today's mid-80s was quite a change. I got some pool time in with the girls next door, and they are always fun to spend time with.

I'll report back after my treatment on Friday!

Failed again

As I posted yesterday, I've been nauseous and tired this past week. Ed predicted that I wouldn't pass my blood counts today, and he was correct. My baby white blood cells were 0.7 (the lowest ever) and they have to be at 1.0 or higher in order for me to be given treatment.

This new place wants me to come back on Monday so they can make sure my counts aren't headed further south. I assume if they were lower, they would offer me the same shot of Nupregen that they suggested and I turned down today, so it seems like a bit of a waste of my time. On the other hand, I could choose to have the treatment done Monday if I pass, and then I would be off again until August 1. Otherwise, I can simply wait until August 1 for my next cycle or go in on Friday, July 25, see if I pass, and have treatment two weeks in a row. I'm confused, so I've put in a call to my friend the oncology nurse and with any luck she'll call me back this weekend so I can pick her brain.

Since I didn't have treatment, I have the whole weekend open. I plan to do chores tomorrow and I think our neighbors will be coming over to the pool with their daughters. It's supposed to be in the low to mid-90s today, tomorrow and Monday, so I plan to spend more time in and next to the water than I had originally thought I could. I have to be very careful to keep away from anyone with a cold as I'm very susceptible to infection now and I have to watch my temperature, but that's the extent of my limitations.

I hope you all have a relaxing weekend doing whatever it is you like to do.

It started off so well...

Last Friday's treatment was another interesting event. I saw the doctor (not the new one but her partner) and mentioned that I was quite nauseous two weeks prior. He lectured me that I shouldn't have to suffer nausea at all and convinced me to try another medication by IV to prevent that problem. I acquiesced, was given Zofran by IV before my treatment started and I took the dexamethasone pills I usually take. About halfway through the treatment, I told the nurse the Zofran wasn't working because I was feeling ill. She contacted the doctor, who prescribed Avitan for the nausea along with Tagamet since the dexamethasone may have been irritating my stomach. Those two drugs can't be given simultaneously, so that added another 30 minutes to my treatment time. We arrived at the office at 9 and we finally left at 1.

I felt great. The rest of the day Friday, all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday I was eating just about anything I wanted to eat. Then Monday morning, it started up a bit. By today, my stomach is so upset I'm surprised I can eat at all. I've now sworn off anything hard to digest -- spicy food, nuts, and trail mix to name a few -- and I'm going to stick with pasta, bread, chicken, etc. We'll see what happens when I go back on Friday for treatment. I keep checking the label on my medication to make sure they are giving me the correct drug in the correct amounts, and the label looks right, but I have had a tough time of it since I started at this new facility. Maybe my stomach is just worn out from the medication and it's a coincidence. I can't wait until next week when I get a week off.

Our friends, Lydia and Wilfredo, returned from their Baltic cruise with their two children and reported that they had a wonderful time despite the beating the dollar is taking. They visited Paris and London before boarding the ship, and it sounds like a good time was had by all. Welcome home!

Thanks to all for the positive thoughts for Jon. He is home recovering and bored to tears. He's out of work for three weeks, but he just received permission to drive again. As you can see from the comment following my last posting, Lydia G. thinks he's enjoying himself being home with Mom (which in a way he probably is since he's being spoiled rotten), but I think he was more than ready to be back out with his friends. It's tough to be home with your younger brothers and sister in the middle of summer, although having a few weeks off from work is not all that bad. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Summer is flying by and in just over four weeks I'll be back in the city every day. I'm getting spoiled with sleeping in until 7 every morning. I guess I'd better enjoy it while I can.

I'll be back this weekend with an update.

My last day...

The Thursday before the first treatment of my cycle is always disheartening. I've been feeling so good with my two weeks off, getting things done, taking Mom out to dinner, having friends over, meeting friends (thanks, Chris and Ian, we had a wonderful time!!), just feeling normal. Now I know I have at least three days ahead of me where I'll be tired, nauseous and not myself. Oh well, at least the treatment is taking care of the evildoers, as it's suppposed to, so I can't really complain too much.

I forgot to mention that I saw my regular doctor (Dr. Gout) a week ago and he believes the pain in my side is a pinched nerve because of the type of pain and the fact that I have a numb spot. He gave me some back exercises to do twice a day (10 reps each) and said the pain should go away over several weeks. Of course, I came home and did them all. By the next afternoon I was so sore I had to grab my midsection to cough. Talk about overdoing it! I rested, and did them again yesterday and so far so good. Maybe he's right this time. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

I would also appreciate it if you would all send some positive energy toward the eldest son of my friend, Lydia G., the one who graduated a few weeks ago. He had an emergency appendectomy Sunday and is currently at home recovering -- and very bored. Jon is an active young man with a fulltime job working on cars, so he's at a bit of a loss about what to do now that he's been ordered to hang around the house and rest for a few weeks. I think he'll need patience more than anything else.

I'll be back over the weekend to share the always exciting details of my treatment. Hope you are all having a good week.

100 Posts!!!!

Who would have thought when I started this blog two years ago that I would reach 100 posts? Or that so many of you would still be reading 99 posts later?? Here's to another 100!

The nausea is completely gone and I'm feeling pretty good. I've been doing some housecleaning in anticipation of the arrival of our friends, Skip and Kathy, from Michigan on Friday. Monday we traveled into the city so I could get some work done at the office and to meet our friends, Chris and Ian, who were up from Florida (and originally from Australia) for Ian's first visit to the Big Apple. We actually met them onboard Brilliance of the Seas (which is where we met Skip and Kathy, only on a different sailing) on our first Mediterranean cruise, so I was surprised they had gone to the Med but not to New York. We had dinner with them and then took a stroll across town to start them off on their whirlwind four-day tour of Manhattan. They certainly have beautiful weather, and we hope they are having a wonderful time.

Today is Ed's 57th birthday but he's trying to lay low. I can understand not wanting to make a big deal about birthdays any longer, so I'm trying not to fuss. He hasn't decided what he wants to do for his birthday dinner yet, but whatever he chooses, I'm sure it will be delicious.

No other news to report. I hope everyone has a fun and safe July 4th weekend!