hello again...

Just blogging real quick to tell everyone all is well.

I just came home from Avastin treatment this morning, the second Avastin treatment since my brief stay at the local hospital for a bout with (of-?) cellulitis. (think boxing)

The POS pharmacy connected to the treatment clinic dropped the ball completely AGAIN and made me late AGAIN for a wound care appt scheduled for directly after the chemo appt.

Sufficiently late to require rescheduling for a different day. What a bunch of losers. Critical you say? Maybe so, but this is the second time and these morons are supposed to be professionals.

Anyway...Doc Onc (onc-ologist) sez a-o.k. for resuming Temodar.. leg looks good, blood work looks good, YOU look good... so there.
All systems go. A good thing right? Should mean keepin' me alive a little while longer right?
I hope so.

Today's Avastin hit me early. Made me feel tired already... woozy even while still in the chair gettin' juiced, so i ain't looking forward to next week's Temodar gauntlet.

Today i met a woman with a fairly new cancer diagnosis. Today was her first chemo treatment and she is scheduled to start radiation too... Ick. Radiation alone kiked my ass and doing i.v. chemo and full dose radiation at the same time will undoubtedly be gruesome. I refrained from telling her so. I reassured her that although she faced a horrific diagnosis, and that treatment would be at times unpleasant, that she would be o.k. That like me, she was being allowed a little more time with kids, (she has three) and that was a blessing. Her daughter, also driving her to and from doc appoints, treatments etc, is the same age as Miranda, within a few months.

When I left she was continuing her injection, and would be doing so for several more hours. Afterwards she was hoping to catch the bus to her radiation treatment.
Braver than I. Braver than I.

Anyhow... I think i'm gonna be more tired than usual from treatment in coming weeks, but other than that I'm good...
Soo, if I'm AWOL from blog for a bit, or otherwise slow to respond, I'm likely snoozin' someplace sleepin' it off.

Hope all is well for everyone....
For now, I'm Hangin' in there~!


Cliff

today...

i re-started avastin injections this week after a two week delay due to a severe bout w/cellulitis that left me hopitalized for five days and that i continue to fight on the home front with daily oral antibiotics and treatment at a wound care facility.

my first treatment was yesterday and as usual it has left me fatiged and sore...

i also have a PT nurse that visits me here at home to ensure i do some mild excersizes to keep my limbs and blood moving. she often leaves me sore, tired and sweaty.

doctors orders to keep my bum leg elevated give me reason to be a bum, although i do not always adhere to these instructions... email, blog and innernet in general becon me relentlessly.
as does the fridge and kitchen. my youngest daughter loves the foccacia that i make and with my merry christmas to me food processor it is a snap... before it was all by hand and this made it prohibitively difficult. now, i have a very good recipe and brush the top with an olive oil, butter and italian seasoning mixture and it is gone before i know it...
it also works really well for pizza, stromboli etc...
Focaccia alla Ligure - Ligurian Focaccia

several new and old friends check in on me and i find that comforting. it is more that i expected and from sources i did not expect. other sources friends etc that swore to assist in anyway now refuse to answer calls, return VM etc. it shouldn't surpise me... their character has long been apparant, i had just hoped that my cynisism was unjust, that i was incorrect about these people, alas time has told its tale. bummer.

i feel like i have beat the odds in some ways.. i am still alive, often alert and still able to walk or at least motor around in my electric scooter. my daughters seem to have faced this dilemma fairly well. they sometimes show wear from uncommon demands on their time, but overall they are doing well emotionally and academically.

thats all i can think of for now
PT therapist is due here soon.. gotta rest

later all ~!!

I Wanna new drug ~!

Despite a harrowing, harrowing start outta the gate, I made to Avastin treatment this morning.




My weight is up to 228 again, which pisses me off. Damn steroids are gonna kill me if the gdamn tumor doesn't. Up 30 lbs in 3-4 months. sonofaB.




I am hoping that I get the results from the chemo and avastin so I can reduce or quit the decadron. It is admittedly by all accounts a nasty nasty drug. It ravages my body relentlessly, physically, emotionally, you name it. There are few if any alternatives.



Local oncologist says o.k. to start oral chemo today. It was mailed to me weeks ago prior to my vacation in I.C.U. at the local "hospital", then delayed at the advice of the same oncologist to ensure my body was strong enuf to handle it. Both Avastin and Tremadol have been reported as well received, so I am hopeful.



Avastin and steroids are pushing my blood pressure up to a point where it needs to be managed by yet another drug. ho-hum.



Mariah came home from Bball game with wounds.... I love it. Battle-scars. Drew a foul or two too... No sissy laa-laa girls here... From young age, I taught her how to throw a punch the right way... and that she can defend herself when she has to. I explained that she can always choose to walk away from affray, and she ever strikes first I will own her ASS. She seems to have that judgement well balanced. Just edgy enuf to keep the other girls wondering how far she will go...

I am stoked.

bummer...

after days of missing calls from my brain doc we finally found each other over the phone

latest mri shows new tumor activity and doc wants try start a new drug plus chemo soon soon..

new symptoms are difficult and chemo promises to be very challenging...

we will go back to higher doses of steriods until chemo starts in an attempt to reign in the storm of symptoms..

i hate that my kids have to watch all this.