Monday, March 29, 2010

The end of March is peeking around the corner already. I'm almost thru my 3rd course of chemo and things have gone very very well considering the 2nd course. We'll see what next week's tests bring to light. I'm also thinking I should ask how many treatments I'm scheduled for!! Finally regaining my strength from that awful Feb/Mar chapter - I know that cause I feel like shopping again!

I love my family - have I ever mentioned that? Yesterday we finally had my family birthday party and it was fabulous - I'll take a day of I love you's, big hugs, great food, laughter, small children, adults who believe they're still children and gifts over just about anything. The gift theme was a Pandora bracelet - it's beautiful - full of cupcakes, flowers, hearts, purses, shoes, and my special angel - a circle of support and love on my wrist every day.

Rest easy Ian - on the wings of your eagle...

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Where the heck have I been???

Where did the time go - please don't ask me - I don't know
It's been a month of days - it's been up, down and all around


Not a month I want to repeat any time soon I can assure you. On reflection I don't know when I really started to get sick because I don't get sick doncha know. But when my friend Joyce pointed out that I couldn't breathe and took me to emergency I realized that she was right - I couldn't! Seriously I guess things had been going downhill for awhile. Halfway thru my second course of chemo my feet and hands started to blister but I didn't react right away thinking that it would calm down. Wrong again! I waited far too long to call the Dr. and was told to go off it right away. I'd had a couple of days when I couldn't walk any further than bed to couch to bathroom to couch and the tips of my fingers had become so sore and blistered that I couldn't even put earrings on - and anyone who knows me knows that that would not only ruin my day but my mood! In the meantime I had gone on antibiotics for a sinus infection about the same time I started the chemo so already wasn't in prime shape. The I got a cold which seemed to go directly to my chest which developed into bronchitis and thus the breathing problems. It's only now that I'm starting to feel better that I realize how sick I was/am. My GP put me on 'house arrest' last week for a week or 10 days - the only time I'm allowed to go out is to see her!!

In the meantime, I had an oncology appt last Tuesday and it was decided to put off my 3rd course of treatment for a week which means I will start again this coming Thursday and they have dropped the dosage to 3000 units per day from 4000 and so I'm hopeful I can manage that. Rest assured I won't wait if I experience ANY side-effects whatsoever. The best news of last week tho is that blood-work showed my tumour markers have dropped already - yahoooo.... hope it's a trend!

And so now I'm having to ponder the idea that perhaps I no longer have the resources to draw on that I used to have - that's a tough hurdle. It's not only because of the cancer - it's also age - I'm happy to say that my body turned 58 in February!! The mind - well we're simply not clear what age that it -it can go from a childlike 10 to a whiny 80 year-old in the course of a day!! How I ever got this old is beyond me - I now say things like 'they just don't know how fast time goes', 'if they only knew', and so on ad nauseam!

So now I'm back and will start pontificating, opining and updating again....

Rest easy Rita.
Rest easy Grampa John.