Archive for May, 2007

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Pièce de résistance

May 31, 2007

Stunt double from Goldfinger?Cisplatin is the chemo of choice for many cervical cancer patients. It is platinum-based and is used in conjunction with radiation to give any left over cancer cells a real one-two punch. So, the running jokes in the house are metallic in nature: Platinum-fueled tennis by Beth. Don’t get too close to a magnet. Be sure to dry off or you’ll rust. Here’s some oil, you sound like the Tin Man. ETC. Well, I was cruising the Web and went to a site I have not been to in awhile…thesmokinggun.com. Click on the mug shot. I was drawn in by the color; metallic :)

WTF! How desperate must one be to “huff” first of all? Secondly, why huff something that’s gonna leave a mark? (Koko…this reminds me of the guy that lit his face on fire with the Statue of Liberty shot.) Darwin’s Theory is not working hard enough here people. Then again, that could be said about me if it wasn’t for the excellent care and seriously progressive medicine I am lucky to have at my beck and call.


Posted in Salad Toss, Treatment Updates | 1 Comment »

Dancing with Mr. D

May 30, 2007

Beth successfully wrapped up her fourth of six chemotherapy treatments with another incident free session. We’ll have to wait and see how the next couple of days go, but I am pretty bullish that she’ll be OK by the time the weekend rolls around.

The current existence of doctors, needles, and “sit down and take your poison” seems pretty normal. That is a bit like saying “30 is the new 70″. Certainly things could be worse – Beth’s prognosis is excellent and she is tolerating the treatments extremely well so far. A quick check in with Holly and Scott serves as an tremendous reminder of that. All the same, I am really looking forward to the day we can sack her medical team on account of their excellent performance and get back to worrying about campaign finance reform.

If everything goes well it will be 2012.

Posted in Cancer, Cheering, Complaining, Kvetching, Salad Toss | 5 Comments »

ALLEZ…allez…allez.

May 27, 2007

rolandgarros.jpgBonjour tennis fans (and non-tennis fans too). Today begins two weeks of tennis on the red clay of gay Paris. I am looking forward to this fortnight because we are receiving the Tennis Channel as a “teaser” for the duration of the tourney. If you have Directv, go to channels 216-222 and there are many matches to choose from; when it’s not raining. As a tribute to the French Open, I will bring this week’s Adjuvant Therapy week-in-review with a French twist.

1. Chemo trois and dix days of radiation are in the books.

2. Still have a good appetite and enjoyed a bottle of French Basque Extegaraya, from our cellar, while we dined at La Medusa.

3. Un peu probleme avec mon colon, BUTT (teehee) all should clear up once radiation stops.

4. Few malheureux veins from too much poking and prodding.

5. Acupuncture is tres bien despite the gusher(toxins!!??).

6. Still walking, working out and jouer au tennis as often as possible.

7. Voila…only three weeks left!

Me comprenez-vous? :)

Posted in Treatment Updates | 2 Comments »

The Art of Blogging.

May 25, 2007

dasblog_logo.jpg

I did not really appreciate the full value of blogging until Scott suggested and implemented our own. I did dabble in reading some, but now I find myself addicted and read about other people’s lives, values and experiences daily. I have also discovered that if a few days have gone by, and said blog has not been updated, I get cranky. I should talk; we are averaging only 2-4 posts/week. Well, if you’re ever bored, here are some I have been following…cancer is a theme, but it is what my life will always be about now.

www.hopeforholly.com/blog One young couple’s blog about colo-rectal cancer.

www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/ Leroy Siever’s blog about his cancer…NPR reporter and focus of Ted Koppel’s documentary.

slammers.blogs.com/ A friend’s personal blog about a lot of different things going on…personal-politics.

www.iheartbacon.com One of the first ones I followed…pretty much defunct now, but I loved the dedication to pork.

juliepowell.blogspot.com/ This sparked the book The Julie/Julia Project…great read!

www.thetennischannel.com/roland_garros/winner’s_blog/ I am going to give this one a shot during the French Open.

chocolateandzucchini.com/ Just heard about this one…looks interesting.

Posted in Treatment Updates | 4 Comments »

Yipee!!! I’m Done With Chemo #3.

May 24, 2007

halfway.jpgI have hit the halfway point in my chemotherapy. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Happy, Happy, joy, joy. That about sums it up for me. The sun is shining, I have at least three, maybe four, anti-nausea drug coursing through my veins, I have energy despite the fairly sleepless night. The sleepless nights are a trade-off in my mind. The Cisplatin is hard on the kidneys. The kidneys are kinda important. So, from the get-go, they pump you with lots of saline and encourage you to drink lots of water (thanks Alex for the Aquamantra) and I am trying for 4 liters/day. UGH…what this means is lots of…well…peeing. I think I went four times at chemo which means I have to take my dancing partner the IV stand with and I peed about 5 times last night. It’s times like this that being catheterized might be handy; just pee into a bag. That and in college with those bladder busts :)

My final thought for today is this: The irony of chemotherapy is that they pump you full of poison, have you take a lot of wonderful drugs so you don’t feel like shit-on-a-shingle, encourage you to get rid of the chemo as quickly as you can so you can have more! HUH!?

Posted in Cancer, Cheering, Complaining, Treatment Updates | 6 Comments »

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