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S.O.S can take on many meanings…”Save Our Souls,” “Save Our Ship,” “Sink Our Ships,”"Survivors On Ship,” “Save Our Sailors” “Stop Other Signals” “Sink Or Swim”, “Send Out Sailors”, “Save Our Skins”, and “Send Out Someone”. But for me yesterday, it took on a distinct KP meaning: “Shit On a Shingle”. I felt like this looks.

My final chemo is coursing through my veins, and just in enough time. White blood cell count is down to a point where if I needed another blast of cisplatin it probably wasn’t going to happen until my count rose…Neulasta’s not an option. In the mean time, I have to be careful whom I come in contact with for the next 7-10 days so I don’t get sick. Speaking of sick, oooh weee! Yesterday’s final round was a stomach-churning ordeal. I could not nap and gave up on watching the lame national news and went for a walk. That perked me up, but I had to look like a zombie. “MMMMM Brains! Send…more…cops.” Marco entertained me (at my half-way point near the Madrona shopping/restaurant strip) for 30 minutes, and I then finished my walk. For dinner was a blandly scintillating TJ’s mac and cheese. I also had to augment my already prolific amounts of anti nausea meds with a compazine. The final blow was that water was overwhelmingly sweet. I would almost rather have the common metallic taste than sweet. I am trying to get through 4 liters a day too; ick. I cannot wait to replace water with beer…the Radi-ale-tion is ready to go!

This is not a complaint. Repeat; I am not complaining just explaining. Adjuvant Therapy: Week Five…

Overall, I feel good despite the poison and rads running through me. I never would have guessed that five weeks into this process that I would still be doing, what might be deemed as, normal activities. Thankfully, I am not working so I can take care of myself. I will have to say, that for anyone who has experienced anemia, I feel your pain…er…tiredness.

I played tennis on Tuesday; oof! Bit lightheaded, thirsty and crampy quads. Not my finest moment.

Chemo on Wednesday…not much but walking happens on this day. Love that groovy, stony feeling of cisplatin.

Day after chemo was a marathon day: Radiation-Lunch at Cafe Flora-EHS tennis banquet-Police Concert. I wore earplugs for the first time in my life at a concert due to my already occurring tinnitus; not great sound quality. This was a looooooong day and I was about to pay dearly.

I am a napper by trade. But this past Friday I took it to a new height. Admittedly, I did it to myself on Thursday and set myself up for a horrendous Friday. I woke up on Friday, at 5:30am, to see Koren off then went back to bed. Got up again, in time, to make my 9:30 radiation. Came home, turned on the French Open, napped until 12:15. Got up, yet again, and went to 1pm acupuncture where I fell asleep. Returned home and went right back to the couch to deal with headache-from-hell until Scott came home and then went to the gym about 6pm.

Saturday has been tennis day. I have been lucky enough to feel good enough to play our casual call-in. I am a decent player and love chasing down balls like a golden retriever. Not this past Saturday though. A ball was gently lobbed over my partner’s head, and I usually would call “mine” and go after it. I started to run after it…mind willing, legs not! Ah, lead legs had set in. (Hello, red meat for dinner) After tennis was nap time. My treatments have rubbed off on Scott because, He-Who-Never-Naps, napped all afternoon with me.

Sunday was nice…weather held out too. Legs felt a bit more like aluminum than lead and general strength was back. Did the usual Sunday routine and went to a bbq. Yummy stuff for my 4.5 tennis team’s end-of-season party; keg of Mac & Jack’s, bbq-ed pork shoulder, chipotle slaw, corn pudding, and all sorts of other tasty bites. Thanks Adam and Laura! What a great way to end the week.

Wednesday marked chemo number 5. I think we (drugs, nurses, doctors, friends, husband, and I) have it down to a science. Not to say that life is as easy as week one, but I am still going about my life without very much interruption. Koren is here (a.k.a. KoKo) and that has been a nice diversion. On Monday night we headed to Harvest Vine for tapas to celebrate her 35th birthday. The food/wine was excellent, but the service was total crap. I do not think they were prepared for a busy Monday and even had to resort to making their own bread since they ran out. Tuesday we went and played tennis and, sheesh, that was difficult. I was sucking wind big time and needing many breaks. I guess red blood cells are muy importante…lightheadedness and leg cramping set in. I went for a yummy smoothie afterwards with an iron kick to it. Believe it or not, my red blood cell count was up a tad from last week, but white and platelet count was down. There does not appear to be any worry about getting my final chemo though. I am counting on the following dates to be upheld: June 13-final chemo and June 18-final radiation. In the infamous words of Tim Gunn, “Carry on.”

Before there was Jack Bauer, there was David, the vampire. Kiefer Sutherland really stretched his wings for his role in The Lost Boys. This teenage gang of vampires’ (and you thought teens have it tough today) motto was, “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die.” Now I really don’t want that kind of life; it sounds a bit much. What I really need and want is blood with high iron count. I am officially borderline anemic and feeling some of its effects: tire out easier, leg cramps, can’t lift as much at the gym, etc. While I try to figure out the best way to supplement my dwindling iron supplies, here’s Adjuvant Therapy: Week 4…

1. Still managing chemo with the help of anti-nausea drugs and great care from Betty and Karen (nurses).

2. Still managing radiation, 11 more to go.

3. Zofran headaches from hell. (better than vomiting and nausea though)

4. Still walking, working out or playing tennis as much as I can.

5. Honing in on my napping skills. Don’t usually get to work on those until summertime.

6. Acupuncture is going well except for all the insistence on the herbs…not too sure what to think about them.

7. Reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma…it’s an interesting read.