One to Go

It's been a fun and eventful holiday season. And as I've maintained, the busy holidays have made the chemo trudge zip by pretty quickly.

Maggie's holiday choir concert was lovely, a week ago Wednesday. That's her, singing her solo, just to the right of their wonderful choir director, Kathe Jordan. Poppy and Grandma were there with us, and Grandma swears she got more pictures, which is somehow better. Being the competitive family we are, there was some discussion later about quantity vs. quality. The photo here is representative of "quality".

Christmas Eve was at our house. Jackie, Yusuf, & Shiraz Cassim, and Rick, Becky, Jake, & Nina Price joined us for a crab feast. Dinner was lovely and we all enjoyed the homemade "Bouche de Noel" that Emily spent all day preparing. Shiraz had recently shaved his head in a trendy fashion move and so I had company in the hairless department on Christmas Eve. Here's a pic of we hairless "twins".

Christmas morning was pretty wonderful and relaxing. Poppy and Grandma drove down from their comfortable sleeping quarters (at John & Lynn Price's--they were in El Salvador for Christmas) and we all opened presents sometime around 8:30 or 9, and then had a leisurely breakfast. That night we all went to Rick and Becky's for a wonderful prime rib dinner, and enjoyed the food and most excellent company. Andy, Nancy, and Allen Price were there, along with dear friends Robert Allen and Dennis Vaux.

And yesterday, Boxing Day, was my penultimate chemo infusion. Yay, yay, and double yay! Em took me to the cancer center after 1, and they were running a bit behind (four nurses had called in sick), so Frank picked her up at 5:45 so she could get ready for her guests (she had some of her friends over for gift exchange and sleepover), and then he came back to relieve her. We got out of the cancer center a little after 7 p.m.

And now? I have one infusion left. I'm still just-this-close-to-anemic (inching down from 9.6 to 9.2--where below 9.0 gets me the much needed aranesp shot). And I continue to suffer minor GI effects. All in all, really, nothing to complain about.

My folks left Fairfield this morning and should be in Pasadena sometime this evening. They're going to have tons of fun doing Rose Bowl parade touristing, along with some other SoCal delights, before heading on back East. We had a lovely visit and look forward to seeing their photos from their trip down South. Here's a parting photo of the lovely couple, from Christmas Eve.

It's the Holiday Season

Sorry I've been lax in updating the blog.

I saw my surgeon on Monday and all looks good. I scheduled the removal of my port (yay!) two weeks after what should be my last chemo infusion. He also gave me a referral for a new baseline mammogram, to be taken sometime in March.

And I missed my weekly check-up with Dr. Kuan. Blame it on the drugs, blame it on the holidays, blame it on me just being spacy. But I basically blew it. They had scheduled me for a Wednesday appt with a different doctor, but then that turned out to be unnecessary, and while I was having my chemo last week, they rescheduled me to my regular Tuesday afternoon. I never updated my calendar and, bother, I missed the appointment. Bother, bother, bother.

Oh well. Let's just hope there's nothing exciting in the blood work so that when I go in next week, all systems will be go.

And in the meantime, I went to my office holiday party at the Palace Saturday night. Frank and I had a really fun time. Here's a pic of Frank, me, Jackie, and Yusuf. We enjoyed cocktails at Ame (a nice bar at the Regis Hotel) with the development directors, and hosted by our wonderful boss, Martha. And then we all went to the Palace for a very fun party. Hors d'ouevres, dinner, door prizes, and dancing. I was a bit low energy, but I danced three songs before asking Frank to bring me home. And we were in bed by 10. Oy!

Glass More than Half Full

So we're 3/4 of the way there now. Yay!

I apologize for not posting in such a long time. The good news is that things have been pretty boring in cancer recovery land. The only ill side effect I suffered after the first Taxol (two weeks ago) was some muscle/bone achiness (it felt like I'd been working really hard in the garden the day before), which was easily remedied with some tylenol and advil.

In the meantime, we've been enjoying some holiday festivities with my folks, and getting some holiday shopping done, and writing Christmas cards, and working. Maggie had a nasty bug over the weekend (102.6 fever) and now is mostly better, but will have some trouble getting rid of the lingering effects, I think (coughs and sneezes). Basically, life goes on.

Mom accompanied me to my second Taxol infusion yesterday, and while things mostly went well, there were a couple bumps in the road. I was in the chemo room by 1:15, and the oncology nurse had my pre-meds all ready. She was having some trouble with the machine though, and so, while each of these three meds should have taken about 15 minutes, she had difficulty with the IV machine and there was a delay in getting each one going. It wasn't until my mom said, "maybe you should try another machine" that she seemed to consider this a viable option (there were at least two unused IVs in the room). Even taking these delays into account, I was ready for the Taxol no later than 2:30, and probably before. But my Taxol didn't get started until 3:10 p.m.

And then, about 15 or 20 minutes into the Taxol, I decided to throw some drama into the proceedings. The Benadryl (one of the three pre-meds) had pretty much knocked me out and so I was lying prone on the recliner. I was not necessarily sleeping, but I was dozing in an out and I was awakened by a tightening in my chest (felt like a classic asthma attack to me) and I could feel my cheeks flushing. I promptly knocked over my water bottle, reaching for my inhaler (poor Mom, trying to understand my mumbling and figure out what I wanted--sorry Mom!) while also trying to sit up and calling to the nurse, "I'm having a reaction to the Taxol..."

As soon as I was sitting up and had used my inhaler I was better. But the typical--and sensible--response to such a reaction is to stop the infusion. So, I got some O2 and felt better and the nurse took notes. A nurse and nurse's asst. ran breathlessly into the room, saying they'd been paged for a Taxol reaction and everyone told them all was okay. Good news--you don't have a crisis. Bad news--you ran down here for nothing. :-)

Since I was so clearly stabilized, they started the Taxol back up after about 15 minutes. Dr. Kuan dropped in to check on me, and to clarify what preceded my reaction, and we all think it would be better if I sat up during these infusions. Ah well. Only two to go.... :-)

Because I got started so late, I (and another patient) needed to be moved upstairs from the downstairs treatment room (where we were put because the main room upstairs was full when we started) around 5 p.m. Mom and I finally got to leave around 6:45 last night. I'm going to try to change my final two chemo appts to start earlier.

We got home, and Frank had made a nice roast chicken dinner for the five of us (Mom, Dad, Frank, me, and Maggie). And then my folks left for their RV up in Fairfield.

Oh! and this time, almost certainly because I did not do the steroids before going in, I got a full night's sleep last night. I feel great this morning and look forward to getting lots done. I'm sort of assuming I'll feel some aches and pains tomorrow, but again, I know it's easily remedied. It's not nearly as awful as the nausea, which required meds that knocked me out, and which has their own dopey residual effects. I prefer clarity, but that could just be me. :-)

In other news, Em has three finals this week, last one Friday at noon. So, we're hoping to see her bright shiny face by 8 or 9 on Friday night, when we'll be enjoying the company of John, Lynn, Kevin, and Sarah Price.

We're planning to get our Christmas tree on Saturday morning, and then Frank and I are going to my (always very fun) office holiday party at the Palace. We're spending the night there--carving out some romantic alone time in the middle of chemo and the holidays. All in all, it should be a lovely weekend. Hope your holidays are lovely and warm and (relatively) stress-free!