Falling down on the job around here. No theme song for yesterday. And I don't have the powers of concentration to apply myself to today's Name Game round-up.
The good news is that each round of chemo goes a little easier on me in terms of the GI tract symptoms. No stomach cramping this time around, for instance.
The bad news is that each round of chemo goes a little harder on me in terms of the exhaustion. And my nights are now filled with hot flashes that interrupt my sleep and make the tiredness even worse.
So. Here's to be thankful that there are only 2 rounds left.
The kids come home today. Bryan and I had toyed with the idea of going to MO to our farm for the weekend. He has a little project to do there and had wanted to make a trip in the Fall, and we thought it would be nice to get away, get to see our friends, Helen, David and BroJean.
But these friends have to leave town suddenly themselves and as we won't be able to see them, why drag myself out there? So the kids will stay with me while Bryan leaves this afternoon and comes home on Sunday. Usually after their week of fun with Betsy's family, the kids like to come into their home and spend hours poking around their spaces and re-visiting their toys and curling up on the couch to read. It should be a cozy weekend for us.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tidbits
Lots of little things to report.
1. I've heard from many of you via comments and e-mails that Dr. Science is wrong about this one. That, regardless of the reason for the mild anemia, the treatment--e.g. eating foods high in iron--would be the same.
And as for foods high in iron, I forgot to mention that I've also been eating the heck out of Cheerios, which have 100% dv in just one cup!
Also on the recommended food list is spinach. But my problem is that fresh vegetables are very hard for me to think about, let alone eat right now. And I don't really like cooked spinach. There IS a salad at Applebee's that comes with a bacon vinaigrette dressing that is AMAZING! Anyone have a good recipe for that?
And, of course, I shall not be shying away from red meat.
2. Speaking of which, I ate a piece of steak, leftover from my last broiling adventure, for breakfast yesterday.
Gemma asked, "What are you eating?"
I said, "Steak."
Joshua asked, with much apprehension, "Why are you eating snake?"
And so leads into a few kid-isms I've been meaning to tell you about:
When the weather is nice, the kids and their friends often end up in the backyard, which is awesome, because they don't require much supervision there. So one day, they played for a long time, unsupervised.
Then I went outside myself to pick up the yard a little, and I found myself saying, "No, Josh, don't do that," or, "Josh, you can't throw that," or, "Hey, Josh, put that down."
And he finally said, "Mommy, you need to go inside!"
As for his sweetness:
We have a little game where I hug him and hug him and hug him and say, "I'm going to fill your heart up with love. Tell me when you're all filled up!"
And eventually he says, "All filled up!"
Most recently, he then said, "Now I'll fill YOU up," and he hugged me back and back and back again. Then he said, "Now we're both all filled! You and me!"
We recently enrolled Gemma in a tumbling class. I had promised her last summer that she could do this worship dance class held by a family in our church. But they cancelled it. And I'd been avoiding the topic ever since. After all, we don't have the easiest schedule right now for adding a weekly activity.
But there's a place just up the street that does a really terrific job with the kids AND they offer a class for her at the exact one time of the entire week we knew we'd always be able to take her! So she's pretty excited.
And half the excitement is due to getting a new leotard. She calls it a "leotart."
"Do you know what's fun about a leotart?" she asked. "I can lift up my skirt and you still can't see my underwear!"
Other words she says in such a great way, we don't correct her:
That fantastical animal that looks like a horse with a spike coming out of its forehead?
It's a uni-horn
And the place where you stay on vacations that usually has a swimming pool downstairs?
A hoo-tel.
The animal with all the quills?
That's a poky-pine.
And Betsy's son, who is named TJ?
She has always called him PJ. And we all think it's so cute, that when she's around, we call him PJ too, lest she catch on.
3. Well, went out with a friend yesterday afternoon and it felt great to be out and about. I was pretty tired the rest of the time, but managed to make it to a proper bedtime before going to sleep.
Another friend is coming this morning to take me out. How nice to have so many dates lined up!
1. I've heard from many of you via comments and e-mails that Dr. Science is wrong about this one. That, regardless of the reason for the mild anemia, the treatment--e.g. eating foods high in iron--would be the same.
And as for foods high in iron, I forgot to mention that I've also been eating the heck out of Cheerios, which have 100% dv in just one cup!
Also on the recommended food list is spinach. But my problem is that fresh vegetables are very hard for me to think about, let alone eat right now. And I don't really like cooked spinach. There IS a salad at Applebee's that comes with a bacon vinaigrette dressing that is AMAZING! Anyone have a good recipe for that?
And, of course, I shall not be shying away from red meat.
2. Speaking of which, I ate a piece of steak, leftover from my last broiling adventure, for breakfast yesterday.
Gemma asked, "What are you eating?"
I said, "Steak."
Joshua asked, with much apprehension, "Why are you eating snake?"
And so leads into a few kid-isms I've been meaning to tell you about:
When the weather is nice, the kids and their friends often end up in the backyard, which is awesome, because they don't require much supervision there. So one day, they played for a long time, unsupervised.
Then I went outside myself to pick up the yard a little, and I found myself saying, "No, Josh, don't do that," or, "Josh, you can't throw that," or, "Hey, Josh, put that down."
And he finally said, "Mommy, you need to go inside!"
As for his sweetness:
We have a little game where I hug him and hug him and hug him and say, "I'm going to fill your heart up with love. Tell me when you're all filled up!"
And eventually he says, "All filled up!"
Most recently, he then said, "Now I'll fill YOU up," and he hugged me back and back and back again. Then he said, "Now we're both all filled! You and me!"
We recently enrolled Gemma in a tumbling class. I had promised her last summer that she could do this worship dance class held by a family in our church. But they cancelled it. And I'd been avoiding the topic ever since. After all, we don't have the easiest schedule right now for adding a weekly activity.
But there's a place just up the street that does a really terrific job with the kids AND they offer a class for her at the exact one time of the entire week we knew we'd always be able to take her! So she's pretty excited.
And half the excitement is due to getting a new leotard. She calls it a "leotart."
"Do you know what's fun about a leotart?" she asked. "I can lift up my skirt and you still can't see my underwear!"
Other words she says in such a great way, we don't correct her:
That fantastical animal that looks like a horse with a spike coming out of its forehead?
It's a uni-horn
And the place where you stay on vacations that usually has a swimming pool downstairs?
A hoo-tel.
The animal with all the quills?
That's a poky-pine.
And Betsy's son, who is named TJ?
She has always called him PJ. And we all think it's so cute, that when she's around, we call him PJ too, lest she catch on.
3. Well, went out with a friend yesterday afternoon and it felt great to be out and about. I was pretty tired the rest of the time, but managed to make it to a proper bedtime before going to sleep.
Another friend is coming this morning to take me out. How nice to have so many dates lined up!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Wellness Update
It's the evening following today's chemo.
Something weird happened at the very end, after I signed off.
Nurse Shannon pulled the needle out and put a bandaid on, as per what has happened the other 9 times I've had my port accessed.
And then I felt. . .
Wait.
Laura, sister #1 with weak stomach, stop reading this.
And then I felt wet all over my side, under my armpit. I was gushing blood!
Nurse Shannon said, "Oh my! Oh my!" And went off to get gauze. I used the tissue next to my chair to mop up.
Then I bled through the massive patch of gauze she applied.
Then I stopped bleeding.
Yucky!
Maybe it was the sight of that, and the sensation of it. . .but when I got home, my head was spinning and I just felt wrecked. Normally, Bryan goes to work for the afternoon and I hold down the for with the kids until dinner time.
But today, he couldn't go in. I went straight to bed and fell asleep immediately.
I felt a little better after waking up a few hours later. Had soup for dinner. Read to the kids. Joshua fell asleep at my side and Bryan carried him to bed. Then Bryan took Gemma to her tumbling class and I'm just killing time until about 8 PM when I go to sleep and expect to sleep through the night.
I am still persevering with my plan to GET OUT this week. It worked very well to do this with Laura last round, and so I've set up dates with my friends. Easy going outings. Not climbing mountains or anything.
Of course, I shall keep you posted.
UPDATE:
The nurse DID say, "Hmm, sometimes this happens. . ."
But she seemed pretty mystefied. Do you know what I think happened? The other 9 times, the nurse used a patch of gauze and pressed hard for about 15 seconds and then put the tape over it.
This time--remember, she was a new nurse--slapped a bandaid on it right away and called it done.
So next time, I'll ask for a patch of gauze and I'll press on it myself.
One more thing: I got all the appt. times for the rest of the chemo/weekly Herceptin. Something about having that written down and going about lining up the childcare for it makes me feel like I'm now coasting downhill. :-)
Something weird happened at the very end, after I signed off.
Nurse Shannon pulled the needle out and put a bandaid on, as per what has happened the other 9 times I've had my port accessed.
And then I felt. . .
Wait.
Laura, sister #1 with weak stomach, stop reading this.
And then I felt wet all over my side, under my armpit. I was gushing blood!
Nurse Shannon said, "Oh my! Oh my!" And went off to get gauze. I used the tissue next to my chair to mop up.
Then I bled through the massive patch of gauze she applied.
Then I stopped bleeding.
Yucky!
Maybe it was the sight of that, and the sensation of it. . .but when I got home, my head was spinning and I just felt wrecked. Normally, Bryan goes to work for the afternoon and I hold down the for with the kids until dinner time.
But today, he couldn't go in. I went straight to bed and fell asleep immediately.
I felt a little better after waking up a few hours later. Had soup for dinner. Read to the kids. Joshua fell asleep at my side and Bryan carried him to bed. Then Bryan took Gemma to her tumbling class and I'm just killing time until about 8 PM when I go to sleep and expect to sleep through the night.
I am still persevering with my plan to GET OUT this week. It worked very well to do this with Laura last round, and so I've set up dates with my friends. Easy going outings. Not climbing mountains or anything.
Of course, I shall keep you posted.
UPDATE:
The nurse DID say, "Hmm, sometimes this happens. . ."
But she seemed pretty mystefied. Do you know what I think happened? The other 9 times, the nurse used a patch of gauze and pressed hard for about 15 seconds and then put the tape over it.
This time--remember, she was a new nurse--slapped a bandaid on it right away and called it done.
So next time, I'll ask for a patch of gauze and I'll press on it myself.
One more thing: I got all the appt. times for the rest of the chemo/weekly Herceptin. Something about having that written down and going about lining up the childcare for it makes me feel like I'm now coasting downhill. :-)
Live from the Chemo Barn! Part IV
I'm almost done here. Just getting a little saline flush.
To follow up on some comments in the comment box:
"Duck Magic" does in fact refer to brute force. Though this also included re-booting the computer and checking for the right settings.
"HB" below who performed in The Unsinkable Molly Brown when she had practically no hemo-count is a fellow survivor. Not of cancer. But she IS walking around with a double-organ transplant. I bring this up because her timing was good. "Good" in the sense that she had access to health care that "allowed" such a massively expensive operation to save her life. So CHEERS, Helen! Give Bro Jean a hug for me. :-)
Another entry to our girls' name list: Sherona. Very excellent.
And now it's time for me to go! It's a gorgeous Fall day, sunny and clear and not cold. We left this morning and I said, "What a beautiful day, Bryan! Let's go spend it in the chemo barn!"
But there's still an afternoon left.
To follow up on some comments in the comment box:
"Duck Magic" does in fact refer to brute force. Though this also included re-booting the computer and checking for the right settings.
"HB" below who performed in The Unsinkable Molly Brown when she had practically no hemo-count is a fellow survivor. Not of cancer. But she IS walking around with a double-organ transplant. I bring this up because her timing was good. "Good" in the sense that she had access to health care that "allowed" such a massively expensive operation to save her life. So CHEERS, Helen! Give Bro Jean a hug for me. :-)
Another entry to our girls' name list: Sherona. Very excellent.
And now it's time for me to go! It's a gorgeous Fall day, sunny and clear and not cold. We left this morning and I said, "What a beautiful day, Bryan! Let's go spend it in the chemo barn!"
But there's still an afternoon left.
Live from the Chemo Barn! Part III
A new nurse is taking care of me today. New to me, anyway. Her name is Shannon. She is very nice, as all these nurses are.
Last round's nurse was Betsy, who is very knowledgable about breast cancer in particular because she led a breast cancer support group for 8 years. I had asked for a print out of my labs for the week and she brought a printout of every lab I've done here. Then she explained them to me.
And noted that my red blood cell count was a bit low. 12.6 instead of 13.0. "Eat red meat," she told me.
Over the next 3 weeks, I did eat red meat. Ate the heck out of it. This, as compared to rarely eating red meat. In fact, in the course of a year, probably the only red meat I usually eat is in the form of a hamburger I order from a restaraunt or eat at a party.
Why?
Because I didn't know how to cook it!
What? Oh, you're telling me you know how to cook a steak?
The way I figured it, you could grill a steak outside. But we have a charcoal grill and we only fire it up for BBQ's. Or you could stir-fry little hunks o' beef for a variety of dishes, but in this case, why not just cook chicken?
Well, 3 innovations changed my diet in the last 3 weeks:
1. We bought a 1/4 of a Texas longhorn from a teeny, tiny ranching operation just East of here. I'd made the mistake of learning about where grocery store beef comes from, and so didn't go out of my way to buy it. But when we found this place that raised all-grass-fed beef locally, we gave it a shot.
2. And good thing we only bought 1/4, because shortly after we packed it into our stand alone freezer, Laura came for Round 3 and filled the rest of the freezer with food she spent the week cooking for us. This is innovation #2: Get an in house chef to turn your beef into a dish. In this case, chile and vieja de ropa, which is a Cuban pot roast.
3. And while Laura was here, innovation #3 came along: Learn how to use one's broiler.
What? You're telling me you know how to use your broiler?
Well, a lot of times, we know only what we grow up with. And the oven Mom had while I was growing up had a broiler in the drawer. She would have to pull out all her pots and pans that were stored there, and it made a gross mess, and it just seemed scary. Cooking food in the bottom drawer??? Just imagine what could go wrong!
Laura listened to me explain all this and said, "Yeah, but the rest of us have a little button on the top of our stoves and the broiler cooks the food on the very top rack."
Oh.
Oh! How easy is that??? I love my broiler! And it cooks meat so quickly! So now I'm a broiling fool. Last night, for instance, we had brisket, green beans and sweet potatoes, all of which took me 25 minutes to cook!
So. As I was saying. I've been eating a lot of red meat.
Today, I asked Dr. Science for my red blood cell count, and it's 12.9. I smiled. 'I've been eating a lot of red meat. The nurse told me to.'
He said that was fine to eat a lot of red meat. But that my red blood cell count was not related to iron intake, which is what I'd be getting from the red meat.
"It's not?" I asked.
"No, it's related to the fact that I'm kicking the snot out of your bone marrow."
Oh.
So I guess the breast cancer support group nurse, while very helpful and nice, was wrong about this one.
Which gets me back to today's nurse: Shannon. Who has not given me any dietary advice at all.
Last round's nurse was Betsy, who is very knowledgable about breast cancer in particular because she led a breast cancer support group for 8 years. I had asked for a print out of my labs for the week and she brought a printout of every lab I've done here. Then she explained them to me.
And noted that my red blood cell count was a bit low. 12.6 instead of 13.0. "Eat red meat," she told me.
Over the next 3 weeks, I did eat red meat. Ate the heck out of it. This, as compared to rarely eating red meat. In fact, in the course of a year, probably the only red meat I usually eat is in the form of a hamburger I order from a restaraunt or eat at a party.
Why?
Because I didn't know how to cook it!
What? Oh, you're telling me you know how to cook a steak?
The way I figured it, you could grill a steak outside. But we have a charcoal grill and we only fire it up for BBQ's. Or you could stir-fry little hunks o' beef for a variety of dishes, but in this case, why not just cook chicken?
Well, 3 innovations changed my diet in the last 3 weeks:
1. We bought a 1/4 of a Texas longhorn from a teeny, tiny ranching operation just East of here. I'd made the mistake of learning about where grocery store beef comes from, and so didn't go out of my way to buy it. But when we found this place that raised all-grass-fed beef locally, we gave it a shot.
2. And good thing we only bought 1/4, because shortly after we packed it into our stand alone freezer, Laura came for Round 3 and filled the rest of the freezer with food she spent the week cooking for us. This is innovation #2: Get an in house chef to turn your beef into a dish. In this case, chile and vieja de ropa, which is a Cuban pot roast.
3. And while Laura was here, innovation #3 came along: Learn how to use one's broiler.
What? You're telling me you know how to use your broiler?
Well, a lot of times, we know only what we grow up with. And the oven Mom had while I was growing up had a broiler in the drawer. She would have to pull out all her pots and pans that were stored there, and it made a gross mess, and it just seemed scary. Cooking food in the bottom drawer??? Just imagine what could go wrong!
Laura listened to me explain all this and said, "Yeah, but the rest of us have a little button on the top of our stoves and the broiler cooks the food on the very top rack."
Oh.
Oh! How easy is that??? I love my broiler! And it cooks meat so quickly! So now I'm a broiling fool. Last night, for instance, we had brisket, green beans and sweet potatoes, all of which took me 25 minutes to cook!
So. As I was saying. I've been eating a lot of red meat.
Today, I asked Dr. Science for my red blood cell count, and it's 12.9. I smiled. 'I've been eating a lot of red meat. The nurse told me to.'
He said that was fine to eat a lot of red meat. But that my red blood cell count was not related to iron intake, which is what I'd be getting from the red meat.
"It's not?" I asked.
"No, it's related to the fact that I'm kicking the snot out of your bone marrow."
Oh.
So I guess the breast cancer support group nurse, while very helpful and nice, was wrong about this one.
Which gets me back to today's nurse: Shannon. Who has not given me any dietary advice at all.
Live from the Chemo Barn! Part II
Got another question answered, btw.
I asked Dr. Markus, "How are we to refer to a nurse practioner?"
Well, he explained, Rose, the NP here, has her PhD, so we could call her Dr. Gates, but she prefers to be called Rose.
Yeah, but what if she weren't a PhD.
Then the title is simply, "Ms."
Bryan asked what, exactly, a nurse practitioner is.
It's an advanced degree beyond an RN, but not doctorate level.
I said, "So, like a Masters."
"Yes."
"So we could call her Mistress Gates?"
He said, "What she does on her own time is her business."
I asked Dr. Markus, "How are we to refer to a nurse practioner?"
Well, he explained, Rose, the NP here, has her PhD, so we could call her Dr. Gates, but she prefers to be called Rose.
Yeah, but what if she weren't a PhD.
Then the title is simply, "Ms."
Bryan asked what, exactly, a nurse practitioner is.
It's an advanced degree beyond an RN, but not doctorate level.
I said, "So, like a Masters."
"Yes."
"So we could call her Mistress Gates?"
He said, "What she does on her own time is her business."
Live from the Chemo Barn!
11:45, I've been dripping for almost 45 minutes. It took them a while to get the bags ready, and it took me a while to get on line.
Actually, I wasn't able to connect. The browser wouldn't find a web page. Bryan said, 'Do you want me to play with it?'
"What are you going to do that's different from what I'm doing?"
He smiled. "Duck magic."
An hour later, he was online. I asked him the secret of Duck Magic, but he wouldn't tell me.
My appointment was with Dr. Markus. I asked him if he had any more family history to share. After all, he said he'd get it from his mother who was visiting the last time I saw him.
He said, "I remembered right as I walked into the room that you were going to ask me that. But I forgot to ask her and I'd call her right now except that she's impossible to get off the phone with."
Sheesh!
I don't understand why he doesn't want to know this stuff. And he seems to be completely unconcerned that my readership wants to know, too!
I had a different pressing question for him: What does he think about all the pink?
"You mean, breast cancer awareness month?"
"The whole thing," I said, "Pink ribbons on everything. Products in pink versions of themselves. . ."
He figured it was all good for raising awareness and getting people fired up.
I asked what he thought about the research dollars that this awareness gathers up. "As an oncologist, does it bother you to see that it's kind of lopsided? No pun intended. . ."
He said that in his research program and med school, all their discussions were about the science, and what choices the science would recommend. Where should the research dollars go? Well, what does the science say would produce the most good for the most people?
But then he saw how politics and social influences are effective. During the Clinton years, the Kormen foundation and other breast cancer advocacy groups kicked it into high gear and got savvy--lobbied like crazy in DC and suddenly Congressmen were well-versed in mammogram technology and biopsy procedures.
"Pretty smart," Markus said, "When there's a finite amount of research dollars, that's a great way to grab them up."
Huh. Well. . .yeah. I guess I'm mostly just glad that I've got a cancer that's been researched so extensively and is now treated so effectively.
More on Pink issues later.
Actually, I wasn't able to connect. The browser wouldn't find a web page. Bryan said, 'Do you want me to play with it?'
"What are you going to do that's different from what I'm doing?"
He smiled. "Duck magic."
An hour later, he was online. I asked him the secret of Duck Magic, but he wouldn't tell me.
My appointment was with Dr. Markus. I asked him if he had any more family history to share. After all, he said he'd get it from his mother who was visiting the last time I saw him.
He said, "I remembered right as I walked into the room that you were going to ask me that. But I forgot to ask her and I'd call her right now except that she's impossible to get off the phone with."
Sheesh!
I don't understand why he doesn't want to know this stuff. And he seems to be completely unconcerned that my readership wants to know, too!
I had a different pressing question for him: What does he think about all the pink?
"You mean, breast cancer awareness month?"
"The whole thing," I said, "Pink ribbons on everything. Products in pink versions of themselves. . ."
He figured it was all good for raising awareness and getting people fired up.
I asked what he thought about the research dollars that this awareness gathers up. "As an oncologist, does it bother you to see that it's kind of lopsided? No pun intended. . ."
He said that in his research program and med school, all their discussions were about the science, and what choices the science would recommend. Where should the research dollars go? Well, what does the science say would produce the most good for the most people?
But then he saw how politics and social influences are effective. During the Clinton years, the Kormen foundation and other breast cancer advocacy groups kicked it into high gear and got savvy--lobbied like crazy in DC and suddenly Congressmen were well-versed in mammogram technology and biopsy procedures.
"Pretty smart," Markus said, "When there's a finite amount of research dollars, that's a great way to grab them up."
Huh. Well. . .yeah. I guess I'm mostly just glad that I've got a cancer that's been researched so extensively and is now treated so effectively.
More on Pink issues later.
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