Progress Report

Another day, another cancer story. Actually, just an update on the chemo, and the arm thingy and other cheery stuff....

I've been doing so very well overall that I feel guilty whimpering. But since this is the tale of the road of survival, I guess I should report progress, good and bad!

I'm now half way thru the basic chemo regime - six treatments every three weeks. The Herceptin treatment will continue every three weeks for the balance of a year. Since the Herceptin is not considered chemo per se, the side effects are supposed to be less severe. I've been incredibly lucky in my body's response to all this poison (yeah, I'm back to calling it poison, not joy juice!) - perhaps because I'm a warrior, perhaps because I have all those crazy warriors and great friends watching over me, perhaps because I was in good health overall when it all started - whatever, after that first week when we discovered all the things that would hit me, and took counter-measures, I've only had a few really bad days when I feel like I've been run over by a truck immediately following each treatment, and have been in pretty good shape the rest of the time.

Except of course for the almost constant runs, kept fairly under control with Imodium. And the nasty mouth and tongue, that always feels like I'm walking in bare feet on hot gravel, and tastes almost that good! But the sores are kept sort of sometimes under control with the Miracle Magic Mouthwash. And I'm pretty tired, all the time. But it's summer here, and now is truly getting hot, so a mid-day siesta under the a/c works just fine!!

Sure, I have no hair, but that was partly my doing, as you'll recall from all the silly pictures. Amazingly, it didn't all fall out. I still have stubble, a lot of stubble, which I've been shaving off weekly. And I see no signs of that stubble falling out. I still have hair on my arms and legs. So maybe it isn't all going to fall out. I've decided to let the stubble grow for a couple weeks to see how much hair is actually there - I might let it grow in! Although, I must say, having no hair on my head is certainly a whole lot easier to care for!

And then there is my skin. I've been a serious sun worshiper all my life. And have paid for it. I've had over 30 skin cancers biopsied and sliced off in the last several years. And I have hundreds of those nasty little bumpy, scaly actinic keratoses, pre-cancers, all over my arms and legs and back and chest. They're starting to dry up and fall off! Leaving smooth skin behind!! Maybe chemo does have some positives!!!

The arm, of course, is another story. I was tolerating this 'intensive' compression bandage OK while I had someone here to help me with everything. But Suzie abandoned me yesterday and returned to Paradise. The last 24 hours have been a trial. I don't know how they expect single people to survive with one of these monsters attached to their 'working' arm. I can't get it wet - fine, but I can't find a rubber glove big enough to go over the damned thing, so I can't do any cooking or cleaning up. I tried taking a shower this morning with the trash bag cover that Sooz created for me, but there is no way I can tape it on securely by myself. So bathing is out. Obviously the frivolous things, like make-up or earrings, or clothes that button, zip or tie, or brushing my little dog, or my teeth competently, or even eating without spilling all over myself or the floor, are out. That means today, when I see the therapist again for a massage and re-bandage, I'm going to tell her I won't get it re-bandaged again until (maybe) my next dear friend/care giver arrives in a week or so. That ought to make her happy - she thinks less of me than I do of her!!

But - all in all - I am doing way waaaaaaaaaaaay better than I anticipated!

And, BTW, I have no idea why some of these postings bounce from one size print font to the another, and have found no way of fixing it when it does. So, my apologies!