Hey there, long time no see! The last month has been a roller-coaster, full of ups and downs. In that order.
This is going to be really long. Check with your stomach first: is it growling? Grab a snack before starting to read. I care about your comfort!
At the beginning of December we did a bunch [...]
On Tuesday I wrote to Dr Norman to describe the litany of symptoms that have been ailing me for the last few weeks; that evening he responded that he would have some extra time Wednesday morning before his first patient, and that I should come by to see him.
His suspicion was that my correlating digestive [...]
Continuing the story from last time, I was giving myself shots every night to build up my blood counts for the autologous stem cell transplant. I went to the SCCA and they gave my beefy veins the thumbs-up; I wouldn’t need an additional vein catheter to make this happen.
Bring on the bone pain, bring on [...]
It has been a crazy last two days. Crazy in the sense that they were more than expected.
First, we got some good news: the CT scan after my fourth round was mostly unchanged from after my second round, so we’re calling this a “complete response after two cycles” and that the disease has remained stable [...]
A lot of the stuff during the treatment phase is about repetition, but each time with slight variation.
For instance, each chemo day I’ve progressively been less and less interested in the hospital food. Last time the smell of it made me sick. This time I won’t even let it in the room!
Each time me digestion [...]
My face has been getting better every day. I think the prednisone reducing the inflammation really helped things get started. I can wiggle my eyebrows again, flare my nostrils most of the way, and the right side of my mouth is now participating in smiles again! Drinking from a cup is once again not just for movie [...]
I’d been settled into the chemotherapy groove. I generally knew what to expect; I knew when things were going to taste bad, when I was going to be an insomniac, when I would get my energy back.
Last week my groove got messed up!
It started with a pain in and under my ear. A soreness that [...]