4 down 4 to go

Yesterday I met with my doctor who thinks I am showing progress in terms of the tumor shrinking and getting softer and harder to distinguish from the surrounding area. We talked briefly about the next set of treatments but she wanted to wait until I was done with the a-c's before discussing taxol. I am trying to show patience. She didn't seem that concerned with the cough and thought I should use my asthma inhaler more - I'm more skeptical as it is a steroid and I'm guessing won't help with my actually being able to sleep at night which is my main goal. She thought I should shift to cough medicine but sadly thought robitussin with codeine wasn't neccessary. My breathing sounds fine and they had no trouble with having me go forward with treatment. The only glitch came when she was listening to my breathing through the stethoscope and i kept talking - yes my doctor had to tell me to be quiet.

She also gave me a prescription for magic mouthwash which sounds slightly gross but I will get it filled and use it - though probably not the 6 times a day i seem to be using the biotene. I also need to make an appointment with my surgeon for about a month from now to start thinking about scheduling the next stage. I keep wanting to say I'm halfway done but that really isn't the case - though I think comparmentalizing and taking it one step at a time keeps it all tractable.

Chemo was fine - my friend Michele came in from California for both the doctors visit and chemo and we ended up playing a text-twist like game on her iphone. We also snapped a picture in the waiting room - I'm wearing kiki - no bald pictures. I think the nurses were amused and I had a surprising ability to find and guess words. One of the nurses just got an iphone so may have gone out to get the application. They also may have been amazed we were doing something that required thinking. I also read an us weekly from the fall - so that may have killed any brain cells that were stimulated.

Felt pretty good afterward and while Michele went out to dinner with a friend of hers from Brown - I went upstairs to have dinner with my upstairs Jason and Amy and Nate who was really supposed to be sleeping. (He's a little over 1 - but was super excited to sit up with us - though it made Amy's dining experience less than ideal.) Jason loves to cook, is really good at it and will take requests. Given the choice of quiche or pasta and meatballs, I went for the meatballs which were great. Added advantage I got a doggie bag to take home with me. Its great to be able to visit with people yet be close enough to wander around without shoes and sometimes without hair. (I do wear a cap - and the babies seem very accepting though i'm not sure they know I am the same person.)

Today I feel fine if very mellow - this is in part due to my taking a wrong pill this morning at 7 - even though I double checked somehow I took an Atavan instead of my super-duper anti-nausea pill - you would think the fact that there are only 4 pills left in theanti-nausea pill would have been a giveaway. Turns out it is okay - I took the anti-nausea pill and the steroid and the bonus atavan is adding to my spaciness and might mean I'll nap this morning - not a bad thing.

Michele - who needs a nickname apparantly- mpfox, leopard, datagirl, we'll see what she picks, wants to guest blog and I said she could as long as no overly embarrassing stories from my past s are shared. Having visitors is great - though unless I start acting more physically needy I think people want to organize things - she's put my big stack of New Yorkers in order and is encouraging me to throw them out. I haven't renewed my subscription and won't until the pile is gone. Going through the closets might be next. I will end up more organized.

Kim
I think the killer bosoxfox nickname makes everyone now want one. Though with W. out of the white house nicknames might be passe.

Post-Inauguration

So the hordes seem to have left DC and now the real work for Obama begins. The energy in DC was good if a little manic - I didn't get anywhere near the mall but reports of crowds and some problems have been reported. Most people who went down to the mall/monuments for the concert or inauguration didn't get close but enjoyed the energy of the folks around. I'm impressed Michele could walk the parade route in pantyhose - weren't her legs cold? The saddest story was that of BoSoxFox and her compatriots who scored tickets and went down early but got caught in the security morass and weren't able to get to their seats/patch of grass and ended up watching the inauguration in a Thai restaurant. Others who went for the mall option really liked being with the crowd and if they couldn't see on a jumbotron - could hear it. I think it was a great time to be in DC - and Ben's did a ton of business.

I was home barely leaving my house over the weekend, but did head out a couple of times. Yesterday I was able to drive and park my car and managed to go into work for one whole day this week. It is a little sad though when you feel as good as you felt over the last 5 days and all the people around you keep wanting to send you home. I have a lovely smoker's cough without the benefit of cigarettes - and seem to only sleep by dosing myself with nyquil (half a dose) and atavan. I don't think I still have some disease but think the cough is a remnant I might have for the duration.

I have a doctor's appointment today and chemo (last a-c treatment :)) and hopefully my doctor will have a solution for the cough. I'm feeling pretty good mentally - and will report in post chemo.

Kim

PS The energy and vibe in the city is terrific.

Its cold and parking is hell but my dishwasher works well

So not sure how much posting about inauguration is going to happen. I think I've made the decision I need to hibernate - 10-20 degrees, hoardes of people is just too much to handle. It seems like DC is starting to get crazy - at least the ability to drive and park seems to be going downhill.

Left work and drove home about 5:30 - people didn't really know what they were doing. Driving through Dupont required much patience and then I couldn't find parking so went grocery shopping. The upside is I now have food to last me through the weekend - it then took a full 40 minutes to find a parking spot but it might have been standard kids going out to bars in Dupont circle. I was home and settled by 8:00. I did end up making a right turn and then a u-turn to park in the empty space on the other side of the street to get a parking spot. I managed to inconvenience a cab and then there was a car full of 20 year olds who casually pulled up and wanted the space but backed off pretty quickly. I would have totally made them leave if they tried to take my spot. Yes for those in the suburbs - parking in DC on weekends is sometimes a full contact sport and the fact that half the parking will be suspended and there are way too many people around will probably make parking impossible. But I am now parked with food and have come to term with the idea that I will watch much of the activities on tv.

At some point last evening I ended up developing some mouth issues I may have a sore and my tongue feels terrible and suddenly gatorade isn't my go-to drink of choice (after buying another 3 bottles). I will however now eat the oatmeal and use the mouthwash and stuff I bought before beginning and the upside might be an end to the constant eating that had been happening.

On the dishwasher front, I ran it with dishes last night and it did a kick ass job and was supoer quiet so I am now washing all my dishes.


It's too cold and I feel too lousy for it to make sense to go to concerts, or watch the inauguration and parade but I am bummed out about the timing of everything. I'm trying to focus on how good it will be for Obama to finally take power and hopefully we can start addressing some of the problems facing the country but am bummed about missing out on the craziness. So for those going to events, have fun but you might want to stress the cold and lack of toilet paper and not the amazement of being part of this historic event when we talk about it. I didn't really sleep last night so maybe I will be more upbeat as the weekend goes on.

Anyway - I hope others are enjoying the long weekend.

Does 2 make a pattern?

After feeling pretty good for most of the time since last Thursday's chemo treatment - today was a down day. It matches up to 2 days after I take the last steroid which is when I sort of crashed last cycle. I think I just need to build it into my bi-weekly plan. When I get my blood work done tomorrow I can see if that is what is causing it.


On a positive note - the plumber came so I should be able to get my new dishwasher tomorrow and if the last two cycles are any indication - sleeping a lot tonight will leave me better again tomorrow.

In the mean time - DC seems to be getting closer and closer to the madness that is inauguration. If it is 10 degrees out I'm guessing I will be watching events from my couch and waiting until next time to join the millions.

Chemo is fine - home repairs are a pain

So I am feeling fine today, just mellow but hit a home repair snag. Turns out the valve to my dishwasher won't shut off so I need to schedule a plumber to come fix it and have the water to my building shut off. So now I have a plumber coming next Wednesday and the dishwasher hopefully being delivered on Thursday. Otherwise I am trying to motivate to get some work done. It is an exciting time to be looking at policy and trying to figure out what is happening with stimulus is exciting. We might be in for a time of rethinking the federal/state/local relationship and it will be a time to be fully engaged. Hopefully out of the current downturn we can come up with good answers and set things going in the right direction - rather than pointing fingers and wasting a ton of money. It will be challenging for the new administration but mostly they seem to be focussed in the right direction.

Not much to add about me - it is amazing how what is normal changes. My friend Sue came and hung out at chemo after BoSoxFox came to the doctors appointment but might be off the hook going forward as it seems like things are just becoming normal and routine.

Sorry if posting gets less frequent - but in general things are going well and not much is changing as far as day to day is going. Mostly I'm fine - somedays I'm less so and really tired but I'm guessing it is related to my blood chemistry. So in general if I'm not posting take it as a good sign that I'm trying to write other things for work or in general just go about life as usual. People can always check in via e-mail or comments and I will post about what inauguration madness is like. But I will not be out too much with the masses. 2-4 million people and hours out in the cold seems like too much to ask for my body, historic and wonderful as the current election is. Hopefully I can celebrate more fully in 4 years.

One of the perks of time at home is watching West Wing on Bravo in the morning. Would it be crazy for Aaron Sorkin to revisit the idea of the Jimmy Smits presidency?
I know they are all on to other things but it would have been interesting to have seen where the show went in a parallel universe from the one we currently experienced.






I do respond to nudging.

3 down 5 to go

I had my third chemo treatment today. I feel okay - spacy but that seems normal at this point. This time might be a little worse because I managed to catch a cold so am coughing and a little sniffly. I was happy that the cold didn't affect my schedule. I am happy to have another treatment over and had a good meeting with my doctor so things seem to be going well. Tomorrow I should be getting my new dishwasher - the upside to being home and mellow is it was easy to schedule deliveries. Will write more tomorrow.

Feeling better

Just a quick post to say that I am feeling much better - started perking up last night around 8 and stayed up until 1am. I then slept until 7 and went back to bed this morning until about 10 and will probably have a mellow day. My brain seems to be functioning today and so it seems like it is a matter of body chemistry.

My goals for the day are limited - maybe do some work - but probably finish cleaning and organizing my room. Tonight I'm going to see a play and dinner so will venture outside - though the goal for the weekend might be to buy a dishwasher.

Hungover without the fun

Happy new year. I actually had a pretty good first few days after chemo this time. After spending the weekend laying around I went into work and felt pretty good Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think it was the steroids - but I was functioning early and even making some progress with work and went out Tuesday night to celebrate a friend's birthday. The problem came Thursday and might have been not taking the atavan to counteract the steroid Monday and Tuesday. Somehow after getting home Tuesday night I decided I should finish lint brushing my head. Yes, using lint rollers on ones bald head helps keep the stubble from going everywhere and being all prickly. I used the rest of the sheets on the roller, still had some stubble left and it was suddenly 2 in the morning. I ended up hyped up and awake most of the night. I actually felt fine, if a little tired on Wednesday, went into work and had a happy new year's eve eating indian food and watching Frost/Nixon with BoSoxFox.

I was home by 10:30 with 70's polyester fabulousness dancing in my head, went to bed and woke up at 6am feeling like I had slept really deeply. I knew I needed more sleep but my body didn't comply. It was interesting to wake up having not had anything to drink yet still feel dehydrated with a slight headache. I wish chemo was more fun.

I did manage to organize some of my closet and drawers, do 4 loads of laundry, including dehairing most of my sweaters but was kind of blah most of the day. Went to my friend Sue's but didn't stay long and in the end came home and mostly crashed. I did get to play with the babies from upstairs who were also feeling cranky due to teething. Can chemo turn one into an infant? I ended up reading a lot and crashing.

Friday I am still lackluster, but just had my blood work done so will see if the blahness is a function of low blood levels. We'll see how this next week goes.

Probably no resolutions this year but lessons to keep in mind include that I should take the atavan or another drug to make me sleep even when don't have nausea to try and counteract the steroid mania. I do sometimes wonder if everyone is as controlled by chemistry as I seem to be. I also feel like I need to better at just letting go and not trying to figure out what days will be good days and just accept I should do stuff when I can and just crash when I need to.

I also wonder if the fact that I just did an interview with Pacifica radio was a good idea, given my zombie state. But apparently stimulus is coming together and hopefully states will figure out a way to get through the year. Here's Hoping things will be better all around in 2009.