Feb 282005
 

happy, happy, happy

Well, we had a little visit with the oncologist today. The first visit since I finished the chemo.
Not that either of us have been at all tense about what the test results may say.
No, no.

So, with the CA-125 test, you want to have your test results be nice and low. You want your test results to either be under 35 or under 20, depending on who you talk to.
My last test result were 2.8. which is so clean it squeaks.
Today’s test results were 6.

There is much happiness with that number here at my house today.
And now you know too.

More later.

 Posted by at 3:07 pm
Feb 222005
 

snow day
There was this great day in January when I went up Mount Seymour with some friends and we went snowshoeing.
It was really a great day.
And we took a bunch of pictures.
And then my computer crashed a few times and I never got them into my gallery.
Until tonight.
So, if you are interested, you will find this wintery goodness
here

On other fronts, I went for my first round of post-chemo bloodwork yesterday.
I’d like to make out like it was all easy and no problem and I am not at all stressed out about seeing the oncologist next week, but damn… I seem to be kinda grumpy for some reason and maybe that’s why.
This chunk of time right now, post-chemo but not back to real life and still waiting to get a sense of how it’s all going, this chunk of time is very strange and kind of draining for me.
And hell, I am grateful to be done the chemo, but it’s hard to not feel like it is hanging over my head still.
I guess I just have to learn to be patient.
Not my biggest asset.
Oh well…
We get the news next Monday.

Stay tuned.

 Posted by at 10:06 pm
Feb 222005
 

Our friends had a baby tonight.

We were around for a chunk of it and got to see the baby for a wee second.

Wow.
A baby in the mix.
Wow.

Way to go, you guys.

And, in case it isn’t completely evident, this post has absolutely nothing to do with cancer.
Hooray for that.

 Posted by at 1:59 am
Feb 132005
 

round and gold

So, I have been thinking of buying some of these lovely plastic bracelets.

I know… they are plastic.

And I know, they are yellow..

But I have been thinking about getting one.
Thing of it is, they get sold in lots of 10, so I need to find a few peeps to fob a few off to.

If you think you’d like a little piece of this yellow plastic action, drop me a line.
You know how…
Go ahead.

 Posted by at 4:23 pm
Feb 082005
 

Somewhere along the line, I think it was in October, my oncologist was away at a conference and we met with a different oncologist, and she has a bit of a different style than my regular guy.
One of the things she said was that I needed to understand that, even though I was completely chomping at the bit to be finished the chemo, a lot of people experience a real crash after the chemo.
As she said, it was during that period of time that they start to reflect on what they have just gone through.
I thought that was worthwhile info at the time but I couldn’t imagine not being elated every second of every day in my post-chemo survivorship days.
And now I am in them.
And I am not depressed, but sometimes I do struggle to make sense of what just happened to me and my happy little life.
And I don’t mean that as a complaint, because really, all things considered, I think I was really lucky in lots of ways and really well taken care of on so many levels.
I don’t feel like complaining about the chemo days because I know I could have had it so much worse.
Still… it’s a lot to make sense of.
And sometimes I don’t even know where to begin.
Maybe if it was all over and I got a blue ribbon and a pat on the back and a guarantee of no more cancer ever.
Right now I am in a sort of limbo, at least that’s how I feel sometimes.
Still, it beats laying around popping steroids and watching my hair fall out by a long shot.

The really good news is a lot of the things I lost while I was doing chemo are coming back.
I think in the next couple of weeks I will be able to go out in public without covering up my stubbly little head.
I am pretty pleased about that.

I pretty much have full feeling in my feet and hands now.
I had neuropathy from the chemo, which is a really common side effect. Now it is almost completely gone.

And my “chemo brain” has been almost eliminated. I think.
Well, suffice to say that my memory is way better than it was a month or two ago, though it probably isn’t perfect now and who knows if it will ever be.
Still, happy to have made some progress on that.

And my veins are coming back.
They pretty much got corroded into oblivion during the chemo and poked to bits with the constant bloodwork.
I am pretty happy to see them making their way back.

Okay, kiddies, it’s time for this post-chemo cowpoke to saddle up the pj’s and bunk down for the night.

Later…

 Posted by at 11:29 pm
Feb 052005
 

For those who still check here…

Life is pretty good right now.
My hair is growing in, slowly but shirley.
I still tend to wear a bandana when I am in public, but I am starting to go bare-headed around my house when other people are here.
That’s a step forward.

And the eyebrows are almost all the way back.

I am going to the gym and trying to shave a few of the cupcakes off my waist so I can squeeze into my old jeans. And also trying to build up my strength.
It’s good.
I like spending time at the gym.
I’ll be really happy when I can ditch the pants I have and get back in my old 501’s.

What else….
I spent about an hour today snorting around in the garden. That was nice, really, really nice.

Meanwhile, we are expecting a baby.
Thankfully, it isn’t our baby.
Whew!
But some close friends are gonna have a wee baby, any day now, and we will be there to, well, to do the things they ask us to do.
It’s all kind of exciting, in a sort of terrifying way.
Hooray for them.

And now, the GF and I are about to go to a going away party for our Aussie friend, who is heading back to Australia for a while.
Thanks for everything you’ve done for us, JC.
See ya on the rebound.

 Posted by at 8:02 pm