Thank goodness. Pain still hovering but reduced; digestive system getting back online; jaw not so clenched. Joking observed. An evening desire for strawberry ice cream indulged. Things are looking up. D
go and come back
Day Four after chemo is typically a rotten day, and today is in line with the pattern. Val feels like crap. Joint pain bad enough to warrant Vicadin, which leads to its own problems with digestive functioning. Nausea, spaciness, and tingling numbness in her feet. A nasty metallic taste in Continue Reading
choosing the questions to ask
Hello dear folk, Val’s feeling fairly well today, although the usual post-chemo stuff is starting up. Her digestion’s a bit wacked out; the steroids make her face reddish and puffy and wake her up early; that sort of thing. She notes that each chemo cycle it seems that the effects Continue Reading
Good news: the tumor continues to shrink!
Greetings nearest and far-est and dearest, This morning we met with TerriSue at 7:30 to go over the details of Val’s bloodwork before chemo. Val mentioned that she had her second scan yesterday, and TerriSue replied, “I know,” and her face broke into a beaming smile. The prettiest smile I’ve Continue Reading
blood counts good
Hi team, Val’s pre-chemo blood counts today were good! Once again they just cleared the neutrophil high jump by about 50 spare cells. This means Val still doesn’t have to start the Neupagen shots. Fan-freaking-tastic. Tomorrow we learn the results of CAT scan number two, which happened this morning and Continue Reading
mysteries of the jetbridge
Hello all, it’s been a while! Did you miss us? Val was in Montana, but she’s back now. And I have just returned from nine days away, first visiting my Rhode Island family and then at a training in North Carolina. I brought you a mystifying souvenir: I took this Continue Reading
a few other things that are good
The bushtits have found the suet I put out. Bushtits are tiny feathered mushrooms of birds, very chatty and always in little surging groups, like teenagers. They show up suddenly and in force, little avian flash mobs, shouting squeaky dumb jokes back and forth as they hang by their claws Continue Reading
like shaved chocolate, like magnetic filings, like fragments of the whole
Here are some things that happened today and yesterday, both very fine and decent days. Yesterday Valerie called me from Montana. She and the dog were (she explained) sitting on a hill in the back pasture, regarding the sky. Only Tuley did not think they should sit still when there Continue Reading
the stranger becomes familiar
It’s so different now, entering the chemo world. At the beginning, in June, we were crashing along in the dark, trailing our abraded fingers along the cold stone walls, straining to hear every sound, trying to get oriented. There were words words words pouring over us in buckets, menacing and Continue Reading
blood and love
First, I would like to apologize for my lack of communication in the last couple weeks. I am experimenting with new ways of being in the world and it turns out to be very time consuming. Plus, I had company. Also, I have been eating beef which takes a great Continue Reading