hi all, the short-short health update is as follows: everybody feels quite okay right now. val was pretty tired the first week after chemo this time but now she’s feeling mostly rather bouncy (you know, like Tigger). now that the olympics are over and everybody is getting more sleep i Continue Reading
August 2008
skyrider
Hallo. Here we sit watching the men’s water polo. Now, first let me say that I recognize the athleticism, power and not-drowning skills of the players. And my own niece is a water polo player so I know how much work it takes. It is still hard to take them Continue Reading
Nourishing Val (and the rest of us too)
Dearies, the excellent Miz Liz has tracked down some more nutrition specifics for anyone who wants guidance in helping Val eat really healthfully (or indeed, do so yourself). This info supplements the nutrition info in an earlier post. Val’s old friend Amy also pointed us to the CTCA site (Cancer Continue Reading
Purple Haze
The latest round of chemo has rendered me uncarbonated. Hardly any pain at all, just not a lot of gumption. I would not say i feel effervescent at this stage. It’s a little like having small people dangling off your arms and knees who mildly complain of all the movement. Continue Reading
watchin’ the Olympics
Chemo 3: side effects not as strong this time
Just a quick update to say that so far Val’s having less pain this time around on the weekend after chemo. Tired and spacey with smallish twinges and burbles, but mostly better than the first two rounds. We are staying up late watching Olympics (who knew there was Olympic trampoline??) Continue Reading
Pelicans, feathers of joy, 1913 and a generous librarian
In 1913 the architect A.E. Doyle built a beach cottage in Manzanita, a lonely hamlet on the wild Oregon coast. He built it for Mary Isom, Portland’s head librarian. (Doyle finished Portland’s lovely new “crown jewel,” the Central Library, the same year.) Among library staff Mary is informally considered our Continue Reading
Apomab redux
One other tidbit this week: turns out we’d been given incorrect information about the Apomab drug trial ditching the placebo. This week (with some chagrin) oncology staff let us know Val’s Apomab trail is unchanged, and half the participants will still receive a placebo instead of the drug, although that Continue Reading
presidential pardon
Well, here’s a little piece of good news! As you will recall, two weeks ago, our heroine’s platelets were too low for round 3 of chemo, so she got a week off to recoup. When she was tested last week, her platelets were ready to party but her neutrophils (a Continue Reading
Rabbit Hole
So this morning I’m off to chemo. I hope. There is some issue with my neutrophils. My bone marrow is not producing enough so they are going to give me a drug that will induce my bone marrow to give up the goods. It is called neupogen and it has Continue Reading