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
chemotherapy
Next up: chemo on Friday
Hey kids, if you’ve lost track (it is a bit of a shifting target): Val’s next chemo (number 4 of 6) is this Friday, September 5. Chemo 5 is currently scheduled to be on Thursday, September 25. Her next scan (scan 2 of 3; they happen every 2 chemo cycles) Continue Reading
Oh! One other thing!
As a postscript to our most recent hurried conversation, Val added this tidbit from TerriSue: Apparently the Apomab people – that’s her trial drug – have decided to ditch the placebo part of the trial and give everybody the guaranteed real deal drug from here on out!
scheduling around platelets
We were up at 5:30 today, out of the house by 6:30 to start the chemo-day across town at 7:00. And I’ll tell you what, ever since Val coughed up those tumor bits I’ve got a whole new attitude about chemo. Chemo is the bee’s knees. Chemo scorches the tumors Continue Reading
automatic… systematic… hydromatic… enzymatic
Val update: When I spoke with her yesterday Val reported the following: TerriSue (oncology nurse supreme) says Val’s white and red blood cell counts are down. This is a good thing, because it means the chemo is successfully affecting her body. So yay. (This also means we should all remember Continue Reading
Monday’s better than Sunday
Greetings all, I’m writing from Carbondale, Illinois, where I am visiting my sister (before heading off to my hometown in Indiana for the rest of the week). I spoke with Val on the phone this evening and here’s the report on her health and well-being: We appear to have established Continue Reading
2nd chemo and all’s well
Long long ago when this morning began… Valerie’s day: Bloodwork analysis, 8 a.m. (all excellent). Chemo infusion 8:45-5:00. Stripey socks and a gleaming head. Friends visiting in shifts the entire time. No pain in her arm this time. Brief dopiness by initial benedryl, then largely unaffected by the drugs. Chauffeured Continue Reading
increasingly visible
Val’s hair began to let go its moorings on Saturday. Early this week she went to a professional to have it shaved short, so the tender follicles wouldn’t be so often tugged. But the hair kept falling, coming away in tufts at the gentlest touch, so Thursday she asked me Continue Reading
Fly Terriers, Kazoos, and Other People’s Grandpas. And Hair.
Our dog Tuley was rescued from a sidewalk on the day she was born and her provenance remains a mystery. People ask us all the time what kind of dog she is, and we hate to disappoint (or miss an opportunity to embellish), so sometimes we say she’s a Cairn Continue Reading
The Urge to Kill
Back in the saddle again. Maybe a little less lucid than sometimes. Pain pills and their support staff of diuretics . The last few days have been an exploration of what this body of mine will do with this particular cure. This treatment. Which is not a poison. It is Continue Reading