OK, I lost a couple weeks somewhere along the way… in a bit of a daze… hence the case of catch-up… and it’s not even very tasty… oh well. :>
Jan 17, 2007
I’ve been busy dealing with the chemo as the side effects seem to be cumulative – my good weeks are getting shorter – the pain in my shoulder never lets up anymore and is impacting my exercise routine – but it’s still tolerable, so no more excuses. My good brother Dan came to visit, he was here from last Thursday through Monday, and we filled our few days with our typical good times – a poker game, Oblivion, movies, Mellow Mushroom, big life goals and scheming, etc. I have also had other friends that would like to visit – Vic, Erik, Kevin, Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy, etc. – trying to figure out a workable schedule for it is tricky, especially trying to make sure I hit my “good days”. Right now we are focused on scheduling Andrea’s dad’s memorial service. David went to a church in his home town, but we would like to do the service in Fort Myers some time in February. It will be good to spend some time remembering David and his warm friendly smile.
Jan 19, 2007
Wow, the light at the end of the tunnel has suddenly gotten a lot brighter! Dr. Campbell apparently received an email from Dr. Levine a while ago, but inadvertently deleted it. But she did take notes, and agreed with his approach: surgery in April, cut back on the chemo 6 weeks before surgery, tapering off the Avastin (which prevents creation of new blood vessels, great when you’re sitting in a cave fighting new cancer growth, but a real bummer when you’re trying to heal from surgery) 8 weeks before surgery. That leaves me with only one more session of FOLFOX! And they have acknowledged that even though all the tests look good, all is not well with my port, which causes me over a week’s worth of severe shoulder pain at the end of every 2-day chemo-pumping session. So Dr. Campbell recommended that we consider using an arm vein for the last session. That was music to my ears – the pain has been relentless, and now it’s almost over. I am so blessed to have gotten so far. Thanks to everyone that checks in on me. You have all been a great boost to my strength.