A Special Card

I often get greeting cards from friends and relatives and I am so grateful to receive them. Some of the cards are humorous and give me a great lift for the day...some are warm and special and make me feel warm and special. I received a card today that made my heart sing. Many of you know that I have a brother who is Developmentally Disabled and lives in the Hope Group Home in Shady Hills that is managed by The Center for Independence. He is the youngest of us and my brother Phil and I try to stay very active in his life and include him in all our family activities. He is the light of our family and has given more to us than we could ever give to him. Since I have been undergoing the Chemotherapy treatments I have not been able to see Bing as often as I usually do...I know he misses me. Today I received a greeting card from him that he made himself. I wanted to share this with you....it is so special to me and I will treasure it always.

Trinity Grill

So, this was a special day. My "gal pals" decided to take me to lunch at the Trinity Grill. The grill is a kind of upscale type restaurant for lunch or dinner and the food is delicious. Owned by the Pappa's family of the famed "Pappa's Restaurant" that made Tarpon Springs famous, most of the food is Greek or new haute American cuisine. We had a great time...catching up on the usual gossip and reconnecting friendships. Sometimes we all get so busy we don't have time to socialize and just have a good time. From left to right...Sherry, me, Hope, Chris,..across from Chris is Anne, then Kathy, Carol and Toni. Unfortunately, our other friend Di could not be with us...she took a flight to Iowa to see her daughter on Friday and is not due back till Monday. We missed you Di, but we have decided to do this every 6 or 8 weeks....maybe even at someones home next time so we can sit and chat forever. Thanks you, my dear friends, for this outing. You have no idea how much I appreciated your thoughtfulness. I love you all.

Starting a New Round of Chemo

Well..to update you on the medical stuff. I finished my first round of chemo...2 very strong drugs for 8 weeks and now I will be starting on a 12 week second round of chemo with only one drug called Taxol. I am hoping that this round will not make me as tired as the other two chemicals I was getting the first time around. This will be administered once a week starting on Jan 23. I am getting a week off....and it is much needed for my side effects to minimize. Dr. Kumar has also ordered a special shot each week to boost my red blood count and hopes this will help the fatigue. I already get a shot to boost my white blood count.
Chemo is administered to a group of us in a room with about eight chairs. We are a mix of people, mostly women, of all ages and with different types of cancer. Our common bond is that we all have Cancer, we are all in treatment and we all have stories to share and tips to help each other. We become a special group, bonding over our illness. I've shared some great laughs with this group, some tears and some personal stories. If I have learned one thing...it is that the human spirit has such a survival instinct it amazes me. Here we all are...being poisoned each week to kill a disease...some of us going for many, many months and even years...fighting the side effects, working so hard to rid ourselves of this hideous killer we are carrying and yet carrying on...making jokes and trying to help each other. I admire so these new friends I've made in Chemo Room 1 and pray for each of them every day. Some of us will make it...some of us will not...but by gosh we all are giving it our best! Please say a little prayer for them too.

Cap Making Fun!1

OK...these are my efforts at cap making. Actually, I already gave a pink one away (I made 2) to a fellow Chemo patient. These are very comfortable, adjustable and not hot at all. I made them out of cotton. A lot of the commercial ones are jersey knits...and in our climate they are very hot. A few of the other Chemo patients have asked for one...so I am now making about 6 more. I am finding it fun to do. I'll be trying my hand at twisted turbans soon and will let you know how that works out. Hey ...I could become The Best Little Hat Maker in Pasco before you know it!!!

A Great Day!

Today I am having a great day...so my friend Phyllis took me to JoAnne Fabrics to buy a pattern and some materials to make some chemo hats. Buying thru a catalog, online or in stores locally is hard....there are very few resourses locally...they are expensive with shipping charges thru catalogs or online and of course the color selections are rather limited. I chose this McCall pattern because it seemed versatile and I have always been partial to this pattern company. I also purchased some fabrics and I am excited to start this project. I'll take pix and model them when I have a few made. I want to get a few done by Wednesday....Chemo day...I'd like to pass a few out to some of the girls in my Chemo group....we all can use a day brightener!!

Wonderful Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve, we went to my brother's home in Spring Hill. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well, so we left early. I was running a temperature, which is bad news for a cancer patient, and feeling sick to my stomach. On the 25th, I was tired. On the 26th I went for chemo and then had 3 terrific days. Pamm, Bill and Liz came in on Wednesday and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday were great. I crashed on Saturday about mid-morning. That's the life of a cancer patient on chemotherapy, but we lived it up on those three days. One of my chemo side effects is I can't taste anything...all foods taste metallic or like cardboard. Last week, my mouth was not sore and I could eat spicy things. Dr. Kumar told Russ and I that the best Indian food was at a restaurant called Laziz on McMullen Booth Road. The five of us went there and had a terrific meal. If you like Indian food, try this place. We all had either chicken or lamb curries and it was wonderful...I could even taste it. Everyone left on Saturday, about the time I crashed. I was so glad that I was good while they were here.

The cumulative effect of chemotherapy is not pleasant. The side effects I get - fatigue, sore mouth, cough, sore throat, back pain, headache and low blood counts are bearable but very unpleasant. They seem to last longer each time I get another dosage. I do get shots to boost the red blood counts and the white counts, but they remain very low and are a constant threat for infection. My next chemo treatment is Wednesday. I thought that would be the end of it....but alas....I am still responding to the drugs in a positive manner so Dr. Kumar is extending the chemo once a week for twelve more weeks. Egad...that's three more months of feeling like hell most of the time....only having a few good days each month and not being able to function like a whole person, unless the chemo is different for those 12 sessions. I want to go back to work and start to live my life with some semblance of normalcy.Possibly my cocktail will be different and that will be the case. Sorry to vent...but if I have failed to respond to many of you, I wanted you to understand why. I appreciate all the calls and cards and emails....I read them all...but sometimes I am just not up to responding.