Day 416 - Round 11

Wow. Only one left after today. I found out that the Treatment Room will be closed on the 27th & 28th, which means I would most likely have to do my last round on the 29th. I want to get it over & done with, so Dr. Daly is going to let me do my last round on Christmas Eve. I'm not really in the Christmas spirit this year, so that suits me fine! I'll be plum happy to be all done & dusted for Christmas. Best present ever!

I told Dr. Daly how I felt about the radiation & he was accepting of my decision. If I change my mind, I'll let him know. I asked him to write me a letter to take with me when I travel to California. He said he'd write me a letter & tell them to keep me! Ha ha! I have grown to love Dr. Daly. He's a great Doctor - with a charming personality. He won't be there on Christmas Eve, so I'll most likely see Dr. Lategan, whom I've also gained an affection for. I've really been blessed with the Doctors & Nurses at Peter Lougheed. They are a wonderful bunch with big hearts!

As for treatment, I'm getting it down pat. I took my pre-treatment drugs on the way in & then one more Ativan just before they started. I was out like a light & slept through the whole thing again. We stopped for a chai egg nog latté on the way home, as well as gas & dog food. I slept the rest of the way home. Jaco called somewhere in there, but my mind gets foggy!

The Nurses said we'd have a celebration at my last round. One of them mention champagne. I asked if it went well with Ativan. NO! was the reply! I laughed & said, 'I saw Santa! And Rudolph!' They told me I likely would if I combined the 2! No champagne it is then!

My arm is doing much better, btw. I really regret no taking a photo of it at it's worst. It still looks pretty icky here, but it's getting better!

Sleep well & see you tomorrow... I'll be feeling more 'normal' then!
xxxx Maria, Oceana, Valentina & Adios


Warning: May churn your tummy a little!

 Graduation Flowers from Mom - they smell delicious!

Day 325 - Round 5

Well, I'm pleased to say I made it through the day without losing any meals. My blood work was .01 mark below normal, but luckily Dr. Lategan still ordered my treatment. I told him I didn't take the Neupogen last Wednesday as instructed, but he didn't smack my fingers too badly... :oP 


Marilyn was my Nurse for the day. I'll never forget her name, as I think of Marilyn Monroe every time I hear her name! Sam was also there & I learned that Sam replaced Grethe, so CONGRATULATIONS Sam! Well done on the promotion! Ken stopped by to say hello, as he had a physio appointment in the neighbourhood. He & Jaco visited, as I was starting to feel pretty out of it. Ken was kind & brought me a flower in a really cute vase with a little ladybug on the side.


The Dacarbazine REALLY hurt my arm today. In fact, it took twice as long to inject, it hurt that bad. So, instead of one hour, it took two hours. Don't forget that doesn't include the anti-emetic, Adriamycin or Vinblastine. Or the saline flushes in between. Ugh. I think I'll need a clown to perform in front of me next time... It is getting tough! And to think I'm not even half way yet! Sigh.


I managed to eat more 'neutral' foods, with the hopes of keeping it down & keeping my body happy. Dr. Lategan said that vomiting & chemo is generally all in your head. He said he had one patient who couldn't even drive past the hospital without getting sick. Great. I'm doing my best to keep my mind on the straight & narrow!


Jaco managed to get me home, in one piece, through rush hour traffic. He's learned the city well! I went straight to bed, glad to have survived the day... 7 to go.


xxxxMJV&O

Thanks Sam & Marilyn for taking such great care of me today!

Day 319 - The Would Be Round of Chemo That Wasn't

Yup. You guessed it. Blood work was too low. Come back in a week. Great. 


We waited 2 hours for the Doctor. Dr. Daly wasn't in today, so I was supposed to see Dr. Lategan. Apparently Dr. Lategan was booked solid, so I was pawned off on Dr. Blahey (bleh-HAY). I had read not so cool things about Dr. Blahey on RateMDs.com (check out your Doctor &/or leave them some feedback!), so I wasn't too thrilled to be seeing him. I had a dreadful feeling in my stomach all morning, partially because I was scared I was going to be sick again & that was NOT fun, and partially because, well, let's face it, chemo sucks. 


Dr. Blahey wasn't too bad. I was expecting someone like Dr. House, only without the sarcasm I've grown to love, however, Dr. Blahey was just cool. He wasn't rude or offensive, he was just to the point. He told me to go home & take a shot of Neupogen & come back next week. 


Well, I guess we have the rest of the day off! Jaco & I stopped at Costco & Community Natural Foods, then it was on our way home. Looks like we'll have a few days off!


At one point in the morning, while we were waiting, an older gentleman walked into the hallway. He looked a little disheveled & his clothes were a little bit dated. Corduroy jacket, pants hiked up WAY past his navel & those big old metal framed glasses from the 1980s. Jaco commented on the gentleman saying he surely couldn't be a Doctor. When the gentleman walked into the clerical room & came out carrying a stethoscope, well, he just proved us wrong! A few moments later, the gentleman came & stood at the counter, talking to the receptionist. As he was standing there, Jaco & I noticed the length of the gentleman's pants. They were short. Very short. Jaco said, 'Hmm. Must've grown some.' It was funny at the time, but Jaco found it hilarious. I've never seen my husband in tears of laughter before. We were giggling like two kids in math class who just pranked the teacher. Maybe you had to be there, but it was a pretty good case of flood pants!


It feels good to have no plans for the next few days... We'll be hanging out with the dogs & trying to do as little as possible... Waiting for these neutrophils to pop back up...


xxxx MJV&O

Oceana sucks up to Papa

Looks like it's working!

Off in La-La Land

Someone else is in La-La Land!

Day 272 - Round 2 of AVD

Crud. I just checked the blog & I’m a week behind. That bites. It’s going to be a struggle to catch up. Bear with me!!!

Today was round 2 of AVD. My doctor’s appointment was at 0900, which meant I had to be there by 0800 for blood work. However, I had seen Dr. Lategan’s appointment schedule when I left last week. There were NO empty spots & names were written up both sides & across the bottom of the page! He’s a busy, busy guy! While we had waited, they called about 12 people in 20 minutes to see him!!! Wowser!!! So, I took the liberty of sleeping a few more ‘snooze buttons’. We left the house at 0730, arriving at 0830 at the hospital.

I went straight to the lab for blood work. Today was only a CBC. The gal at the desk was slow as molasses. They took 2 people in the first 15 minutes I waited. When it was my turn, OH MY STARS!!!!!! YEOW!!! I swear that guy was digging through my entire forearm!!! He put the needle in, which hurt. Then he proceeded to rummage around for a vein like he was digging for a matching sock in the bottom of the drawer. It hurt so intensely that I actually yelped out loud! And I’m generally quite tolerant. He didn’t seem to care that he was inflicting pain upon me. Thanks buddy.

I didn’t have to wait long to see Dr. Lategan. I had Nurse Andrea take my particulars (weight, height, blood pressure & sats). We got to chatting & she helped me out with the receptionist/medical secretary issue. I’ve been given the number for her supervisor & I will definitely get in touch with her!

Dr. Lategan came in & ticked a few patients off the list & then informed me that my Neutrophils were high enough to proceed with treatment. (1.8 & then need to be minimum 1.4) Great! We had a quick chat about Neupogen & when I would take them & I could do them in my thigh – not my belly as I had been worried about! He reassured me that the nasty side effects I’d found out about – ruptured spleen à death, bone pain, etc, etc… would most likely be minimal. Well, the death part anyhow, but not the bone pain. I’ll have bone pain due to the large amounts of neutrophils being produced in the bone, but it is manageable with Tylenol. The enlarged spleen happens with patients who have to take Neupogen every day. Thank goodness I will only be taking shots on Wednesdays & Thursdays the week after chemo.

We were just finishing up the appointment when Dr. Lategan felt my neck & commented, ‘Hmm, yep, they are still there. We’ll have to give you more poison this week.’ I love a Physician with a personality. :o)

I headed down to the Treatment Room & found an empty chair closest to the door. (Translation: closest to the toilet!) I just got settled & the needle put in my arm when the Nurses told me I could go for lunch or disappear for an hour or so if I liked. They would call me when my drugs were ready. Great, except for the fact that Mom had just left to get some food. I called her on her cell 8x & she was NOT answering. Knowing her she had it on vibrate, in her purse. Worst of all, she’d taken my wallet with her, so I couldn’t even find a snack close by! Grrr! Low & behold, she popped her head in the door a few minutes later. She had stopped to pay for her parking, waited in line for the bathroom & just got back to the car when she checked her phone & saw ‘WHAT?!? EIGHT MISSED CALLS?!?’ She said there were another 2 while she was checking the message… Hey, at least I’m persistent! :o)

We jetted over to Booster Juice for a vegetarian panini. I love them, but they put onions in them. I usually have to pick them out. I asked today if they could make one without onions. The lady said it was my lucky day, as she was out of onions, so none of the sandwiches had them! :o) We just sat in the car when the cell phone rang. It was the clinic & they had my meds already! We scooted over to Jugo Juice (I think they have better smoothies) & then quickly back to the hospital.

I was having an impatient morning with Mom. Her driving was driving me crazy & she wasn’t as rushed to get the chemo over with as I was. Perhaps I’m a patient to practice my patience. :oP

I settled back into my chair & Nurse Samantha started my treatments. She is a wonderful & beautiful young lady. I noticed a photo of her & a Chocolate Lab on the back of her ID card. We chatted about all sorts of things. She is very pleasant & very attentive. She checked my blood flow many times throughout the treatments, she reviewed the side effects & also the dosages I was receiving. I had a bit more of the Dacarbazine this time than previously. I don’t mind. The side effects of Dacarbazine include alopecia, nausea, vomiting, flu-like symptoms. Pretty mild compared to cardiac myopathy & peripheral neuropathy! I showed her our wedding photos, as I had them on the laptop.

I visited with a Welsh lady beside me. She had Leukemia & now has to have Gamma treatments once a month. A little bottle of this stuff costs $6000! Crazy! It has a certain cell (neutrophils maybe?) collected from 20,000 different people! But it keeps her neutrophils working & thus, keeps away infections.

They gave me another Ativan & it chilled me out nicely. In fact, I’m typing this in real time & I feel like I can barely keep my eyes open & can barely think straight! I’m sure I’ll be out cold on the way home!

I’ve been very happy thus far at the Peter Lougheed hospital. I must say, the Nurses & Doctors are fantastic & they are taking great care of me. I’m very grateful for the chance to be treated here. The crappy part? I’m on the downward slope of baldness. I have really enjoyed the buzz cut. I’m sad to have to say goodbye to it. I am even more sad to have to say goodbye to my eyebrows & lashes! Small things, I know, but it would be nice to keep them – even if it was only 5 or 10 hairs… Wishful thinking. I’ll just have to practice my make-up artistry in the meantime…

So, there you have it. Round 2 done & dusted. Survived another escapade & as Dr. Daly said, it’s nowhere near as bad as I had expected. Thank goodness!!!

We finished up at the hospital, a quick stop at HomeSense & Winners for Mom to find a frame & then it was home to bed. I was sound asleep by 1800! G'nite all!

A sleepy Maria & lonely Valentina (she didn’t get to come today)

xxxxx

Dr. Lategan - he's really tall & my angle (sitting) doesn't make him look any shorter! What a great Doctor though! Patience of a Saint or is it Patient's of a Saint?!? :oP

My Dancing Partner - I get the multi line machine as I need saline & chemo at the same time.

The treatment room. Everyone's chillin' out.

OMGosh - The Gorgeous Nurse who took care of me today - meet Sam! What a stunner!!!

Day 265 - False Alarm & False Labour!

And what a day it was. 


Collet & Dave & Ezra went to the zoo today. They had a fabulous day & Ezra loved seeing the animals. I think Collet was little wiped from all the walking & the extra 'luggage' she's toting these days! The arrived home around 2100. 


I, on the other hand, arrived home much earlier than planned. 


I was up at 0530 & in the shower shortly after. When I was out of the shower & getting ready, Mom poked her head in the door to see if Valentina wanted out. There's the Princess, lying in my bed, head on the pillow, covers up to her neck. She lazily looks over at Mom & then looks away. Apparently she didn't want outside! What a little turkey!


We made it to Peter Lougheed in 57 minutes. I went straight to the lab for blood work. Mom2 met me there. We both needed blood work done & she was also having some other tests done today, so we met up. They took my blood straight away & I headed back to the outpatient waiting area. 


There were about 12 patients called in the 1/2 hr while I waited to see Dr. Lategan. He is one busy Doc! Wow! When I was finally called in to see him, Vivian took my vitals & wrote a few notes. She was cute. She totally didn't recognize or remember me. I joked with her, thinking she couldn't have forgotten me so easily... I then remembered that I had a lot more hair the last time she saw me! :o) 


Dr. Lategan came in & check out the lumps. We went over my CT scan, he asked how I had been feeling & then checked my blood work. My CBC wasn't included in the write up, so he phoned. Hmpf. My WBC was 2.8 & my Neutrophils were 0.70. Too low for chemo. I need Neupogen. It's $1200/mo. Come back in one week. Great. 


I waltzed out to where the Mom's were sitting & said, 'Okay, we're done. My WBC is in the sink hole, so I'm back in a week. Let's go.' They both sat there stunned, not knowing what to say. I stopped by the pharmacy to apply for the Victory program, which helps supplement the Neupogen. The Pharmacist was very pleasant & most helpful. He said I should here from them by Friday for sure. Fingers crossed they will help me out with this drug! 


So, with no chemo, we decided to have lunch. We stopped at a nearby place & they weren't open until 1100. It was 1015. The gal opened the door for us & let us in! How nice was that??!! We had a lovely meal & then Mom2 had to go back to work & Mom had to do a few errands before we headed home. We made our way to Fort Calgary, where Lynyrd Skynyrd was apparently playing, as his semi-trailer was parked behind the fence & security was tight. A white stretch limo pulled up behind Mom & I was we walked across 9th Ave. Fun stuff! 


After she was finished dropping off a few batches of day planners, we made our way home. I was mentally exhausted & went straight to bed. I enjoyed a nice nap & a relaxing evening. I had been hoping that Collet would be back in time to do the belly photos, but no such luck. Looks like tomorrow will have to be a good day to do it!


We visited for a while this evening & then it was bed time for all of us! Here's to a productive day tomorrow & a fun, fabulous photo shoot! 


Love & hugs,
Maria & Valentina
xxxxxxx

I think Mom was snoring 2 minutes before this photo!

That's the white stretch limo behind us... Maybe my pal, Lyn, was in there...

Sweet Home Alabama...

Rock on Sista!!!