Jan Curran Events

Chemo went fine..

Chemo went okay..

Lasted less than 2 hours so my oxygen battery also lasted and it went okay. Had a few minutes, well 35 to be exact, as I waited to get hooked up and that fear my oxygen wouldn't last, but it did and whew!

I hadn't lost any weight so doc was pleased about that. Still 20 lbs under so have weight to gain but it seems to be hard to do. About all I can do to stay stable. Keep trying. Even took a piece of pie to go from Marie Callendar's when out for lunch with pal Ann the other day. Didn't help in the getting fatter category.

Ann and I try to meet once a week. Even have our " own" booth at the restaurant now and a waiter who knows what our regular menu choices are. Makes it fun and it's a good break for me plus an effort in this gain weight game.

Dr. asked if I had any symptoms of a tumor in the liver , but I don't. Hopefully I won't. We are scheduling me for a liver scan for a few weeks from now, check the status of the tumor. Hopefully it has shrunk. has not grown. Would be wonderful if it was gone, gone, gone.

The hardest part for me about going to chemo is seeing the other patients in the infusion room. Some look like posters for people suffering. Breaks my heart. Bald, pale, with a family member sitting next to them being reassuring. I had times like that with son Tod, well, with all my kids back in the desert when I was in chemo. Not happy memories and this time seems easier. Thank God for that.

Driving myself made a big difference. Was home in a few minutes and none of that waiting for a driver to pick me back up. Was a gutsy thing to do, to do the driving myself, but they didn't give me anything that would make me dopey, so it was okay.

Was tired when I got home. Had something to eat and was in bed by 6. Asleep by 7  I am sure. Was beat.

Feel okay this morning, just the fatigue that comes from chemo. I'll take a nap after lunch.

Started reading " Water For Elephants". Like the writing but nearly fell asleep reading so will go back to it after my nap today.

Warm here, nice, about 70 but too windy to sit outside this morning. Maybe the wind will stop by this afternoon. I enjoy sitting out on my deck. It's very peaceful.

Thanks for stopping here.

 

 

A new day, more chemo..

Today is chemo day again. Time may have gone slowly for you, but for me, it zoomed by and  I feel like I barely had time to rebuild back up some strength before it is time to go again. I really got knocked down for about 9 days this time, then like a curtain raising, the tide changed and I felt pretty good this last week and a half. Hey, I even went out to lunch with my friend Ann. Only went a block away but it was a nice a long lunch filled with lots of good chatter, so relaxing and a nice break for me.

I'm going to drive myself today. Big gutsy thing to do, but figure my oxygen battery ought to last long enough so don't need someone along to haul the electrical hookup and if all goes well, I should be out of there in under 2 hours and home in time to charge the battery a bit before dinner time.

I've done all my " before" chores, like laundry and refilling RX and stocking up on some things in the grocery categories, so think I am set. Just need to pick out a book to read while there. I never read " Water For Elephants" which was a best seller a year or so ago and had it here on my shelves so might take that. Don't feel like reading a mystery and have quite a few of those here that one or the other of my sons got me.

I'm mentally prepared for the next week, that debilitating fatigue after chemo. Dreading it, but ready mentally. Daughter Karen offered to come over one day and give me a hand with things I might need. What a sweetheart. And here she is in radiation therapy herself, but so far, so good and that fatigue hasn't hit her yet. I'm hoping she will continue to sail through it since they just bought a house and she is going to need energy to pack up boxes and all.

Our weather is perfect. No rain. Temperatues around 70, blue skies, no clouds and the air smells like the ocean.  I  think I will go sit outside on my deck now for a few minutes, take advantage of feeling good.  I'll leave here about 1:15 for chemo, which means  I can have lunch here first.

Tell me, read any good books you think I would like to read while going through chemo and staying close to or on the bed?

Feeling weak this week...

My buddy Larry said to me at dinner ," You're looking weak..." Well, I felt weak, too , yesterday. But don;t you think that is pretty par for the course with chemo on day two following infusion?

The actual infusion day went great on Thursday... I felt fine and felt pretty good the next morning, too. Oh, forgot to tell you, had a chest xray first and no fluid around the lungs, so went in to infusion doing better.  And I had gained three pounds. All good stuff.

I really love my doctor. She is very soft, compassionate, caring. Made sure  Iwas all settled and comfy in the chair before infusion began. My doc back in the desert would never have done that. I'm seeing what a difference the personality of the doc has on your psychological feelings and how well you do at infusion.

Mostly I have been either on or in the bed since the afternoon following chemo. Just hits and hits hard with this fatigue. But, I know that so don't panic when my legs just won't go but surely hate that feeling. I go to walk and my legs start to buckle. Have to stop, stand for a minute holding on to something and then try again. This too shall  pass.

Finished reading " Mrs. Astor Regrets."  The rich are surely different. Enjoyed the book and now have it packaged up and stamped MEDIA MAIL so I can ship it off to a friend in Washington State to read and enjoy.

My son Lee got me a book , " Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club". He says he didn't know anything about the book, got it at a book expo but it has a flashy cover and he thought it might be a fun read. I took it along to read during infusion. Well, let me tell you, what a hoot! It has so many hot sex scenes Harold Robbins would blush reading it and I feared the nurse would look over my shoulder and think I was in to porn or something. Told Lee, we had a good laugh and then he checked out the reviews for the book and they were all good... critics consider it a humor book. Okay, sex you can laugh about....

Anyone else using this typepad frustrated? It jumps around and I can't get even one sentence written without back spacing and deleting and feeling angry. Daughter Linda wrote that she figured out how to get past this , think she is writing in WORD and then pasting it in. I may have to do that next time.

Okay, this is going to be a wrap for now.. time to get dressed and then eyeball the bed again! Hang in there with me, we will get through this. Now only four more chemo times..