Day 3 Chemo

I am sitting in my little hospital room, hooked up to Stringbean, my IV pole, as they infuse my 1st chemo of the day. So far so good. Just that funny taste in my mouth. I didn't get my workout in yet since Holly stopped by earlier than usual on her way to work, and they started the chemo earlier than usual. They are trying to get me on a 9am and 9pm schedule. On Saturday, when I have it for the last time, I'll be able to go home. It will be late, of course, but I'll be happy to go home to sleep in my own bed.

Yesterday they gave me a Daypass to leave the hospital, and our friend Sandi gave me a ride home. She was over here getting her flu shot and called to see if she could stop by for a visit. Her work is nearby; in fact, I can see her building from my window. She was sweet to run me home and take time from her workday to be out and about for a bit shuttling me to and fro.

I had a relaxed, low key day at home with my Daypass. I walked down to Weaver St to stretch my legs. I also returned that mystery book by Ian Rankin that I read yesterday (fluff but fun fluff). I picked up a new book by Thomas Frank entitled "What's the matter with Kansas, " which hey had on hold for me. I have started using the library several times a week now. It makes a good destination walk, and they have a terrific collection for a small town library. The next time I am there, I am going to buy the $2 bumper sticker that supports their services. It still amazes me that the library is free. I mean books, magazines, computers, and DVDs all free. They do alot of programs for kids too. I always see lots of young kids there with their parents or being read to in the activity room. Of course, the older kids are glued to the computers doing email and whatever else they do (?homework?). When we lived in South Windermere, a neighborhood in Charleston, I could ride my bike or walk to the public library. I really liked to go there and hang out. I would read parts of the Encyclopedia, since we didn't have one, and I loved history/biography books. It was fun to peruse the shelves or the card catalog picking up interesting reads that I stumbled upon. Wikipedia is pretty cool too, but it's harder to just stumble onto something else when you are using the computer as the search agent.

Well I'm hoping for another Daypass tomorrow. My hemoglobin has already fallen to 8.7 so I will need a blood transfusion soon-either today or tomorrow. My platelet and white cell counts are still high, however.

Another photo from the w-e trip. This is the lighthouse on Chincoteague island. It is actually 5 miles from the shoreline now as sand and marsh has built up over the last 200 yrs with all the hurricanes, tropical storms, and wave surges. Our sea kayaking trip was held in the little cove created by all those past surges. This lighthouse was built in 1833 and automated in 1965. Its signal extends 22 miles out to sea as a warning for nearby boats. The signal consists of 2 flashes of light every 5 seconds. I did get a photo of it as it turned on one evening. I'll include that photo with another blog entry.

Another Day 2

It's almost 9:30am and the doctor team hasn't even begun to round on all of us up here on the 9200 unit. I slept late after being woken up so much in the night with premeds for chemo, then chemo for 2 hrs, then lab draws, weights, more meds, eyedrops, blood pressure checks...well you get the idea. I didn't wake up for good until 8am. Like they say, the hospital really isn't the place to get god rest. I immediately went to the Exercise room to use the Nu-step machine which a recumbent stepper. The treadmill is still broken. The nurses claim that it was fixed but then broke again since my last visit. I will get the chance to walk around for real if they give me a Daypass. I'll walk the home streets if I go to Hillsborough or around campus if I stay here. At the moment, I'm drinking my tea and waiting for the team right now. I have to push fluids so that they won't decide to hook me up to the string bean pole with fluids.

I had the nurse print out my labs from last night. They look better than the day before. My bone marrow must still be in production mode: Hemoglobin 9.8, white cell 4.9 x 10EE9, platelets 186,000. Those are pretty good numbers, even normal except for the anemia.

So far I have felt pretty good. I have a slight funny taste in my mouth and just a touch of stomach queasiness. Nothing bad. But the hotflashes are quite intense. This chemo med gives me those strong hotflashes that soak me from the head down. Then, when they stop, I get pretty chilly. I've taken to wearing a wicking T shirt and having a button down shirt or sweater to wear over it. It helps with temperature control. My hotflashes were going away before I started this treatment. I am not thrilled to have them back. Maybe they will recede quickly once all of this is over. They are annoying.

I'll show another photo of the swamp just as we were entering. It reminds me of one of those Disneyworld rides where you're driven back into the darkness and some cartoon character is going to appear from behind a tree at any moment. But we didn't see anyone except a canoe with a man and woman heading back to the put-in as we ventured out.

Room #9211

I've been checked into my room, and the doctor team has been around to see me for the morning. They gave me a big bag of fluids to wash down the chemo I will be getting later. They have agreed to unhook me from the big pole of IV fluids if I agree to drink 2 liters everyday. Easy and well worth it. When I get fluids, it means that my catheter is hooked up to a big pole that I have to drag around with me when I go anywhere. So I have to wheel it into the bathroom with me, down to the exercise room, into the kitchen galley, etc. It is much nicer to be free to roam.

They put me in a different room this time, and the orientation is opposite of my old room. The bed and window are flipped around. It will feel more disorienting than usual until I get accustomed to it. On the other hand, I won't get bored of the room as quickly.

I'm still waiting for my chemo to arrive from the pharmacy so that they can start my treatment. As before, I'll get chemo today at 11am and 11pm. But they want to move it back to 9am and 9pm for the other days. And they plan to let me leave after the last dose on Saturday night like we did before. Since they always wake me at 4am to draw labs and weigh me, I am more than happy to forgo that extra night here in the hospital. I think they are planning to let me have a Daypass again too. I don't get any meds or fluids on days 2 and 4 so it's pretty boring to just sit around waiting until the entire next day to have chemo again. Ah, if only they could figure out how to give me this stuff at home or in the clinic. I wouldn't even need to be in the hospital at all. Now that would be great.

I'll throw in a photo of Merchants Mill Pond for today. It was really beautiful canoeing there-so tranquil with all the moss hanging from the trees and only the sound of woodpeckers rat-a-tat-tatting at the dead logs.

Wildlife Refuge

Holly and I had a fun w-e adventure at the Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to take her somewhere fun for her birthday, which is October 21st. However, I didn't know how mobile I'd be then due to my next chemo treatment. It is so nice to see wildlife this time of year when the leaves are changing, birds are migrating, and the autumn weather is so pleasant. We did get to see plenty of birds including some bald eagles and falcons. We had a terrific sea kayaking trip led by one of the Park Rangers who knew everything about the area and its wildlife. We spent 2 hours sea kayaking the marsh at high tide, a bargain at only $10 each. We also did a bit of hiking and running, saw their lighthouse, the wild ponies, and walked the beach area. Our hotel was very close to the park entrance and even had its own little balcony overlooking the ponies. We ate lots of seafood, too, of course, and did our part to help the local economy.

Despite getting a bit turned around in the megalopolis of Virginia Beach-Hampton-Newport News on the drive back Sunday, we made it to Merchants Mill Pond in time to do a few hours of canoeing in the swamp. We saw a few pileated woodpeckers and some nutria hiding out on a tree island. We saw lots of lillypads and cypress trees with their knees sticking up from the water and few other people. The light was amazing because we started around 5 pm when the shadows were so stunning. It was great, too, that we could just show up, rent boats, and get on the water right away with all the gear we needed. Beautiful area. Holly had been there before, and she showed me where you can camp. It wasn't crowded at all-just a few other canoers and sea kayakers enjoying the bottomland swamp like us.

Well I'm off to my doctors appt. Tomorrow, its back to the hospital for another 5 days of chemo. This will be Round 3 of 4. Inching closer to being done, done.

Feeling Good for the Upcoming W-E

Holly and I just got back from a morning run together here in Hillsborough. She is taking the day off so that we can go bird watching at a secret location. I am hoping that we get to hike, run, bike and kayak too. It is a beautiful day here - cool, crisp, and clear. I can't think of a better day to be outside.

I don't have clinic again until Monday when I see Dr Long. Then I go back into the hospital Tuesday morning for the next 5 days of chemo. I am actually looking forward to it. Round 3 (of 4) gets me that much closer to finishing.

I probably won't write again until Monday. Just fyi.

Yesterday's counts: white cells 2.4 x 10EE9, absolute neutrophils 840 (I can eat salad and fruits again), platelets 99,0000, hemoglobin 9.3.

Have a great w-e yourself-taf

HAPPY OCTOBER

I am sitting in my Duke blue recliner on side B, the side of the clinic with the big windows, open spaces and lots of light. It is definitely the more cheery side of the clinic. Melissa, my nurse for the day, just took my temperature and blood pressure and removed blood through my catheter to check my blood counts. In another 30 or 40 mins, I'll have my results and be on my way home for the rest of the day. Before my appts, Holly and I try to guess what the counts will be for the upcoming lab draw. Sometimes we are really close, sometimes not so close. Today my counts are on the way up, so we'll see how high that white cell count has climbed, how many platelets I have, and what the red cell number is. I had a good rowing/push-up workout this morning so I know the red cell number will be above 9.0.

October is such nice month. It is cooler as fall arrives. The leaves start to change. The sunlight is very pretty as the summer haze recedes. It is especially pretty with the polarizing sunglasses I wear when I go outside. I was walking through downtown Hillsborough yesterday afternoon to check on a new park they are creating on the Eno River. Hillsborough is putting in a Riverwalk from the downtown area to Occoneechee Mtn, some 1.5 miles away. The new park is being created on the Riverwalk at about the halfway mark and will include picnic areas and other recreation options once it is finished. It is near one of my running routes around town, so it will be nice to hop on the Riverwalk to add mileage to my run. The added bonus is that it will be along the river too. I'm sure it will be pretty.

On my way back home after checking out the park building site, I stopped in the library to check on a mystery writer I'd read about (Ian Rankin). I have a number of books I am working on right now, but wanted to see if our small library had this famous author's work. I was delighted to find that we have lots of his titles, most of which are about an hard boiled Edinburgh detective. Just on a whim, I also checked to see if they had a book written by one of my old Exeter high school classmates which had recently been reviewed in the NY Times. She frequently writes articles for the NY Times, and just wrote a book about the Brits since she married one and has been living in England for 10 yrs now. To by surprise and delight, our small library did have the book, so I checked it out. I left for home thinking how nice it is to live in this small town with a good library and running routes and parks along the river. It is really very pleasant.

The Painted Fern, Resilience

The photo is awful so you'll just have to believe me that there is a small painted fern in this photo. My friend Susan gave it to me back in late May or early June when I was first diagnosed with leukemia. It's name is "resilience," and she thought it would be symbolic of my journey ahead (well, at least, I think that was her point, close enough, as she always says). I wasn't sure whether to plant it in the garden at the Asheville house, which is my first love, or at the Hillsborough house. I poured myself into that Asheville hillside 6 years ago with truckload after truckload of mulch and plants to replace an ugly, grass covered slope behind the house. I pulled out bamboo that ran along the steps on both sides (see it was alot of work), and put in the mishmash of perennials, shrubs, and rhododendrons that now dot the hillside on both sides.

The garden here at the Hillsborough house is much smaller, just a few plants and trees that run along the wooden fence in the backyard and Holly's flowers in the front of the house. I knew that we might not get to Asheville much once I started treatment, but I decided to plant the painted fern at the Asheville house where I could see it from the patio. Holly and I often sit on the patio near the garden to eat our lunch or enjoy a beer before supper when we are there. I thought it would be nice to look over and see the fern that Susan gave me and share all that resilience energy.

However, Asheville suffered an extreme drought this summer and the fern died. My "resilience" died. I didn't want to mention it to anyone. I didn't point it out to Susan or Holly, and I barely let myself think about how my symbolic fern was no more. It made me sad, even worried a little in a superstitious way. But recently, Asheville got rain. And my little fern is growing again. It is resilient, by golly. Whew, I was so relieved. I did mention it to Susan, Donna, and Holly this weekend when I saw the fern pushing its little self back up from the ground. And that's me, pushing myself back up from treatment, resilient like the painted fern.

To clarify, since I obviously confused some of you about my next hospitalization for chemo; it's next week. I see Dr. Long on Monday in his office then go into the hospital Tuesday morning (10/7) to take another 5 days of chemo. This week is my rest, rebound, and resilience week as my bone marrow turns back on after the last treatment. Sorry to confuse.