Energy Begets Energy

As I said yesterday in my blog, I had a doctor who was a big advocate of exercise during cancer treatment. She had seen many different patients treated for many different cancers since she was a radiation doc. I have always remembered the thing she told me at one of our visits about how movement during treatment helps one to have more energy. So I am celebrating the surge in energy, as Angela called it, from getting back to my aerobic exercise this week.

This morning I did a row and saw my time for 500 meters improve over the rows I did Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday I ran errr jogged about 3 miles that wore me out. But I felt better this morning on the brisk walk I took after my rowing workout. I would love to find a way to keep this up when I feel weak and nauseous from chemo. But the best I seem to do is to walk a bit. At least it does feel good to work my way back into shape.

I'll go for my chest CT later this afternoon. Hope that continues to show improvement of the pneumonia. Not much more to report on the health front.

A Day for a Jog

Yes indeedy after 2 days of rowing, I felt ready to run (I haven't run in 6 weeks or more). Well I would call it more of a lumbering jog but it was definitely faster than the walks I have been taking. More strenuous too. It felt good some of the time. Tough some of the time. But I am on to bigger and better things while I have the chance. I'll keep doing this aerobic stuff until I have to go into the hospital for chemo again next week. My former radiation oncology doctor said that energy begets energy, and it's true. Maybe the fitness work will help me get over the weakness from chemo faster.

Tomorrow I have my chest CT to check on the pneumonia. My sister Becky arrives from Atlanta (on friday) for 12 days just in time to babysit me in the hospital. Then next week I see my doctor and go into the hospital for 5 days of high dose chemo. It'll probably be just like smashing that blast/leukemia cell pinata, easy and fun. Yeah right.

The Next Phase of Treatment-More Chemo Next Week

Though I really like to write in my blog in the morning, lately I have been exercising during that time. Today I wanted to wait until going to clinic to write just in case I got to hear more about the next phase of my treatment plan. And I did.

I got to meet up with my head doctor, Gwynn Long and his PA Tanya Helms to go over the next steps. I will finish 2 of the abx for pneumonia today after a 2 week course. I am continuing on the anti-fungal med for pneumonia probably for another month or more. That is the one I take by mouth 3x a day and have to take with a high fat meal to increase its absorption from my stomach. That may sound easy, but try eating something high fat 3x a day. Even ice cream gets old after a while. I have found that my old standby peanut butter has been especially helpful in this regard. It has plenty of fat; I like it; and it settles my stomach when I have those pangs of nausea. In the morning, I am drinking this concoction that Holly makes for me-part carnation instant breakfast in whole milk and part Ensure. For breakfast she drinks regular old coffee like I used to do. But I now need the fat and calories too much to waste time with coffee.

To check on the size of the pneumonia, I'll get a repeat Chest CT thursday afternoon. I don't know whether the pneumonia will be all gone, but they aren't going to let that stop the plan for more chemo. I'll be in the hospital next week for 5 days getting chemo 2x a day on days 1, 3 and 5. After that they said that I will get to go home and follow up in the clinic daily like I did last time.

As far as the long term plan, my doc sounds like he is leaning towards doing multiple rounds of chemo instead of the bone marrow transplant. My cancer has been very responsive to the chemo (must be kind of like the pinata), and he can hold the transplant in his back pocket for later if need be. Of course I don't love the idea of more chemo, but I have seen some people in the clinic with bad complications after transplant-complications that can be life threatening in and of themselves and drag on. I think he sees the chemo as giving me a cure (the rate is 80%) w/o all the potential serious complications associated with transplant. I know that I will be sick and nauseous but hopefully better after all of that is out of my system. I feel good right now, and I am ready to move on to the next treatment phase.

Holly and I will make good use of this time before I have to go into the hospital again next week. I started back on the rowing machine yesterday, doing aerobic exercise again. That feels really good. I don' t have the power and strength that I did before all of this treatment, but it doesn't matter. Maybe we can do something special this w-e to be together and have fun before all the hardship starts up again next week.

The Emerald Ocean

We did indeed get to the beach for the w-e. We left Saturday morning to drop Quigley off at the vets office to board for the w-e. Then we headed to Marty and Deb's house to pick them up for the carpool ride to Emerald Isle. Holly drove the whole way; an excellent speedy trip that detoured briefly for lunch at the Bogue House in Swansboro (fried shrimp and string beans) before arriving at Pam & Cindy's house about noon. We spent the afternoon out on the beach peering at the rough but beautiful green water. I stayed under the umbrella, my preferred site and recommended after chemo anyway. The others got into the water, at least some, but it was a pounding surf for sure with the high tide and strong current. It did feel great just to sit there and look at the ocean, visit with friends, and watch all of the other people swim, walk their dogs, or fish. Full summer sun and full summer fun.

Sunday morning, Marty, Holly and I took a long walk on the hard sand of the beach almost down to the point. It was nice to be out before all of the crowds and families. Just us walkers/runners taking advantage of the morning. The afternoon at the beach was quite windy and rough, but it didn't deter us from getting our complement of rays and salt breeze time. The four of us left in the early evening, stopping off to have more fried shrimp on the trip back. You have to do that when you have the chance.

I did finally attach a photo of the "blast-leukemia cell" pinata from my birthday party friday night. The finger puppets were inside the pinatas. I don't have a photo of the other pinata on my camera. I think Marty has one on her camera. Maybe she'll email it to me, and I can show it later as well.

Holy Guacamole, It's a Pinata

My pals from the Durham area came over last night to fete my birthday with cake and ice cream (and most excellent blueberry pie from Weaver St Market). Sandi got me a terrific carrot cake with cream cheese icing from Saladelia. But she had a cold with the sniffles and didn't come. We missed you.

Part of the evening was spent busting open 2 homemade pinatas that they had made for me. One was shaped to look like a blast-all purple and bulbous. When I hit it hard enough with the stick, it burst open spewing chocolates and fun trinkets all over the back porch. The other pinata is harder to describe with cones of many colors that stuck out from a central torso like area. It also rewarded me with gobs of chocolates, other candies, small toys, and trinkets to play with. It was very special to share my birthday with so many sweet, cool people. Thanks for planning the surprises. Sure am glad I managed to blow out all the candles; I want my wish to come true.

This morning we are heading to Emerald isle to stay with friends for the night. We'll get a beach trip in afterall, visiting the ocean today and tomorrow. I won't take my computer so this is it until we get back. Have a great w-e.

Interval Decrease in Bilateral Pneumonia

I had a zippy fast visit at the clinic today. I did not get to see my attending doctor, Dr Long, or his PA Tanya so I don't know the plan for the next step and when that will happen. But I did get a copy of my chest X-ray from Tuesday. It showed a decrease in the pneumonia in both lungs. Nice.

Beth and Henry went to the clinic with me this morning and then headed back to Charleston to fetch their kids and dog for the drive back to Georgia this weekend. It was awfully nice of them to come babysit me, drive me to the clinic, and do all the tasks around the house.

I opened my birthday presents this morning and Gracie appropriated this bag. Beth said she had been getting into it all morning, at one point finding it under the couch with her in it. Thought it made a fun picture.

Feeling Good

I did my walk this morning down to Weaver St Market and got us some pastry treats to eat. Beth and Henry must have left the house right after me because they met me there. We walked back along the old streets, peering at the big old historic homes, the gardens, the magnolias, etc.

I am feeling good today. Got an email from my doctor yesterday saying that the last bone marrow biopsy was clean of leukemia cells by all 3 tests they did. Also, they got more info from the potential bone marrow donors, and one is a perfect match. That is good news if they decide to go that route. Dr Long said that they need to finish up the pneumonia treatment and move on to the next phase of my leukemia treatment. I know that I will have at least 1 round of high dose "consolidation" chemo. It just makes the leukemia less likely to reappear even after a bone marrow transplant. Not sure yet when that would start. I'll probably know more on Friday when I go to clinic.

I was very excited this morning to receive an email from my old running pal and residency buddy Eloise who now lives in New Zealand with her husband and 3 children. She met her husband on a Sierra Club trip, and they dated long distance for a while until she finished her Family Practice residency. I had lost touch with her when her email address changed. So happy to have heard from her again. All the way from NZ no less.