Thanksgiving

Steve came this morning and we went up to the Putnam Killingly game. We ran into Romeo and spent time jawing with him. Then at half time we ran into a bunch of guys I knew from high school. I didn't recognize a lot of them at first, but they all introduced themselves and we exchanged hugs. It wads great chatting with them and we talked again about having a combined class reunion the class of '66 and the class of '67....people in those classes hung out a lot together and it makes sense for us to join together.

Then we went down to Waterford to Jean's for dinner. Turkey, stuffing, creamed onions, squash, mashed taters, peas, etc....good eats! I avoided the turnip although I was sorely tempted. I have enough problems with my bowels right now, I don't need to push it! Dessert was delicious too. Taylor and Ryan were there, although Taylor came late as she had an ambulance call to go on.

Taylor is doing so good. She has a new boyfriend who we met later and he is special. Ryan likes him too, very much. She is taking EMT classes and is doing great in school. We are so proud of her. It's so good to see her happy. And, she's driving now and Sandy says she is a great driver, very careful and attentive to the road.

I still haven't heard anything about a surgery date, so I'm guessing it won't be until the 7th. I am going to call nurse Wendy tomorrow though as I have some new symptoms (bloating) and an increase in other symptoms--abdominal pain, bowel difficulties, etc. Sandy thinks they should operate faster, before I end up with the fluid in the lungs again. We'll see what Wendy says.

Tomorrow Deanna and Lorraine may come over. I hope so...haven't seen them in awhile. Pat called tonight and invited us up to their house for dinner tomorrow night. Sandy has to work but I can go. My throat suddenly got quite sore tonight, so we'll see how it is tomorrow. I'm hoping I can go over there.

Saturday I go up to see Maria. We're going to hit the Lithuanian Kitchen. She's been telling me about it for quite some time and I want to go based on her testimony.

Sandy doesn't have Lyme...at least it didn't titer this time. We're thinking maybe she had a flu and we're hoping I don't get it.

Hoping....

Nighty night!

And the answer is....

Surgery first, chemo second.

I'll probably have the surgery either Dec 1st or the following Monday. I haven't been getting the Avastin since March. So, it was exactly how I thought it would be....I would get the Avastin early on and when it came to the "extension" of the study, I wouldn't get it. And that's how it was. I guess the power of suggestion made me ignore the signs that I WASN'T getting it....no more nose bleeds, blood pressure going back to normal, etc.

So I'll have the surgery and then I'll start the chemo...but this time only six rounds of the heavy duty stuff and then I'm DONE!!!! No Avastin in this trial.

I'm glad I'm having the surgery, despite the risks and the side effects (UGH) from the anesthesia and the morphine. I will be rid of my remaining ovary and I assume they will take my uterus out too. Maybe I can get rid of the hot flashes and night sweats. I won't have to go through more ovarian cysts!

I can handle the six rounds of chemo. The thought of having to go another year plus was a bit daunting, but now I won't have to do that. The side effects from the chemo are not pleasant, but at least I know what they are and I know what to do to minimize them. I won't have nose bleeds this time (no Avastin); my blood pressure should stay good and maybe I won't have the diarrhea either. I'll be tired, but heck, it will be winter...I can hibernate!

I'm relieved I have the answer and I like the answer. All's right with the world.

Sending positive thoughts and energy to Harvey and to Tommy! Get better guys!

Nighty night!

Once I thought I was wrong....

but I was mistaken.....

This is when those of you who have continued to read this blog, even after it got tediously boring, are rewarded.

You get to be among the first to hear this news:

I went to see Dr. McCort today. After being made to wait for over an hour, she came in and gave me the news. All I can say is, there must be something about the month of November that is ALL WRONG for me!

Long story short, I do have a cyst....actually two cysts, one on top of the other, on my left ovary. They believe it's cancer. I also have some sort of presence near my liver and some vague spots of stuff on my right side, down near where the bowel was stuck to my uterus last November....and on the left side towards my back. When Dr. McCort did my pelvic exam I told her about how my butt has been sore, she did a rectal exam and she and I both feel "something" and it was sore! That's new since the last time I saw her, a month ago.

The report says these are fast-growing things....which is good, because the chemo they give me is great for killing fast growing cancer cells. That's right, I'm going back on the "big chemo"...the carboplatinum and the taxol....and maybe the avastin. First they have to decide if I have surgery or not. Then, if it's surgery, I have to wait for eight weeks after my last chemo treatment, which (if I have been getting chemo in this part of the trial) was four weeks ago tomorrow.

If the decision is to not do surgery, then I can start chemo as soon as next week. I don't really want to have surgery, as long as the chemo gets rid of the cysts as the doctor thinks it will. She was reading Dr. Lachance's report on the surgery he did last November and he noted a lot of scar tissue from my gastric by-pass surgery. I guess I am the kind of person who produces a lot of scar tissue from surgery. Lucky me! I certainly don't want to add to what I already have if I don't need to.

So, it looks like I'll be spending this winter dodging H1N1....which will be my biggest concern. I'll be avoiding shopping and will be breaking out the mask again for my trips to the hospital for bloodwork.

I'm sure I'll also be regaling you with horror stories of constipation and diarrhea once again. I hope there are no vomiting stories....my record of not vomiting since 1986 is still intact and I want to keep it that way.

One thing is for sure, we know what to expect and what to do to keep it from happening, or to make it better if it does happen! Live and learn I always say...live and learn.

So, aren't you glad you hung in here with this blog? Now, you can go out and scoop the next guy on this news. Feel free to tell them I told you all about it! You can even gloat that you knew before so and so did....I know I would if I were you! Your faithfulness has been rewarded.

Of course you know I like to jest. That will never change. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend. I'll see you next Spring sometime.....bald and beautiful!!!

Nighty night!

The latest and greatest

Haven't posted for awhile and someone reminded me today of it. I have been remiss in not writing here about the latest going's on.

As you may remember, I had a CT scan a couple of weeks ago. I think I commented on it, I usually piss and moan about these tests, which I have to have every three months, as I hate having to drink that crap that give you before the test. Even chemo doesn't bother me as much as that crap does.

Anyhoo, I go for the CT scan and I forget about it. So on Monday I get a call from Dr. McCort (my other new doctor). After a lot of small talk (excessive I thought) about our cruise, etc., she finally gets around to telling me why she called.

It seems that the CT scan showed that I have another cyst on my left ovary (the same thing that I had last year, that started me on this whole whirlwind tour) and it was growing large. Also, my bowel was intersussepting....which means "telescoping into itself." I had had this before and was kind of figuring out on my own that it was happening again. I'm pretty sure this is what had been causing me all the pain I was having in my abdomen back in Aug/Sept.

She said that she has to consult with the radiologist as the scan had been read only by the chief resident, so it was only the preliminary report. She ordered a CA125 test for me and said she wants to see me this Thursday. She cancelled my chemo session, which was scheduled for Friday, because she said that if I do have intersusseption going on, the chemo is bad for it...and I may have to stop taking the chemo.

She is concerned that the cancer is back. I am not concerned about this at all. Although if she is right, I know what I have to do. I believe that this IS just a cyst....a pain in the ass cyst (actually pain in the pelvis cyst) and I believe this because she said that they described it as "fluid-filled." If it was HARD, then I would worry. But fluid-filled doesn't scare me!

Anyway, if I had to stop the chemo I wouldn't shed a tear. I am tired most of the time and I'm sure it's due to the chemo. My bowels are all messed up and I'm sure it's due to the chemo. My fingernails crumble, split and flake...and I'm sure it's due to the chemo. I'm sure the chemo is doing other things too, that I just don't recognize at this time.

On top of all this, the other day my abdomen was bulging and when I pushed on the bulge it made squishing sounds like fluid swishing around. I had Sandy listen and she was mystified about what it was. Then I talked with Carol about it and she said immediately: "sounds like you have an incisional hernia." BINGO!!! That is EXACTLY what it is.

So, I think on Thursday I'm going to be hearing about plans for another little surgery--to get rid of the cyst (think I'll insist on them taking the ovary too); what they can do to stave off the intersusseption and fixing that hernia.

I guess I just like to have surgery in November. This time a year ago I was having my surgery and starting my chemo. This November/December it will be all about small repairs.

So, keep a good thought for me on Thursday. I go at 2:00 to see her and find out the news.

Also, keep good thoughts for my Husky pal, Harvey, who had huge surgery yesterday. He has a lot tougher road ahead of him than I do! I know he will make it, he has a positive attitude and a lot of folks rooting for him.

Speaking of Huskies and rooting....tonight ESPN2, they play in the same house as the Lady Vols. Just not against the Lady Vols. Wonder if GMan and Miss Pat will exchange words? Or, please, PLEASE....fisticuffs! We need some excitement in the women's game...as it looks like UConn will be going undefeated again this year. Ho hum!

GO HUSKIES!!!

Nighty night

Laptop returns!

Got the laptop back today. Of course, the guy (who's name is Walt and who is VERY NICE) had to clean everything off of it to save it. He did save my document file and all my pictures...but I lost all the music I had downloaded. Fortunately, it's still on my iPhone....so I haven't lost it completely.

So I had to load AOL on the computer and Mozilla and now my sound isn't working. It's funny, it works when I plug in headphones, but not when I remove the headphones. Oh well, maybe I'll dope it out...and it wouldn't be the worst thing if I had to wear headphones to hear the little dings and "You've Got Mail!" stuff. And when I listen to Sirius on the computer I always use the phones anyway.

Jean and Frank came up yesterday and Jean continued her raking job. Frank helped Sandy put an support thing under the deck. I call it a jack and they call it a loblolly or something like that. Anyway, it looks like the jack my father put in our cellar years ago. The deck was sagging and needed to be supported. Don't know why the home inspector didn't see it, but Frank and my brother Steve sure did. And they were right!

And Sandy and Frank cemented in the pole holder for the clothesline. Finally. Now that it's winter and I REALLY need it! (ha ha)

Lynne came up today and finally got her mussells. This made Sandy happy as it frees up more room in the freezer. We have a lot of stuff in that freezer....so why don't we eat better meals? We're always settling for cereal for supper, or pizza or Chinese.

Tomorrow night is the next neighborhood Crime Watch meeting and we will be attending. We missed the last one as we were in Tampa. There have been more weird things going on, including a car sitting outside a house down the street in the middle of the night, when the son went out to see what was going on they took off at a high rate of speed, and he heard someone in the woods next to the house. They didn't catch anyone though.

I'm watching The Office. I love that show. Michael is so horrible, he makes me look like a good boss! It cracks me up.

Oh, I just realized that UConn is playing on tv....gotta go!

Nighty night!

Laptops and sniffles

I finally got my laptop down to the computer repair place. I'm sick of the whole thing. If I didn't have chemo brain, enhanced by being 60, enhanced by a cold or allergies or some sort of thing...I could probably dope out the solution to the problem myself. But I do have all those things going on and I just can't do it myself.

I'm using Sandy's laptop and I can see how much faster hers is than mine. And when you unplug it, the battery keeps it going at full speed, unlike mine. Mine has ALWAYS been so slow and the light level drops significantly when I unplug it, making it impossible to use with just the battery powering it. Maybe these guys (or gals) can make it all better for me.

I went to the cardiologist for my follow-up appt and spoke to the office manager about my concerns from the last time I was there. I don't know if I posted it here, but when I went for my appt for the echocardiogram, I had to sit and listen to the office staff bitch and moan about being counseled by someone about a HIPPA violation that they apparently had committed--this went on for some time. Then I had to listen to them gabbing about jokes they were sharing on email that they had gotten from family and friends. Then Ihad to listen to yet another HIPPA violation committed by them as they called another doctor's office to refer a patient--heard that patient's name, Medicare number and diagnosis!

Then the technician who did the echo told me my diagnosis and talked politics almost the whole time I was in there!

I let her know that I thought their office set-up, with the openness of the reception area the workers were a liability not an asset. I told her they needed to put glass up to separate the employees from the waiting room, so they could have privacy. She agreed and said the doctor didn't like them to be separated from the people in the waiting room. WRONG! I told her every place I go to has this type of privacy and where they don't have it...it's trouble.

I don't have much confidence in her ability to change things, especially when she told me that she had heard the tech talking politics and one patient told her that when he talked politics with her (the patient)...she felt her blood pressure going up! Hardly a good thing when one is in a Cardiologist's office!

So, this manager knew about the problem, had heard it for herself and had had another patient complain...and still it happens.

I don't have to go there anymore, I checked out okey doke....but I wouldn't go there again anyway.

Still having symptoms of something. Drip drip drip down the back of my throat, making it sore. Coughing and slightly congested....very tired and draggy. Probably hay fever. We had a good frost this AM...that should help.

Oh, in the early AM today I had to get up with Bubbles as she had to go potty. When we came back in the house, I couldn't help but notice Murphy being very interested in the pile of firewood Sandy brought in. And then Bubbles caught a whiff of something there too and went over and checked it out.

Something tells me that soon we'll be seeing "little visitors."

DAMN!

We're BAAAAACCCKKKKK!

Back from our "adventures," as we call them.

The cruise was great and we would love to cruise again, but not to a hot place like where we just went! It was WAAAY too hot for us!

The hotel in Tampa was very nice and we enjoyed our stay there, in the beginning of our trip and for two days after we docked.

Our first stop was Key West. It was HOT HOT HOT....so we walked around a bit and then got on a train tour....it was a sister tour to the trolley tour Maria took us on in Boston when the Swedes visited last year. It took us all around Key West and they pointed out all the sights: Harry Truman's house, where Hemingway stayed, the bars where Hemingway hung out, etc. Very interesting and a great way to see stuff without having to walk and sweat!

That night a big rain storm blew up and we were delayed leaving Key West for a bit. We found out later that sea water ran into the upper decks and down the elevator shafts, putting three out of four of them out of commission! I know it was raining hard as I sat out on our verandah and watched women running for the boat, screaming because they were getting soaked!

Then we went to Belize and we went on the zipline/rappelling excursion. It was GREAT! It was also very very hot....I was soaked through and through with sweat when we finished. We had to travel an hour and a half by bus to get to the jungle and we saw a lot of sights along the way. Soldiers with rifles, patrolling the streets. Dogs lying flat out in the shade, looking dead. Goats and more dogs.

We had to hike up the mountain to get to the zip lines. We were all in helmets, harnesses, etc. I was sweating. Me, who is so afraid of heights did not have one moment of nervousness about the adventure. Sandy, who is not afraid of heights, was very nervous. I looked down as I zipped over the rain forest, checking out the sights. Sandy held onto to her line, grimly zipping to the next platform.

Then we had to rappel straight down from the platform to the ground below. I don't know how big a drop the first one was, but it zipped right by! Lots of fun.

Vicky Shaw, the comedian who was performing on the ship, was on this trip with us. She and her partner had lunch with us later...they served us a great meal. The ride home was as bumpy as the ride out, and we got to see lots more sights. Belize is really a nation of "haves and have nots."

In Guatemala we went to the beach. The beach was shitty (I think it was a river, like the Thames, not the ocean) but the pool was nice, with water slides and a waterfall. It was 92 degrees and the humidity was 98%. We had a nice coconut drink on the beach that was very refreshing and we stayed in the shade as much as possible. We also had a nice barbecue there, very good.

In Cozumel we went out in a glass-bottomed kayak and then snorkeled along the beach. We could have done without the kayak part, it was SO DAMNED HOT! I would dip my Tilley hat into the water and put it on my head and a few minutes later it would be dry and I'd have to dip it again. The snorkeling was great, saw some neat stuff, but I wish I could have had my glasses on (or worn contacts) so I could see more. Mid-way through the snorkeling I started to crash, energy-wise, but fortunately I got my second wind and was able to make it to shore.

The ship life was wonderful. The food was fabulous and the shows we went to were great. I laughed my ass off at the comedy shows. We wore our zombie outfits for the Halloween Party and participated in the Halloween Parade. We scared the shit out of several people. We didn't say anything, we'd just stare at them...that would really blow their minds!

We decided that we would love to go on another cruise, but not to where it is so hot. It really took the starch out of me to be in that heat. We loved our cabin, our verandah, "our guys" who took care of us. Maybe next time we'll cruise to Alaska, where I've always wanted to go.

When we got home I tried to download my new Windows Seven program to my computer. It told me to uninstall some programs from my computer before I could continue with the installation. I did uninstall some of them and now my computer can't get online and it doesn't recognize that I have an "E Drive" which is the drive that powers the CD/DVD. So that means it won't run the upgrade disc! I will have to get someone from Dell or the Geek Squad to come and fix it for me. I'm so disgusted now. I'm really looking for any excuse to shitcan this computer and get an Apple!

We're happy to be home. We've put on a few pounds from all that eating, so it's time to get busy working out and watching our diets.

I go tomorrow for one of my favorites: a CT scan. Yuck! I don't work again until December, so I have plenty of time to work out and recuperate from our adventures. Have to get work done in the yard, pulling up some plants and planting some others. Also raking. UGH!

Dunno when I'll get a chance to use Sandy's computer again, so I'll say Nighty night and will post again when I can.

Nighty night!