I got a call last night that my bloodwork came back and I was low in white blood cells. I had to come in an hour earlier to have the blood test done again. UGH! I lay in bed last night and visualized a factory with pipettes dropping down from above, squirting white blood cells into test tubes and then somehow the test tubes squirted the cells into my body. I kept up that factory work for some time, until I fell asleep and every time I awoke last night I started the production line up again. I have no idea what white blood cells really look like, but in the dream they looked kind of like sperm squirting from the ceiling! WHAT??!!!

We got to Providence at 8:30 and I had the blood drawn. Then we went back to the treatment room and waited. The news came back pretty soon, not only was I good to go, but I had way more than what I needed to pass! YAY!

So I got my second treatment today, two down, four more to go.

I really didn't want to have to delay my treatments. I want to go to Sweden later this year and I want to be in shape to go. That means I have to stick as close to my projected schedule for chemo (finishing up at the end of April if all goes according to plan) as possible.

Oh, I'm watching a show on Michael Jackson (don't ask me why) and they just talked about him getting propofol. That's what the anesthesiologist gave for my surgery. As a matter of fact he actually said to me as he administered it, "now I'm going to Michael Jackson you...." And the last thing I said to him was "okay, just make sure you remember to wake me up!" OUT!

Some day I will relate here some of the "intereting experiences" I have had with my nurse at chemo. Suffice it to say she is scatterbrained, not good at multi-tasking and sometimes borders on dangerous. Lynne thinks she is burned out...she maybe right.

When I'm all done with treatment I'm going to insist on meeting with the head of the program to give my feedback and suggestions for improvement. I'm going to have to address the concerns I have about this nurse.

In the meantime, I have to stay on my toes and pay attention at crucial times. Today the benadryl hit me hard and I couldn't stay awake all morning. Usually it makes me dopey and I feel kind of sick, but I don't sleep more than a few minutes. Today I almost fell asleep on the toilet about mid-morning. I really had to use all my strength to fight it and get up and back to the treatment room.

Sandy was there for the crucial times to make sure things were done right. I am so lucky I have her. Today they were having trouble drawing blood from my port after my treatment, it wasn't flowing right. The nurse tried some things, including having me cough, which I really didn't want to do because I didn't want to contaminate the area by coughing near it. Finally, Sandy said, "take a deep breath." I did and the blood just flowed. I kept taking deep breaths and they got all the blood I needed.

Later Sandy told me that the most common cause of poor blood draw is repositioning...the needle has moved and is resting against the wall....the easiest thing to do to get it to move is to have the person take a deep breath. My nurse had me leaning forward, coughing, dancing and rocking in the seat....never suggested I take a deep breath.

As I said, I'm so lucky I have Sandy there.

Came home and I was able to enjoy the shrimp scampi and angel hair pasta meal Jean made. About an hour later my taste buds went south. Lucky!

Now I'm operating off the steroids apparently. Hopefully the effect will wear off soon so I can sleep tonight.

In the meantime, nighty night!

I'm slipping....

about posting here. I have to get better. Even if what I have to write is mundane, trivial, garbage...

Well...mundane, trivial garbage has been happening. Done.

Actually, I've been having a different kind of week. Actually got out two days so far. Yesterday I had to take the car to Toyota and have it serviced. I hadn't gotten a recall notice, so I wasn't sure if my Camry was one of the ones effected by the gas pedal problem. They did the service and reassured me that my car was NOT one of the ones with the problem! YAY!

In the afternoon Sandy and I went down to Waterford to watch Ryan play on the freshman basketball team. He is really good, they are really good and they won. I was happy to be able to see him--haven't seen him play yet this year. Then Ryan had been asked to play on the JV team that night. So, after the freshman game, we schlepped over to the other gym (remember, this is rich Waterford) and watched the JV get whupped by New London. Ryan didn't get to play much and when he did, he had turnovers...poor kid. He was playing sick, probably shouldn't have gone to school, but you know kids. I can remember playing basketball in high school with a high fever, etc. Ryan won't let these mistakes stop him. He's a very determined, hard-working, NICE kid. I think we are going to be going to a lot of basketball games in the years to come.

After the game we went over to Frank and Jean's and had dinner. They stopped at Wendy's on the way home and treated us. I had a taco salad. Good. Then I crashed on the couch. Sandy took me home. It was the longest I've gone since my surgery.

Today we left early to have my bloodwork done at Backus; then down to L&M to see Dr. McCourt. We had to wait for awhile down there, so we got to chat with my favorite NL nurse, Heidi. She is so funny and we always enjoy yacking with her.

Then I saw Dr. McCourt. She is very happy with how I'm healing and appalled about my bowel
situation. But there isn't anything more she can do about it. Just make the appropriate sympathetic faces when she talked to me about it.

I was hoping to get my last CA 125 results...they hadn't been entered in the computer for some reason. Dang.

Afterwards we stopped at Chester's Barbecue. You know me and chemo...I get the barbecue cravings and we went right by the place....so.....of course I went in. I got pulled pork sandwiches for me, Jean and Frank and something called "pulled chicken" for Sandy. I had been kidding her and said, "maybe they have pulled chicken for you!" Sure enough.

WELL! The pulled pork sandwich was EXCELLENT! They put about a half a pound of meat in each sandwich. I couldn't finish it of course. I also bought sides of cole slaw and baked beans, because it's not barbecue without slaw and beans.

WELL WELL WELL....of course I spent the next hour and a half in the bathroom.

Good barbecue.

Came home and crashed for about two and a half hours, with my little doggies snuggled up next to me.

Tomorrow night we go out to 99 Restaurant with Lynne and David. A new, night-before-chemo tradition. Dinner with Lynne and David. Right now the thought of food makes me ill...I'm sure I'll be hungry by tomorrow night!

Nighty night!

Watching the Huskies today. The guy's team disgusts me now. They are ridiculous...lots of showboating and lacking in the fundementals. The women's team on the other hand....well, night and day.

Tina Charles just went over 2000 career points. Unbelievable! I remember when he had to BEG her to shoot! Now she is a scoring machine, probably will be Player of the Year and the #1 pick in the draft.

I'm looking forward to seeing her play for the Sun next year.

Sandy said Five Guys was great. The hamburgers are huge and the fries are like the ones we love to get at the Woodstock Fair. I'm looking forward to going there someday! They had a good time last night, went back to Jean's and played Phase 10 (a type of Rummy) for awhile, and texted me. It was nice, I felt included.

As for me, well, I snuggled in the bed with Bubbles and watched "Along Came Polly." I remember that this was the in flight movie when we were coming back from Italy. My father loved the movie and Sandy says that's one of the things she remembers about the trip...Bob Miller laughing at the movie. I think that's a nice memory to have.

I had another "up and down" night last night, finally settling in around 4:30...but then I slept like a log until around 10am. I felt energetic when I got up...something new I'm trying.

Okay, it's time for me to eat my warmed-up egg foo young. I got it the other day from the take-out place in town...they make the BEST egg foo young....this time I got shrimp instead of pork. No matter...it's all good!

GO HUSKIES!!! They are winning 59-34. What else is new?

Nighty night!

It's GONE!

Darlene came over for a visit yesterday. We got Chinese take-out, had a nice lunch and then settled down to the real business...the head shave.

Sandy did the deed, Darlene videoed it and gave Sandy good advice on how to shave my head properly.

It came out great. My head looks good and this time there were no nicks!

It is so cold out there now and the wind is terrible. The doggies don't like the drop in temperature. They go out to do their business and come flying back in immediately. I don't blame them one bit!

I was going to go with Sandy to Frank's birthday party at Five Guys, but at the last minute felt woozy and decided it's best I stay home. I could just imagine myself feeling exhausted at dinner and having to leave. I don't want to wreck it for everyone....so the doggies and I are home, snug and warm.

I slept until two today as I was up again most of the night, until around 3:30, when I finally "resolved" things in the bathroom and was able to get to sleep. I wonder how long this new "ritual" is going to go on?

Heard from my favorite nurse at W & I, Marcia. She will be working next Friday, and wants me to come for a visit. I'll go after my chemo session...hope she will still be on duty. I haven't seen her in a long time. I miss her!

Okay, time to watch the news and then make my supper. I'm not eating enough. Have only had one meal so far today: bacon an egg and a piece of multi-grain toast. I have to start getting up sooner or something, to get more food into me!

Whoever would have thought that getting enough food would be a problem for me?!!???

Nighty night.

Hair today....Gone Tomorrow?

Well...I've been wondering when it would happen and yesterday I felt the tell-tale first sign. A little sore spot on the top of my head. This morning when I washed my hair, more hair hurt.

When I got out of the shower I tugged gently at my hair, sure enough, a couple of strands came out. The other day when I did that, nothing came out.

So, my first thought was that I would have Sandy shave my head Saturday. We're taking Frank out for his birthday Friday night and I didn't want to be bald for that.

But now I'm rethinking this decision. Tomorrow Darlene is coming over for a visit. I'm thinking that maybe I'll have Sandy shave my head and have Darlene video it for me. Or vice versa. Either way, I'll be the one getting the head shaved.

We went to see Avatar for the 12:30 showing today. First they came in and told us the movie would be five to ten minutes late. Then they came in and said that the projector was fixed but we couldn't see the movie. We had to come back for the 2:15 show. They offered us an opportunity to see another movie while we waited. We turned that down and went to Home Depot and checked out kitchen cabinetry, countertops, bathroom cabinetry, countertops, sinks, tubs, tile flooring, you name it--we looked at it.

Then we went back to the theater and chilled out waiting for the show to start.

We loved Avatar. I mean REALLY loved it. I'm glad I went

Now I look forward to going out to Five Guys hamburg joint for Frank's birthday. Just found out it's switched to Saturday, so I'm glad I decided to get shaved tomorrow.

I wait to hear the President's State of the Union address.

Nighty night.

Grits and eggs for breakfast, made by moi! Great stuff!

A good day, even though it was blowing like it was March out there and raining like it was monsoon. The "stream" next to the house was boiling over. We are very happy the house sits on a hill and everything drains past it to the back yard.

Caught up on housework and then we caught up on some of our recorded favorite shows, "Project Runway" and "Millionaire Matchmaker" specifically. More great stuff.

I crashed a bit in the afternoon, but felt better when I laid down in bed and played with the iPhone...then got up in time for spaghetti and meat balls and a nice salad, with the salad dressing from Olive Garden--MORE GREAT STUFF!

I forgot to note that I found Ray Belding on Facebook. Ray was our (Mary Anne and me) mentor when we did our field placement for college, back in the day. We loved him and learned a lot from him and never forgot him. We did lose track of him though and the other day I took a chance and entered his name in Facebook. Lo and behold, there was only one Ray Belding on FB and it was "our Ray." I wrote to him and we have all renewed our acquaintance. I love Facebook for that.

Ray retired as a school social worker and is still very into birding. He inspired me in both areas. I wish I had his expertise in birding. Maybe soon we'll get together for coffee or something. Maybe I'll get him to take me birding.

I'm watching the Huskies dismantle Villanova....another taped event that I am "catching up on." This was a debacle...but aren't they all this year?

I love it.

Nighty night!

The Rest of the Story.....

Documents reveal Paul Harvey’s long friendship with FBI
By Ric Bohy
January 25, 2010 at 11:15am
Folksy radio commentator Paul Harvey ,who died a year ago at age 90, was a sub rosa broadcast voice for the FBI who maintained a mutually beneficial friendship with bureau director J. Edgar Hoover for two decades.
The relationship, and an instance of Harvey naming “known Reds” for U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s ruinous anti-communist House Unamerican Activities Committee in 1956, were disclosed with the release of nearly 1,400 pages of FBI documents to USA Today, the Washington Post and other news agencies. The previously secret materials were turned over in response to a one-year Freedom of Information Act request.
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Harvey, who for nearly 60 years concluded his broadcasts with the signature, “And that’s the rest of the story,” enjoyed an audience of as many as 24 million listeners who were unknowingly fed FBI propaganda to promote both the bureau’s work and the crime-busting image of its often vindictive director, Hoover.
J. Edgar Hoover
In the kind of irony that was a constant thread through Harvey’s broadcasts, the journalistic subterfuge began in 1951 when the Chicago radio and TV commentator, then 32, was caught trespassing on the grounds of the Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear testing facility near Chicago.
Setting out to prove that security could easily be breached at the lab, Harvey drove there at night, threw his overcoat on the barbed wire topping its fence, and climbed over. He had intended to scratch his name on objects inside the fence to prove he’d been there, but was caught by security guards almost immediately after entering the property.
The U.S. attorney in Illinois assembled a grand jury to consider espionage charges against Harvey, but it declined to indict him. “Nothing in Harvey’s file suggests Hoover did anything to help,” The Washington Post reported yesterday. “But Harvey appears to have been grateful for something.”
Soon after, Harvey’s friend, Illinois Republican Congressman Fred Busbey, asked the FBI if he could bring Harvey in to thank Hoover. An internal FBI memo written in response noted that Harvey “has a history of emotional instability” but seemed to have been “rehabilitated” as an effective anti-communist.
Harvey met Hoover, and their back-scratching friendship began.
Among the disclosures also contained in the previously secret FBI documents:
Harvey corresponded regularly with Hoover and his minions, often submitting his radio scripts for their input and approval. In at least one case, Harvey read verbatim FBI revisions to his report.
In 1956, Harvey sent tips about “known Reds” at a Texas Air Force base to McCarthy and his witch hunters, whose paranoiac anti-communist crusade destroyed the careers of federal bureaucrats, Hollywood intelligentsia and others before McCarthy’s demagoguery was challenged and exposed by pioneering CBS News correspondent Edward R. Murrow.
In 1959, Harvey and the FBI colluded to go after author, psychiatrist, and educator Bruno Bettelheim after he had been critical of Hoover as well as U.S. law enforcement’s handling of juvenile delinquents.