Blissfully forgetful

It’s Sunday night and I just realized that I didn’t write my usual Friday update last week. 
Not to worry,  all is well!
There was no treatment on the 26th as that was my week off and I’ve been feeling well so the update completely slipped my mind.   I guess that’s a good thing.   It’s certainly nice not to feel like a cancer patient all the time! Admittedly, I do still have a nap in the afternoon many days and a touch of dizziness here and there but generally I feel as healthy as ever.

I have a routine check-in meeting with Dr. McCarthy on Wednesday and then cycle 2 of round 2 of chemo begins Friday (if my neutrophils are good, which they should be).

Time is flying by this fall.  I can’t believe it’ll be October soon!

That’s all for now; more on Friday.

Go Team!

Today was a good day for several reasons.
First, I had the pleasure of making some of the nurses at the chemo clinic laugh😁.   When I arrived for my scheduled chemo at 11 I was still unaware as to whether treatment would proceed.  While standing at the check-in counter waiting for the results from the morning’s blood test,  my nurse called out to say “you’re neutrophils are good,  chemo is on!” and I actually jumped up and down like a kid in a candy store🍭.  The staff rarely, if ever, see that kind of response to chemo!   Last week my neutrophils were on the border at 1.5 but this week they’ve actually come up to 1.8.  That’s great progress 📈. That chemo went ahead as planned is the second reason today is good.
Third reason is that J and I rather enjoyed the clinic environment today. I felt like we’re a good team.  J is really helpful; taking notes of medications 💊,  monitoring my drug pump💉,  and fetching whatever I need (books📒,  warm clothes 👒,  snacks🍰,  adjusting my chair 💺, etc). It was relatively quiet, except for my immediate neighbours, so we could read📚, chat💬, journal📖,  or knit 🐑 more easily than usual.
The fourth fun thing about today is that I heard from my sister that the knit bear I sent to one of my nephews for his birthday was a big hit. It was such a hit that my three other nephews might also need team bears. Be patient there guys!  I’m not a fast knitter!

And lastly,  J found this fun new app with all these great little symbols to make typing fun!

So it was a good day.   Sleepy,  but good. Next week is my week off from treatment so I imagine I’ll rest a lot.   And maybe start planning some more knit toys…

Lucky #3

Third time’s a charm, so the saying goes.
Today was attempt #3 to start round 2 of CIS-Gem.  Success at last!  My neutrophils reached the magic number of 1.5 so I squeaked in for treatment this week.
All is well so far; just the usual sleepiness (needed a two hour nap once home from the clinic).

I plan to write some more in the next day or so but wanted make a quick note for those you checking in on chemo day.

On the Catwalk

Well, it’s actually more of a platform than a runway.  A large box, really.  But I was up there, on the “model stand”, posing for my drawing group this past week.  These are the photos I eluded to in my last post:  me as the model followed by a sampling of the artwork created by other artists.  Thanks to my fellow Group77 members for allowing their artwork to be shared.

Last year we were hiring models but it’s time consuming trying to find someone every week so our coordinator decided to try having us, the artists, take turns each week modeling.  The only direction we give to the ‘model’ is to wear something interesting.  As you can see, I wore a gown, which happens to be my wedding gown.  Seemed appropriate given J and my recent anniversary. The other model, fellow artist M.Tilley whose artwork is above, wore a wicked leather jacket complete with heavy metal band badges, tassels, and colourful accessories.  I’ll be updating my Flickr site soon with a few new entries including my drawing of M.  It was a fun morning.  M and I are hoping that our extravagant outfits will inspire people in the coming weeks to wear more than their everyday clothes.

That’s all for today – just a view into what I do sometimes when my clinic schedule and neutrophil levels permit.

This message brought by the letter ‘D’

‘D’ is for Delayed.
Yup, chemo is postponed. Again.
My neutrophils have fallen down to 0.8 this week.
The last dose of chemo I received (Aug.15) was given before Dr.McCarthy prescribed the 10% further reduction on the 29th.  Today’s delay confirms that the dose was indeed still too high since the effects remain three weeks later.  If you recall from my last post, there is nothing to be done right now but wait for the numbers to come up.
My liver is behaving (responding) nicely so I’m not too concerned about the delay.

Next week, 12th of September, I’ll go for another blood test and, with luck, chemo too.  Last time my numbers were this low they rebounded the following week.  Here’s hoping that is the case again.

On a much more fun note the drawing group I attend started again last week after it’s summer hiatus.   I’ll have some photos to share with you soon from that first session which I think you’ll find entertaining.

Until then, don’t forget to enjoy your sandwiches!