I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 weeks since my last post. I apologize for the long gap but with everything going on in my life I haven’t had the strength, time or brain cells to put together what’s been going on.
We made it into a new year. 2014 – Yeah Old news so lets get on with the last several weeks. Mark, my brother and I spent the end of January in Phoenix cleaning our dad’s house and putting it up for sale. Even with having chemo just days before I managed to contribute more to the clean up then I expected. Stubbornness can have its advantages. February 1, my birthday, was spent in bed for 3 days with the stomach flu. Mark and my girls took good care of me.
Because I have Gilberts Syndrome it gives a “false” reading on my bilirubin count. The doctor is aware of it but the chemo trial monitor has been giving her grief and threatening to take me off study unless we get it under control. I would still be able to get the chemo but wouldn’t be part of the study (can you believe I’ve been on it for over 2 years) and they would no longer pay the $10,000 cost of the drug. For some reason which I’m yet to fully understand, before my last blood draw the doc had me eat as much high fat food as I could. I knew this was going to be a disaster in the making. I should have listening to my instincts. Last Friday I ate the following all before 3:00PM – cereal with ¾ cup heavy whipping cream, 5 sticks of cheddar cheese, pecans, 3 large sausage patties, 3 slices of American cheese, one egg, one avocado, a root beer float with hagendaz ice cream and a 16 oz of coffee that was half coffee and half heavy whipping cream. Well as predicted I was woken up at 3:00AM Saturday morning with a severe gallbladder attack. I’ll spare you the details but it wasn’t pretty. I was able to get through it (although I had another milder one Monday night) and hopefully back to normal. The blood test came out better then in the past but they decided on lowering my dose of chemo regardless. They are worrying about liver damage. Hmmmm…I think it’s already damaged.
Brain MRI has been moved to March 3 due to the radiation oncologist being out that week (he better not be skiing!). Hair is starting to grow back in but I have several areas that are growing more slowly. I can’t wait to not have to wear a hat (more for warmth then vanity). My fan club members have overwhelmingly told me to go hatless if the mood strikes but it’s still too chilly.
I think we are all caught up and I’ll try to update you all sooner the next time.
Keep your Dancin’ boots on and you’re toes warm.
Until next time – Keep on Dancin’
