finishing the first set of chemo

Hi there.  Yesterday was another round of chemotherapy and it was the last before I get another CT scan next Thursday.  We did one scan before chemo started as a baseline so now we compare how the tumors look.  The doctor is hopeful that the progress will be good since the paracentesis fluid situation has improved so much and I seem to be doing better as well.  So while I will almost certainly still be on chemo and everything else after next week, at least we'll know if it's better, worse or just the same.

This past weekend was a big birthday celebration.  Mine was the 25th, my sister Danielle's is the 29th and my mom follows on 11/6.  Originally my other sister Dana and her whole brood (husband and 17 year old twins) were to have joined us but they had to back out at the last minute due to a family emergency on the in-laws side.  So the smaller group of us (including mom and Dad and Dave) and a lovely dinner at Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor (a great place you locals, try it sometime!) and spent the weekend hanging around the house.  It wasn't a great last few days as far as my stamina levels but I did manager to cook a pretty great dinner for their first night in town. 

The other nights we ate at home we had an amazing butternut squash and arugula lasagna that Val made and then a wonderful tomato soup with cheese tortellini that Dave's sister Sarah had made and sent frozen.  All in all, we've been eating really well on the food others give us!  We also had some ridiculously good chocolate stout cupcakes that Katy from the Cafe Ops team made and sent home with Dave (luckily she made some for the office, too because they needed to be shared!).

Here are a couple of pics from dinner.





And a couple from around the house.

keeping busy

Hi everyone,

It's been a mostly good week. There was one incident with nausea that came out of nowhere on Saturday night (Amy Beth, it had nothing to do with the fantastic dinner you made, I swear) but it was over almost as soon as it arrived. 

Missed out on some apple picking with friends yesterday (still kind of tired and out of if from not having a very good Saturday night) but being such nice people, Melissa and Anne stopped by with some apples that the group bought for us.  Since I have been eating an apple a day (a current craving, not some ill-advised bid to keep doctors away) this is wonderful!  The rest of the week was dotted with some activity here and there (made some dinners, did some cleaning, got out and about a little) but mostly low key since the coming week and weekend will be packed with family.  Mom and Dad (note, they haven't been married for 20 years) arrive together on Thursday with Danielle coming from Texas on Friday and Dana plus her husband and my two 17 year old nephews arrive from Florida on Saturday. 

The big idea is to celebrate birthdays (mine is 10/25, Danielle's is the 29th and my mom's is a week later) so we'll go out to a nice dinner at Quarter Bistro (an underrated Ann Arbor restaurant) and then I want to show the Florida group some good Michigan stuff since it's their first time here.  I'm thinking Henry Ford Museum for sure.  Any other ideas?  They're only in town for a few days so we don't have time for much but we can't just sit around the house with a crowd this size.

The paracentesis on Friday yielded only 1.25 liters (after one week) so the fluid levels are WAY down from just a few weeks ago.  I'm still feeling a little full around the belly area but I battle constipation every day as well (mostly, I'm winning - thankfully so!). 

Chemo resumes this week on Tuesday.  Amy Beth will be spending the day with me this time.  We have a picnic lunch and travel Cribbage planned.  Should be pretty fun for a medical procedure.

I know I sound like a broken record when I say thanks for sending notes and leaving comments but I really do appreciate it as an ongoing concern so I want to continue to say thanks to those who have reached out.  It's been really great to hear from you!  I especially like hearing about all the martinis (and other drinks) being consumed on my behalf.  If you send pictures I will publish them on the blog (with your permission, of course).  We need some more pics arond here anyway.

Thanks for reading - have a great day!

the news in brief

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of recent updates.  I've been keeping busy with out of town guests and the usual array of doctor appointments.  Currently at the house is my aunt Joyce and cousin Jessie.  Joyce is my mom's sister and growing up we spent a lot of time with them but as an adult I haven't been able to see them much so it's been nice to spend some time chatting and playing cards (that is what we do in my family - if you're not a card player you're probably going to be bored at my family get togethers).

On the Good Day vs. Bad Day news page I'm happy to report that this week has been mostly good days and even better is that the only real bad day (Monday) was bad in that I had nausea and couldn't really keep everything down it wasn't nearly as bad as when it happened in prior weeks.  Likewise the good days have been better, too.  I know that with my ever changing body chemistry nothing is ever settled permanently so I'm making sure to enjoy it while it lasts (a.k.a. "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.")

More good news on the paracentesis as well.  Previously, the cancer was producing about 4 liters of toxic fluid every week.  Having it drained every week meant that by day 7 there was no room in my guts for little things like food and the discomfort from the bloating was almost incapacitating.  When I stepped it up to twice per week they were down to getting 2-2.5 liters every few days which was far more tolerable though obviously more of a pain to have to go in for the procedure twice in a week.  The process is actually pretty fast and low impact it's the getting to the hospital, finding parking etc. that takes forever and is a real pain.  Anyway, the chemo seems to be having an impact because the last couple of times they only got 1-1.5 liters so the production seems to be slowing down to a point where I can now step back to only once per week.  Yeah!  Also, not that any of them read this blog, I wanted to give a shout out to the radiology staff who see me for my appointments.  Everyone from the reception ladies to the PAs and nurses are always super nice and treat me like a person and not a patient.  Some great people at the U of M hospital.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!