To All My Family and Friends

My kind of Angels

Glory Hallelujah!

I am not being a wise A-- when I tell you what happened to me when I went for my PETCT at Hartford Hospital last Friday. No matter how irreverent I may seem at times I do believe in a higher power and I will take prayers and blessings where I can get them. However I did not expect to find them in a Ladies room at Hartford Hospital. After my scan and blood work, Lou and I were on out to the car when I had the urge to visit the ladies room. As I went in another lady was on her way out and said someone was occupying the stall. I said "No problem I can wait". Well the other person came out and I went in. She says "Whew! what a relief!" and I replied "I know what you mean". I still don't remember how it came up but she started talking about her last pregnancy and she was carrying twins but God knew her body couldn't handle it so he took one of the twins. Now mind you I was still in the stall and she is praising God so I agreed with her cause I didn't know if she was armed or just religious. I stayed in the stall as long as I could but I had to come out eventually and she was still there. Again I don't know how or why but I told her I was on my third go around with cancer and she says its because He isn't ready for me and I must have something to do. So after I wash my hands and I start to open the door to leave she puts her hand on my forehead and starts to pray. I am half out of the ladies room and I am sure if anyone was looking all they could see was me and a hand on my forehead, I am sure they went looking for an alternate bathroom! Now as I said I will take prayers when and where I can get'em but this I would have to say without a doubt was something I never expected in my wildest imagination. Her name is Lillian and I don't think I will ever forget her.

NKOTB!

Speaking of Alive and Kickin! Lou, Heather and I went to Mohegan Sun on September 30th to see them. Screaming so loud it reminded me of the Beatles concert in Boston. Yes, I'm that old that I saw the Beatles Live. I still had ringing in my ears the next morning. Huh! What? Pardon what did you say? They've still got the Right Stuff!

Whoa! It's October?

When was my last post? April? No, say it ain't so! Well it has been a while and yes, I'm still alive and kickin. Lots of things to get done and time is flying. Well to update, my chemo stressed my body and at the end of May my red cells were waving a white flag and I was in the hospital again. Missed Billy Joel at Mohegan Sun (Dang!) but Heather and Ben went and had a good time and Heather even brought me the concert book. I had two blood transfusions in June and more chemo. My white and red cells were tanking so I raised the flag of surrender and opted for a vacation from chemo the first week in July. My Dr. was happy and said as long as we tested regularly and nothing funky was happening I could remain on vacation. So far so good. I went for weekly blood work and my counts started to rise and with them my old piss and vinegar returned. My counts are good and I go every other week now for blood work. Had a sinus infection that took forever to clear and a throat thingy that Dr B thinks was a virus ...still have some residual coughing from that. Had a PETCT on 10/10 and will find out this Friday the results.

FAMILY

What a beautiful word! It took a family gathering to remind me how precious they are. I have always heard "you can pick your friends but not your family" but after the Baby Shower I can truly say I have the BEST family in the universe. I love each and everyone of them. I couldn't have picked any better myself.

It was so great to see my cousins and aunt (even if she didn't seem to know who I might be). Elinor who calls me regularly just to check in and ask how I am doing and to share stories old and new. Chris who just can't seem to do enough for everyone whether they are family or not and her three precious and talented daughters. Even though we have yet to meet her husband Tony he must be very special to be loved so much by those three little ones. Lyn and husband Scott who appear to meant for each other and soooooo happy about baby Brodie even though he is causing havoc on his Mom's body. She does look like she is harboring a watermelon under her clothes. It was nice to see Tom again and to meet his wife Sandra. It is too bad Mark and his wife Lynn were too far away to be there, I so would have liked to see those blue eyes up close.

Cioci Joie seemed to have a good time it was really nice to see her. JoAnn who made a special effort I am sure to get her mom to the shower. Of course Erin who a beautiful young woman and so attentive to her grandmother.

We are already planning our next visit to see our wonderful family and it will be soon.

Mary

I Missed February!

A long long time ago in a galaxy far away (November to be exact) when I started my present chemo regime I began to drink less. You might say "That's great!" but it truly wasn't. Because of the side effect of the chemo (neuropathy to cold in the hands and mouth and esophagus) if I drank cold water or anything cold it felt like there were caterpillars crawling in my mouth. So needless to say since luke warm anything is not my speed I gradually started drinking less of everything. Then the first weekend in February the whole family had a stomach bug. It lasted about 24 hours. But even though the throwing up went away the diarrhea stayed. I had my chemo and it rehydrated me and I felt better but I was losing more liquid than I was taking in.

The second weekend of Feb. Lou took me to the ER and they admitted me because I was dehydrated. On Monday my Dr said the hospital was full and I could go home. So I did. By Friday I was sicker than ever and at this point had had nothing to eat or drink for a week but still had the diarrhea. Lou got me ready to go back to the ER but when I stood up I passed out and he had to call 911. I remember very little of my transport to the hospital. When I was in the ER I had people hovering over me like Bees on a flower. Dr Kilgannon said the PH in my blood was so low it could not sustain human life. They ran a line in one arm and used my chemo port for another line. I had two big bags of fluid going full blast into my body. So there I was and again admitted and spent the next seven days in the hospital.

Needless to say since I am writing I have recovered...I am still weak because I never got out of bed for four weeks and my thigh muscles were very weak. My appetite is back and I am drinking like crazy...all cold all delicious...the side effects wear off after a week or so. I will not be getting chemo until the 18th and I'm not sure what it will be until I talk to Dr Baker.

By the way radiation is out because it can be more harmfull than helpfull. I am not disappointed.

WAHOO!!!!!!!

Can you see me doing my Happy Dance?

Well folks on Wednesday the 16th of January I had my Pet/CT scan at Hartford Hospital and on the 18th I had my appointment with Dr Baker (Oncologist). The first words out of my mouth were "How was my scan?" He looked it up on his lap top and gave me the GOOD NEWS! The bigger of the two tumors is not taking up as much glucose as it was last time. This means there is less cancer activity. The smaller one gave up the ghost a while back. The lymph nodes in the lung area are also getting smaller and they didn't see the ones in the center of my chest! I think Dr. Pope sucked them out when he did the biopsy LOL!

The best part is that it seems to be contained in the chest area and there is nothing going on anywhere else in my body. This is by no means a guarantee that it won't go someplace else but I am one happy camper right now.

Dr. B. is now thinking radiation to kill it off completely and hopefully for good. It would mean at least 5 weeks of 5 day a week radiation and I don't look forward to that...But if there is a chance that it would annihilate the cancer I guess I can deal with that.

I am not sure if it will be chemo and radiation or just radiation...but in the mean time we will continue with the chemo...Chemo is my friend!

I will keep you all updated...but till there is something new to report (or my life gets interesting) I am signing off for now.

Love you all and many thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

M

It's Chemo Time!

Boogedy Boogedy Shoop!

Well today was interesting. I did get most of my chemo but not my avastin...there was some protein in my urine so they couldn't give it to me. So I had to give another specimen for the lab to check out.

I will try to go to bed soon but I'm going to leave the computer on so I can get up and do something on it if I can't sleep.

Lou went to his foot doc 2 weeks ago and today we went to him so Lou could pick up his new shoes. He is so happy because they are soooooooooooo comfortable. Then I get to go on Friday to have my feet checked out and pick out a new pair of shoes. I am also getting a pair of Diabetic Crocs, I am so excited that I will have a pair of shoes to wear in the house and without socks! Slippers have no support so I wear my shoes till I crawl into bed. Now I can wear the crocs in place of slippers.

Monday, Lou also had a visit to his neurologist for more tests for his neuropathy and as we suspected it has gotten worse in his feet,legs, hands and arms. We are waiting for the Docs written report to submit to the VA. So they can drag their feet some more. Wish us luck!

I will go watch some TV for a while and see about sleep...but if sleep won't come I will be back.

TTFN!

A Very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to You All!

God Bless Us, Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!