Happy Saturday After Thanksgiving

Scott and I just returned Tuesday from a wonderful week in Maui. Though I really do not care much for warmer weather I have to admit that the warmth of the Hawaiian sun resulted in reduced pain levels and a temporary reduction in pain meds. I was not really aware of how much until the wave of pain that I didn't miss at all returned. In Maui we met quite a few people from this area who are now residents. They say Maui calls to you. Scott and I would never come back except for a few things, SCCA, my mother, our daughter and his need to go into the office once in a while. Not necessarily in that order. It makes moving to LA, where I can get better sarcoma care,  look a lot more attractive too.

An interesting thing happened while we were gone. Very few people knew about this trip because of our interest in internet security issues. A culprit, who shall remain nameless, admitted to mentioning our whereabouts on the internet. An event that was undone quickly, once the potential security leak was pointed out. Upon arriving home our neighbor mentioned that he had seen a U-Haul truck sitting in front of our house one day. He did some investigating, making it obvious to the occupants that he was watching them and kept a close eye on them until they finally left. Perhaps they had some legitimate business sitting in front of our house and these two incidents are not related at all, but they sure made us think hard. First, about how thankful we are to have such an observant neighbor who used to be a officer of the law. Second, about how important it is to be aware of internet security for everyone who uses the internet. Even us old fogeys who do not have the same kind of security issues that teens and pre-teens have on the internet.

BTW, our house was not broken into. Everything was safe inside when we got home. So, the moral to this story is probably something like this: Do not advertise it on the internet when you are going out of town for a while and if you know someone else that is going out of town it is also a good idea to keep that to yourself. You can never be too careful about your own security OR that of others you care about.

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Coming up this week. More chemo. They have dropped the gemcitabine since it is suspected that is the cause of my blood count issues. Next week I have an MRI and appointment ordered by and with the head of the sarcoma program at SCCA. They called our second day in Hawaii and woke us up so we did not get much of a chance to ask why they have asked for this appointment, but considering the less than stellar test results we have had of late we think it must be for a very good reason.

Clueless

Bad News, we got some scan results yesterday from the Friday CT and found out that the pain in my hip is probably increasing because the tumors are growing and there are more and larger tumors in my lungs as well. That is a partial report that Pam (my pain specialist) read to me because I do not have an appointment to see the doc to discuss it. I am still waiting to see what the doc's office has to say about it. My thoughts are that the recent radiation didn't help a lot, if at all, maybe they knocked the growth back some, but  not enough to outpace growth. This is actually news we sort of expected because of the way my body reacted when I had radiation.

Good News, it looks like my liver is still clean. Same for kidneys. Despite the gravity of the situation I am still in pretty good spirits. No point in tears and sadness, right?

Just News, I was unable to have chemo again on Monday. Platelets were too low. I gave myself three Neupogen shots so my white blood cells would not prevent that from happening again.

I have no idea what do to next or where to go from here. Is there something out there in the universe telling me that Gemzar or Avastin are not right for me?

Yay, it's a new day!

I got my new Power Port today (Monday). Do not know why I did not do this sooner... It was not so bad and truly wonderful when it comes time to draw blood or get chemo.

Chemo went OK too, but tomorow and the next few days might be telling another story. Stay tuned...

Sometimes I feel like I have bitten off more than I can chew...

...and this is definitely one of those times! I owe everyone I know an update and yet I simply can't find the time to individually contact every one / each group. So, this will have to do. I hope you all, or at least those who see this, understand. I have just been feeling like there are not enough hours in a day a lot lately.

Tomorrow (Monday) is chemo. It had been delayed from last Monday which was the original date. The reason it did not happen then is because we just decided that I could not have any more chemotherapy without a port. The last time they poked my arm so many times that I looked like I'd been through a war zone for the following month. So now they won't be able to do that again. I am not very excited about this at all, but the time has come. My schedule is two weeks of chemo, then two weeks off. That is one round, then after that the next round begins with two weeks on and two weeks off and they will follow that schedule for future rounds as long as the white blood counts do not tank again.

Next week, I will also have some scans that are way overdue. We need to see how things look in there and if there is any sign that all the radiation I had over the last few months might have been successful. I am not holding out a lot of hope because I have not really seen any signs of improvement.

The party for my mother's 80 birthday was really a blast though. As much as it is mostly why I have been so out of touch, I am very glad that I devoted so much of my time to planning it. There were 63 people there, including her two brothers who came from Idaho and Utah to be with her. To be able to give a gift like that to my mother is..... well... priceless.

Now, I wish there was something so wonderful that I could do for Scott to let him know how much I love and appreciate him and how much I always will...