Happy Turkey Day!
Okay, it’s a little bit late to be saying that, but I had lots of stuff keeping me busy this past weekend to actually say it on Turkey Day.
This weekend made me realize how many things I’m thankful for.
I’m thankful for my family, including the families who have “adopted” me into their homes. My families have been my cheerleaders and supporters through every step of the way and I’m so grateful for that.
I’m thankful for the guy who sits behind the desk in the chemo ward and schedules appointments, who was nice enough to reschedule my chemo round from the day after Thanksgiving to this Monday. My weekend really couldn’t have been possible if I had had chemo on Friday.
I’m thankful for my friends. People came home from college this weekend and I got to visit with them and eat cardboard pizza. It was great. We even got to watch a festive movie. I can’t until they come home for the holidays. Oh, and I finally got my birthday present from Jase. Thanks, Jaselyn. =D
I’m thankful for the cast and crew of Peter Pan. I love being in this show. The people are so awesome. It’s almost like my Drama Monkey family, definitely not as close knit, but we’re a family of sorts. Being in the play has given me a life, something to get up and go to. I’m glad I got cast so I could run around and be a crazy pirate with a whole bunch of other goof-balls.
I’m thankful for a returned appetite. Postponing chemo treatments gave extra time for my body to rest and return to something of a state of normalcy. I ate like a normal person from Thursday to Sunday. I had full helpings at both Thanksgiving meals I attended and on Saturday at play practice I was eating constantly. All I can say is that clementines and chocolate covered nuts tasted pretty dang good.
I’m thankful to Jon, Ben, Brian, Jeff, Brandon, Matty, Josh, Robert and Greg, who all came and sang to me at the hospital today while I was getting treatment. I was so surprised! I absolutely loved their performance; they sounded great. Actually, everyone in the chemo ward liked them. So a big thank-you goes out to each of them, the parents who drove them, and Mrs. Forsman for excusing them from class to come brighten my day.
I’d also like to thank Speedy. No one around here knows Speedy, but he is a talented graffiti artist who has put his talents to making a piece of art dedicated to the blue star of hope. Thanks a ton, Speedy. Your artwork is great.
Ergh. I've tried several times to get a photo of Speedy's art onto the blog, but it's not working. I'll try to get it up in another post.
Right. I didn’t really describe my weekend in order, so maybe I’ll do a better job of doing that now.
Thursday I was with my mom’s side of the family to celebrate Thanksgiving. We ate turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, a crazy Jello dish, and pie. It was fantabulous. Then the ladies, and James, went to the Festival of Trees. Bri and I decided that each tree was subject to extensive judgment and running commentary to determine where it rated on a scale of one to ten. Needless to say, everyone else had seen every tree in the place twice while Bri and I had only seen about half of the room. But the judging was fun and we got lots of funny looks.
Friday I went to celebrate Thanksgiving with Ben’s family in Eyota. I had a good time. The food was excellent. We watched movies and played Catch Phrase. Lots of fun. After that, Ben and I went to Laura’s to visit with Jase, Connor, Ann, Robert and of course Laura. I had fun. We played with knitting needles and watched people make fools of themselves as they played Guitar Hero.
Saturday morning, from nine to two, I had tech rehearsal at the Civic Theatre. It was a very long practice. Lots of waiting. But the pirates did get a chance practice their song and throw Indians off a five foot high platform onto three squishy mattresses. And I got to jump on the mattresses like a little kid. I was amused.
After play practice I took a nap and then had friends over for a cardboard pizza and a movie. Everyone was gone earlier enough that Ben and I could finally watch “The Polar Express.” I had wanted to watch that movie for three days before I finally got to. It’s a cute flick, definitely a holiday classic. It has really good music too.
Well, I started this post Monday evening and now it’s Tuesday. I couldn’t post it last night because my play practice ended up being five hours long and I didn’t get home until 11 pm. I felt really crummy by then too. I crawled in to bed as soon as I got home; I didn’t even bother to take out my contacts or change into pajamas, just laid on my bed and had Mom rub my back for a while until I fell asleep.
I’m feeling better this morning. My stomach hurts a little bit and I’m back to being cold sensitive. At least the weather is warmer than they predicted. No snow yet, thank goodness. The rain is kind of pleasant, in a dreary sort-a way, though I would prefer a little sunshine. Maybe I’ll take Zoe for a walk today if it clears up a smidgen or if I can get bundled up well enough.
I’ll be sure to update you all again. The end of this week I start performances for Peter Pan and next week I finally have my CT-scans again so I’ll know what’s coming up next.
~Cheryl
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
"But I would walk 500 miles..."
Hola!
I realized that I never posted the results of my tests on Thursday.
Well, the sigmoidoscopy (oooh, fancy technical word) revealed nothing. The doctor in charge of the procedure said my stent hasn’t moved and that there is nothing that’s obstructing the current opening. All that was learned was that there is scar tissue there and that the stent isn’t the same length as the tumor, but that’s not a problem since nothing is closing off and such. The conclusion was that the bleeding is just a part of a treatment and not to worry about it unless it greatly starts to affect my hemoglobin levels.
On Friday I had an appointment with Dr. Pitot. I guess it went alright. I learned that I’m at my lowest weight yet and that it is beginning to become a concern. Dr. Pitot retold me what I already know: snack frequently and eat high calorie foods. The only problem with that is that one of the high calorie foods he recommended are those energy smoothie things and they only taste good (I’ve heard) when they’re chilled, so my cold sensitivity poses a problem in consuming such beverages. I’m trying to snack more frequently so that it’s alright that I’m eating lighter meals, but I’m still having issues with getting sick to my stomach. I’ll eat, feel fine for a bit, and then start feeling nauseous. I don’t know what the problem is. It’s not like I’m trying to starve myself. I’d be fine with regaining about fifteen of the pounds I’ve lost, it’s just that my stomach currently act like it’s battling against me. I guess we’ll see in the next few days if I can put some weight back on. I hope I do; I’m tired of having jeans that don’t fit.
In other news…
Peter Pan rehearsals continue on. We’re getting down to just having issues with technical things, like set changes and how our scenes will actually work with a complete set. The practices are still fun though. The pirates are a great group to hang-out with; we’re collectively creative and find lots of funny things to add to the play. At the last rehearsal we practiced our intermission song and figured out what we were doing at the beginning of the pirate ship scene. The song is going fairly well. We don’t all sing the same notes or rhythms, but it sounds alright. On Monday I’ll bring in my bouzouki and whistles and maybe we’ll get a few more details set in stone. Then, on December 1st, our performances start. I’m hoping that my chemo treatments will be minimal during the month of December so I’m not feeling yucky during performances or having to hide the pump in my costume. That, however, all depends on what my CT-scans show and if Dr. Cima says, “Surgery,” or, “Chemo.”
Oh, I got an e-mail today from my friend Helen. It was a forward, but it was pretty clever for a forward. The topic of the forward was a bunch of statements that play with words. Here are a couple of my favorites:
1. If you don’t pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
2. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: the small medium at large.
3. A grenade fell on to a kitchen floor in France and resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
There were lots more, but I think those were some of the best ones.
Okay, that’s enough for today.
I will fill you in if anything interesting happens.
~Cheryl
I realized that I never posted the results of my tests on Thursday.
Well, the sigmoidoscopy (oooh, fancy technical word) revealed nothing. The doctor in charge of the procedure said my stent hasn’t moved and that there is nothing that’s obstructing the current opening. All that was learned was that there is scar tissue there and that the stent isn’t the same length as the tumor, but that’s not a problem since nothing is closing off and such. The conclusion was that the bleeding is just a part of a treatment and not to worry about it unless it greatly starts to affect my hemoglobin levels.
On Friday I had an appointment with Dr. Pitot. I guess it went alright. I learned that I’m at my lowest weight yet and that it is beginning to become a concern. Dr. Pitot retold me what I already know: snack frequently and eat high calorie foods. The only problem with that is that one of the high calorie foods he recommended are those energy smoothie things and they only taste good (I’ve heard) when they’re chilled, so my cold sensitivity poses a problem in consuming such beverages. I’m trying to snack more frequently so that it’s alright that I’m eating lighter meals, but I’m still having issues with getting sick to my stomach. I’ll eat, feel fine for a bit, and then start feeling nauseous. I don’t know what the problem is. It’s not like I’m trying to starve myself. I’d be fine with regaining about fifteen of the pounds I’ve lost, it’s just that my stomach currently act like it’s battling against me. I guess we’ll see in the next few days if I can put some weight back on. I hope I do; I’m tired of having jeans that don’t fit.
In other news…
Peter Pan rehearsals continue on. We’re getting down to just having issues with technical things, like set changes and how our scenes will actually work with a complete set. The practices are still fun though. The pirates are a great group to hang-out with; we’re collectively creative and find lots of funny things to add to the play. At the last rehearsal we practiced our intermission song and figured out what we were doing at the beginning of the pirate ship scene. The song is going fairly well. We don’t all sing the same notes or rhythms, but it sounds alright. On Monday I’ll bring in my bouzouki and whistles and maybe we’ll get a few more details set in stone. Then, on December 1st, our performances start. I’m hoping that my chemo treatments will be minimal during the month of December so I’m not feeling yucky during performances or having to hide the pump in my costume. That, however, all depends on what my CT-scans show and if Dr. Cima says, “Surgery,” or, “Chemo.”
Oh, I got an e-mail today from my friend Helen. It was a forward, but it was pretty clever for a forward. The topic of the forward was a bunch of statements that play with words. Here are a couple of my favorites:
1. If you don’t pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
2. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: the small medium at large.
3. A grenade fell on to a kitchen floor in France and resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
There were lots more, but I think those were some of the best ones.
Okay, that’s enough for today.
I will fill you in if anything interesting happens.
~Cheryl
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
"If You Are Paying Attention Please Yell..."
Grr…
The Clinic makes me mad sometimes. They say they’ll call you back, but of course they don’t call you until half a day later.
I’ve run into this problem twice within the past five days.
The first time was on Monday. For some reason, Saturday morning I woke up with a cold. It was horrible. My head was congested, my sinuses hurt, and I had just been de-accessed from the pump, so I was scheduled to feel like crud anyways. But still. Having a cold on top of everything was not what I wanted. So Saturday and Sunday I was miserable because no one is at the Clinic on weekends who can tell me what drugs I’m allowed to take while I’m on chemo and various other prescribed drugs. Monday morning my mom calls the Clinic to find out what I’m allowed to take. Remember, she called them at about 8 a.m., as in early. The Clinic promises it will call back with an answer shortly. Four hours later we finally get a call that says I could have taken whatever over-the-counter drugs I wanted to help with my cold. Ugh. That means I spent 2.5 days in complete misery when I easily could have remedied my situation at any time with a couple of Sudafed.
Another problem arose about the same time Saturday. I started bleeding again and bleeding quite a bit. We decided to wait on the problem since it was the weekend and it could have been caused by trivial circumstances. Monday the problem persisted. I continued to insist that we could hold off calling the doctors. After all, Dr. Pitot said I would know if bleeding were caused by something as serious, and rare, as a perforation in the lining of my large intestine. He said there would be blood, there would be misery, and there would be lots of pain. Yes, there was blood, but there wasn’t anything above the usual cramp-i-ness I feel because of the stent. So now it was Tuesday and I definitely didn’t want to go in to the Clinic because Tuesday night my mom, dad, and I were going to Ames, Iowa to see the totally awesome Blue Man Group.
I must interrupt my rant to put in a word about the Blue Man Group. There are a couple of things I think everyone should experience some time in their life. One is go see Cirque du Soleil. They’re awesome. It’s a crazy, modern circus with sweet music and incredible acts. The second thing is go see the Blue Man Group. The show we saw last night, “How to be a Megastar 2.0,” was incredibly entertaining and I’m sure everyone who would go would enjoy it (except the lady who was sitting next to us and seemed to be disturbed by all the flashing lights). The best part was the comedic acts between songs. For this show it was an instruction manual for being a rock star, so the Blue Men were instructed on how they should “establish a signature style of choreography,” “play traditional rock pieces to cover up how much of a [jerk] you have become,” and various other rock-star trademarks. It was so funny. I liked the audience participation. We were taught “key choreography,” such as bobbing-of-the-head and raising-the-roof. It was fun watching the entire audience, from old people to little kids, put their hands up and yell at the top of their lungs. In conclusion, it was an awesome experience that I would definitely go to again and recommend everyone else should see.
Okay, back to my rant.
Today is Wednesday. Dad stayed home because we determined Tuesday night that we would call the Clinic today about the bleeding. My dad called the clinic at 8:30 a.m. My original plans for the day included taking a test in the morning and then going to choir and band at RCTC. Well, I had to call in and tell my proctor that I couldn’t make the test and that I didn’t know when I was going to be in to take it. Then I missed choir because we were still waiting for the Clinic to call. I haven’t been to choir yet because of being sick and waiting for the Clinic to call back. Finally I just decided to go in to RCTC and go to band practice and then take my test. So I went in to RCTC. I guess somewhere between 2-4 p.m. the Clinic finally called back and got things sorted out with my dad. It looks like tomorrow, bright and early, I will be going in to the Clinic for a colonoscopy to check out what’s going on with the stent and see what’s causing the bleeding. I’m scheduled to be there at 6:45 a.m. for preparation stuff, followed by the examination. Meh. That’s a little too early for me, but hopefully it means I’ll be awake enough to go to choir and band.
So that’s my news. Not the most pleasant of news, except for the stuff about seeing the Blue Man Group, but that’s all I’ve got.
We’re playing Christmas tunes in band and I’m finally getting to know some of the kids. It’s a nice daily activity to participate in. =D
Tonight I have practice for Peter Pan. Right now I’m having mixed feelings about going. It’s like I want to go, but I don’t want to do anything. I don’t know; I’m just being lazy. If I think about it, I know I’ll have fun if I go and it’s better than staying at home and doing nothing.
Right. I’m done.
Hope y’all have a pleasant rest of the week.
~Cheryl
The Clinic makes me mad sometimes. They say they’ll call you back, but of course they don’t call you until half a day later.
I’ve run into this problem twice within the past five days.
The first time was on Monday. For some reason, Saturday morning I woke up with a cold. It was horrible. My head was congested, my sinuses hurt, and I had just been de-accessed from the pump, so I was scheduled to feel like crud anyways. But still. Having a cold on top of everything was not what I wanted. So Saturday and Sunday I was miserable because no one is at the Clinic on weekends who can tell me what drugs I’m allowed to take while I’m on chemo and various other prescribed drugs. Monday morning my mom calls the Clinic to find out what I’m allowed to take. Remember, she called them at about 8 a.m., as in early. The Clinic promises it will call back with an answer shortly. Four hours later we finally get a call that says I could have taken whatever over-the-counter drugs I wanted to help with my cold. Ugh. That means I spent 2.5 days in complete misery when I easily could have remedied my situation at any time with a couple of Sudafed.
Another problem arose about the same time Saturday. I started bleeding again and bleeding quite a bit. We decided to wait on the problem since it was the weekend and it could have been caused by trivial circumstances. Monday the problem persisted. I continued to insist that we could hold off calling the doctors. After all, Dr. Pitot said I would know if bleeding were caused by something as serious, and rare, as a perforation in the lining of my large intestine. He said there would be blood, there would be misery, and there would be lots of pain. Yes, there was blood, but there wasn’t anything above the usual cramp-i-ness I feel because of the stent. So now it was Tuesday and I definitely didn’t want to go in to the Clinic because Tuesday night my mom, dad, and I were going to Ames, Iowa to see the totally awesome Blue Man Group.
I must interrupt my rant to put in a word about the Blue Man Group. There are a couple of things I think everyone should experience some time in their life. One is go see Cirque du Soleil. They’re awesome. It’s a crazy, modern circus with sweet music and incredible acts. The second thing is go see the Blue Man Group. The show we saw last night, “How to be a Megastar 2.0,” was incredibly entertaining and I’m sure everyone who would go would enjoy it (except the lady who was sitting next to us and seemed to be disturbed by all the flashing lights). The best part was the comedic acts between songs. For this show it was an instruction manual for being a rock star, so the Blue Men were instructed on how they should “establish a signature style of choreography,” “play traditional rock pieces to cover up how much of a [jerk] you have become,” and various other rock-star trademarks. It was so funny. I liked the audience participation. We were taught “key choreography,” such as bobbing-of-the-head and raising-the-roof. It was fun watching the entire audience, from old people to little kids, put their hands up and yell at the top of their lungs. In conclusion, it was an awesome experience that I would definitely go to again and recommend everyone else should see.
Okay, back to my rant.
Today is Wednesday. Dad stayed home because we determined Tuesday night that we would call the Clinic today about the bleeding. My dad called the clinic at 8:30 a.m. My original plans for the day included taking a test in the morning and then going to choir and band at RCTC. Well, I had to call in and tell my proctor that I couldn’t make the test and that I didn’t know when I was going to be in to take it. Then I missed choir because we were still waiting for the Clinic to call. I haven’t been to choir yet because of being sick and waiting for the Clinic to call back. Finally I just decided to go in to RCTC and go to band practice and then take my test. So I went in to RCTC. I guess somewhere between 2-4 p.m. the Clinic finally called back and got things sorted out with my dad. It looks like tomorrow, bright and early, I will be going in to the Clinic for a colonoscopy to check out what’s going on with the stent and see what’s causing the bleeding. I’m scheduled to be there at 6:45 a.m. for preparation stuff, followed by the examination. Meh. That’s a little too early for me, but hopefully it means I’ll be awake enough to go to choir and band.
So that’s my news. Not the most pleasant of news, except for the stuff about seeing the Blue Man Group, but that’s all I’ve got.
We’re playing Christmas tunes in band and I’m finally getting to know some of the kids. It’s a nice daily activity to participate in. =D
Tonight I have practice for Peter Pan. Right now I’m having mixed feelings about going. It’s like I want to go, but I don’t want to do anything. I don’t know; I’m just being lazy. If I think about it, I know I’ll have fun if I go and it’s better than staying at home and doing nothing.
Right. I’m done.
Hope y’all have a pleasant rest of the week.
~Cheryl
Friday, November 10, 2006
Leaping Lizards, It’s a Blizzard!
Aaaaaah! Where did all this snow come from!? I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and I was thinking, “Oh, it must be raining outside,” but when I looked out my window there was white everywhere!
So now I’m sipping cranberry tea (thanks, Linda), the only good tea there is, and eating toaster apple strudels while I glare outside at the evil snow.
I can’t believe there’s already five inches of it out there! Yuck.
I was supposed to take a math test today, but Mom says the roads are so bad that she doesn’t want to take the chance that we’ll be in an accident on the way there and I’ll be stranded in the cold while I’m extremely cold sensitive. I feel guilty for having to ask my teacher to move the due date of my test, but it’s just not worth the risk of trying to drive in to RCTC.
Wednesday and Thursday night I had my band concerts at RCTC. I think they went pretty well. There were a couple of glitches while we were playing (like a squeaky clarinet and euphoniums not coming in when they’re supposed to) and my director even forgot his music, but otherwise everything went smoothly. The concert band played first, so I stuck around Wednesday night to hear the rest of the concert. The jazz band was really good and the choir was fun to listen to also. The last group to perform was Aires, the show choir. They had some really cute numbers, like “Route 66” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.” To say the least, they were very energetic and they kind-a pulled the audience in with their enthusiasm. I’m hoping maybe I can join it next semester, but I don’t know because you’re supposed to audition at the start of the year to get in and I’m supposed to have surgery, I think, sometime during that semester.
After I performed at the concert Thursday night, Ben took me to my Peter Pan rehearsal. Like always, I had fun and got to goof around with the rest of the pirates. It looks like we get to sing a song during a scene change or something like that, so we were picking out a song and seeing who could sing or play various instruments. It looks like the one guy knows how to play mandolin and had found a bouzouki the other day and was thinking about buying it for the play. I told him I already had a bouzouki and could bring it in for him to try. Then they asked me to bring in some of my whistles and recorders, so we might have a full ensemble of pirates singing some sort of silly sea shanty. =D
Thursday I started my seventh round of chemo. They tried giving me some new-ish drugs. Instead of feeding me an anti-nausea medication through the IV, they gave it to me in pill form. It was supposed to make me less groggy, but it still made me really sleepy so I was asleep for most of my hospital stay. Also, instead of taking compazine or zofran to keep my stomach settled, I’m now taking kytril. It seems to be working rather well; I took it last night and I didn’t feel sick at all. So I’m taking that twice a day and my stomach remains happy, verses taking the other drugs and still feeling like crud.
It looks like in a few weeks I’m going to have CT-scans again and meet with Dr. Pitot and possibly my surgeon, Dr. Cima. They also scheduled me for a bone scan since I kept asking them about the state of the cancer in my hip and they weren’t telling me anything. I don’t know if I’ll actually have the bone scan, it all depends on what Dr. Pitot says, but I’ll definitely be having CT-scans and talking about the possibility of surgery in my future. I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll post it again: the goal of having surgery is to remove the very cancerous right lobe of my liver and the primary tumor in my intestine. The result of such surgery would be a temporary colostomy bag, yet a body with considerably less cancer, which means that when I resume chemotherapy after the surgery that the chemicals can concentrate on fewer spots of cancer with greater force, which is definitely a good thing.
Oh, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I kept forgetting to do it. I want to thank Jaselyn, Corey, and especially Jack for the movie they made me. Jack, if you don’t know him, is a very talented individual that makes these totally awesome videos with stop-animation (at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called). He uses Lego pieces and makes hilarious short films out of them. Recently he’s been working on a mini-series of sorts involving two characters, Jack and Jordan, who continuously get themselves into trouble. Jack’s latest “Jack and Jordan” film was made for me as a birthday present. So here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhV81x2QBW8. You kind-of have to know Jack, Jordan, Jase, Corey and I to get all the humor, but it’s still really funny even if you don’t know all of us. I also recommend you checking out some of Jack’s other clips, like “Motorbike” and “History Crap.” The link to his main site is this: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JackQ. Just browse around and watch what you please. Again, thanks Jack! You’re awesome!
Oh, I also want to thank my Aunt Lori and Uncle Jim for the teddy bear, care cards, and aromatherapy mineral bath. I think I may be making use of the bath salts some time in the next couple of days while I’m hooked up to the pump.
Well, I suppose I should go get ready for the day. I’m still lounging around in pajamas, but then again I’ll probably just bathe and change into sweatpants and a comfy shirt.
Talk to everyone later!
~Cheryl
So now I’m sipping cranberry tea (thanks, Linda), the only good tea there is, and eating toaster apple strudels while I glare outside at the evil snow.
I can’t believe there’s already five inches of it out there! Yuck.
I was supposed to take a math test today, but Mom says the roads are so bad that she doesn’t want to take the chance that we’ll be in an accident on the way there and I’ll be stranded in the cold while I’m extremely cold sensitive. I feel guilty for having to ask my teacher to move the due date of my test, but it’s just not worth the risk of trying to drive in to RCTC.
Wednesday and Thursday night I had my band concerts at RCTC. I think they went pretty well. There were a couple of glitches while we were playing (like a squeaky clarinet and euphoniums not coming in when they’re supposed to) and my director even forgot his music, but otherwise everything went smoothly. The concert band played first, so I stuck around Wednesday night to hear the rest of the concert. The jazz band was really good and the choir was fun to listen to also. The last group to perform was Aires, the show choir. They had some really cute numbers, like “Route 66” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.” To say the least, they were very energetic and they kind-a pulled the audience in with their enthusiasm. I’m hoping maybe I can join it next semester, but I don’t know because you’re supposed to audition at the start of the year to get in and I’m supposed to have surgery, I think, sometime during that semester.
After I performed at the concert Thursday night, Ben took me to my Peter Pan rehearsal. Like always, I had fun and got to goof around with the rest of the pirates. It looks like we get to sing a song during a scene change or something like that, so we were picking out a song and seeing who could sing or play various instruments. It looks like the one guy knows how to play mandolin and had found a bouzouki the other day and was thinking about buying it for the play. I told him I already had a bouzouki and could bring it in for him to try. Then they asked me to bring in some of my whistles and recorders, so we might have a full ensemble of pirates singing some sort of silly sea shanty. =D
Thursday I started my seventh round of chemo. They tried giving me some new-ish drugs. Instead of feeding me an anti-nausea medication through the IV, they gave it to me in pill form. It was supposed to make me less groggy, but it still made me really sleepy so I was asleep for most of my hospital stay. Also, instead of taking compazine or zofran to keep my stomach settled, I’m now taking kytril. It seems to be working rather well; I took it last night and I didn’t feel sick at all. So I’m taking that twice a day and my stomach remains happy, verses taking the other drugs and still feeling like crud.
It looks like in a few weeks I’m going to have CT-scans again and meet with Dr. Pitot and possibly my surgeon, Dr. Cima. They also scheduled me for a bone scan since I kept asking them about the state of the cancer in my hip and they weren’t telling me anything. I don’t know if I’ll actually have the bone scan, it all depends on what Dr. Pitot says, but I’ll definitely be having CT-scans and talking about the possibility of surgery in my future. I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll post it again: the goal of having surgery is to remove the very cancerous right lobe of my liver and the primary tumor in my intestine. The result of such surgery would be a temporary colostomy bag, yet a body with considerably less cancer, which means that when I resume chemotherapy after the surgery that the chemicals can concentrate on fewer spots of cancer with greater force, which is definitely a good thing.
Oh, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I kept forgetting to do it. I want to thank Jaselyn, Corey, and especially Jack for the movie they made me. Jack, if you don’t know him, is a very talented individual that makes these totally awesome videos with stop-animation (at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called). He uses Lego pieces and makes hilarious short films out of them. Recently he’s been working on a mini-series of sorts involving two characters, Jack and Jordan, who continuously get themselves into trouble. Jack’s latest “Jack and Jordan” film was made for me as a birthday present. So here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhV81x2QBW8. You kind-of have to know Jack, Jordan, Jase, Corey and I to get all the humor, but it’s still really funny even if you don’t know all of us. I also recommend you checking out some of Jack’s other clips, like “Motorbike” and “History Crap.” The link to his main site is this: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JackQ. Just browse around and watch what you please. Again, thanks Jack! You’re awesome!
Oh, I also want to thank my Aunt Lori and Uncle Jim for the teddy bear, care cards, and aromatherapy mineral bath. I think I may be making use of the bath salts some time in the next couple of days while I’m hooked up to the pump.
Well, I suppose I should go get ready for the day. I’m still lounging around in pajamas, but then again I’ll probably just bathe and change into sweatpants and a comfy shirt.
Talk to everyone later!
~Cheryl
Monday, November 06, 2006
"I'm gonna dance. I'm gonna dance, dance, dance..."
Whoa! It’s already November! Who’da thunk?
I’m definitely getting lazy on my blog posting. Sorry ‘bout that.
There isn’t too much to comment on about last week. Halloween was in there somewhere and a couple of tests. I didn’t have a costume for Halloween, but I celebrated by wearing a pair of festive socks and going to Ben’s aunt’s house to hang-out and greet trick-or-treaters. I also worked on making a cap for one of my friends. I think it turned out pretty well; it was a soft, fuzzy black cap with a couple of pink stripes. The yarn was a little weird to work with since it was so fuzzy, but I managed.
Okay, this is absurd enough that I feel this is worth posting on my blog, but to start I must fill you in on some details:
1. First, there is this girl. We will call her “Stalker.”
2. Stalker has been trying to steal my boyfriend from me for the past year and a month. This means she calls Ben’s house almost every night (using multiple phones so he can’t always know it’s her via caller-ID and hang-up on her) and has confronted Ben about “where they stand” a couple of times (as far as Ben is concerned, he feels they stand a few light-years apart).
3. I think she must be somewhat delirious since Stalker just doesn’t seem to understand that Ben and I are a couple and that our current state is not likely to change due to her actions.
“And now for the rest of the story”:
Friday night I get a call from Ben. Obviously Stalker has been communicating through Ben’s bro and has asked to come over to their house. At this point I’m thinking, “Stalker is crazy, desperate.” Ben asks if I would like to come over in order to pass a “subtle” hint along to Stalker. I say I would love to. I get to Ben’s house. I’m there for a little while when I find out Stalker has recently phoned. Ben’s bro informs Stalker that I will be at their house the same time she is. At this point, Stalker bails and says she can’t make it out to their house.
All I can say is: Mwa-ha-ha.
I don’t know if Stalker or friends of Stalker read this blog, but I really don’t care what they think. I have tolerated Stalker’s stalk-i-ness for the last year, which is longer than what a lot of my friends said they would have tolerated her. So maybe through this post, I’m hoping, she might finally get a clue.
Anyway, on to other news…
Saturday was quite a bit of fun. I went up to Gma T.’s house to help set-up her Christmas village. Yes, it is a little early to be setting-up such things, but we didn’t know when I’d be well enough or when else our schedules would work. I think our arrangement of the village pieces turned out well. I decided how the big scene would look and Gma did the two smaller ones while I took a nap (yes, I fell asleep on them…again).
Saturday night was super-fun. I got to learn the basics of salsa dancing! It’s definitely different from clogging, but it’s still fun to try. The Komaniecki’s, Ben, Jessi, and I went to a martial arts studio that was holding a lesson and open-dance. Everyone seemed to have a good time and we all came out a little wiser in the art of Latin-dancing.
Sunday I went horseback riding with my mom in La Crosse. I haven’t ridden my horse in over a year, so it was nice to ride again. Shawn, my horse, behaved reasonably well. It’s not like he’d be ready for a horse show anytime soon, but I got him to walk, trot, and lope fairly decently. We even worked on figure-8’s a little bit.
After riding we came home. Sadly my shoulder was really tight, so I had to take a Tylenol 3. That pretty-much knocked me out until it was time for dinner. I ate and then I went to band practice at RCTC. We have our concerts this Wednesday and Thursday, so this was a run-through and tweak-the-small-things type practice. I had a good time. There is a guy in our band who plays piano like no one I’ve ever seen and he started playing songs from “Wicked,” so another girl and I started singing along while he played. It was so cool.
Today was a test day. First I had my midterm for math (and got 96.6%- woohoo!) and then I went into the Gonda for blood tests. The blood tests looked pretty good. My hemoglobin is down a bit again, so I think I’ll have to get the icky shot at my next chemo round this Thursday. Otherwise, everything else looked like it was generally moving in the right way. Good test results all around.
And now I’m bumming at home and working on this post.
Oh, I guess I should mention how my rehearsals for Peter Pan are going:
They are fantabulous! I always have a great time. I must say, the pirates are going to steal the show (unless everyone else is awed by the flying kids…). The pirates are a great group of people; we all scheme together and come up with clever things for our characters to do. The last practice we were working on our “shuffling.” There is a scene where Hook has a long speech and while he talks the pirates are “shuffling” about in the background looking for lost boys. It’s a really funny bit, even though it tires out your legs after you practice it a few times. This week I have practice again on Tuesday and hopefully I’ll get to learn how I die. =D
I hope everyone can make it to see Peter Pan sometime this December. It’s going to be a really good show and kids of all ages will love it.
Actually, here are a couple of links so people can be informed as to when my RCTC concerts and my Peter Pan performances will be:
Peter Pan Info: http://www.rochestercivictheatre.org/Shows.asp?TopNavItemID=4
RCTC Info: http://www.rctc.edu/studentlife/html/music.html
I won’t be able to make it to the second two Christmas concerts due to Peter Pan performances, but I should be at the first two.
Oh! I get to join the RCTC choir too! Chuck (director of band, choir, and anything musical at RCTC) said he’d be happy to take another alto, so I’ll be joining the choir next Monday. =D
And that concludes my post.
I’ll let you know how my next chemo treatment goes and fill you in on anything interesting.
“Yay!” for the end of political ads tomorrow!
Much love,
Cheryl
I’m definitely getting lazy on my blog posting. Sorry ‘bout that.
There isn’t too much to comment on about last week. Halloween was in there somewhere and a couple of tests. I didn’t have a costume for Halloween, but I celebrated by wearing a pair of festive socks and going to Ben’s aunt’s house to hang-out and greet trick-or-treaters. I also worked on making a cap for one of my friends. I think it turned out pretty well; it was a soft, fuzzy black cap with a couple of pink stripes. The yarn was a little weird to work with since it was so fuzzy, but I managed.
Okay, this is absurd enough that I feel this is worth posting on my blog, but to start I must fill you in on some details:
1. First, there is this girl. We will call her “Stalker.”
2. Stalker has been trying to steal my boyfriend from me for the past year and a month. This means she calls Ben’s house almost every night (using multiple phones so he can’t always know it’s her via caller-ID and hang-up on her) and has confronted Ben about “where they stand” a couple of times (as far as Ben is concerned, he feels they stand a few light-years apart).
3. I think she must be somewhat delirious since Stalker just doesn’t seem to understand that Ben and I are a couple and that our current state is not likely to change due to her actions.
“And now for the rest of the story”:
Friday night I get a call from Ben. Obviously Stalker has been communicating through Ben’s bro and has asked to come over to their house. At this point I’m thinking, “Stalker is crazy, desperate.” Ben asks if I would like to come over in order to pass a “subtle” hint along to Stalker. I say I would love to. I get to Ben’s house. I’m there for a little while when I find out Stalker has recently phoned. Ben’s bro informs Stalker that I will be at their house the same time she is. At this point, Stalker bails and says she can’t make it out to their house.
All I can say is: Mwa-ha-ha.
I don’t know if Stalker or friends of Stalker read this blog, but I really don’t care what they think. I have tolerated Stalker’s stalk-i-ness for the last year, which is longer than what a lot of my friends said they would have tolerated her. So maybe through this post, I’m hoping, she might finally get a clue.
Anyway, on to other news…
Saturday was quite a bit of fun. I went up to Gma T.’s house to help set-up her Christmas village. Yes, it is a little early to be setting-up such things, but we didn’t know when I’d be well enough or when else our schedules would work. I think our arrangement of the village pieces turned out well. I decided how the big scene would look and Gma did the two smaller ones while I took a nap (yes, I fell asleep on them…again).
Saturday night was super-fun. I got to learn the basics of salsa dancing! It’s definitely different from clogging, but it’s still fun to try. The Komaniecki’s, Ben, Jessi, and I went to a martial arts studio that was holding a lesson and open-dance. Everyone seemed to have a good time and we all came out a little wiser in the art of Latin-dancing.
Sunday I went horseback riding with my mom in La Crosse. I haven’t ridden my horse in over a year, so it was nice to ride again. Shawn, my horse, behaved reasonably well. It’s not like he’d be ready for a horse show anytime soon, but I got him to walk, trot, and lope fairly decently. We even worked on figure-8’s a little bit.
After riding we came home. Sadly my shoulder was really tight, so I had to take a Tylenol 3. That pretty-much knocked me out until it was time for dinner. I ate and then I went to band practice at RCTC. We have our concerts this Wednesday and Thursday, so this was a run-through and tweak-the-small-things type practice. I had a good time. There is a guy in our band who plays piano like no one I’ve ever seen and he started playing songs from “Wicked,” so another girl and I started singing along while he played. It was so cool.
Today was a test day. First I had my midterm for math (and got 96.6%- woohoo!) and then I went into the Gonda for blood tests. The blood tests looked pretty good. My hemoglobin is down a bit again, so I think I’ll have to get the icky shot at my next chemo round this Thursday. Otherwise, everything else looked like it was generally moving in the right way. Good test results all around.
And now I’m bumming at home and working on this post.
Oh, I guess I should mention how my rehearsals for Peter Pan are going:
They are fantabulous! I always have a great time. I must say, the pirates are going to steal the show (unless everyone else is awed by the flying kids…). The pirates are a great group of people; we all scheme together and come up with clever things for our characters to do. The last practice we were working on our “shuffling.” There is a scene where Hook has a long speech and while he talks the pirates are “shuffling” about in the background looking for lost boys. It’s a really funny bit, even though it tires out your legs after you practice it a few times. This week I have practice again on Tuesday and hopefully I’ll get to learn how I die. =D
I hope everyone can make it to see Peter Pan sometime this December. It’s going to be a really good show and kids of all ages will love it.
Actually, here are a couple of links so people can be informed as to when my RCTC concerts and my Peter Pan performances will be:
Peter Pan Info: http://www.rochestercivictheatre.org/Shows.asp?TopNavItemID=4
RCTC Info: http://www.rctc.edu/studentlife/html/music.html
I won’t be able to make it to the second two Christmas concerts due to Peter Pan performances, but I should be at the first two.
Oh! I get to join the RCTC choir too! Chuck (director of band, choir, and anything musical at RCTC) said he’d be happy to take another alto, so I’ll be joining the choir next Monday. =D
And that concludes my post.
I’ll let you know how my next chemo treatment goes and fill you in on anything interesting.
“Yay!” for the end of political ads tomorrow!
Much love,
Cheryl
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
