"Whenever you're down & out, the only way is up..."

Hola.

I just realized I've been pretty slack with my online calendar. Oops. Well, I think everyone is pretty well informed about what my daily schedule is via my blog posts, so I hope no one is too disappointed about me not keeping the calendar up-to-date.

There has been enough interesting happenings in my past four days that I thought I would update again.

The first happening was on Friday night, some hours after I had posted my last post. Greg blew-up our Pontiac Bonneville. Mom and I were sitting around watching TV when we heard a rather loud noise from the garage. I thought it was Greg slamming the side door shut as he left for the Snoball dance. Mom didn't tell me what she thought it was, but two minutes after the "Poof/Boom!" Greg walks in and tells me, "I killed Bonny." I thought he had maybe run over some animal of the neighborhood that had been named "Bonny," but he rephrased and said he had killed my car. Oh, by the way, Greg was not hurt- thought maybe I should mention that. =P I wasn't too upset over the loss of the Bonneville since it had not been running well recently and it always seemed to be heat deprived anyways. We're having it towed sometime this week and we're getting a few hundred bucks out of the arrangement, so it's not a total loss. If you want details about what all happened with the explosion, you'll have to talk to my dad or Greg. All I know is that something blew-up under the hood; I'm definitely not a technical auto-person.

Ok, on to my second happening. I went to Barnes & Noble and, surprisingly, I could not find a book. That's right. Barnes & Noble has failed me. Or maybe my favorite authors have failed me. I've already plowed through the couple of new books that have been released amongst the several authors I enjoy. All I can say is: "Let's go, Diane Duane! Let's get 'A Wizard of Mars' on the shelves!"

Third happening: The Super Bowl. My dad made a pleasant buffet of Super Bowl munchies and we sat, ate, and watched the Super Bowl. The commercials were very disappointing. I feel sorry for all those companies that wasted 2.5 million dollars to play their pathetic commercials during the Super Bowl. The only commercials that really stood out in my mind was the one with the mouse (Was it Blockbuster or Best Buy? I don't know, something with a blue and yellow logo) and the one with the lonely white dog who got splattered with mud and got to ride with the Budweiser dalmation. Otherwise, dumb commercials. The Super Bowl itself was about as entertaining as any other football game on television, which isn't very entertaining. The half-time show was alright, though I had to wonder what was up with Prince deciding to wear a head-scarf. It looked silly.

Then it was Monday already and I had to get up early for blood tests and chemo. I am now down to taking only Leucovorin and 5-FU since Oxaliplatin is evil and I can't be on Avastin for six weeks prior to surgery. Anyways, happening number four occurred after I was done with my infusion at the chemo ward. I was waiting in the pick-up area on ground level, waiting for my mom to pull up, when two guys came walking up. I swear they were members of the mob. Really! They both had fancy pin-stripe jackets and tucked-in neck scarves, dark hair and goatees, and the older of the two even had a fedora on! Picture perfect Italian mobster men. I almost laughed out loud. They were so stereotypical looking. I should have taken a picture of them. Oh, well. =D

So now it's Tuesday. I'm on the pump still and will be de-accessing myself tomorrow; this treatment has been going well- haven't been sick or feeling too tired. Today I had an appointment with a radiologist to see whether it was worth having radiation therapy on my femur prior to surgery. Well, my final happening was while Mom and I were waiting in the doctor's office. I was trying to balance my crutch and get it to stand upright. Mom said I couldn't do it. This was a dare. She said I could not accomplish it, so, of course, I had to prove her wrong. Three minutes later I had that crutch standing in the middle of the room all by itself. Boo-ya! I had accomplished the impossible! I began my victory dance and at that time Dr. Petersen (my radiologist) decided to walk in. There I was, not having met this woman before, dancing around like a crazy person. All I could do was point at my crutch and exclaim, "I got it to balance! She said I couldn't do it, but I did!" Luckily, Dr. Petersen is a nice lady and she just laughed and we started the appointment. Before I end this paragraph and explain the contents of my appointment, if you don't believe that I got the crutch to balance, the next time you see me just ask about it and I can show you pictures that I took of it on my cell phone. =D

Right, about radiation. Dr. Petersen filled me in about what would be going on since she thought that radiation might be useful in helping to prevent a fracture prior to my surgery.

Oh, let me state something quick: I do not have a date set up for surgery. I just know it will be coming up in the near future (beginning of March if Dr. Pitot gets his way- earlier if my hip surgeon tramples over the top of Pitot's opinion).

One more something: I was weighed today. With my coat and my pump, I weigh 119 pounds! Woooo! I'm thinking my coat/pump together can't weigh more than four pounds, so, at the least, I weigh around 115 pounds. Happiness. =D

Hmm, maybe I should just do a numbered list to explain things:
1. Radiation (how it works): photons will be shot at a precise location via a machine. The machine is set so that it doesn't target the skin cells it first passes through, so the bone is the bit that will be receiving the direct treatment. Other areas may be exposed to a few photons, but there are no freaky, dangerous side effects.
2. Pain: There is none. It's like getting an X-ray. I lay on a hard table and get radiation shot at my femur. I hold really still for those fifteen minutes (I get help from "immobilization devices"- which are basically cushions that are molded to the shape of my body) and then I'm done for the day.
3. Side effects: I might get a little tired, but that's nothing new since I get a little tired from chemo- so I can handle that. Radiation might screw-up my monthlies: they're already screwed-up from chemo, so that doesn't matter. It might weaken the bone that is being exposed to radiation: I'll be having that chopped off in a month, so that doesn't matter either. The skin might get a little pink where they're shooting me with radiation, but that probably won't happen since I'm not getting enough rounds of radiation for the skin to get irritated. Basically, I won't feel too many of the side effects. The whole treatment will be pretty painless.
4. The Treatment: I'm scheduled for 10 days of radiation. I start next week, which means I will be at the Charleton building Monday through Friday for at least fifteen minutes everyday. Then I get the weekend off and the next Monday I start the whole thing over again. After that, I'm done. Yay!

Tomorrow I have another appointment with Dr. Petersen. Basically, she's going to show me where I'll be going everyday to get ready for treatment, the machines they use, probably get my "immobilization devices" made up- if I need any, and mark the spot on me where they need to shoot the radiation at. Oh, guess what? They think they're going to give me a tattoo. It would just be a little dot, they say. My reply to that is: "You only think you're going to give me a tattoo. I will mark myself everyday with a marker so that you won't have to give me a tattoo." Blech. I don't want a little remembrance-dot on me. They even have a picture of them giving the tattoo to somebody in the brochure! Yucky. Plus, if it's the size of a freckle, how the heck are they supposed to find it again on me? I have so many moles and little freckles all over me that they'll be hard pressed to tell if the dot is natural or dye. Meh. I'm just obstinate when it comes to medical procedures that involve needles. They're lucky I've gotten over shots and having my port accessed.

Well, I guess that's about it. Oh, wait: It's official that I'm not going to Florida with RCTC, though Chuck (band/choir director) is still trying to convince me to go. I really would like to go, but I'm scared something will accidentally happen and I'll be separated from the group and rushed to some hospital that I know nothing about and will have no way to get in contact with the group again. Scary.

I've made it to band once this week. It was fun; I like band. Tomorrow I should be able to go to band and choir, though I think I've missed too many choir practices to sing at the next concert. Oh well; it's still fun to attend practices. Even my radiation appointments will be scheduled so I can go to band and choir. Yay for helpful scheduling staff!

Okay. I can't think of anything else. I'm sure I'll post again soon with updates about what I think of radiation and what I've been up to in general.

Much love,
Cheryl