CHEMO RESCHEDULED DUE TO WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT

Note: This first post will be for medical update purposes. The next post will give you the juicy details of our trip to the South.

CHEMO POSTPONED UNTIL TOMORROW
I was not able to have chemo due to high white blood cell count. We're going to try again tomorrow. We did have a productive session in getting medications straightened out - what's for pain, nausea, sleep, and other side effects and the timing of when during the day to take them. Some meds address more that one side effect. My sisters were there to get informed as well, so Robert and I don't have to remember everything. It's always nourishing to my soul to be with my two sisters.

As I taper off the steroids for the pain in my left leg due to radiation myositis is coming back. I increased my dosage for the pain right after the doctors's appointment yesterday and fell asleep eating Ravioli di Portabello at the Olive Garden. (I did get about five bread sticks in before I got too sleepy.) I took a nice nap in the car and later at home. I took more pain med at bedtime and slept until about 4:00 am. I did not need a sleeping pill.

The steroids and lack of sleep really sent me into a manic state. I did not want to go to bed because I had lots of energy and creative rushes. But I also got combative as well. For those of you that have had to experience my argumentative side, I apologize. (I was in a carpool in 9th grade, and this one boy's mother would tell him, "Robert, you're so argumentive." And he would reply, "Mother, the word is argumentative and I am not." To this day, I have to look the word up to remember which spelling it really is.) I specifically apologize to Barbara Peterson and James Pettingill of the Elks for demanding a few last ads as the Elk's cookbook went to press last week to be ready in time for Fourth of July. So we will have a new, local cookbook this summer! I missed the deadline to get my recipe in, but I'm sure there will be some great ones.

We stayed with George & Glenda Moore last weekend in Marble Falls, and they were wonderful to us. George has given me lots of information and inspiriation as I go into this new FOLFOX chemo regime which he was on. We also hooked up with an old high school friend of mine, Julia Gregory, who is a naturalist for the State of Texas. We visited the Bamberger Ranch where Julia often volunteers. It is a ranch that started out very run down, and through many simple conservation techniques has been turned into a very productive operation on many levels. We were all excited about and impressed by what the Bamberger Family has done. You can get more info at their website - bambergerranch.org. I do owe an apology to the Moores as I was on the grumpy side on Sunday night. Thanks George & Glenda for putting up with me! And by the way, my friend Julia's mother (Shirley) is dating Doris Sutton's brother, and the couple may be coming for a visit this summer. I hope to get back to Austin later this month for another geololgy outing with George and Glenda.

We did managae to catch Jill Patterson for lunch in Lubbock on our drive home. I called her up and said, "Jill! I need to do a major face plant in a plate of Tex-Mex." And she so understood. So we met at El Chico. Her maternal grandmother recently passed away. My condoloscences to the Patterson Family. Jill will be working at Buckskin Booksellers this summer. I have stolen her from the Variety Store, but the Williams are still speaking to me.

MY HAIR IS FALLING OUT
Okay, it's finally happening. My hair is coming out in clumps. No, I don't really want to lose my hair, but then again, consider the possiblities. When they made the first Star Trek movie and they had that bald, gorgeous V-ger woman, I said "That's the planet I want to be from." I've always wanted to be a Vulcan. I already have the ears. Really. I wanted to wear them to bowling with my Quark Bar bowling shirt, but I never had the time to get them glued on. So if you see me around town with pointy ears. . .

TUMORS, LOTS OF TUMORS
After my last scan they counted about 12 tumors in my liver, four to six of which look troublesome including one on the left side which has had little or no tumors. Some of the tumors have "daughters". The biggest ones have not grown thtat much.

We are hoping the FOLFOX will halt or slow down the tumor growth. We also plan to look into some other procedures at Anschutz Center at CU.

In the mean time, I am enjoying life. Another spring for me. Seeing old friends, making amends, and planning for one crazy funeral to go out in style.

But I still say, tumors, hairballs, who cares. I really don't plan to leave until I'm ready. Not sure I get to choose, but I think God, the universe, or whatever you believe in is going to give me more time than the doctors think. Besides, I want to channel Verena Jacobson one more time for the Ouray County Historical Society's "Vignettes of History" to be staged this fall in Montrose.

Just up here in Colorado watching the sun go in and out of the clouds and having my sisters here. God bless us all.

Sincerely, Caroline

P.S. Thank you Diane King for sending the box of Smooth Move tea.

And thanks to Dorothy Davis from my cancer support group in GJ who came by to see me at the cancer center yesterday. Her family owned the Wiesbaden at one time.