BIG CHEMO ON TUESDAY
I had a big chemo day on Tuesday and it really knocked me out. I had the FOLFOX - got the pump off yesterday for 5FU which I wear for two days. I also has Zometa, the bone hardener which I think causes my forearms and legs to ache, Aranesp for hemoglobin/red blood cells, and all the other attendant pre-medications for chemo. My platelets were low, but I was still able to have chemo anyway. I have been sleeping a bunch which is a good thing. My CA 19-9 tumor marker was 3821. My liver enzymes were all bit low or high, but nothing of real concern.
My left leg still hurts where they think I have a blood clot, so I'm going up on my steroids to two a day. I'm cutting Zoloft back to 1/4 pill. I try to take my steroids in the a.m. I've been taking Oxycodone for pain which causes constipation, so I try to keep my laxatives in balance with the pain medicattion. I have neuropathy really bad which causes my feet to swell and my mouth to react to cold. I can't have ice cream for the first five days or so after FOLFOX, and we just got Blue Bell, the best ice cream in the country, in Montrose, 35 miles up the road at the Russell Stover's Candy Factory Outlet. If I take Neurontin for for the neuropathy, I am gone. It really knocks me out. My oncologist wants me take it twice a day, but I would be asleep all the time, and it's just too busy right now in Ouray to be knocked out. I think I heard a statistic on TV that this is one of the busiest weeks for tourism.
HARRY POTTER TONIGHT
Speaking of being busy, Harry Potter comes out tonight. We ordered 60 copies and all of them have been spoken for. This is huge for our small town bookstore. I'm hoping to get down to the store for the sale.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
Week before last I was at a writing workshop in Taos. I took a memoir class with Barabara Robinette Moss who wrote Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter, Fierce, and she has a new memoir about having a rare form of cancer. I recommend all of her books.
I need to send a big thanks to my friend Jody who assisted me while I was in Taos. Thanks, Jody! Jody helped me give myself blood thinner shots, Alixir. She said I turned white the first day, but then I got better. I am quite a handful at times, so thanks Jody for your help and patience.
Starting tomorrow in Ouray, there's the San Juan Writer's Workshop. There are three fiction sessions that I plan to attend: Pam Painter, Pam Houston, and Robert Olen Butler. If any of you are reading this Pam Painter will have a reading on Sunday night 7/22/07, Pam Houston (Cowboys Are My Weakness, Sight Hound) will read Thursday night 7/26/07, and Pulitzer Prize winner (Good Scent from a Strange Mountain) Robert Olen Butler will read on Saturday night 7/28/07. Author readings are at 6:30 pm with student readings on the same day at 4:00 pm. All the readings are free to the public. I heard Pam Houston read in Taos from her most recent book yet to be published is really funny. The story was written in second person like her first story in the book Cowboys Are My Weakness. Pam has also been anthologized in the Best Short Stories of the Century.
I have to run - my husband just came home to pick me up for the Harry Potter Party - got to get my witch's costume on.
More later. Sincerely, Caroline
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2 comments:
Caroline,
Thanks to your diary I have convinced the oncologist to suspend Genzar as the treatment option due to it causing Radiation Recall on her legs. She is now on Tykerb as a single agent since she has been on Xeloda in a prior protocol. We are hoping that suspending Gemzar will take care of the terrible edema that came up weeks after her leg radiations.
Thanks again for your diary and prayers for your complete recovery.
Charlie and Gayle
Hi Caroline,
Sounds like you are still fighting big time. Good for you. I happened to be in downtown Naperville on Friday day and everyone was dressed as Harry Potter with the glasses, capes and wands. I guess it was wild that night as they waited for Borders to start handing out the copies at midnight. Glad you had great success. I will wait for my grandson to get it and then read his. Thanks for the recommendations on good books. You sure know your stuff and I have become an avid reader sitting with Joe for treatments. Sounds like you are over a big hump getting rid of the blood clot. Hope you summer days are filled with good stuff like writing and friends and food -ice cream is always great. Take care and God bless. Mary Anne Coburn
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