The Starfish Story

Here we go again

• Appointment with Dr. T

Let's face it. The last round was tough, I had more side effects than I had any time before and I felt bad, really bad for longer than I would have liked. But today is a new day, and .......

Time out. My body is trying to tell us something. My blood counts have not recovered from treatment two weeks ago and today is a no-go. The cumulative effect of the treatments is catching up with me, even with my surgical break. I think I can see my tiny white blood cells waving tiny white flags. Even though I've already had three Neupogen shots in the past week, the little guys need more help. I'll have three more shots this week and we'll try again next Tuesday.

kickin it

Back at it

• Appointment with Dr. T, FOLFOX treatment #9

I've had some long days, full of appointments and tests, but today wins the (cup)cake! We started with labs at 7:30 in the morning and it was after 5 when we left. Since we are essentially restarting chemo after a surgical break, we had to take things really slow, to avoid an allergic reaction. And for the most part we were successful, until I got home and had a little reaction. Thank you Benedryl and steroids for quickly taking care of that.

My Valentine

Social visit

• Appointment with Dr. MM

So today (technically yesterday as it is 2 a.m.) I had my surgical follow-up appointment. It was quick and basically Dr. MM told me to come back in a year for my next colonoscopy unless I want to come back in for a social visit. <insert awkward silence>

So, see ya in a year!

We did touch on the bit of pain I'm having and he suggested taking something like Advil for what is likely some inflammation from where I was sewn back together. He told me that I can do whatever I feel up to, push myself if I'm feeling good, and rest when I need to rest. I'm officially in the Dr. MM fan club. It's probably a pretty big club! I'm also cleared to go back to work part-time next week, although chemo is going to interrupt that.

I saw his researcher for the final time and I had one final blood draw with her for fun. I'll never know whether I got the phase II drug that they are testing or the placebo during my surgery, but I didn't get an infection after surgery sooo either way, we got the right outcome. I look forward to being able to read about it when the results are published.

A few zzzzs

I slept for 12 hours last night. While I don't think it was a mistake to get out and walk over the weekend as walking is an encouraged part of recovery, maybe it wore me out a little more than I thought. 

Just a walk in the park (or two)

Two nice weekend days in the middle of February brought two nice walks. Yesterday we hit up my old standby, Creve Coeur Park, for a short loop, maybe a mile. And today we went to Queeny Park for a change of scenery for 1.5 miles. It was nice to get some fresh air and not be freezing cold.

Having some pelvic/lower abdominal discomfort that I'm not sure how to describe or pinpoint. And seeing how every ache and pain sets off alarm bells in my head, hopefully these new bells will be turned off on Tuesday at my surgical check-up.

Steps

Turned a trip downstairs to the mail slots into a walk around the block before the snow starts. Based on recent St. Louis weather experiences, it probably won't even end up snowing BUT just in case, I'm getting some steps in. 750 steps!

7 years and 20 surgeries ago

Last week during my appointment at the counseling center, I got some information about a charity called Imerman Angels. It helps to coordinate one-on-one support for cancer patients. First, I filled out an on-line application and then an employee from the charity called me and went over some more questions with me. And finally, yesterday I received an e-mail matching me with someone who has volunteered to be a mentor, someone that has gone through a diagnosis and treatments similar to mine. My match is also 38 and was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer 7 years and 20 surgeries ago.

It takes a minute to soak that in. 7 years and 20 surgeries ago.


http://www.imermanangels.org/