Fourth Chemo and THE WOUND

Fourth chemo today--yeah--only two more to go. Of course, I still will have the orcs to deal with. I keep trying new tricks on them. God bless Glenn. He takes me there, stays with me, makes the lunch run, and brings me home. It's got to be really boring for him, but he does it.
Now, for THE WOUND--it has closed, from the bottom up. The Visiting nurses discharged me on Monday and my Plastic Surgeon checked it today. We're done! It looks kind of funny--like I have two belly buttons or something. My plastic Surgeon said to see him after I'm finished with chemo and radiation and he'll see what he can do. But I'm done--it's finished. I can take a bath. I can shower whenever I want to, not just half an hour before the nurse gets here! It's been almost three months of poking, prodding, packing, draining, reopening when the top was closing faster than the inside, and scheduling my life around the nurse's visits. It is so liberating to be wearing no bandages. It is a small victory, but a victory all the same. Maybe that is the joy of this whole proposition--finding small victories to rejoice in and celebrate. Now I have to check my calendar to see when I can go to the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa. It has been WAY too long.
xxooxx

Fog

The fog is finally coming in--not, however, on little cat feet. It is blowing a gale outside and I'm loving it. I'm hoping to be able to see and chew the air in the morning. It has been way hotter than I'm happy with for the last few days. Even with the heat, though, they have been productive days. Thursday afternoon I went back to the cranial prosthesis shop with my friend Dory. I picked up the CP that came as close as possible to my natural hair color. And I ordered two more, so that I can be a blond or redhead as the mood strikes me. The red one brings out every bit of Irish blood I own, so I think it will be part of my Celtic Fiddling attire even after my own hair comes back (presumably sometime in 2009). It was a little over the top, but what is the point of going through this whole exercise if I can't be a little over the top.
From the hair store we went on to Stanford Shopping Center, where I did my bit to keep Macy's in the black. It was good to shop. We followed that with dinner at Max's. I almost felt like a normal person.
Friday was dressing change day. That, too, was good. The wound is only 2 cm and may very well close on its own before I'm done with chemo. I see both surgeons about that on Monday. I hope they are as pleased with the progress as I am.
Today was the Spring Tea at church. I got to wear a new dress and new hair. The hair was warm--no, it was hot--but I didn't think yanking it off and fanning myself would have been terribly tasteful. The tea was delightful. I ate myself stupid and enjoyed every minute of it. My Oncologist made the mistake of telling me this wasn't a time to be dieting and I took her at her word. There is just something about little tea sandwiches and dainty cookies and fresh fruit and dainty cookies and dainty cookies. Oh, and did I mention the cookies? I came home and took a three hour nap. Cookies are exhausting.
The Giants must know I'm feeling better, because they are not doing at all well. I hope they don't think that they only time they can win is when I'm feeling like crap.
I'm going to enjoy some cold air now.
xxooxx

Good Things

I'm more or less out of pain, at least out of big major wake me up when it's over pain. The open wound is closing, slowly but surely. When I cam home from the hospital the end of March, the tube was 7 cm deep--it is now 2 and the nurses can actually see the end of it when they pack it. Maybe it will heal on its own from the inside the way it is supposed to and save me yet another procedure when I'm done with chemo. And now that I'm done with the major pain for this round, I officially consider myself 1/3 through with chemo, The next two weeks of feeling relatively good are gravy.
It is beastly hot, which I just don't do, but with the G I Jane do, it is easy to keep my head cool. Even the hot won't last forever. The marine layer is just waiting to be sucked in when the heat in the valley creates enough of a vacuum on the coast. I'm looking for nice gray air I can see and chew. In the meantime, I did a small search and destroy mission on my dresser and found the remote control for my bedroom fan. Life is sweet at the moment.
xxooxx

One year ago

One year ago, Lee and I arrived in London, staying literally steps away from Freemason's Hall. Lee wanted to see that so badly that I'd resolved to take him on the trip even if I had to bring him home in a baggie. I was the caretaker. Cancer was nowhere near my radar screen--at least not my mental radar screen. It was probably already growing in my body. My concern that trip was seeing to it that Lee had a good time. I knew that even if the worst happened, we would be taken care of. That is one of the real joys of the Masonic Family. And we did have a good time. There was a great deal Lee couldn't do, but also a great deal he could do. We had a grand time.

So much has happened since then. So--what have I been doing lately. I've been getting better. The orcs in my body seem to be retreating. I know they are just gathering strength for the next assault, but right now, the orc drums are just a murmur. Do not for a minute think that the world stops for cancer. Tuesday, Glenn and I were getting ready for an outing--don't get too excited, it was only to the market--when he discovered a flood in the basement. Plans were put on hold while he swabbed the deck and put in a call to our favorite Handyman. The upshot was a backed up sewer, courtesy of tree roots. All is now fine and flowing, but Glenn put in several hours as a plumber's assistant and decided that plumbing would not be his chosen career.
I made Glenn get up early (for him--he works swing shift four nights out of seven), to take me into the City for a follow-up with my surgeon. He made the wound a little bigger to keep it open to heal from the inside out. He wants my plastic surgeon to dig around and find the offending stitch sooner rather than later, since it is still draining. The plastic surgeon wants to wait till I'm done with chemo. I personally would like it all done yesterday. I have a huge box of wound dressing supplies, I suppose it would be a waste not to use them all up.
So, there we are for now. I'm feeling better, about half way through the first cycle. Guess it is time to tackle the mounds of junk--or knit my way through pounds of yarn. Maybe I'll knit.