Take me out of the bath cause I AM CLEAN!

Well boys and girls, Monday I went and had my PET/CT scan. The 2months after radiation ended scan. It went fine. Tasted a new horrible flavor of barium crap. This one was supposedly Apple. But tasted nothing like an Apple ever would or should. It was sooooooo nasty. But after an hour of slowly sipping it or just trying to gulp it away, it was finished. Went into the scans (nodded off every now and then in the machine) and then I was done.

Tuesday was not such a great day. Monday, foundout a friend has passed away after her fight with stage 4 lung cancer. Tuesday we went to the service. Quite a large turn out, over 500 people. For a young woman she really touched a lot of peoples lives thats for sure! Marissa will truly be missed by many people.

Wednesday, just another day in paradise.

Thursday took my roommate Kevin and I over to Studio 54 to catch the opening of Sunday In The Park With George. I really love this show. And after seeing it live, I really really love this show! The leads that were brought over from the London revival were excellent. The digital lights and effects used to recreate George Seurats Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of Gran Jatte, most excellent. I wept (ok not obsessively or embarassingly). We had a couple of celebrity sightings at the event, one being Jane Krakowski (who i kept seeing throughout the night..it was like she was stalking me haha jk) and Lauren Bacall. So fun evening.
Oh during the day I went to a new gyn doc. Not a very happy warm greeting and i waiting a long time in the room for her to make her entrance. Then it was like oh why do you come every 6months? My reply was becuase I was told too, I mean i'm not the doctor so I dunno what the rules are with that. She said oh thats a waste of resources you only need to come annually. Then talked about having Hodgkins to which she said..Aren't you a little old for Hodgkins?? In the same kind of tone someone would say, aren't you a little old to be dating so and so, or aren't you a little old to be wearing that? REALLY?????? Hmmm well the biopsy (ya know wher ethey cut into you and take a piece out and study it under a microscope and see the tell tale signs and markers of the disease....well yeah that is what it said it was, i dunno what to tell ya. She just returned to writing on the form. Then she took off, as apparently there was another patient with an emergency. So i waited a bit longer after changing into the tent they gave me to change in to. She came back, told me of the emergency and how i had perfect timing (cause ya it's all my fault some woman had an er issue and you're swamped yep all me i cuased all that) but then her demeanor turned really pleasant and caring. So wierd. I dunno if i'll go back there in a year lol

And today....today my results were supposed to be 2pm but i got a call to move it up to 11:15. So i walked over in the snow (love it, it started snowing somewhere between midnight and 3:30am yay) got there, gave my blood. Then waited forever in the room waiting for the doc to come in. He forgot I was in there. I could hear him through the glass chattin with another doc in the office, then started singing "these boots are made for walking" hilarous. Then i asked the receptionist (right outside my room) if she could remind him i'm in there. The nurse was walking by so she did. He then quite hurridly came in. Then opened up the file and showed me the report that said....... ALL CLEAN!!! No signs of malignancy anywhere!! Yay!!! So I see him in a month just to checkin but no more petscans until end of summer (around 4-6 months he said) he may throw in another ct scan sometime but maybe not. Then after that one at the end of summer, not another one after that for another 6months. So good news! I was really getting nervous on the walk over to the office man. Butterflies in the stomach somethin bad. Just kept tellin myself I'm cured, I'm cured, over and over. Glad that wait is over! So glad it all came back clean!

Tomorrow is a fun filled movie day. Fo $30 at AMC i'm see all the best picture Oscar nominee films. from 11-11 I'll be there. I get a free large popcorn too with free rifills and some keepsake lanyard with pics of the nominated movies.

So there's my week recap!! Hope everyone has a great snowy weekend!!!

a little scare

Whew had a little scare today, but all is fine. I went to the oncologist this morning. All was fine, said I looked fine, said oh your hair should start growing back in in about a week, week and a half. We'll see. I had them take the blood from my port since they had to flush it anyways. Told the doc about my issue with standing up from squatting looking at some low shelves or getting up from laying on the couch and things start getting a little black. NEver have passed out but came pretty close in GameStop the other day. He said it was because of the radiation. The area that was radiated is now all stiff and whatever ventricle that helps the blood pressure regulate is not quite up to par, so just get up slowly. lol. ok guess I can do that lol. So i was an hour late to work, no biggie. Then about 12:30 the docs office and says to come back in and have my blood drawn again. The platlettes were too low compared to a month ago. yikes, whats up with that. So I went and came back and all is fine. As the doc put it it was just clumpy. Whether it's clumpy inside my port or just clumped up in the tube i dunno, but the blood drawn from my arm is much better and pretty regular numbers so they sent me on my way yay! i have to say though, it's too cold to be runnin back and forth lol!
But i'm glad that they are lookin at all the numbers and act on them.
I'm super excited for the end of May to be here! My mom and I will be hopin on a plane and goin to Seattle to then catch a boat and go cruising through Alaska!! yay!! I can't wait. I think i'll just be standing along the railing taking pictures the whole time. Well, when I'm not off the boat on a tour taking more pictures!! I can't wait!
Well thats about all, guess I should go do some work now!
ciao


Update:
Took forever to get the authorization for the PetCat scan but finally got the call and hten was told, oh you don't need precertifications for out of office scans. So i waited for a couple days for nothing. But I called this morning and my scans will be on Monday. I have the day off from work then anyways so no big deal. Just can't eat after 9am. Guess I'll have to wake up early anyways and eat breakfast. Then go back to sleep haha.

Thats the latest

Waiting.....

Howdy. Nothin really big to report. Just throught I'd drop a line since I haven't in a little while. Had my 1 month after radiation checkup with the radiation oncologist. Ended up waiting in the exam room for like 45minutes till he finally finished with a patient. Took a little nap lol. Nurse came in at one point to tell me they hadn't forgot about me and if I needed anything. I said, how about a pillow and a blanket haha. The appt went fine. I still really like Dr Shah. He so nice and thorough, generally there is the whole hair issue he forgot to mention in the beggining but other then that he's great. He never guarantee's anything, which is kinda good since really, can you really guarantee anything in life? There is a small possibility my hair wont grow back, another possibility it will grow back patchy or it may all grow back soft as babies hair (in the beginning). I choose the babies hair please thanks. He's seen it all. But teh good news is that since it held out on falling out till 3 days before I was done with radiation, it wasn't unhappy with it early. I alsohave little patches of peach fuzz in areas that were definetly hit by the radiation so it's a good sign that the other places will start to grow back too, just will takea few months. Sucks it's winter cause the back of my head is cold!

Saw Kathy Griffin at the WaMu theater at Madison Square Garden. She's hilarious. She did a straight 2 hours. She is just so hilarious, bawdy, foul mouthed, I love it! Kelly from Boston (chemopalooza) came in to town to see the show with me.

I see the regular oncologist beginning of February. Then we will schedule the PET scan and hopefully the removal of the port. The scans have to be 8 weeks after the last radiation so no false positives show up. So heres hopin for some clean scans baby!

hmm for not much to say I certainly seemed to have said alot. Still thinkin with moving to Portland OR probably in a year. The city just drives me crazy. I guess unless I can move someplace near a park, away from constant major street noise. So we shall see!!

That's all for now!

I am now 34 years old...is that a new age box???

Yo yo yo yesterday was by birthday biatches step up and recognize! hahaha. well it was my birthday and it was a really great day! yay! I even had 3 drinks! A glass of red wine, a glass of white wine and a mojito! Great food and good friends!

Today I went to the oncologist. It was fine. Just had to wait a little while. Tried to get blood from my arm (since it doesnt hurt there I rather that then the port) but the blood was moving soooo slow it was crazy. i dunno if it was my vein, lack of hydration since I really hadn't drank anything, or the phlebotonist. She was a newer one for me. I had to have my port flushed anyways so they gave up quickly and Gerri just got the blood from the port and flushed it. Waited for a bit and then the doc came in. Everythings fine was just a checkin. Slightly enemic most likely from the radiation. Throat is about 95% better. I got back in a month and then we'll schedule the port removal and the PET/CAT scans.

My grannys surgery went great and within 2 days she's been up walkin around, sitting in chairs and eating! She had colon surgery, removed a tumor. When the surgeon got in there the tumor had shrunk so much he had a hard time finding it!

Moms biopsy is scheduled for Jan 16th.

I think the hair or whats left on the back of my head has finally stopped falling out. Now just waiting for some peach fuzz to start comin in!! :O)~

Guess thats all for now! Happy January!

Holiday catch up

Hello everyone out in bloggerland! HOpe everyone had a great christmas and hope you all have a great new year!! I'm down here in southern Mississippi. Hangin out with the fam. Christmas was good. Though uncle did have a little goof with the potatoes. Instead of having mashed (which i was bummed out cause that wouldve been one thing i wouldn't have had a problem eating) he decided to make some augratin scalloped potato dish. Only at dinner time, they weren't cooked all the way. It took almost another 2 hours to cook them lol. So for a little midnight snack they were ready! Was very funny.
Lets see, i flew down here the saturday before xmas. Later that night i looked at my tongue as i felt like i was gettin alot of canker sores, turns out I now had Thrush. It's really kinda gross looking. Since there's not really any over the counter treatment for that, I waited till monday to call my radiation onc since he's the last doc I'd been seeing. And his lovely treatments are what was causing everything. Only, he wasn't in, still on vacation. But I did get ahold of another doc who called me back and I told him what grossness lied on my tongue and my throat was still burning like a madman. He called in a perscription of Niastatin. Some anitfungle, sugary cherry flavored slightly numbing concoction. But it's doin the trick. By wednesday my tongue was looking almost normal. Today itlooks completely normal yay! (oh it's sunday the 30th) Happy birthday mom! I still have to take it for another week. My throat is slowly getting better. Yesterday was the biggest improvement day and today feels better too. Still hard to swallow things. But I just chew chew chew and drink and swallow. It's a shame my tastebuds have gotten all knocked around too. I couldn't even enjoy pizza lastnight. It just tasted sooo awful. How many times are you gonna hear me say that!!! I love pizza! Was such a shame. But apparently when I was out at the store my parents were like, hmmm how many pieces do we save for her, how many can they have. Ha turns out they had it all except for one pieces with like 2 bites out of it. I'm really tired of this now. I'd love to eat like a regular person and swallow easily. I did got to a couple casino buffets and got soft stuff, ie mashed taters, mac N cheese, but it all tasted gross. Now I'm not sure if thats cuase it was my tastebuds or buffet food lol. I did manage some crab legs, which would've been great but they actually weren't very good in general.
Today is moms bday, big old 59, so we are taking her to a Japanese steak house that she loves, Saki's. It's really good. I hope my tastebuds like it. I love the hibachi chicken and vegetables. So yummy. And soft enough I think I'll be ok now!

I guess thats about all, catches everybody up. I fly back home on Jan 3. Oh if you got some extra prayers in ya, can you send some to my ma. She has to have a biopsy done make sure she's just got a benign breast cyst or tumor and nothin worse. She meets with the surgeon on the fourth. She just found this out friday before xmas and on teh 26th we went and she had a magnifying mamogram and a sonogram. So meet with the surgeon and then he'll schedule the biopsy.
Anywho that covers it. Have a happy and safe and healthy new year!!!

and one more "lovely" gift from radiation

Well well well, I now have one more gift from radiation. Something completely unexpected and rather annoying and upsetting. I woke up yesterday, hopped in the shower, was washin my hair and then looked at my hands to find hair all over them. Yep the back of my head is pretty much bald now. Unfortunately, I have to tilt my head back during radiation to keep my lower jaw out of the way, well, this has now put the back of my head in the field. It's now been zapped but good and those little follicles have all just fried up and let my hair go. Very sad since as of right now I only have 2 more treatments left, it was completely unexpected and the other spots that lost hair from chemo are finally all filling in and looking good. I guess the good thing is, from the front the hair looks good, its just at the back that looks pathetic. And its just hard as its come out pretty much all at once and not slowly.
I went and thought getting a haircut would help it, but not really. Just looks bald and splotchy. I wish she'd have actually listened when I said shave it off and blend the rest not just blend it down.
Throat is still messed up. The hardest part is swalloing the oxycodone pills in the morning. I try to wash them down with slimfast cause it's thick and coats them a little, and I cut them up in quarters.
Thanks Jessica for all the advise on the soft foods, it's much appreciated.
So far just swallowign even water is an icky experience. :(
Well today and tomorrow and then I'm done and hopefully things will improve quickly!!!!!

throats-a-fire

Well all the radiation is takin a toll on my throat, thats for sure! Now it feels like a code red triple alarm sever strep throat. The doc gave me some magic mouthwash ( a lovely mixture of maalox and lidocaine) taste gross. Numbed my mouth but did nothin for my throat (and yes i swallowed it too). So I rang up the doc today and said the magic just wasn't working. When I got to my radiation appointment he had a prescription for Percoset waiting for me. he said they would be little pills, which is good cause I have trouble swallowing my tiny little pill for my bloodpressure right now. I drop of the script to the pharmacy, go back an hour to get it only to find out that they actually didn't check to see if they had it when they told me it would be ready in half an hour. But they had sent the manager to a nearby location that had it. Of course nearby I think was like half an hour away. I waited probably an hour and he finaly got back. Nice he sent the mgr over to get it and not me. I get the pills home and they are oxycodone and acetametophin mix and the tablets are big!! Very sad....very very sad. But luckily nowhere did it say do not chew or crush or break, so I chopped them in quarters and swallowed them done, but they still hurt. I tried taking one in a spoonful of icecream. That really didn't work to well. It's been about an hour and a half since I took them. It's not as severe but it's still really sore to swallow. I dunno whats gonna happen tomorrow. If it's only supposed to get worse this week. But luckily this week is the last week! Hopefully xmas day I'll be good enough at least to eat mashed potatoes without a bunch of pain! ya know when you can't eat something all of a sudden is when you really want it lol
Anyone watch Clash of the Choirs??? I'd have to say Patti LaBelles choir was the best, or well my favorite, Michael Boltons choir was my least favorite. Seriously why turn Livin On A Prayer into a big ole choir piece...just wierd.
Anywhooooooo, hope all are having a good start to their week!

swim swim swim

Caught The Little Mermaid lastnight at the Lunt-Fontaine theater. I'd say I'd give a 7 1/2-8 out of 10, 10 being the best. I felt they kind of scimped on some effects that really wouldve given a little bit more of a wow factor. It was cute and fun. And I love Sherie Rene Scott!! Vocally that woman is amazing with a breath support that can go on for days and days and days! There are quite a few new songs added to mix. A lovely quartet in act 2. Norm Lewis, King Triton, gotta love his voice too. so warm and melty and yummy! I notice not really any mermen in the mix. Lots of other fish and sea life, but really if Ariel is supposed to fall in love with a merman, they couldve at least showed one lol. Or maybe I just missed him.
It's fun and Poor Unfortunate Souls...great ending to it!That alone was worth the price. So there's my review.
Saw the rad.onc. today, everythign is coming along smoothly. I'm lining up under their machines very nicely so i'm gettin zapped in all teh right places. I'm not majorly bombarded by sideffects which is good. I did get some magic mouthwash today. I'll take a swig before bed as that seems to be the worse time for me.
Got a Holiday Party at work tomorrow yay!!
ciao for now!