Happy Halloween

for any of you who come by here - this one is totally not cancer-related. my daughter is in her 4th year at college, and works at the library. the challenge? create a library themed pumpkin. then people vote. her's is the HP Lovecraft Cthulu pumpkin (you'll be able to tell, it's the coolest one there) there are 3 categories, you can vote for 1 pumpkin in each of the categories. please go vote for her Cthulu? http://libguides.uwstout.edu/pumpkins thank you!

AWOL

I haven't been blogging... as it was brought to my attention by a friend that I haven't talked to in....... a couple of years? apparently we've both had a tough time of it in the past year or two.... Anyway.... i'm 1 year, 1 month and 1 week past my diagnosis. 1 year and 10 days past my surgery to remove the lobe of my lung. 9 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days past the end of my chemo. 6 months and 10 days past the end of radiation. not that i'm counting or anything. so far, so good. still cancer free. next scan (and scanxiety) is December 19, with the report on the 21st. i'm counting on the doctor not ruining xmas. oh, and i've beaten the first set of odds.... the median life expectancy for someone with my stage of my cancer is 15 months... that would be december 9. looks like i'm going to beat that one. nyah nyah! cancer can kiss my ass!

2 down, how many more to go?

NED.

the magic words every cancer patient wants to hear.

'no evidence of disease'

means i can breath for another 3 months.

also means i'm at the point where, now that the treatments are essentially done (except for the clinical trial) that it's time to crash and burn for a month or so.

everyone tells me this is normal.

we'll see what happens.

Time Flies

When you run from one doctor appointment to the next!

I'm almost done. seriously. chemo - done. radiation - done.

all that's left are the clinical trials... 5/3, and then every 3 weeks until November sometime.........

and the scans. every 3 months, either a CT scan with contrast dye, or x-rays.

see, i'm allergic to the contrast dye.

so today, i'm bright red from the hives.......

but it's ok, it's better than having cancer.

now of course, if the scan comes back that i still have cancer, i'm gonna be pretty unhappy!

on other news...... my son graduates high school in 39 days, and my daughter finishes her 3rd year of college in 2 weeks.

and i'm knitting. right now, a pair of socks. after that.... probably another pair of socks!

and i've been pretty good about not buying yarn this year.

but lois and erin got me yarn for my birthday. first birthday A.C. (after cancer)

so........ what shall we talk about now?

R & R

that's what I've had lately.

2/9, i had the first chemo that was ONLY the clinical trial.
no anti-nausea meds........ no gallons of hydration.

and ya know? it was easy. seriously. i can do this.

been to see the radiation oncologist. he's wonderful.

so next week, we start radiation. somewhere around 5-1/2 weeks, 5 days a week.

he says i won't glow in the dark.

i'm not so sure.

but i'm doing ok.

NED

I had a CT Scan with Contrast yesterday morning. loads of fun. did i mention i'm allergic to contrast dye?

means i was taking prednisone in the middle of the night, and double doses of benedryl too.

doctor's office told me i wouldn't have the results till the end of next week, when i see the doctor.

bullshit. i told them that was sadistic, and if doc had results in a day or two, i wanted 'em then, too.

he celled me last night.

"the scans look very good. there is no evidence of the disease"

NED - my new best friend.

so far, so good. i'm still cancer free.

Stage 1 is done -

as of an hour ago, i am officially done with chemo. i survived all 4 rounds. i'm planning on going to the mall tonight and treating myself to something i probably don't need, paid for with money i probably don't have.

and i don't care.

so i get to 'heal' for 2-3 weeks, then i have 5-6 weeks of radiation therapy, then 5-6 weeks to 'heal', and then i start the regularly scheduled scans to make sure it doesn't come back.

but for today, i'm done.