UPDATE ON IRENE

For those of you who check this blog, please forgive me for going so long without a post.  I think it boils down to the fact that I do not “love” writing about myself, and what I have to write is pretty repetitious.  I will try to do better. 

Going back to my 5^th Chemo treatment which I wrote about at the end of March, it was a little different experience in that I felt pretty normal (normal for me) even the first couple of weeks after the treatment.  I did not go through the “being weak” phase which was nice.  I am grateful for any positive results. 

On to the 6^th treatment which was last week, April 25.  We spent eight hours (from 8 am until 4 pm) at the Banner MD Anderson facility.  A couple of those hours were waiting, but the chemo infusion took four hours.   The following two days we were there for about four hours each day for infusion of fluids and anti-nausea medicine.  I am so grateful for that, as I am not having any nausea.  Unlike my 5^th treatment, however, I have been very weak.  Well, that is something that I can deal with.   

I am slowly learning that I shouldn’t count on anything as far as these treatments are concerned, as it is not an exact science.  Basically, Dr. Homsi, wants to do two more chemo treatments using just one chemo drug each time.  In all my past treatments, they have given me two drugs, and he does not want to go from two to nothing.  I will have another MRI and CT Scan on the 22^nd of May then chemo on the 30^th.   

This is a fun time of year in that we have had many grandchildren events to go to – elementary school programs, gymnastic recitals, band, orchestra, and choir concerts coming up and Mt. View HS graduation for Josh, Chuck and Gayla’s oldest.  It is good for me to have something to get out of the house for besides going for my weekly blood draws.   

As of today, I uploaded my book to blurb.com that I have done for my brother who is turning 90 in June.  He wrote a wonderful journal of his 30 missions over Germany in World War II as the bombardier.  My project has been to get that into a book with the text, pictures, certificates, awards, etc. documenting his military career.  I have spent hours a day on it and have really enjoyed the project.  I think that my next project needs to be indexing.