Still riding the horse I came in on

I did end up having chemo last week despite the fact the platelets were a hair below the treatment margin. After a month, my body had kind of forgotten what that chemotherapy feels like.  Nausea was light but definitely a factor.  I was glad it was bumped that extra week because the weekend before, we got to enjoy a family wedding.  Mary's brother Guy got married in Chicago to his partner Rich and Mary's whole (large) family was there along with a bunch of cool people I had never met before.  So I got to eat, drink and be merry in good health at his wonderful celebration.  Here is a video of a "flash mob" that Mary organized as a surprise at the reception.  All the guests had been sent a link to a training video to learn the choreography in advance.  We had no idea how many would participate but it looked like about 80% to me.  I call that a smashing success!

One awkward thing about the timing abot the chemo was that I also had a CT scan scheduled in between putting the pump on and taking it off.  That meant that the pump would stay with me in the scanner and instead of getting the contrast activator through my port, I had to get an I.V. hole poked in my arm.  That may not seem to be a big deal and that, indeed, is what I kept telling myself.  My chemo nurse, Linda, said that the nurses at the CT were very good and I should have no problem.  I wish she had not said that out loud.  Even though there was no one in the waiting room when I arrived, it took an hour before I was called.  Apparently one of the machines was down and they were sharing a CT scanner with ER.

They make you drink a second bottle of barium when you get there and while I sipped, I also sized up the nurse.  I had not seen this one before and had a bad feeling about her seemed lethargy and her inconsistency from the usual protocol.  I have done this enough times that it stands out when they don't offer you a straw or ask about premeds, etc.

A confident, energetic nurse entered and called up a woman who came into the inner waiting room after me.  That woman had a port and this was a port access specialized nurse.  The slow-moving nurse finally called me into the IV placement room and asked me about arm preference.  I gave her my left arm and after thudding her fingers on a few veins, she selected my right arm instead.  It took her 4 tries, each one hurting me enough to where I was vocalizing "ouch!"  I have some bruising to remember her by.  But the scans were routine and the premeds had done their work and I had no reaction to the contrast dye.

That was last week. Today was my day to meet with Dr. Krajewski and go over the results of these scans.  Mary came with me.   Dr. K is more on time than Dr. Scott ever was and the results of my scans were as I expected.  No dramatic changes.  All the liver lesions were exactly the same size as the last scan; no growth.  There were some new tiny, unmeasurable bumps or "nodularities" around the colon, specifically near my appendix but nothing to be concerned about.

He scheduled my next appointment for 6 weeks which is two days before Christmas.  Next chemo is scheduled for the week of Thanksgiving but I would not be surprised if that gets bumped a week.  I'm kind of hoping that happens because otherwise I will be having my pump removed on Thanksgiving morning.  Really?  They have people working Thanksgiving morning?

My obsession with food is still raging.  A few days ago, I happened to see a commercial for a new kind of pizza at Little Caesars.  It is basically a pretzel crust pizza with a gooey cheese-like substance in place of the tomato sauce that sounds absolutely horrible. But it was a new thing and I could not get it out of my head. I was dying to know what it tasted like for some reason that I can't explain.  Mary finally urged me to blow the whole 6 bucks it costs to scratch that itch.  I'm ashamed to say I kind of liked it but am happy to say that I never have to eat it again.  I still have a few slices in my fridge if anyone has the same urges as me.