No.5

Not Chanel, although she does like it but Chemo. Chemo No.5!! It doesn't come in a fancy bottle rather in pills, needles, IVs.

Hard to believe she's bin at this for fifteen weeks now.....about five months since she was diagnosed.

I think her body must be getting used to medication flowing through it. In the beginning it took ages to get the concoctions into her and in the beginning her body reacted in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. Hardly surprising for someone that hardly ever took a pill of any sort! Now. more than anything, she gets very tired, very quickly.
Thursday last was even quicker than the previous treatment. We were a little late getting started but she was home by 2.30!! A record! Not that it's something to be jumping up and down about.

So now there is one more to go.......November 18th......Chemo #6. After that, about three weeks later, we go in for a battery of tests including the bone marrow biopsy which she really likes then hopefully we get a really good Christmas present.......a box of remission all wrapped up with a big bow.

Pam went with Hil for her bloodwork on Wednesday. I'm not sure if Hil drives there and Pam drives back.......but that's another story. LOL.

On Thursday, although I took her to the hospital, Sharon arrived about 9.30, stayed with her the rest of the day and brought her home. I blew the joint about 11.30. The previous Monday Kay and Steph visited together with Maureen McMaster who I personally haven't seen for over twenty years.....she hasn't changed much. Friends continue to be super-supportive and we are forever grateful.

Thursday's are always very quiet in chemo at York Central for some reason, that's why Hil chose it but there is always something to see.

A young oncologist attempting to explain the treatment to an oriental lady ( I think we're supposed to say "Asian" now) who didn't understand a word he was saying. He certainly was imaginative with his sign language.

The rather round, pompous looking man, just twenty feet away, undergoing his first treatment, spending the first couple of hours on his cell phone and getting irritated with the nurse for interrupting his conversation. She eventually told him, in "nursetalk," to put his phone in a warm, dark place!!

So, as we keep saying, life goes on. Our "built in suspension" carries us over the bumps in life constantly re-discovering what is important in life or perhaps simply discovering for those that haven't figured it out yet.
Birthdays come and go. Mine was a couple of weeks ago and Hilary's is next Thursday.....Nov 4th......Mischievious Night in the North of England.....the night before Guy Fawkes......now there was a lad!!

Nothing but Good News.

Chemo yesterday......quick and eventless......she went swimming this morning. Would you believe it!!!! Tired this afternoon but it's hardly surprising. Usually, after chemo,she's a basket case for at least a week. Tough ol' broad!

She had some tests earlier this week....scans of one sort or another but the prognosis is great. The oncologist inferred that if things continue this way over the next nine weeks she could well be in remission by Christmas. Now that's a real Christmas Present!!!

She's going to get on the bike a bit and she just bought one of those elasticy band thingies for exercising her arms so as she can start hitting some tennis balls again. Her spleen is down even further although still not normal.....not dangerous now though.

We're going to have a really quiet Thanksgiving.....just the two of us. You never really know what the side effects are like until each morning arrives. Better to be a little circumspect.

Again thanks to everyone for their ongoing support and a heartfelt "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone.

ROUND THREE.

Well yesterday was round three in Hil's title fight.
Thanks to Pam and Nick for helping out. Pam spent most of the day with her at the hospital and Nick did chauffeur duties.

Hil's sister and brother in law were over from England for a week or so a visit that we greatly enjoyed. It was especially good for Hil and Norma as they could share "stuff" as only siblings can. As for the rest of us.....a lot of chat and a couple of rounds of golf at "The Valley."

This last round of chemo was great! She got everything into her in record speed.....so far anyway......an hour faster than last time. She was only there for six hours or so.

Hil's pretty tough....with a terrific attitude! The side effects seem to have been limited to being incredibly tired with the exception of losing her hair, mouth so sore she couldn't eat and a permanently upset stomach. No nausea........until this morning. Took her pills then promptly threw up. At least she made it to the washroom! Her weight, by the way, is back to normal. Taraaaaaa!

I start giving her the daily needle today. It seems as though the hospital has won the "Neupogen Fight" probably because her white blood cell count is down. Over all though the oncologist is very happy with her progress and her spleen seems to be reacting well to the medication.

So there you go! She is so thankful for the support she has been getting. Friends, tennis ladies even people from the golf club that she barely knows. Love those cookies ladies.

Your Duck is Dead--

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest.

After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away."

The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?"
Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet..

"How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman..The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!"
The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."

Courtesy of Gord and Vivi!!

Probably Sam and Sam Bailey.

......more red pee....less red hair!!

The dog's shedding......Hilary's shedding......I'm slowly losing my hair. It's a wonder you can see through the house and.....the vacuum sucks if you'll excuse the pun. Someone suggested she not go out in a high wind!

Today is "H" day. Noon is "B" hour. Hil get's the rest of her hair buzzed off today. It's driving her nuts so it's time. Mebbe I'll get a sympathy buzz at the same time.......mebbe! (H is for hair. B is for buzz.) Her wig shows up on Tuesday. I like the style! More of a layered look.

Yesterday was round two in the ring of chemo. Good news though. No adverse reaction this time, certainly due to the pre-meds she was getting the day before. Course she can't sleep coz she's higher'n kite but that'll wear off. The really good news is that her spleen has subsided! Still not normal but no longer a threat. She's eating better because it's not exerting pressure on her stomach. Naturally she immediately starts talking about hitting balls on the tennis court. No comment. LOL. As Minnie the oncologist said......"YES!!"

Her old friend Rosie took her down to the hospital in the morning and I followed about half an hour later. Barb had taken her down the previous day for her bloodwork. I had to leave about 11.30 or so. Life goes on and the golf course called........work that is. They were there about seven hours but this time they got everything into her........not like last time. Rosie sat there chatting away and doing her bead work....on piece work for crying out loud. I offered to engineer the process for her as it didn't look too efficient. I figured she was only making about four bucks and hour!!

What they didn't see were the guys two stations down, mind you I do tend to see people through my own tinted glasses.
The first was short. Hey I'm short but this guy's feet didn't touch the floor.....that's short!
He was brown in his mid fifties with a smile on his face. Totally bald without a crease in his face and shiny! He was obviously cold as someone had thrown a green blanket over him. He immediately reminded me of the four ball on a snooker table.......with ears.
I nodded to him. He smiled ruefully.

The second was grey! Skinny and grizzled. Short pepper and salt hair and beard. Fast asleep with his mouth wide open. Someone had taken his teeth out. What surprised me was how wide was his mouth. Totally relaxed. I swear I could've put my entire fist in his mouth without touching a gum. He was snoring! Not a pretty sight as my dad would have said. New blood feeding into his arm. Transfusion time. Bit sad that.

So we move on. Another day. More pills. More needles. Hil's sister shows up from England next week. Bit of golf.....wedding to go to. Life goes on. Slightly modified. Keep laughing. My favourite expression "It is what it is."
Lot of people a lot worse off. I feel for people who are on their own. We are not!!
Friends here. Friends on the West Coast. Friends in the States.
Still getting cards.....and food.....cookies!!!

Thanx folks!

......a week off!

This seems to be the beginning of a week's respite. Hilary is feeling better now than she has for two weeks, no Prednazone or Neupagen for a while to which there are seemingly some unpleasant side effects. Her mouth is still swollen but the sores seem to have dried up. Now, at least, she's eating....trying to put some of the weight back on. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (what else?) does the trick!!

She actually went out last night, with Krista, to a meeting of "Look Good Feel Good" a support group.......all the way to Brampton......definitely south of Major Mac!! She enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. It's usually just a one time event and concentrates on the cosmetic side of things as treatment progresses. She's even talking about hitting the range and trying to hit a few balls......we'll see!

Soooo, like I said, a week orf!! Back into it starting Aug 25th. The only med she's taking just now is something to control the Uric acid build up but there is no apparent side effect to this.
Next week Rosemary is taking her to the hospital. This last week she got flowers and cards from various folk and fantastic cookies from Nancy.....there's only two left!! The cookie monster strikes again.

..........Botox it ain't!!!

Just a brief update on Hilary. Other than her mouth being covered in sores, her lips all swollen up (definitely not Botox) being exhausted most of the time, not getting either much sleep or food......coz of her mouth, aching bones and a lousy stomach she's doing fine!

I'm getting good at giving her a daily needle, rotating between each arm and the belly plus I had to do an Excel spreadsheet in order to manage her regimen of meds! I don't think she even feels the needle!! How do they make them anyway??

She's trying to get protein into her as she's losing weight again.......my cooking skills are definitely an advantage now and we're trying to eat the same things.

She has a few more days of the "needle" Neupagen at $550.00 per shot plus some pills for the mouth issue and that's it, so to speak, until Aug 25th. On that day she has a load of Decadron to take and get some bloodwork done then, the following day, back down to the hospital where they will try and get the Rituxan into her again. It was this drug that she had such a severe reaction to. (poor English!) After that the regular chemo and start it all again.

Luckily, right now anyway, the tennis is on at the Rogers Centre so she gets to watch that plus the PGA is on....keeps her mind of things. She's snoozing a lot during the day too.

So......one day at a time. Some days are better than others. Tis what it is!!

.....my love is like a red,red rose and so is Hilary's pee.

As eventful and unpleasant as yesterday was, today was easy.......so far anyway.

Down there in twenty minutes and out in two hours!! Great. The Zofran seems to prevent nausea. May it continue to do so

One of the elements makes you pee bright red for a few days. You even have to carefully clean the can otherwise it stains the porcelain apparently. If it does that what an earth does it do to your insides?? Hmmmmmmmm.

I talked about one of the drugs being made of gold. Found out some facts today. It's called Neupagen. Builds up your white cell count apparently. $4500.00 a cycle and Hil has 6 cycles. I estimate that the eighteen weeks sucks up about $75,000.00 in drugs alone!! Thank God for a Provincial Health Plan. Surely the American man in the street who votes against a National Health Plan has been brainwashed by the drug companies, insurance companies and private nursing homes. (Minor rant...LOL)

Hil, right now, feels fine. Tired but not throwing up. She'll have a regular dinner, see what that does to her insides.
We were definitely the minority group in the chemo clinic today. I think it was oriental day. They definitly do NOT bring sandwiches for lunch. Their lunches looked MUCH better!!

So back on Monday for a short visit. Several days of needles and pills then some time off. August 25 is bloodwork. August 26th do it all again.

So far so good!!!