Not sure About this Fallout 3

Yes, it's been years since I played such classics as Doom, and Castle Wolfenstein, or even Quake.  I do appreciate that in this game you actually get to choose your gender, and customize your appearance somewhat. 

But, my problem is this game is pretty gorey.  I don't mind gore, in very small doses, but I don't want to shoot a monster and watch its severed head tumble to the floor, spewing blood and rolling around.  I think I need to check and see if there is a 'less gore' feature in the interface.  Really, things that nauseate me are not high on my list of things to do right now.

Anywho, the joint pains are getting quite annoying (had to remove another 'really'.. I seem to use that word far too much!)  So, I'm just biding my time, listening to Cinemagic on XM radio, playing some Spider Solitaire and waiting for when it's time to head out for today's Radiation treatment. 

Cinemagic is playing bits of the score from "12 Monkeys,"  by Paul Buckmaster.  It's fascinating!

Ok, well, back to my game... solitaire, that is... and some lovely music, and then I'll head out to Ironwood.  Ai carumba. :)

Oh the 70's!

Is it just me, or does everyone sleep better when it cools off?  I went to bed at 8:30 last night; I was having joint pains and just didn't feel so well.  I slept through until about 4AM, and it was gloriously cool.  I had turned off my AC yesterday in anticipation of mid-70's weather for the week.  My bedroom window was open to ... hopefully... fresh air. :)

This is Quito, my 11 year old chihuahua.  He's beautiful and mostly brainless, but happy as a clam.  Both he and Cisco, my 12 year old chihuahua follow me around like I have my own furry entourage.  They were both plastered to me while I slept last night; I know they knew I wasn't feeling well.
 

Here is a picture of when I went to Glendale to get my first chihuahua, Cisco.  He was a little handful.  Cisco's ears never did come up, but he's so cute it's not an issue.

I adore chihuahuas.  To me, they are the perfect size and temperament.  No, they are not yappy little dogs, but all bets are off when the UPS man his the neighborhood.  I don't know what UPS has ever done to the dogs in this house, but MAN, do they want to nibble his ankles off!

Sunday, Sunday

I just pre-ordered Dragon Age II from Amazon.  It's due in March 2011.  I'm sure I'll be here to play it. :D

Well, I didn't do much of anything yesterday, but I got in a whole FIFTEEN minutes on the NuStep.  Granted, it wasn't my normal speed, but ... I'm doing it!

This week, the weather in Arizona is going to get a bit cooler.  We're supposed to have highs in the 70's all week, except for today, which is probably going to be mid 80's.  Maybe fall is finally here! 

Tomorrow we begin another whole week of treatments, and I hope this week goes as well as the last two weeks.  I will be seeing Dr. Tsai the Radiation Oncologist (RO) following my radiation tomorrow.  And on Thursday, I'll see Dr. F, the Medical Oncologist (MO) before my chemo.  Maybe he'll have better news from my insurance company on treating me with Herceptin.

Really, nothing new or exciting to relate in today's blog.  I miss work, I miss my friends, but it occurs to me that my sole job right now is to beat this evil tumor into non-existence, and as a job, it's definitely full-time. :)

Hugs and kisses to all!

Yep, this is my Saturday

I feel so weak and blechy.  Trying to drink lots of water to get that poison out of my system quickly.  It'll start to get better this evening, and I'll feel almost like myself.  At least I know the progression of my chemo. :)

Jane's making beer-butt chicken, with our famous garlic-basil rub.  And we'll grill up some nice veggies, too.  Nancy got me three crossword puzzle books, as I like to actually do them on paper as opposed to via the PC.  I'm such a purist. ;)

I'm going to go lie down for a bit. 

Officially out on leave!

I talked to my friend Michelle today, and she confirmed that I'm now on leave status, so YAY, I should not miss a paycheck. :)


Ok, so now I am two chemos in and six radiations, and no horrible side effects to relate except for managable ones:

• diarrhea
• REALLY dry mouth
• fatigue
• glucose numbers up

The pre-chemo bag of meds has a steroid and I'm sure you all know that steroids just really muck up your glucose levels.  And because they don't want me losing weight, I've been ingesting carbs that I don't normally do, so I asked Gloria at Dr. Ramaswamy's office (my primary care) if she would have him order me more test strips.  I've got to watch this more closely.  Don't want to survive esophagel cancer but go blind, or something. ;)

Anyway, I've gotten some more Glucerna stuff, so on chemo day, I'll munch on one of their bars and see how that goes.  And go back to no bread and certainly NO ice cream... bad, bad girl! :D

My big book of chemo facts wasn't a lot of help when it came to the diarrhea, but Ironwood had given me a couple of fact sheets for dealing with  my specific chemos, and it said to take Imodium and that's working like a champ

As for the dry mouth, apparently you want stuff with Xylitol and anything by Biotene.  I ordered some stuff from Amazon which I hope comes soon.  The Biotene mouthwash helps to augment saliva's natural defenses against bacteria, so I guess this will help quite a bit.

As for fatigue, I really have to give up the iced tea in the evening, for a couple of reasons, caffeine is a diuretic, and that's not helpful to dry mouth, and because my mouth was so dry after this last chemo, I drank a TON of iced tea yesterday... and way late into the evening.  So, I could NOT fall asleep.  Well, I did around 3:30AM.  Oh well.

So, all in all, I think this is going pretty darned well.  Thanks to all my family and friends for checking up on me, loving me, and keeping me sane.  I love you all very much.

Trouble on the Insurance Front...

Dr. F contacted my insurance company today regarding treatment with Herceptin, and they disapproved it.  This is odd, since it was approved by the FDA for HER2 positive Gastro-esophageal cancers just a few weeks ago. 

Dr. F was very upbeat about my chances with the addition of Herceptin; he's the doctor!  Some insurance administrator, who looks at a list should NOT have the authority to keep me from a treatment that COULD SAVE MY LIFE!

Dr. F has vowed to fight for this, and he will, but gosh, ... how demoralizing.  Am I *that* naive that I just assumed it would be fine because my oncologist says it's what I need?  He doesn't go around trying to find ways of screwing people's insurance companies... HE'S TRYING TO SAVE OUR LIVES!

So, can you tell I am both angry and practically in tears, which I get when I am angry, and if you know me, and my whole asthma problem, you know that crying makes me sick... really, really sick.  So, I will not cry.

Anyway, if anyone can make my insurance company listen to reason, I think Dr. F has a good chance. 

Well, I feel the need to go pound bad-guys into the earth, so I think I'll go load up Fallout 3, and whack away my frustrations in good, wholesome, virtual violence. :)

Hugs and kisses!

My SECOND blog during chemo..

I'm still pretty groggy from that damned Benadryl, but it's manageable.  Well, though, if you see tons of typos in this one you'll know it's not that manageable after all. :)

For the most part, people in the infusion ward are optimistic and enjoy the social aspects.  Most of them see the same group of people.

Here I am, doing my poison.  I think both of them are up there, the Taxol and the Carboplatin, but only one of them infuses at a time.

I am doing pretty well on this treatment.  My anemia is stable, so I'm still to take the iron supplements.

When Dr. F said that the HER2 was positive; actually when he even mentioned it at all, I was surprised, because I thought it was only associated with breast cancer, and I was HER2 negative for my BC.

But, apparently the FDA has very recently approved the use of Herceptin for Gastro-esophageal cancers, and so, I'm once again, a really lucky duck!

Here is a picture of some of my fellow infusion ward inmates:

Sometimes it's very cold in here, but today it feels great!  Hey, don't we have a lovely view of that palm tree outside?  But darn it, they have a dratted clock right here, too. You just can't get away!

Ok, maybe I'll post later today.  Boy am I glad I bought this little netbook for the kitchen. ;)