Seth Rogan and Chicken Wings - does it get any better?

I had a great weekend! Kristie came over Friday night, armed with two dozen chicken wings  (man I love chicken wings)  that we balanced out quite nicely with one of Jason's super healthy salads. On Saturday, Chantelle and Kelly picked me up to go take a boo at the new Circle Drive extension bridge - amazing that one day soon Circle Drive will actually BE a circle!

Then Saturday night they had me over for dinner and a couple of movies and can I just say that Chantelle and I found a jewel in the rough. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen - Paul. I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it was a RIOT! Kristen Wiig was as funny as I have EVER seen her...Seth Rogan's voice coming out of that little alien was hysterical and Jason Bateman is ALWAYS funny.

Today it was brunch with the Morrison's - I'm pretty sure Chantelle is taking it upon herself to single-handedly get me back to my fighting weight. Then Scott and Kristie brought Sophie over for a visit with Auntie Barbie...nothing better than chocolate mint Girl Guide cookies I always say!

I felt really good this weekend - very few residual side effects from my last chemo and even less from the surgery! Whoot Whoot - good things are happening!

This my dear friends is what I have begun to affectionately refer to as the "calm before the s**t storm" of chemo week. I will check in with you next week and you can gauge if this level of cockiness has survived by Day 5.  On second thought, this feeling of invincibility could be explained away by the Ativan I took a few hours ago....peace out!

Missing the Occasional Starbucks Break...

Ok, so it turns out that one of the most annoying dual side effects of my canser treatment is a nerve-grating juxtaposition of extreme fatigue paired with insomnia. What the hell? Seriously? I spent the ENTIRE day yawning and NOW I can't sleep? In what world is this fair?  It is 3:30 in the morning...I should be enjoying a nice bit of REM sleep but instead I am wide awake playing, you guessed it....FreeCell. This made all the more annoying by the fact that I actually feel good physically - no back pain, no flank pain, no cramping or sore throat.  Nothing left to do but blog I guess. 

I spent the morning running errands with Chantelle - a medical appointment to get some insurance forms filled out, picked up my new wig, and had an extra notch put in my favorite belt because it is "JUST TOO BIG". First of all, I am disappointed to say that despite my best efforts, I have not gained any weight. Bah. Seriously, I may have to resort to a McDonald's/Tim Horton's diet...because the bacon and eggs obviously just aren't cutting it. The good news though is that my hair seems to be holding it's own for now, it is getting thinner, but not noticeably so. I also picked up my second month's supply of naltrexone, hoping and praying that it will be the wonder drug for me.  Also on the canser front, I finally got word from Best Doctors that they now have everything they need to re-evaluate my case and give me a second opinion regarding my prognosis and treatments. How long THAT will take remains to be seen.

Tim moved into the new townhouse today and did a great job of sending me pictures throughout the day - amazing how much one determined man and an army of movers can do in one day. Then Kristie came over bearing 2 dozen chicken wings, which we paired with a Dinner at Your Door salad - only thing missing was a nice Coors Light and Clam. 
P.s. The green tea is getting a little old already. I'd give a weeks pay for a peppermint mocha with whip cream and chocolate shavings....
Finally feeling a little tired, lets see what counting sheep and a gravol or two can do...

And BJ Takes Round #2!

OK people, 2 down, 10 chemotherapy sessions to go!  I had my second session of chemo last Tuesday and the good news is that this round of treatment was exponentially easier on me physically and mentally than the first.  I can honestly say that there were times in the first week of treatment that I questioned how I could possibly survive the medicinal poisons they were injecting into me. Don't get me wrong, it has been no picnic but the weakness, irritability and other symptoms were definitely muted this time around. So, either my body is adapting OR the blood transfusion that I received the day after chemo did the damn trick. In which case I say, Bring on the Blood-Doping!

It has been brought to my attention that some of you would like a better description of what my treatment schedule looks like, with respect to drugs and duration so I will do my best to describe it as best I can.  I am on a cocktail of 4 different medications that are infused over a 46 hour period.  In addition to this cocktail, they run dexamesthasone and ondansatron first - they act to prevent nausea and inflammation. Then they run a combination of calcium/magnesium in order to reduce the possibility of numbness and cold sensitivity in my fingers, toes and throat.  After this the canser-killing begins:

• Oxaliplatin, a drug typically used in colorectal canser is infused

• Leucovorin which is used to increase the anti-canser effects of 5-FU (fluorouracil)

• Avastin which is a new wonder-drug used in metastatic colorectal canser - not actually a canser-killer, but it acts to block the supply of blood to the canser cells so the chemo can swoop in and kill them.  Thank goodness for medical insurance b/c it runs about $100G's a year.  

• 5-FU (there's a joke in there somewhere) is the drug that is then infused through a condom-in-a-baby-bottle-around-my-neck type of deal that kinda makes me look like a cyborg.  Not cool. Are you surprised that I prefer to hang at home rather than go out and about for those first 46 hours?

It all takes approximately 5 hours, which goes by surprisingly fast for me - I can't say the same for Kristie or Tim or Mar but they have been troopers.  I do this every two weeks and will do so for 3 months at which time they will do another CT scan to assess how well it is working. The expectation is that I will then have  ANOTHER 3 months of treatment at that point.  The good news is that I FEEL like it is working. And I LOOK like it is working - everyone that comes to see me say they were nervous about what they were going to find so let me say right now - other than being a little on the thin side - I look pretty good these days. So please don't worry that you are going to come over and find an emaciated mess on death's door.  I will endeavor to start snapping a few more photos and post them as proof.

On Wednesday, Dad took me back to RUH for the dreaded blood transfusion.  I was really worried about it simply because I thought I needed it because I was getting sicker. My nurse was phenomenal though and explained that transfusions are very, very common during chemo. She also said that within 24 hours I should feel like a new person and she was completely right. It took 4 hours to transfuse 2 pints of their finest red - giving Dad plenty of time to become the Cribbage King of the Cancer Care Unit. The highlight for me was when the lady in the next bed asked if I was a university student - HA! Now THAT's funny! She told me she thought I was 19.

The rest of my week was relatively quiet - lots of sleeping and lots of cuddling on the sofa with Bailey. A HUGE shout out to Jason and Dinner at Your Door for keeping me and my Dad so well fed and to my colleagues past and present for making it happen. You guys rock!  

On Saturday Pam (the Nistor-Twister as Dawn refers to her) drove in all the way from Edmonton to take care of me for basically 24 hours and give my Dad a break.  She was a god-send - my kitchen has never been so clean.  Amy was also in visiting on the weekend from Airdrie and I was lucky enough to get to see her a few times as well - she was ever-ready with Green Hornets from Booster Juice and stories from her recent tropical trips.

So the rest of my week will be spent eating as much as I can to try to gain a few more pounds and get prepared to do it all over again next week. I will be cheering on Tim from afar as he prepares to move into the new condo on Friday - wish I was there to help Darlin'. Remember - lift with your LEGS.

More thanks are needed to Mary, Linda, Linda, Patty and Michelle, the Gibson's and the Mackenzie's for the very thoughtful care packages this week.  I honestly do have the best friends on the planet...

And my newest hat, compliments of Matthew and Sherry Gibson...

Better Late Than Never....

Wow. February 1st.  I can hardly believe that I am already 4 and a half months into this Canser Journey and I have only NOW gotten up the gumption to start a Blog.  Several times I have been advised to journal - that it can be very therapeutic and healing - so here I am.  I need to heal - and playing Free Cell on my laptop all day just isn't cutting it anymore. Since I am new to the world of blogging (and canser for that matter), I guarantee I will be a little like Bambi on ice, having a general idea of what I want to do but no clue how to do it. Please bare with me as I fumble my way through - I am hoping this will replace my weekly updates and give me the opportunity to focus on the best parts of my days and share them with you.

 

New Phone

Everyone,

Ok, lots to tell you and little time to do it, so this will be short and sweet.

First of all as you all know, Friday morning I washed my damn Blackberry with my dishes. It was a company cell phone and I’m not sure when they will replace it since I am on disability, so I bought a new one today. My new number is 306-203-6648 and PIN is 281B4522. Please add me at your leisure.

Tim and Nance were both in this weekend and we had a blast.  She and I spent most of our time on the sofa reliving our old JOI days while Tim waited on us hand and foot.  She also lent her expertise at Pink Tree – she helped me (FINALLY) pick a wig and commit to it...as well as a few sexy new bandanas. I will look like a rock star thanks to you, Spanks. I tried them on for Tim on Skype tonight and he instantly went into a (really questionable) rendition of Sweet Child of Mine! Most of you are rolling your eyes right now, but I love it!

I am getting ready for Chemo #2 tomorrow and in preparation had to go in for some blood work today. Unfortunately my hemoglobin is extremely low again, lower than it’s been since before my surgery.  (Certainly makes sense considering my lack of energy and recent bouts of breathlessness.) This you can imagine is a little frustrating for me since I discussed this very thing with my oncologist in the middle of December, requesting at the suggestion of my surgeon to have a blood transfusion. I was denied, told he would consult a hemotologist and get back to me. I heard nothing and today, was asked by my oncology nurse why I haven’t been taking iron supplements in the interim. Hmmm....I don’t know? Maybe because there was no clear direction to do so??? SO, long story short, I will still have my regularly scheduled chemo treatment tomorrow, but it will be followed by 4 hours of blood transfusions at RUH on Wednesday. Awesome.  Insert sarcasm here.

So Kristie and Marlys are on Chemo duty this time and then my dad is coming in tomorrow afternoon to take over for the week.  I am hoping beyond hope that Chemo Day is as pleasant this time as the last. Please know that I will be thinking of all of you and channelling your positive vibes.  Feel free to text or BBM – my most recent contact list went down the drain on Friday and I fear I have lost some of you.

Love and hugs,

Barbie

CHEMO Wins Round #1

Wow, what a week. It has been one helluva week. This is the first time that I have been able to get up the gumption to make contact.  To those of you who have contacted me with A) no response or B) a bitchy one, please forgive me. I am JUST starting to get back to myself now.

First of all, a cute little shot of me on Chemo Day:

Hmmm....notice the nice, warm blanket from Kristie and Scott, the jaunty little hat from Mona and Bob, the fuzzy slippers from Bob and Linda? How cute.  The one thing I should point out that isn’t immediately obvious in this photo is my complete and utter lack of understanding as to what was REALLY about to happen. Sweet Jesus, it’s amazing what a chipper nurse and a sublingual Ativan can do to turn Chemo day into a picnic with friends. The drugs made everything fly by (for me anyway).  We got there about 11:30 am and as you can see I had my own personal suite where a cavalcade of nurses, pharmacists and nutritionists pumped me full of several different types of chemotherapy, anti-nausea drugs (Thank you Spanks, Darin Anderson and Merck in general) and information about what to eat over the next few days. We were there until after 4 pm, as I am on several different drugs that need to be infused at separate times for several hours each, then near the end they attached a bottle of 5-FU to my PICC line that would stay in place for the next 46 hours. And by bottle, I mean it looks like a baby bottle with a huge condom resting inside – full of medication that slowly deflates as it enters my system.  The idea being lower side effects and the ability to go home with it as opposed to staying over. Two things – not sexy at all and there’s a damn condom rolling around a bottle around your neck! Makes a girl the butt of a few jokes, I can tell you.  Bring it on Joe, Billy, Michelle and Dean....I’ve heard ‘em all already.

Tim, Kristie and Marly all took really good care of me while @ the canser clinic...and it was shockingly stress-free. And then BAM – reality set in on Day 2.  Without going into any great detail, I can honestly say that I have some of the best and most supportive friends and family around to have put up with me, specifically on Day 4 and Day 5 of my FolFox treatment.  My dad and Tim truly are the most patient men on the planet to put up with me and my moods, Spanks did a great job of keeping my spirits up when I refused to do it myself and Mar and Telly have been so great about helping me eat and do stuff around the house.  I have to say that I really had no idea that this would be so hard mentally and physically, but now that I know what to expect, I plan to be better prepared next time. That’s right – MORE DRUGS. Nancy is of the belief that one should go through chemotherapy stoned and I am a 100% convert to her way if thinking.  Seems like just plain good sense to me.

So that’s it for now. I think today (Day 6) was the TSN Turning Point and I am hoping for an easier week now, allowing me time to recover for the next round. Better head to bed, I think the sleeping pills are kicking in!

Please take good care of yourselves my friends,

Bring it ON!

And so it begins...

Members of Team James,

Wow, I guess it’s been awhile since I sent out an update. It has been a very, very busy few weeks and I am at a bit of a loss as to where to start. Hmm, at the beginning I guess....

The holiday season was lovely, surprisingly lovely considering the circumstances. I wasn’t yet up for travelling so I stayed in Saskatoon, spending most of Christmas with Chantelle and her family. As always, it was a pleasure to be included in the Morrison/Reiber/Shields Christmas celebration.  Tim came to town on Boxing Day and stayed until New Year’s day – we had a fantastic week, topped off by a lovely New Year’s Eve with Chantelle, Kelly, Lance and Marlys. Every day found my voice mail and cell phone full of merry wishes and positive vibes.  Every mail delivery day found my mailbox overflowing with letters, cards, gifts, monkeys (that’s right, I said monkeys!), hats and gift certificates.  I have no words to express my appreciation. You guys ROCK! I did manage to get about 80% of my Christmas cards sent, thanks to my Dad and our own little assembly line. The 20% of you who have yet to receive your Christmas Cards can expect some lovely holiday-themed “Congratulations it’s January and Not 150 Degrees Below Zero Outside!” cards very soon....

I also started taking the Low Dose Naltrexone on New Year’s night (A HUGE Thank-You to Michelle and Tim for ALL your work on this for me) – I thought it was a great and very symbolic day to start what I am affectionately referring to as “my progression to remission”.  It took some problem solving to get a script for this medication in Saskatchewan – I actually had to do a Skype consultation with a doctor from New York and have my family doc sign off on it.  The dispensing pharmacist was incredibly positive about LDN and it’s potential to treat a variety of different diseases, including canser. (Purposely misspelled – just my own little bit of rebellion – not giving it anymore respect than it deserves.)

The past week has been spent going to many medical appointments, a two-day visit from my sister and niece and some spa pampering.  I finished my last IV Vitamin C infusion this past week, visited my chiropractor for some help with some relentless and very nasty residual back pain, and had an informative and very positive appointment with my surgeon.  First of all, he gave me the green light to drive again, so I am no longer trapped in my house! Wahoo – FREEDOM!  He also instructed me to get back to the gym and enjoy the occasional glass of wine, should I so choose. Funny, I was under the impression that since he cut out a good portion of my liver, that avoiding alcohol was a bit of a necessity – but turns out I was wrong.  Hmm, who knew? THAT would have been a handy little nugget of knowledge on New Year’s Eve, drinking Raspberry Cider while coveting the champagne that made it’s way around the Cory dinner table.  Ah well, there’s always next year!

This week has been challenging aside from me and my health.  My family lost one of it’s most beloved and revered members on Thursday evening, my Auntie Leona. She was an amazing woman, who left an incredible legacy in the form of a very large and loving family.  I am incredibly grateful that my chemo schedule will allow me to attend the celebration of her life tomorrow.

Which brings me to....CHEMOTHERAPY week.  Yikes. I would be lying if I said that I’m not a little anxious about this whole process, but luckily I have had some incredible advice and support from some of my gals (Nancy, Barb, Diane, Heather and Anne) who have and are kicking canser’s proverbial posterior. And let me just say that I couldn’t find a group of stronger broads with whom to align myself on this journey.  SO, Monday morning Dad and I will head up to Prince Albert to attend the funeral – getting back to the city by 2:30 to pick up Tim from the airport.  Monday night is date night, so if you need me you could find us fattening me up at the Granary and watching a mindless movie @ Galaxy.  So good and so normal.

Tuesday morning will be filled with an early morning chiropractor appointment, a physiotherapy appointment and a long leisurely afternoon at the canser clinic with Tim and Kristie, being infused with a chemo cocktail designed  to nuke the little trouble-makers who seem to enjoy squatting and reproducing in my liver. Being my first treatment, I will get a private room – which is lucky b/c I’ve noticed that one of the side effects of my canser is a complete and utter lack of interest in filtering my language.  It would seem that I swear like a trucker these days and wouldn’t want to offend my new peeps on the first day.  Hmmm, not very lady-like, but I don’t really give a damn.   Unfortunately Chantelle is away at meetings the day of my treatment, so she is planning to participate via electronic chat (not easy for a self-proclaimed control freak) and I am planning on taking my camera to record the day’s festivities for posterity.  Although my chemo plan is pretty aggressive and I am confident it will be effective, side effects are very much an unknown at this point.  The research I have done indicates that comparatively speaking, my cocktail is a relatively mild program with respect to side effects, but everyone reacts differently and all I can do is hope that any side effects that do present themselves are manageable. 

So, here we go with Phase II of my mission.  Thank you all for your continued interest and support – everyone of you has at one point or another given me another reason the beat this thing. 

Bring it ON!

Barb