My Hair Is Growing

Zometa Infusion

I had my Zometa infusion on Monday morning. That wipes me out for a couple of days. I get a fever and the sweats...not pretty. I wasn't sure about why I was switched from Aredia to Zometa, and I asked Dr. Sherman about it. He said, basically, it's too expensive. I guess too expensive for him because I don't pay anything for it. What has me worried is that I met an older gentleman in the infusion room who had been on Zometa, but it badly affected his liver so he was switched to Aredia. Now I have been switched from Aredia to Zometa! But Gwen, one of the infusion nurses told me that it is the patients' Creatinin levels that they watch...to see if the liver function is good...an, in fact, my Creatinin level has dropped by a point (which is good). So it appears that I am still safe with Zometa. Plus it takes less time to infuse than the Aredia. The elder gentleman told me he was switched to Aredia after the second infusion of Zometa. This was my second infusion of Zometa...so we'l see. He said he didn't feel any change in his body when his liver function went bad...so it is just the big labs (blood work) that tell if the Creatinin is going out of whack. Come on liver!

Uneventful Event

I went to the doctor's office yesterday (medical oncologist). He gave me a flu shot, a shot of Lupron (which shuts down my ovaries and keeps me post-menopausal), and a prescription for Arimidex (hormone therapy for my cancer).

Houston 2, LA Angels 0, Top of 6 (Game 2 NLCS)

Well I got the confusion about blood tests figured out. I just go every two weeks to get BIG LABS, and now that I have my PRO-TIME at the right TIME (2.3) I only need to check that every month. Another thing that helped was having the doctor's office rewrite the standing order for BIG LABS to include cc:'s to me and the radiation oncologist. The original goes to my medical oncologist.

I have recently discovered a newsgroup for breast cancer folks like me (with metastatic cancer), thanks to a link from a link from a link I found on someone else's blog. I can't even trace it back to the original blog! Shame on me. Anyway, the url is bcmets.org. I love this site! Sooo much information for me, written by people with Stage IV cancer like myself.

My white blood cells are still low, and I am told to expect that for some time to come.

I went for a walk tonight with Mark. Didn't go far, but we went and that is what's important.

I have been having dry coughs at night, and when I am not, I have really heavy and thick chest congestion. Don't know why...

I am taking new drugs for my numb leg: Neurontin and Lyrica. Both are anti-seizure drugs that are also used in patients with neuropathy. It'd be nice to have a drug primarily for the neuropathy and maybe secondarily for seizures...SINCE I DON'T HAVE SEIZURES! What do I know? The spine surgeon who is prescribing the Lyrica [new drug on the market, btw...he prescribed it after i started crying in his office when he told me "It may or may not work (at getting rid of the numbness in my leg), it will do what it wants..."] said that a cortisone shot in my back and leg is usually indicated in cases such as mine, but since I am blood thinner (Coumadin) he won't give it to me. WAAAA! I feel like such a prisoner! Pisses me off, frankly. Oh well, God wouldn't close doors without leaving one open...so picture going around the *house* banging on walls trying to find the darn window!

Cheers!

For the past several months I have been trying to fit my cancer into the three months allowed to employees in the United States in the Family Medical Leave Act. I have now realized that this cannot be done. I have worried about this since February. Thanks to a wonderful lady at my office (she was interim Director of Pharmacy-M.I.S.), I am being afforded time to recover from the effects of all of the treatment I have received since February. This woman is truly an angel. This has been a long tough road...and the thing of it is, it is not over. I have been pretty hard on myself, too. I have expected to be "myself" again shortly after radiation therapy was complete. I'm not the same old me, and frankly, I won't be for some time. I have been depressed about it. It is like I have refused to give myself the time to heal. The truth is that I have been worried about work. You see, even though I completed "treatment" for breast cancer, I am not yet ready to get back to work. Okay, the FMLA is great for pregnancies, maybe or other non-chronic medical issues. But my situation might be a little different than those. I have stage 4 cancer. Don't get me wrong, I do not plan on giving up on myself....I just know now that I need to give myself time to heal. Thankfully, I am being afforded the opportunity to do just that. Work has approved my working from home until I am better. I am blessed with wonderful, understanding people in my life. I am anxious to contribute to my department, although the logistics of getting that underway are not straightened out yet, but I am assured they will be. The wonderful lady of whom I speak is Paula D. Thank you, Paula, for your concern for me. And thank you also for the opportunity to contibute from home while I recuperate from treatment.

I Swam A Mile

I checked my blood count on Friday afternoon...and I was okay to swim on Saturday! Whew! It was so hard to swim after not swimming for a couple of weeks. The first week of swimming I missed was due to the infected open skin from radiation, and I missed another week of swimming because of low white blood cells. I am happy to report that I made it! I swam the entire mile! It was a great day at Mills College. The weather was hot on Saturday: very hot when the sun was out, and tolerable when the clouds obscured it. But being in the water was good...not too hot, not too cool. Mark and I picked up my sister, Erin, and drove out to Oakland. My sister, Arlene (she also swam a mile), brought her husband and three of her children. Arlene and I were able to swim in a lane to ourselves. I have got to tell you, Arlene is a great swimmer. She has such stamina!

Anyway, when we got there we found the parking lot was a long way from the pool, so Mark dropped off Erin and me up by the pool and went to park the car himself. Arlene and her family got a late start out on the road so they got to Mills College a little bit later than we did..but only by a few minutes. We got in line and checked in with the registration desk where we were handed our tshirt coupon (every swimmer got a free tshirt) and we were pointed to Desk #1.

At Desk #1 we filled out our personal information card. On this card we put our name and who we were swimming in honor of and/or in memory of. We could also indicate if this was our first Swim A Mile.

At Desk #2 we were sorted by speed. I was sorted as a medium speed swimmer and my sister Arlene was sorted as a fast swimmer. She got a card that had a shark on it and my card had some other kind of fish. These cards help the staff with lane assignments.

At Desk #3 we were given our Swim A Mile goodie bags. They are nice! Inside were a few goodies: a local publication, some flyers for WCRC activities, and a Luna Bar! I had never had a Luna Bar and I enjoyed it very much. At Desk #4 we were directed to the locker rooms to change. Arlene and I are veteran swimmers and arrived in our swimming suits and towels so all we need was a place to drop our clothes. We chose a spot on the opposite side of the pool where no one was. It wasn't that way for long, though. Soon after we put our things on that side of the pool, it filled up fast. It was just too small in the locker rooms and way too crowded and humid. Plus, I am uncomfortable with too many naked female bodies at once. My sisters are the same way. Anyway...

At Desk #5 there were several Sharpies and spcial cards and an Honor/Memory Wall. We could use the pens and paper to indicate whom we were dedicating our swim to. I swam in memory of my mother, Angie Cronan, and my paternal gradmother, Ruth Viola Truesdell Cronan Dunton.

And finally, Desk #6 is where we swimmers would wait for our lane assignments. We were escorted to our lanes from this point.

So, we swam. And we swam. And we swam a mile.

We had our very own lap counters: Erin and Mark. We had lots of support in Arlene's kids and Duke. Laneia, Arlene's youngest, was very busy with the camcorder, and The Cybershots were going crazy. I don't have a picture to post yet (I am waiting on Arlene to send me some). Arlene is good. She swam her mile in about 34 minutes. I finished in about 40 minutes.

It was a great event. Lots of volunteers. Very well organized. There was a big food area. They served sandwiches, fruit, salads, ice cream sandwiches, chips, water, juice...it was a regular smorgasbord. Our registration entitled us to a raffle ticket, but we didn't win anything. But that's okay! We did it for cancer research...and the giving is the greatest gift we got. Ok, that and the cool bags.