7/7/15 Chemo #10
Hello, Fabulous Friends and Family!
Thank you all for being so AMAZING!!! Thank you for your prayers (they REALLY help!) and your comments, messages, texts, emails, cards, gifts, food, flowers, hugs. Everything! Best. Support. Group. EVER!!! You should all add it to your resumes: “Highly esteemed member of the “Best.Support.Group.EVER!!!” I’ll be a reference. You’ll totally get hired! Well, maybe not. And maybe not put me as a reference. Who knows what I’ll say with this lovely chemo brain.
Last chemo (#9 6/2/15) was rough. I was down for a long time. Hated it. But when it finally ended, I was great. Had a fabulous Fourth of July with family and friends up North. Even got to see the Fargo brethren. Loved it!
Yesterday was Chemo#10. Went well. Had a fun nurse so that helps. I was afraid that my neutrophil count wasn’t high enough. But it was. Whew! My hands and feet and throat are SUPER sensitive to “cold”—less than 72 degrees. I tried to drink out of a water fountain today. It just freezed my lips and tongue and throat. Quite annoying. Back to the gloves and slippers and lukewarm drinks. Yummy!
Today we went with Kaitlyn to her U of MN orientation. jSo fun!. Just had to wear the gloves most of the day and my fanny pack. Lovely. They gave me an oversized fanny pack to wear this time. It has a see-through window in front covered by a Velcro panel (I guess it’s to flash to others all the amazing things one has in there). There’s also a handy-dandy small zip pocket on top for money and credit cards and, of course, a library card. Also, some other kind of Velcro strip that I can’t figure out. I think is for hanging keys or a water bottle. They had to go all the way back to the 1980s to get this baby! I’m bringing sexy back! The fanny pack did have a slight resurgence in 2014 when Matthew McConaughey, Fergie and Nicole Richie and numerous others wore them. Worn off-center, of course, to avoid the poochy look. (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/matthew-mcconaughey-fergie-nicole-richie-bringing-fanny-pack-back-article-1.1910510.) The scariest picture is a retro one of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that I posted for you to see. Sorry. He should not be wearing a fanny pack—especially such a small one. I guess it depends on your need: practicality or reality. Your choice. So, I just wore my old small fanny pack that I was using before. I tried to be cool and wear it off-center—but it didn’t work—kept sliding back to the middle. I just wore a long shirt to cover it. Looked like I just had an extra pooch. Along with my thinning hair I was quite the sight. Oh well.
On a more happy note, my CEA tumor markers dropped again. Yay! Down to 10.5. The doctor said not to expect it to get to zero. Which doesn’t mean that the cancer won’t go away. The test is usually just used for trending—to see how the chemo is working. The chemo is working for me so I’m guessing I’ll be getting the full 12 chemo infusions—if I can handle it. If it knocks me down too hard then he’ll stop it, run another CT scan and we’ll go from there. Possibly direct radiation if the tumors in my liver are small and few. Possibly nothing. The unknown—so much fun.
Well, that’s what’s happening. Riveting isn’t it. Not! Anyway, thanks for being so amazing and encouraging and loving and supporting my family and me through all of this. Means a lot! Really. A LOT!
Now go buy yourself a super stylish fanny pack (or dig in that box you have hidden away for the one you saved—I know some of you have one. I do. Mine’s even made of black pleather. Wow! Haven’t worn it since the 90s but I can’t give it away because it’s so practical--it hides the real pooch from all that Nutella and gives you a larger fake one. Hideous. But practical:
"Look, Ma! No hands!") Also, be sure to wear it off-center, too, so you can be cool like I tried to be! Let’s all bring sexy back!
Comments (11)
You are amazing in doing so much in spite of the effects of the chemo! Thanks for sharing the good news on you progress. Our prayers continue. Sorry I missed you at Cormorant. Was over in Mandan and Minot. Have a good week.
In Scotland, it's called a bum bag.
Ah Sarah, you make me laugh. What a great writer you are. If we can't see the life with a little twist where would we be? So glad to hear the numbers are going down. Please take care of yourself. Love, Nancy C.
Fantastic to know your numbers are going down! You could wear a burlap sack and still look great! Keep up the good work! Love and prayers!
I Love to see those numbers continue to go down! Yay! Love you Aunt Sarah!
Hello Dear Sarah: I made a response to your personal post but am not sure if it got to you. The crazy thing about that send box is that merely pushing ENTER to create a new line quickly makes a send and blanks out the composition box so it is cleared of all the entries. No wonder your comment showed up in triplicate, and my start showed up three times as well. At least this box works differently, more sensibly. Computer systems verily have no brains at all, but are wonderful in power to enable to reach each other in personal ways. I would never write letters anywhere close to as much as I do with e mails. It is good that the bad stuff is decreasing so the good stuff can increase in your body. I hope you are getting good anti cancer nutrition so as to keep the bad stuff out forever. Now the comment box is going up and down on its own. More wild computer antics at work. I love you always. Cyberhugs in abundance for now. Chester Crowell
Thanks for the update and the amazing positive outlook! You will continue to be in our prayers Sarah.
Good morning Sarah! Thanks for the update, and just fyi the phrase "fanny pack" is NOT TO BE MENTIONED in Australia! No sirree! Learned this the hard way, and certainly did not impress the new inlaws, with that. I forget what they call them, but suffice it to say that fanny's to them are not what fanny's are to us in the USA (athough that was in the 80's so perhaps things have changed). :) Love seeing those numbers continuing to diminish, and we sure love your family and pray for you daily. xo
So, I may have to see if I can find a fanny pack somewhere and wear it as a sign of solidarity in bringing sexy back. Justin Timberlake would be proud. :) Glad the numbers continue to downtrend, thank you for your awesome, inspiring and chuckle inducing sense of humor.
Good Sabbath, Sarah and family. I actually have a camo fanny pack, so I am trying to get the hunting community on board with this "fashion" statement. Does Scott have one? My wife has begged me not to take it on my elk hunt this fall in Montana (with her family). She thinks I might get shot if I wear such a thing -- maybe by the in-laws even! I am a statistician by profession (working in medical research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital), so please excuse me being a little "numbers-nerdy". It is great to see your numbers continue to go down. If you were to graph these, it would probably resemble an exponential decay model. We are very sad, of course, to hear about the increased difficulty of the treatments and side-effects. This would probably look like an exponential growth graph. What is a "constant" is your ability to continue to face this challenge head-on with humor, guts (sorry, still have hunting on my mind), and capacity to inspire your friends and family. Now, I am sure some days you feel like you are on a roller-coaster. (Yes, there is a mathematical model for that too -- check out a sine wave.) But we are praying for zero -- yes, a big goose egg -- and you can get off the ride, and walk away. Many hugs and peace, to you and the clan.
Hi Sarah! You look MUCH better in the fanny pack than Dwayne Johnson!! :D Much to my kids' chagrin, I've starting using one this summer around the ranch, and once I wore it to the fabric store. They're just so handy!! :D Wear yours proudly!! So happy things are moving in the right direction for you! Keep up the good work! Praying for you! Love you!! Darla :)