Okay, just got back from treatment. Had to grab something from home so I thought I’d take a moment to blast out this blog (since I was too lazy to do it earlier).

Just had the third treatment of my fifth cycle of Abraxine. I guess we’re gonna wait until after the completion of the sixth cycle before we test again.

On a side note … there was an interesting article in the newspaper earlier this week with regard to Avastin. You may recall that I was on a combination of Avastin and Abraxine back in 2008. It was the usual; the treatment worked for awhile and then stopped. Anyway, it has been determined that Avastin has been proven far more effective on the cancers of the newly diagnosed as opposed to those like me … who are in the later stages. I know that Avastin was originally used in the treatment of cancers other than breast cancer. Evidently the powers that be had decided to take a whack at breast cancer to see if was effective … with mixed success.

So, I guess you can say that I was on a chemo in 2008 that was completely ineffective for my situation. I don’t knock it … hey, you try what you can. But it must have been the Abraxine that proved to be the initial success with that particular treatment. We’ll see if it continues to be effective when I get the next round of tumor markers.

And remember to repeat after me …“YOU ARE A CANCER WARRIOR”

Y’know … between drivers and my co-worker, I seem to have ample material to bitch about. Last week, she was late coming the first three days … Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday was a slow leak in her tire, Tuesday apparently her tire was nearly flat, so she had to find a gas station with a working air-hose. (Tells me she had to stop at three before she found one). And today it’s a stop at her doctor’s office to pee in a cup for a test.

I mean … c’mon. Granted, she’s hourly. So if she’s not there to work, she doesn’t get paid as much. I, on the other hand, am salary. I get paid the same whether I’m there or not. Despite this, I get to work a few minutes after 8:00 a.m. and usually still there past 5:00 p.m.

My bitchin’ about her being late so often is that she handles the phones in the morning and I take ‘em in the afternoon. Well, I usually end up with the phones from 8:00 to 9:00 and sometimes to 10:00 a.m. when she’s late. She then takes over whenever she manages to arrive and then on through noon. Well, then I get ‘em again from noon until 5:00. Just doesn’t sound right to me.

I don’t mind the phones … usually. Its just that the afternoon is when I really get busy and having to stop and answer the phone is a total pain in the ass. I really gotta rearrange the whole phone answering system. Something more like 9:00 to 1:00 or 2:00 for her and I’ll take it from there. Maybe I’ll even manage to get some work done without interruption.

Yesterday, despite the fact that family was home (and potentially disruptive), I actually managed to get a bit better than two pages written on my UF. This is incredibly unusual for me. On any given Sunday there always seems to be countless interruptions, things that have to be done, places to go and people to see. Yet, yesterday I had none of those interruptions.

Hubby was napping, little darlin’ was busy on the computer and I was able to actually get some halfway decent work done on the Acer at the dining room table.

This felt good. In the past month or so I’ve only been able to get writing done when I participated in the PowerWriting sessions that WisRWA members have been holding on Wednesday nights. I even found a good direction to explore … not necessarily take, mind you, but to explore. If it doesn’t work, its trash and I try something new.

I’ve even found myself mulling over my next steps when I’m not actually writing. Makes for some lovely daydreams, IMO.

So, any writers out there? How’s your WIP going? Progress being made?

Yep … Dr. D had his retirement get-together yesterday. It was held at St. Luke’s Hospital and there were quite a few people there. The photo, by the way, is of myself and Dr. D. I realized that in all the years that I’ve known this man, I never had a photo of him. Well, I rectified that at his party. I even got a photo of myself with two of the greatest nurses in the world, Peggy and Judy. I’ll certainly treasure these.

As I mentioned last week, I did finally decide on a gift for Dr. D. It came in time and looks stunning. It has the Hindu Om symbol on it. Then I had to promptly Google the meaning. Wouldn’t be too cool to give him something that turns out to be totally inappropriate. In hindsight, I should have taken a photo of it. It was really an attractive medallion. It was sterling silver and I wanted to have it engraved but apparently the back had a pebbled surface and I was told that the engraving needle would jump all over. So I found a really nifty silver box and had that engraved. Had a bit of black velvet and nestled the medallion inside. Turned out really well. I gave it to Dr. D yesterday but he was in the midst of talking to so many people that he didn’t get a chance to open it while I was there. I’m hoping he really likes it.

So now I’ll be meeting Dr. Mac in the near future. We never did get around to introductions the other week. She was in with patients or something. It just never happened. Can’t wait to see what she thinks of her new Problem Child.

Today is Abraxine day. Hopefully this treatment will continue to be effective.

And remember to repeat after me …“YOU ARE A CANCER WARRIOR”

There are times when I absolutely hate winter. Not so much the cold, the snow, ice and sleet, but the COLD season. When you catch a cold and it lingers (and lingers … and lingers). So far I’ve been lucky. Didn’t catch a single one.

No, this Bitch Session is on behalf of my daughter, who does have a cold. She’s pretty miserable. It was worse when she was younger and you know there’s nothing you can really do to alleviate the symptoms. Those children’s cold medicines never really did spit to help with a cold and you certainly couldn’t give a child adult medications. Well, now the little darlin’ is older and is able to take some medications that are more effective.

At the moment, we’re at the sore throat and sniffles stage. I’m hoping its going to hold off there and not progress to the whole coughing, etc., stage. I hate seeing her sick. All you can do is try to make her comfortable and sympathize while you both ride it out and hope its short lived.