As I mentioned last week, I was going to talk about my physical experiences with Ixempra. As I said, this is some fairly nasty stuff. Not as bad as other chemo treatments I’d heard of, but my reaction this medication is certainly worse than I’d experienced before … and one that does not bode well for the next five sessions.

In my last post, I said that Friday was good, Saturday evening was iffy, but Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were … difficult. It felt like I had a bad case of the flu. I felt achy and everything hurt. Still it was tolerable and I was sorta hoping that they’d given me a double dose to give me a good boast of the cancer fightin’ juice. No such luck. That was it. So for the next five weeks, it will take me a tad longer to recover since the effects appear to be accumulative as treatments progress. Joy beyond words.

And the administration! Whoa! Yes, this is an infusion, but I knew that. What I didn’t realize was the length of time it would take! I was under the impression a couple of hours … tops. I was there all day. Had my usual bloodwork and a check up with Dr. D. Went to infusion around 10:00 or 10:30 and had to sit awhile waiting for the bloodwork results, yadda, yadda, yadda. Around 11:30 or so they hooked me up with saline and started the anti-nausea drip, shot me full of Benadryl and something else I don’t even remember, back to saline for awhile and then they finally brought out the chemo cocktail. I sorta smiled and said something to the effect of “Oh, good, I’ll be out of here shortly.” and the nurse looked surprised and said, no, this is where it takes three hours to infuse.

“Say what!?!”

Needless to say I didn’t make it in to work that Friday.

Repeat after me …“YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

Anyone who has heard me talk (or blog) knows I love world building. It’s a fascinating process. Just got done watching the Sunday night episode of the Trueblood … an HBO series based on the Sookie Stackhouse books written by Charlaine Harris. Absolutely wonderful, by the way. However, the HBO version isn’t quite what I expected (as I’ve written over at MagicalMusings previously). Now, I’ve met Charlaine Harris and she’s this lovely Southern woman, comfortably rounded, the grandmother type. Her books are milder than what is portrayed by the television series, but I understand the graphics portrayed. We’re a society with a short attention span. Our interest has to be piqued quick and fast.

But this got me thinking about my own writing. The current book I’m writing isn’t graphic, but there is a lot of action. It’s a world that I’ve created within my mind and one that I know intimately. How would someone else interpret it? Would a screen writer take it, jazz it up to appeal to today’s audience? Perhaps throw in a lot of sex and violence where there is relatively little.

As I say, I can probably see the necessity … this is for HBO, afterall. Would I be happy? Dunno. Depends on how much they want to pay me. It all comes down to the bottom line, boys and girls — it all comes down to the bottom line.

Since I’d been off line for a couple of weeks, a hellava lot has happened. I think the last time I wrote, I was going through Round Six with the head and having just finished radiation. Weeelllll … while waiting the couple of weeks before getting the scan to see if the radiation had worked, we had blood work done and discovered that my tumor markers had climbed again. Usually an indication that somethin’ is cookin’. That would be a big yes. A PET scan showed that the cancer has made a return appearance on my liver.

This just gets better and better. We were contemplating surgery to have that little portion of my liver removed. This is the third time a lesion has appeared on that particular part of my liver, so we were gonna have it removed rather than mess with chemo. As a precaution, Dr. D. ordered a bone survey … which is basically a full body x-ray. The x-rays revealed that I have bone lesions both on my spine and in my head. Lovely. That would explain the continued headaches.

Sooooo …. surgery is out and chemo is in. Dr. D. put me on the Ixempra that we’d discussed before and I had my first treatment last Friday. This is some nasty stuff. Now … this is my fourth time of having chemo and I’d never had such a bad reaction. Today is Tuesday and this is the first time I feel halfway human. Friday was fine … no problem. Saturday was okay, by evening feeling a little ick. Sunday and Monday were basically “leave me alone and let me sleep” sorta days. I still went to work on Monday, but I was barely functional. Fortunately, my employers pretty much left me alone and I managed to get a few things done.

So, I guess you can say I’ve entered Round Seven of the Great Cancer Battle without even having finished Round Six. It certainly makes life interesting. Next week, I’ll go into more detail about Ixempra.

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

The problem with being a pantser is what happens next.. When I start a new book, I’m of the habit of writing out mini-scenes and then piecing them together when I begin the actual story. With this current WIP I had probably twenty scenes all written, grabbed them as needed, expanded, elaborated and finally constructed them into chapters that made my story flow.

But what happens when I run out of these scenes? A point that I’m at right now.

This is where being a pantser can be sticky. I’m not quite sure where to go from here. A plotter will have a full outline, know exactly what is gonna happen next and move on with the story. I have to come up with something brilliant.

Mulling and making notes is as far as I’ve gotten. That counts as writing, doesn’t it? But it can be frustrating. After all, I just introduced my biggest conflict and now I have to keep the action moving.

So, do I go back and begin writing move mini-scenes and continue piecing them together? Or do I concentrate on my notes and hope something shakes loose? Decisions, decisions.

I have no doubt a brilliant idea will surface. For me, that’s what pantsing is all about. It takes you down roads you don’t expect, but you have to be patient. You cannot force the idea. It has to come to you.

Sooner or later.

Hi Everyone:

Due to technical difficulties, I’ve been unable to access my blog for the last couple of weeks … hence the reason for no updates. Sorry ’bout that. However, my webmasters (Justin and Amy) were able to fix it. Many thanx to both of you.

On Monday I’ll continue my regular posts. Have lots to tell you all … particularly on my Wednesday (Cancer Winner) posts.

So, welcome back and thank you for your patience.