Happy Birthday today to my Dad, Dan Sr. I love you.
Sorry for missing a few days of posts. I attribute it to extreme melancholy with my situation. That is in the past now and I am back to the expected level of positive mojo.
Stuart and I rated each of the last few days as they went by. We did this to set up some expectation of what "normal" might be, but it will also give you some insight into what has been going on. Sorry in advance to the believers in the 1-5 or 1-7 Likert Scale...we went with the tried and true 1-10 Cancer Sucks Scale (with 1 being the worst feeling in the world and 10 being the best). Here is how we catalogued the days:
Thursday (Chemo Day): Can't recall...passed out
Friday (Day After): 7
Saturday: 4 (I actually feel asleep in the middle of the Hokie's rout of Wake Forest)
Sunday: 6
Monday: 7
Today (Tuesday): 8
All-in-all, I think this is pretty decent, assuming I feel good for the next 8 days prior to my next treatment and the rhythm is the same for the next 6 months. Incidentally, I have also decided that I am going to kick this thing in 6 months rather than 8 months (you may recall the 6-8 month range the oncologist gave me for chemo).
Other than the Hokie victory, which moved us back into the the Top 25 in the polls, the highlight of the last few days has been talking with my old college roommate, Steve Sparks (a.k.a. Sparky). Sparky always made me laugh and has not lost his touch. We talked for almost an hour, mostly about his experience with Hodgkin's, but there was some inappropriate humor mixed in for good measure. I have not laughed like that in a while and it was much needed. Thanks Sparky.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with Dr. Frenette in the afternoon. His goal is to check blood work; my goal will be to talk about mouth pain, bone aches, heartburn, flu shots, port pain, CD68+ macrophages and fear of children and public spaces. It should be fun for him.
I will leave you with this. It sure did seem silly putting conditioner in my hair in the shower today.
finally, an update! so glad you are at an 8 today! i think stuart should also rate her days and how she is feeling:) i have her on my mind so much too! i keep putting myself in her shoes...
ReplyDeleteglad to hear about your goal of 6 months...i like specifics for my prayers! that sounds so doable!
shocking about sparks! so glad you have an encourager in him!
good luck with Dr. Frenette tomorrow. let me know what he says about fear of children...i think i have that too!
Cambre - I have told Stuart she is welcome to post anytime...we shall see. More to come about the visit with Dr. Frenette, but no one is buying your nonsense about fear of children for a second young lady.
ReplyDeleteBrother Dan - Conditioner has been silly for ages - no recent event has changed that. If anything, I will just quote Ray Lewis and or the Big Cat Kevin Woest: "If you got swagger, you don't need nuthin' else." That being said, once you sell this blog and become famous, if I catch you making a DONKEY TRASH commercial like his, you and I will have words (perhaps even with a Latvian waiter present). Keep up the good mojo, brother - just don't let the hokies get ranked so high that Boise State feels like a legitimate contender.
ReplyDeleteSending some positive mojo your way.....
ReplyDeleteI was in the airport yesterday and a woman beside was lamenting about her life being like a reality show and she had decided to write a book called "When Life Hands You Lemons, Add Vodka!" Not sure the title has a relationship to the book (she might just like lemon vodka a lot) but the point of the book was to document events in peoples lives and how they immediately impacted their life or the impact was not realized until much later in life. Long story short, I think you have a gift with the pen (or keyboard) my friend. Not sure if it was a passion before but Sarah and I both agree, there might be a future there! Keep up the good work. If nothing else, maybe you can write Moynihan's press briefings. :)
Keeping you in our thoughts my friend....
Sam - thanks for keeping me grounded...just the thought of me peddling cheap wares on TV gives me the shivers...
ReplyDeleteBrian - thanks for the good mojo and the compliments. I'm off to see if I can get drunk on lemons alone...
Hi - maybe take advantage of the inevitability of losing your hair and get it shaved into a mohawk - you'll be the most rocking dad ever!
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe just look at this as just a few months long flu - you'll feel like crap a lot but it's short-lived and soon back to action!
Kim - I did get the haircut short today...no mohawk though. I do like your flu analogy though.
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