Friday, November 30, 2007

Savin' some for later! (a Rachel Rose story)

Let me start by saying that we have had our kitchen table for oh, about 4 years. It was not until last night, or I should say not until Rachel Rose, that a new feature of our table was discovered - it has secret compartments! Last night, I was vacuuming the carpet underneath the table because Rachel Rose had eaten Cheetoh's earlier. As I was walking back toward the table after putting the vacuum away, I noticed two small bumps underneath the tabletop. As I got closer I realized they were, you guessed it, Cheetoh's. But they were stuck there and they were tiny, just an end of a Cheetoh. I wondered how on earth she managed to bite off a tiny piece and then get it to stick to the underside of the table . . . so I got on my hands and knees to get a closer look. It was then that I noticed several small screw holes lining the underside of our table. They were part of the construction and held the tabletop onto the frame. Apparently, Rachel Rose decided they were a perfect storage place for her Cheetoh's because she had smooshed a couple into two of the holes. I tried to remove them this morning, but she wouldn't let me. So now I have to decide - do I remove them in secret and pretend Chloe, our cat, ate them. Or, do I leave them and when she's asking for a snack later, tell her to go get her Cheetoh's out of the table!



Now for the cancer stuff - I had my third treatment today. Since I only have six total, I AM HALFWAY FINISHED!!!!! Can you tell I am excited? The day went fine, just looonng (6 hours). And, as usual, the Benadryl drove me nuts. They don't mind if I walk around with my IV pump, so that helped to keep moving. The nurse said some people have this jittery reaction and even in some kids it causes excitability instead of drowsiness. I took two Xanax and she even lowered my Benadryl dose to half, but I still was like a Jack Russell puppy, wiggly all over! But I was very out of it. Apparently, I talked to mom and John on the phone, but I don't remember any of the conversations. I'm just worried I might have to go the bathroom while I'm drugged up like that and forget to shut the door!!

It probably wouldn't matter - the chemo patients are all very friendly and no one is too modest. You can't be when the nurse is asking you within earshot of everybody else, "How is your constipation, did the Miralax work?" and you have to respond, "Uh, yeah, but I almost didn't make it the toilet in time, is there anything milder?" Then, from across the room somebody pipes up with, "Try prune juice, works great for me!" Okay,uhm, thank you!

It's actually pretty sad to be in the chemo room for that long and see all the many patients come and go.
I could tell you about some pretty bad cases of recurrences, disease spread, and diminished quality of life. I play up the humor because if I focused too long on the unfairness, I'm afraid of how low it would take me. It's enough for me with mom to focus on the positives and not let myself get sad for her. But no matter how desperate all these stories are, they would also be so positive and hopeful. These women are amazing! My dr told us that the reason he went into gynecologic oncology was because of his fascination with the strength of women, especially their tenacity and optimism and fighting power over men! He always jokes with John about this! It is true, women are incredible . . . just look at my mom!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So glad you have this blog. It's nice to 'keep up with you' without having to bug you by phone and email. We all continue to keep you in our prayers and are so happy you are on the way to being done with the chemo!! Love- All the Tuckers