Three Down, ? to go

I'm just now coming out of the ughs from the third round of chemo. I find if I can get a solid night's sleep on an ugh day, my recovery is much quicker.

Stella was declared a total loss. I've already gotten the settlement check, but I just put it in the bank. Until I detox from my final chemo round, all I'd be doing with a new scooter is moving it out of the way of the street cleaners every week. Someone else can own it, store it and insure it until I'm really ready to ride it.

I got my own mat cutter last week and have invested a lot of time framing the farm animal prints. I also finished and framed the multi-piece Shrinkydinks piece you see here. I'm waiting for my chemo schedule to be finalized before I schedule the cafe show, but I'll be ready, artwork-wise. Chemo may extend into late October, depending on its effectiveness and my own stamina, and what Dr. Liu and I decide.

So to summarize;

- I'm standing up to the chemo ughs ok so far
- We may go for six rounds of chemo, after all (still TBD after seeing Dr. Liu in a couple of weeks)
- Brain MRI next Monday (This is a followup to my surgeries and brain radiation, just to make sure everything is still quiet up there; I think it is)
- I have no wheels for the time being
- I can now mat and frame my own lino prints

Chemo Round 2 Complete. I'm OK. Scooter Stella, not so much.

I had my second chemo round this last week, lost more hair, and feel a little more wrung out than last round. Just waiting for the ugh, which will commence tomorrow, if we're on schedule. Got through it in two days last time. Hoping for as fast a recovery this time too.

But that's nothing compared to what poor Stella is going through. Friday morning at approximately 1:45 AM, while parked in a 5-spot scooter parking pad, she and a motorcycle parked a space away were mowed down by a (presumably) drunk, hit-and-run driver. The owner of the motorcycle heard the crash and came outside in time to see a silver sedan driving away, but wasn't able to get the license number. He took some photos before picking up both our bikes and leaving a note on mine. She only had 144 miles on her. Undrivable, and probably totaled because of all the body damage. I was able to get her towed to the shop right away, and already have an insurance claim in the works. I should know her prognosis by Wednesday. Fortunately, I have pretty good coverage. This bites, but at least I wasn't on her at the time.

In better news, I'm moving ahead on organizing my linocut print / shrinkydinks art exhibit at the cafe across the alley from my apartment, Cafe Sophie. If all goes as planned, it should start around October 1 and my work should be up for about a month. There will be a little opening evening reception that I hope as many of you as possible will be able to attend.

Checkup with Dr. Liu

Just got home from seeing Dr. Liu. My lymph node has shrunk from the first chemo, and the blood tests show that my body tolerated that first round pretty well.

Dr. Gillis does not think it's a good idea for me to have more radiation in that area at this time. She zapped a wide margin around the node last time and doesn't want to subject the remaining healthy cells in that area to more radiation until a lot more time has elapsed.

So this chemo is really my only treatment option at this point. I need all your positive thoughts.

One chemo round down, ughs have been survived

This is my lino portrait of my great-nephew.

I got through last week's infusions fine. The ughs hit on Monday. I felt really horrible that day and mostly horrible on Tuesday. But I felt pretty well on Wednesday and was able to go to class and print. So grateful to have the ughs go away so quickly.

Only two more print classes and then I'm going to take a bit of a break, so I won't have to pay for classes and miss them because I'm ughin during the last of my chemo rounds. I have a bed cover to make using a serger that I have no experience with, as well as some shrinkydinks projects to finish. I probably have a bunch of radiation treatments in my near future too.

Peaks and Valleys - Valley Ahead

There's no way to sugar-coat this: the cancer has already recurred in my right axillary lymph node where it showed up originally almost 2 years ago. I noticed the swelling a couple weeks ago, had a CT scan last week, and met with Dr. Liu yesterday, who confirmed that the swelling is the cancer. Damn, that wasn't much of a respite, was it?

I'm already scheduled for my first of four rounds of chemo, next week. I never thought I'd be willing to do chemo again, but it's funny what you'll endure for a little more life. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm addicted to life. I gotta have it. Obviously we're heading toward a point where I will have to weigh the rigors of treatment against lost quality of life, but we're not there yet. I have a strong body that clearly can take a lot of abuse and bounce back and I intend to exercise that strength and resilience as long as I can.

I'll be needing chemo buddies. If you're interested, you can sign up here. (You have to be a member of the group and signed into a yahoo account in order to see or edit the calendar)

In happier news, I've finally started building my website where you can see some of my recent linocut prints. It's a work in progress, like me.

A good scan

Just hung up the phone with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Gillis. Monday's MRI showed that the bits of mass that remained in my brain after the last surgery have gotten much smaller since the cyberknife treatments and no new masses have formed.

Couldn't ask for more than that. Other than the congestion I am still having from allergies, I feel very good. I'm enjoying my printmaking class, and I find that I'm able to drink again, as well as go out at night, so things are more normal than they've been for months. Saturday, I went out to dinner and on to a concert of chamber music. Last night, I went to see John Waters interviewed at the Jewish Community Center and had a late supper at Sociale.

Onward. Another MRI in 3 months.

More normalcy

I went to open studio and printed tonight. Mostly, I printed more cards using lino plates from earlier classes, but I did bring this houndstooth rooster which I carved over the weekend.

Felt good to be back in the studio.

Stella is a great joy to ride, and i think I have the hang of the manual transmission now.