30 june - day 5.2

OK here i go, get thru this one, then only one more! folks signed up on lotsahelpinghands to bring me a meal, take me to oncologist for shot, pickup boomer for a walk, all thru the rough time. i feel very well taken care of, what a blessing.

6 july - day 5.8

whew, a long hard 1st week, finally today not feeling like shit. of course, the sun came out, which helped a lot! the past week was foggy & chilly, dreary weather to match my dreary state.

friends know how much i LOVE fireworks, & i was pretty bummed that i would not have the energy to go to eureka to watch big fireworks show over the bay. low cloud cover this year, but a good show anyway. so claudia & jan came here with home fireworks, & we built a bonfire, & had s'mores! a wonderful 4th!! here are the ones they brought...

and one called "sizzler" which is not on TNT website, probly discontinued (it was bundled with amer.spirit)

10 july - day 5.12

saw dr.F yesterday for mid-cycle check, the neupogen shots are keeping white blood cell counts up, & the reds are holding at a low but not critical count, yay! hands & feet are kinda numb & sometimes prickly ("peripheral neuropathy", should go away after chemo over); intestines messed up, taking longer this cycle to settle into a normal elimination pattern; little sores on tongue; mouth & skin dry; & of course i'm very tired all the time. did i forget anything? but really not so bad, dr.F again told me how well i'm taking it. i have to thank all my friends & family sending me prayers & good wishes & bringing me meals when i'm too wasted to prepare them for myself, the herbs & supplements prescribed for me by pine street clinic, & my general good health when i began.

and tomorrow i'll be walking the "survivors' lap" at relay for life!

 11 july - day 5.13 - RELAY FOR LIFE!

walking the first lap, with brandi. i walked around a couple more times too, meeting fundraising teams, hearing survivor stories, but couldn't stay all day (& nite!). maybe next year...

photo by patti legary

with jan & brandi at the survivors' wall

photo by maryann dereuter

cheryl connor, who works in the library & is very active in relay, put a luminaria out for me. Kati is someone who used to work in the library, she's a survivor of many years.

photo by cheryl connor

21 july - day 6.2

omigosh, that was the LAST ONE! not celebrating yet, still have to crash tomorrow & then recover for a couple weeks, THEN i'll be VERY HAPPY!!!

"steroid flush" from my LAST chemo treatment!

26 july - day 6.7

this is the slowest recovery yet, understandably, trying not to be impatient. white blood cells dropped so low last cycle, even with the neupogen shots, that this time i'm having to get 10 of them instead of 5. and, this is so weird, the nurses said they'd like to give the shots in my belly, it wouldn't hurt so much, & i said OK, but i kinda freaked. it was scary. just because i've never had shots in my belly before i guess. so one of them held my hand while the other gave the shot, & they were right! i didn't hurt as much! more fat to cushion the blow.

10 august - day 6.22 (!!!)

wow, now it really begins, my life after chemo! for many months now, on the 22nd day after a chemo treatment, i was getting ANOTHER chemo treatment, but NOT TODAY! now i get to keep on feeling a little better every day, & await the arrival of new hair (apparently postchemo hair is often very different hair). i had a lovely party yesterday, & today soaked the flower beds & got hot weather clothes down from the attic -- because tomorrow i fly away to new orleans! i had been hoping brother david would bring roxanne here to visit, to help celebrate endofchemo with me, but he decided he couldn't afford to miss 2 weeks of work AND buy 2 tickets, so he bot 1 ticket, for me to go there! love it. & in new orleans in august, having no hair will be an advantage!