November - 2009

With this first onset of somewhat colder weather, I'm noticing some neuropathy (numbness) in some of my toes on my right foot. I guess that it takes quite a while for all of the chemo meds to exit your system.

We went to another memorial service. This time it was my sister's brother-in-law. I sure hope that these occasions end for awhile soon.

Still disputing hospital bills that go back to when I had my surgery last year in June of 2008! Latest letter says the my healthplan had *revised* the amount they were to pay which leaves me with more of a co-pay. I've already paid $250 for this one bill. Oh well, it is what it is?

"Fighting Cancer is a lifelong deal"

The title above is a quote from another cancer fighter whose blog I've been following. You can see a link on the right side (Rotorhead's Cancer Blog).

Charles is a military chopper pilot and keeps an interesting blog.

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since my chemo ended. I'm still having a lot of neuropathy and tingling/numbness in my fingers and feet along with gasto-related issues. I have my first follow-up visit on January 21st.

We've been getting snowfall just about every weekend since the new year started. I'm starting to envy the people who are in warmer climates.

Anyway, I'll update after my follow-up visit and we'll see what the next steps of the journey will be.

Cold and Windchills - 9th cycle continues

Today was the coldest day yet that I had to drive to my chemo treatments. It wasn't too bad driving there at 7:45am (about 35 degrees with a windchill that made it feel like 25 degrees). I wore a winter coat, sweater, warm shirt, undershirt and GLOVES.

Coming home I was shivering the whole way home and couldn't wait to put on an extra pair of socks and a heavy sweater, even though the heat was on and it was 77 degrees inside! The oxaliplatin is the worst chemo med in my opinion. Maybe in the near future they will have something that only kills the bad cells and not the good cells with it?

I came home, got warmer and decided to have a nap. Naps are your friend during chemo infusions. I'm hooked up to my infusion pump of 5-FU and will be going back tomorrow. Due to the numbness in my fingers, this is taking me a much longer time to type, so I'll keep it short and update later in the week.