The Night Before Port
Twas the night before port, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring...
Not even a mouse.
No, I'm not getting the rituxan...darn! But I just got done reading John Wagner's blog and wishing I could get some mouse ears! lol John is a fellow CLL'er who's going through chemo right now for his CLL. We are both using one of the same drugs, cytoxan. But his CLL protocol also calls for high dose steroids and rituxan.
CLL stands for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Unlike breast cancer, there's no cure, and for some people it becomes aggressive and causes some painful and/or dangerous symptoms that need to be treated. Otherwise you just watch and wait. John's at one of those stages where he's got to knock back the dragon for awhile. And this is his first time at it. He'll probably use this protocol again and again as long as it works for him. He's saving the "big guns" for later when these guns quit being effective, or don't hold the remission as long. None of this is really a picnic. Some of the toxic drugs can destroy your immune system so much that other opportunistic infections run rampant. (like shingles from childhood chicken pox, or Epstein Barr virus, etc.) Thankfully, cytoxan isn't the worst offender on the list. In my case, the cytoxan is lowering my CLL peripheral blood counts while still killing the breast cancer. It could be helping, but I wasn't having any problem with my CLL. It had never become aggressive. In fact, it had even been coming down with my use of green tea.
It was so good to run into some dear friends today. I'd met them about 7 years ago in a Leadership Institute for the Spokane Alliance. They've had a great influence on me. Unfortunately they had to move out of state a few years ago for work. I didn't know that they had retired and returned to the area 3 months ago. They said that their church has been praying for me. It really warms my heart to know that. I've been blessed to have all sorts of denominations including me in their prayer lists. I know collectively that all your prayers have helped me get this far pretty unscathed. Thank you. God Bless All of You!
When I was 10 years old, my father needed "X-Ray therapy" every day for 3 months. The little local grocery store had a sign up list for volunteers to drive my dad the 180 miles round trip. Talk about community. That's what I'm feeling now, and I want you all to know how much I appreciate your kind thoughts. I know you're there.
Everyone's pretty quiet around here. I have to be at short stay @ 8:30 AM. Fred will be taking me and staying with me all day. Then at 1:00, I get another round of chemo, only this time, they'll be using my new port. I won't say I'm not apprehensive.
Except for being wiped out every so often, and having to take some naps, I'm doing really good. Oh, and I forget a lot, but have taken to writing EVERYTHING down on a list. (Don't ask me where that LIST is, though!) I also need to set the timer to remind me that I need to check the list, or the stove, or to let the dog back in...things like that.
Goodnight.
Not a creature was stirring...
Not even a mouse.
No, I'm not getting the rituxan...darn! But I just got done reading John Wagner's blog and wishing I could get some mouse ears! lol John is a fellow CLL'er who's going through chemo right now for his CLL. We are both using one of the same drugs, cytoxan. But his CLL protocol also calls for high dose steroids and rituxan.
CLL stands for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Unlike breast cancer, there's no cure, and for some people it becomes aggressive and causes some painful and/or dangerous symptoms that need to be treated. Otherwise you just watch and wait. John's at one of those stages where he's got to knock back the dragon for awhile. And this is his first time at it. He'll probably use this protocol again and again as long as it works for him. He's saving the "big guns" for later when these guns quit being effective, or don't hold the remission as long. None of this is really a picnic. Some of the toxic drugs can destroy your immune system so much that other opportunistic infections run rampant. (like shingles from childhood chicken pox, or Epstein Barr virus, etc.) Thankfully, cytoxan isn't the worst offender on the list. In my case, the cytoxan is lowering my CLL peripheral blood counts while still killing the breast cancer. It could be helping, but I wasn't having any problem with my CLL. It had never become aggressive. In fact, it had even been coming down with my use of green tea.
It was so good to run into some dear friends today. I'd met them about 7 years ago in a Leadership Institute for the Spokane Alliance. They've had a great influence on me. Unfortunately they had to move out of state a few years ago for work. I didn't know that they had retired and returned to the area 3 months ago. They said that their church has been praying for me. It really warms my heart to know that. I've been blessed to have all sorts of denominations including me in their prayer lists. I know collectively that all your prayers have helped me get this far pretty unscathed. Thank you. God Bless All of You!
When I was 10 years old, my father needed "X-Ray therapy" every day for 3 months. The little local grocery store had a sign up list for volunteers to drive my dad the 180 miles round trip. Talk about community. That's what I'm feeling now, and I want you all to know how much I appreciate your kind thoughts. I know you're there.
Everyone's pretty quiet around here. I have to be at short stay @ 8:30 AM. Fred will be taking me and staying with me all day. Then at 1:00, I get another round of chemo, only this time, they'll be using my new port. I won't say I'm not apprehensive.
Except for being wiped out every so often, and having to take some naps, I'm doing really good. Oh, and I forget a lot, but have taken to writing EVERYTHING down on a list. (Don't ask me where that LIST is, though!) I also need to set the timer to remind me that I need to check the list, or the stove, or to let the dog back in...things like that.
Goodnight.
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