Congratulations to Becky and George!

You know you’re a cancer patient when…….you wish you still had bad hair days...... 

When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life you have 1000 reasons to smile.  – Unknown

Today was the day of the “big event.”  My sweet stepsister, Becky, married her “beau,” George.  We are all so excited for them and so happy to have George (a fabulous dude) an “official” member of the family!  Wishing you guys many, many years of happiness together!  Kenny and I were very sad that we couldn’t be at the wedding/family reunion of sorts, but we just couldn’t make it happen with my current circumstances.  SOOOO, we did what we could – we went to Paul’s Smokehouse, a restaurant/bar on the Indian River in Titusville, at 1700 (the time of the wedding), and had a margarita in their honor!  It was NOT the same as being there, but we did the best we could.  And we were thinking of them and toasting to them at their very special time.  As I write this, I hope they all are having a wonderful evening celebrating together. 

I had my appointment with Dr. Sprawls yesterday.  Had to have blood work and a urinalysis done beforehand.  When I came out of the restroom and handed the girl “the cup,” she said, “You can go right into room 5, and Dr. Sprawls is in there waiting for you!”  OMG!  I was shocked.  I kept Dr. Always Late waiting!  And I actually felt terrible about it…..seriously.  (I was way early for my appointment, so I don’t know how that happened).  I walked in the room and apologized profusely for keeping him waiting.  He about laughed his head off.  Anyway, it was a jovial way to start the appointment.  As for the abdominal pain, he’s pretty baffled about it.  He thinks I might be in a rare category of people who have rare side effects to Taxotere.  Not unheard of, just not common.  He still wanted to skip the chemo yesterday since I still wasn’t feeling all that great.  We’ll do another Taxotere next week and see what happens.  If no side effects, we’ll forge on.  If severe abdominal pain, we’ll consider switching to Taxol.  I did tell him that if he thinks Taxotere is what I need and is the most effective protocol for my diagnosis, etc., then I could tolerate the side effects.  It’s only brutal/unbearable for about 48 hours.  Then there’s an additional 2-3 days where the discomfort is there, but it’s tolerable.  Anyway, we’ll just take it one step at a time and go from there.  I’m a third of the way through this protocol…..only 2/3 left to go.  That’s no so bad, is it?!  Of course, it’s easy for me to say that now because I’m not in pain at the moment.  I don’t think I could have said that on Sunday night or Monday.  My white count was low again at 3.62, but Dr. Sprawls wasn’t worried about it.  He said, “That’s not low.  We know what low is around here, don’t we?!”  I said, “Yup, been there, done that.”  However, I’m not happy being below the low end of normal.  Just have to take extra precautions.

I’m getting a little frustrated by my lack of stamina/energy/motivation.  Today I was feeling pretty lethargic and just couldn’t get motivated to do anything.  I know part of the problem was feeling sad about not being at Becky and George’s wedding and being with all the family, etc.  Another part of the problem is that I’m just so intolerant of the heat now – never used to be that way.  Anyway, I tried to go for a walk this afternoon and only made it about 15 minutes.  Then I had the brilliant idea to take a lounge chair down by the river and read for awhile.  Now THAT was wonderful!  There was a beautiful breeze, no mosquitos (don’t know where they were hiding, but it was most enjoyable), and I watched a pod of about 10 dolphins playing in the water.  It was lovely.  Couldn’t get a good photo of the dolphins, but I got a picture of my lounge chair, so you can get an idea of the beautiful setting.  That’s right here in the campground – just a short walk from our campsite. 

I guess I don’t really have too much other news.  I already have my PJs on, and I think it’s time to climb into bed and read for a short while.  For the most part, I’m feeling pretty good…..just not my usual self.  Really looking forward to feeling great again……I know it’s just around the corner……..

My chair down by the river

View from my chair (including my feet) and VAB on other side of river -- nice place to read a book, eh?

A margarita for Becky and George at Paul's Smokehouse