We're in St. Augustine for some R&R......

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.  – John Wooden

We met with the radiation oncologist on Wednesday.  The good news is that we liked her and the physician assistant very much – both were very friendly, likeable, and knowledgeable.  The bad news is that I thought I would be doing the radiation at the same time as the next chemo regimen – I could swear that is what the medical oncologist told me on several occasions.  Not so.  I will have to do the next chemo regimen in its entirety, which will probably start on June 24^th (give or take a few days) and will last for 12 weeks.  Then I wait a month – to give my poor abused body some healing/recuperation time – and THEN start radiation.  The radiation will be every day (M-F) for 6 weeks.  It was kind of devastating news because I had gotten in my brain that I would be all finished with this sh*t (pardon my language, but I’m a little frustrated) in the middle of September.  Now it’s going to drag on until the end of November!  Eeeh gads!  What a long year.  Hopefully 2012 will be a much better year. 

There was one other tidbit of good news gleaned during our appointment on Wednesday and that is that Space Coast Cancer Center (the group I go to) is opening a new office in Viera in a couple of weeks.  They are going to have the latest and greatest, state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line radiation equipment available on the market in that office.  It’s actually already there, but it has to be installed, calibrated, calculated, checked, adjusted, aligned, synchronized, balanced, tuned…..whatever…..and won’t be ready for use until August.  That’s okay; I’ll be ready for it when it’s all ready.  I definitely want “the very best” available – pinpoint those beams, miss the heart please, etc. 

I had another dreadful blood draw yesterday.  Went to Quest again, but my veins refused to cooperate, or the phlebotomist wasn’t the greatest, or both.  She said the vein kept rolling away from her, so she kept rolling the needle around trying to find it!  Man, that felt great…….not!  I don’t know the results yet and probably won’t know until Tuesday…..when it’s almost time for another draw…..

Meanwhile we are up in St. Augustine with the RV.  It’s one of our favorite places to come to when we feel like getting “out of dodge” for a little while because it’s only about 120 miles from Merritt Island, and there’s lots to see and do here……including just plain ol’ relaxing “in the woods.”  We just felt like getting away from my medical world environment for a week or so.  We’re supposed to get thunderstorms this afternoon; if so, we hang out inside and read a book.  If not, we sit outside and read a book….or maybe head into town and walk around, go window shopping, listen to live music, whatever strikes our fancy.  Sounds relaxing, doesn’t it?! 

Hope you all have a relaxing, fun, and safe Memorial Day weekend.  And thank you to all our troops, past and present, who have fought for and continue to fight for our freedom (we’re so proud of you, nephew Jimmy!!)