Bet you thought I forgot about doing this, eh?
Truth is, as each of these rounds hit a new hurdle tends to appear. This past weekend the last thing I really wanted to do was stare at a computer screen at type stuff out, and really when you want an update you want it coming from someone who wants to do it.
It's been an eventful past two weeks, so before I go into the good I'll provide you with an update on the fun stuff.
This past weekend I had treatment number six, which completes the third cycle of chemotherapy. The wonderful news is that I only have one cycle, or two treatments, left. I just have to weather getting treated over the New Year weekend, and then two weeks after that. Then it's time for the radiation...and more chemo.
As we get closer to the end of this phase (to use the Mortal Kombat analogy I'm two steps away from the first big boss), what's going to happen in the next phase is becoming clearer. The radiation, right now, appears to be a six week course, happening each day Monday through Friday. They'll tattoo me on the sides so that they can aim the device, and each day I'll go in, get zapped, and leave. My oncologist has also mentioned that he still wants to give me a small amount of chemo during the course of the radiation.
That's as much as I have at this point, since I'm still about three weeks away from the end of chemo and then two weeks or so in between, we still have some time before we go into more detail. Still, the end of the worst of the chemo is in site and I have to admit that is something worth celebrating.
This last round brought about some more annoyances. The hair is still thinning to the point where I'm seriously considering if I should just shave it all off for the last four weeks and let it grow from scratch when the main chemo is over. The metallic taste in my mouth doesn't want to leave, which makes eating a little more difficult when food doesn't sound appealing, luckily the further I get from treatment it starts to thin out. I've invested in lemon drop candies in my desk to try to cut through the taste, as lemons/citrus really seem to knock that taste out. The Arnold Palmer with no ice from Chick-Fil-A is still the best thing I've tasted since this past Friday. The cold neuropathy is still there, and hanging around longer, making walking on cold wooden floors a bit more of a bother, and also causing cramps in my hand in the office when the folks in central decide that the a/c is needed. All of this isn't new, but one thing attacked last week that has added a whole other level of annoyance.
I've always had drier skin during the winter. It's been a mild form of eczema that always hits around winter when the apartment is drier than the Sahara, usually just around the legs. I've never had it diagnosed as I've been able to treat it with soaps from Lush (thank you, Oaty, Creamy, Dreamy). Well, last week around this time that eczema exploded around my torso, ribs, legs....it was like I lied down in poison ivy and just rested there for days.
It turns out that the chemo also dries out the skin, and when you hit a week after, the body has trouble adjusting to the fact that there's no chemo in the body but the cells are still reacting to the medicine. In this case, my body reacted by exploding the seasonal itchiness that I normally deal with. The good news is that it isn't showing signs of any sort of allergic reaction which allowed me to continue the treatment. They prescribed some stronger antihistamines and an itch lotion with menthol in it. It helps when I put it on, but when it wears off the skin just...crawls. The worst part is not being able to scratch it, because I don't want to make any area infected. Unfortunately, because of the treatment, there's a higher chance of that happening.
I'm going to see a dermatologist on Friday for an unrelated issue...a spot on my leg that I've had for years that actually could have been a warning sign of my tumor, according to my oncologist. While I'm there I'll let them look the skin over and hopefully there'll be some other treatment options provided.
Friday is a big day for another reason: they're going to scan my CAT!
Wait, that's not right.
(If you get that reference then chances are you are about my age and have an affinity for MTV movies about Texas football)
Friday is my CAT scan of my pelvis. While the cancer markers are great, nothing beats actually looking inside and seeing how the tumor is doing. The scan will also look around the pelvis and make sure that the area is as contained as it was back in September when the original scans were done. We'll go over those results before the next treatment next Friday, but so far everything is showing that what they are doing is working, hopefully scanning the cat will just provide further confirmation of this.
Now, lest you think the past couple of weeks have been nothing but trouble, let me dissuade you of that right now. I hit a big milestone the weekend before last, the big 4-0!
Luckily, the celebration hit during an off treatment weekend. I have a routine when it comes to my birthday, and this year wasn't going to be any different. Back in October, I booked a room at the Nine Zero, a room with a great view of the Boston Common, the Charles, all the works. It had a nice king sized bed and a shower with wonderful pressure. I like staying there every year because it's easy to access, works as a great rallying point for whatever I would like to do, and since it's a Kimpton hotel they have a free wine hour every night starting at 5 PM. This year, I decided that the best way to celebrate 40 was to go to a new arcade bar in the city that happened to be close to the Nine Zero, Versus. It was a perfect setup: bar food, old arcade games that allow you for unlimited play, and great drinks. Knowing that this time of year is difficult for planning, I let folks know in October that was the plan so they had plenty of time to clear the schedule.
This would be the good time to remind you of the friends who had sent along the captain's hat, the stuffed rectum, the lego ship in a bottle, and the board game about the digestive system. They are good friends we made when we first moved up to Boston because they were from the area of Texas Kathleen lived in. They had since moved back to Houston, and as a lark I invited them to the celebration, not really expecting them to come because of what it would take to travel to Boston. So, imagine my surprise when the elevator doors opened on our way down to wine hour and they appeared! It was truly a gift that I didn't expect, and it just made the night that much better. In the end, friends from all over gathered at Versus. We ate, laughed a ton, drank some, and then wondered around playing video games-in the end teaming up to defeat Shredder in the new version of the TMNT arcade game they had.
That game is a lot easier when you don't have to feed a quarter into the machine when you die.
It was a great night, capped off by a great breakfast with our friends the next morning. It was everything I wanted as I entered my fourth decade of existence.
Here's the thing, though, I hadn't turned 40. My actual birthday was on the Monday following the weekend, and I took the day off from work because I wanted a day to celebrate myself. How best to do that? Why play poker of course.
Fair warning, the next couple of paragraphs go into the weeds of poker playing so if you don't care too much, you can skip ahead.
When I take a day to play poker, I usually build in one tournament and some 1-2 cash game time. I always budget an amount that I can be fine with losing, but it's very rare that I come back empty. For this day, I played a three table tournament with bounties, but wasn't able to last long enough to get my money back. I caught a few lucky all-ins, but never had enough to actually play. It was fun, but I hoped sitting at the 1-2 would change things a little.
The thing about playing 1-2, you are very rarely are going to be able raise someone out of a pot before the cards come down. Even if you sit at the table with a fair amount of money, there's a decent chance you're going to be staring at at least one person who has a monster stack and will call just about any raise you put out there. Thus, if you go into a pot, you either need to be ready to go all-out or to get out to minimize your damage.
A few hands in, I was dealt KK, and raised it up to $20. Yes, I raised the $2 big blind to $20, and two people called me. Like I said, you normally can't get people out in a cash game because they figure they'll catch cards, and they have the money to gamble. Once the flop came out, I stared at a lovely King in the middle of the three cards, all which were a different suit, and no aces. I had a set of Kings and there really wasn't a lot out there that could beat me. I bet heavy, getting called by one of the really deep stacks each time. The subsequent cards that came out gave me no reason to think that I was in any trouble, and my whole stack went into the middle. The deep stack called, showing two pair, and the look of pain on his face when he saw my set of kings brought joy to my heart.
A few hands later, I woke up to AK off suite. I just limped in, because AK looks great pre-flop but after the flop it usually doesn't hold up so well. This time, however, an Ace popped on the flop and again, I had no reason to think I was in any trouble with my betting. The same deep stack just called my bets until the last round, finally believing I had something. I showed him my Ace and he just shook his head.
Those were really the only two hands of substance I played, and yet those two hands made it to where I walked out of the poker room with more than I walked in with, and that's after paying for meals and various treats. It was exactly what I could have hoped for, and a great way to cap off 40.
OK, non-poker fans, done.
The rest of the week will be about letting the body recover, getting my cat scanned, and enjoying Christmas coming up next week. We'll have the same good friends over who we spent Thanksgiving with, exchange gifts, and just enjoy the merriment before I go in for treatment number seven next Friday. I'm not going to think so much about the treatment as I am about the fun we're about to have, and hopefully as we get closer the itchiness will go away.
Thanks, as always, for the love and support. As we hit the Christmas season I can't tell you how lucky I feel for all that I've gotten while I've been going through this. Words can't express the gratitude that I have for you all. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas, had a Happy Hanukkah, or just have a a few happy days. Thank you. So much.
No comments:
Post a Comment