Last Monday, March 21, I got the last dose of Avastin of my investigational trial.
The good news: Totally completed the entire chemotherapy regimen & now that I am no longer taking Avastin, within a few weeks - a month or so at most - if I have to have surgery it will no longer be life-threatening.
The disquietening feeling: that was the last dose of stuff that makes it hard for any residual tumor cells to get a foot hold and grow. From now on, they have an open playing field.
Well, let's focus on the good stuff.
Then Tuesday, March 22 I had the first follow up CT scan. Wednesday I was called and told the CT scan looks good. And the next set of follow up appointments was made.
So from here on out it is a visit every 6 weeks or so to have my port flushed. The port is a permenent little entry inserted into the vein that can be used for drawing blood and giving infusions like medicine into the vein. They leave it in for at least another year - and I have to have it flushed periodically to keep it from clotting off. Plus they will use that opportunity to draw blood to test for the blood marker CA-125. As if starts rising again, that suggests the cancer is returning. As long as it stays down it suggests all is well.
As well as a visit every 3 months for an examination, and a CT scan every 6 months for the next 2 years. After that all visits drop to every 6 months. Time will tell, but for now all is well.
Meanwhile it is that confusing season in Georgia when you may have to switch your home system from heat to AC back to heat again several times within a week. Last night it dropped to the high 30s or maybe just the low 40s, and I put the heat back on. Predictions for this weekend suggest I may have to switch back to AC again.
The blossems are gone from the peach tree in the yard, but in full bloom on the dogwoods now. Lots of daffodils and narcissus in yards, and the azealas are budding out. The forsythias are no longer the only bright sentinels of spring around here.
On the down side, when I pick the dog's outdoor water bowls up in the morning to refill them, I first have to clear the yellow rim of pine pollen away, and NPR reported this morning those famous Georgia High Pollen Counts that should encourage people with lung disease to stay indoors or wear respiratory protection, and those will pollen allergies to keep their antihistamines close by.
Beautiful sunny days that begin before you leave for work in the morning and extend beyond the rush hour traffic coming home. It is a great time of year in the South.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Spring in Georgia
I forgot to say that it is that glorious time in Georgia that arrives every year just as spring announces itself. As I drove off to get labs tested last Thursday i noted the first bloomed out daffidil of the spring in my back yard. After returning from the swamp as I drove out to get my AVastin today I noted 5 blooming daffidils or narcissis of various types in the front yard, as well as 3 clumps of blooming crocus around the mail box. What a beautiful time of year this is!
Penultimate dose down, one more to go...
Got my last set of labs for monitoring chemotherapy last Thursday, after which I took Friday as leave and headed to south Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp. What a great place to spend the weekend! The weather was terrific - warm with a little misting rain off and on throughout the day but nothing prohibitive.
On Friday I explored the east entrance of the park - an area characterized by swamp prairies since most of the old cypress groves were cut out years ago. I spent the morning sleeping, the after noon walking (about 2.5 hours worth) around on trails and boardwalks, including the old restored swamper homestead, and the evening taking a sunset boat tour. That was wonderful - the guide loaded us onto a motor boat and drove us up the canal and into a meadow. The water was low due to drought, and the canal was crowded with alligators all over the place. After watching the sunset over the priarie, we headed by in the dark. We were each handed flashlights to shine on the water. If you got the angle just right gator eyes lit up bright red. By this method I recognized that there were in fact far more alligotors in the swamp than I had realized on the way in. Many were hanging out with just eyes tipping over the water and during daylight I had mistaken them for cypres knees or floating debris or logs or some such.
On SAturday I drove around to the western entrance to the park where I had hoped to take another group motorboat tour. But I arrived just after the morning tour left and the next would not go out for another 3-4 hours. So instead despite having no experience whatsoever with driving a motor boat I decided to rent a boat for 2 hours and take myself out. Turns out is is not so hard to steer a motor boat if you have someone else hook up the gas and start it for you. I was a little wobbly on the steering but as long as I went slow most people could figure it out and get out of the way, and I got better as the day went on. Being alone in the boat was not so bad as there were enough people in the water that i was in sight of another boat most of the time and I kept my life jacket on all the time. Which might not have been so helpful if i feel overboard in front of a hungry gator but I tried not to think too much about that.
The western side of the swamp was cypress forest - and beautiful in a slightly different way from the eastern side. But again incredibly full of gators - way more it seemed than in the east - and that was only partly explained by my ability to recognize gators by their eyes poking over the water instead of having to see the whole thing now. There were also a lot of turtles sunning themselves, and a few birds. I only really noticed one, but it was lovely - a large blue heron that appeared to be stalking a fish or something in the water at the base of a tree right at the point where the canel emptied into the large swamp lake. Nearby was a gator that was lying as still in the water as the crane was standing at the base of the cypress, and was as intently focused on the crane as the crane was on whatever it was stalking in the water. I had a feeling I was watching a progressive chain of predators, and if I had enough time to hang around I would eventually see the crane catch and eat a fish or the gator catch and eat the crane, or maybe both.
The only problem was that I realized, out on the water, that I knew how to steer and change directions and speed up and slow down, but I was uncertain how to stop (and restart) the boat. So that was a bit limiting. I had to only drive places where I could turn around instead of having to back out, and could not risk stopping the boat altogether and getting out. Although the thick coating of gators disguised as logs along the side of the water did not frankly inspire me to want to get out and walk around. And toward the end I was driving along heading back toward the canal and dock when I noticed I was passing through an area that seemed particularly thick with gators. I was concentrating on one ahead of me and debating whether I ought to deviate toward the right to avoid it when it solved the problem by sinking down below the water out of the way. But something caused me to glance a tad to the right and I registered that the sunlight was creating an interesting pattern on the water right next to my boat - sort of looked like a long set of little ridged under the water - then I realized that what I had seen was the pattern on the back of a very large gator that was apparently just under the water directly to the right of my boat - lined up nearly side by side with it and extending, I suspect, longer than the lenght of my boat. I am not exactly sure because when I realized what I had glimpsed I was not inspried to slow down and lean over the water to see exactly how big the gator that was cuddled up along the side of my boat might be. I confess i was instead inspired to jump a bit off my seat, then settle down, speed right up and hurtle forward keeping my eyes rigidly to the front. IF the gator was curious about whether I would be a tasty meal I felt no need to find that out. shiver.
It was beautiful. I need to do it again soon. Although it may be less fun once bug season strikes. I recommend the Okefenokee Swamp to anyone who has not visited it and who has a liking for the interesting variety of things supplied by nature.
I returned to Atlanta late Saturday and spent most of Sunday just sitting around recovering from all the exercise.
Then today I drove to Gainesville GA again for my next to last dose of Avastin today as well as physical exam. In 3 more weeks I get the last dose of the investigational maintainance schedule of Avastin that I have been receiving. After that - a CT scan, followed by CT scans every 6 months for 5 years, and physical exams every 3 months for 2 years, followed by every 6 months for the next 3 years.
It feels really really good to be close to finishing. Although there is a slight voice in the back of my mind that wonders if it will be a good thing to stop getting doses of drugs intended to keep the tumor at bay. Still it will be a landmark of sorts.
What a fascinating world - what interesting creatures, what a great swamp.
On Friday I explored the east entrance of the park - an area characterized by swamp prairies since most of the old cypress groves were cut out years ago. I spent the morning sleeping, the after noon walking (about 2.5 hours worth) around on trails and boardwalks, including the old restored swamper homestead, and the evening taking a sunset boat tour. That was wonderful - the guide loaded us onto a motor boat and drove us up the canal and into a meadow. The water was low due to drought, and the canal was crowded with alligators all over the place. After watching the sunset over the priarie, we headed by in the dark. We were each handed flashlights to shine on the water. If you got the angle just right gator eyes lit up bright red. By this method I recognized that there were in fact far more alligotors in the swamp than I had realized on the way in. Many were hanging out with just eyes tipping over the water and during daylight I had mistaken them for cypres knees or floating debris or logs or some such.
On SAturday I drove around to the western entrance to the park where I had hoped to take another group motorboat tour. But I arrived just after the morning tour left and the next would not go out for another 3-4 hours. So instead despite having no experience whatsoever with driving a motor boat I decided to rent a boat for 2 hours and take myself out. Turns out is is not so hard to steer a motor boat if you have someone else hook up the gas and start it for you. I was a little wobbly on the steering but as long as I went slow most people could figure it out and get out of the way, and I got better as the day went on. Being alone in the boat was not so bad as there were enough people in the water that i was in sight of another boat most of the time and I kept my life jacket on all the time. Which might not have been so helpful if i feel overboard in front of a hungry gator but I tried not to think too much about that.
The western side of the swamp was cypress forest - and beautiful in a slightly different way from the eastern side. But again incredibly full of gators - way more it seemed than in the east - and that was only partly explained by my ability to recognize gators by their eyes poking over the water instead of having to see the whole thing now. There were also a lot of turtles sunning themselves, and a few birds. I only really noticed one, but it was lovely - a large blue heron that appeared to be stalking a fish or something in the water at the base of a tree right at the point where the canel emptied into the large swamp lake. Nearby was a gator that was lying as still in the water as the crane was standing at the base of the cypress, and was as intently focused on the crane as the crane was on whatever it was stalking in the water. I had a feeling I was watching a progressive chain of predators, and if I had enough time to hang around I would eventually see the crane catch and eat a fish or the gator catch and eat the crane, or maybe both.
The only problem was that I realized, out on the water, that I knew how to steer and change directions and speed up and slow down, but I was uncertain how to stop (and restart) the boat. So that was a bit limiting. I had to only drive places where I could turn around instead of having to back out, and could not risk stopping the boat altogether and getting out. Although the thick coating of gators disguised as logs along the side of the water did not frankly inspire me to want to get out and walk around. And toward the end I was driving along heading back toward the canal and dock when I noticed I was passing through an area that seemed particularly thick with gators. I was concentrating on one ahead of me and debating whether I ought to deviate toward the right to avoid it when it solved the problem by sinking down below the water out of the way. But something caused me to glance a tad to the right and I registered that the sunlight was creating an interesting pattern on the water right next to my boat - sort of looked like a long set of little ridged under the water - then I realized that what I had seen was the pattern on the back of a very large gator that was apparently just under the water directly to the right of my boat - lined up nearly side by side with it and extending, I suspect, longer than the lenght of my boat. I am not exactly sure because when I realized what I had glimpsed I was not inspried to slow down and lean over the water to see exactly how big the gator that was cuddled up along the side of my boat might be. I confess i was instead inspired to jump a bit off my seat, then settle down, speed right up and hurtle forward keeping my eyes rigidly to the front. IF the gator was curious about whether I would be a tasty meal I felt no need to find that out. shiver.
It was beautiful. I need to do it again soon. Although it may be less fun once bug season strikes. I recommend the Okefenokee Swamp to anyone who has not visited it and who has a liking for the interesting variety of things supplied by nature.
I returned to Atlanta late Saturday and spent most of Sunday just sitting around recovering from all the exercise.
Then today I drove to Gainesville GA again for my next to last dose of Avastin today as well as physical exam. In 3 more weeks I get the last dose of the investigational maintainance schedule of Avastin that I have been receiving. After that - a CT scan, followed by CT scans every 6 months for 5 years, and physical exams every 3 months for 2 years, followed by every 6 months for the next 3 years.
It feels really really good to be close to finishing. Although there is a slight voice in the back of my mind that wonders if it will be a good thing to stop getting doses of drugs intended to keep the tumor at bay. Still it will be a landmark of sorts.
What a fascinating world - what interesting creatures, what a great swamp.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Another one down, two to go....
Last Monday i received my 3rd from the last dose of Avastin. The penultimate dose will be Feb 28, and the last dose March 21. Great to be nearing the end of the protocol.
With excellent timing, a friend sent me another news release from Roche (the manufacturer) stating that Avastin combined with chemotherapy has now been shown to significantly increase disease free survival in 3 large stage III trials. Stage III are the final trials where safety and efficacy have been established and these enroll large numbers to see if the efficacy findings hold up and the safety profile remains stable. This is excellent. There was discussion in the news clipping about whether Avastin would get FDA approval for the indication of ovarian cancer, because it is expensive and while it has been demonstrated to prolong disease free survival (the duration of time before disease recurs or comes back), it has not apparently been demonstrated to clearly extend overall survival.
For me, I know what I would argue for if the FDA wanted to bring me in as a patient representative. What I am focused on is disease free survival, as I continue to wait for my chemotherapy-induced neuropathy to receed and my strength to return. I don't think in terms of time to death or wonder how long I will survive. I think in terms of time until recurrence and wonder how much time I will have before I have to return to chemotherapy again. And I hope it will be long enough to regain my strength, complete the organizational, planning and other tasks that I need to prepare, have my neuropathy go away at least enough to allow me to travel and maybe dance and scuba dive again with out excessive limitations. There were many blessings and lessons contained within the experience of chemotherapy. But I think I learned them the first time around and am less optimistic that a second round will be a time of learning and progress rather than a time of ... marking time and resting because i can do little else. The ability to be productive, to travel, to take care of business or to just go out to have fun that I measure is the time between now, when I have finally reached a physical point where I can begin to do intentional exercise (half hour at a time and very very mild, but still...) and the point where disease recurrence will push me back onto chemo. It is not the time between now and the point when I cease to breath.
So I would argue that an increase in disease free survival is more meaningful than an overall increase in survival, if FDA wanted to ask.
With excellent timing, a friend sent me another news release from Roche (the manufacturer) stating that Avastin combined with chemotherapy has now been shown to significantly increase disease free survival in 3 large stage III trials. Stage III are the final trials where safety and efficacy have been established and these enroll large numbers to see if the efficacy findings hold up and the safety profile remains stable. This is excellent. There was discussion in the news clipping about whether Avastin would get FDA approval for the indication of ovarian cancer, because it is expensive and while it has been demonstrated to prolong disease free survival (the duration of time before disease recurs or comes back), it has not apparently been demonstrated to clearly extend overall survival.
For me, I know what I would argue for if the FDA wanted to bring me in as a patient representative. What I am focused on is disease free survival, as I continue to wait for my chemotherapy-induced neuropathy to receed and my strength to return. I don't think in terms of time to death or wonder how long I will survive. I think in terms of time until recurrence and wonder how much time I will have before I have to return to chemotherapy again. And I hope it will be long enough to regain my strength, complete the organizational, planning and other tasks that I need to prepare, have my neuropathy go away at least enough to allow me to travel and maybe dance and scuba dive again with out excessive limitations. There were many blessings and lessons contained within the experience of chemotherapy. But I think I learned them the first time around and am less optimistic that a second round will be a time of learning and progress rather than a time of ... marking time and resting because i can do little else. The ability to be productive, to travel, to take care of business or to just go out to have fun that I measure is the time between now, when I have finally reached a physical point where I can begin to do intentional exercise (half hour at a time and very very mild, but still...) and the point where disease recurrence will push me back onto chemo. It is not the time between now and the point when I cease to breath.
So I would argue that an increase in disease free survival is more meaningful than an overall increase in survival, if FDA wanted to ask.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Counting down
Dose 19 of Avastin today, along with laboratory testing (since I was snowed in last Thursday and could not get out for testing) and physical exam.
That is dose 19 of 22 - so only 3 left in the investigational trial - currently scheduled for Monday February 7, Monday February 28 (along with a doctor's exam) and Monday March 21 - And we will be done!
So I decided we were close enough to the finish line to ask about monitoring after I finish the treatment course of Avastin. It will consist of an physical exam and CT scan after then completion of the Avastin course, followed by physical exams every 3 months plus CT scans every 6 months for the first 2 years. Then followed by physical exams and CT scans every 6 months for the next 3 years. Then, assuming I have gotten that far without evidence of recurrence, the follow up required by the GOG clinical trial will be completed. I did not ask about follow up not required by the clinical trial. I will be happy to make it to these first milestones, then figure it out from there.
For the first time in more than a week the roads are clear and the snow is largely melted and gone. I say largely because large pockets of my yard (the shady areas) still have clumps of snow waiting for the weather to stay warm long enough for it all to melt. But yesterday it was warm enough to enablt me to chip away at the remaining snow and ice stuck to my front porch, pry it up in sheets and move it off the porch. All the time remembering that my Minnesota days should have taught me that you ALWAYS remove snow from walk ways immediately after it falls and before it can stick to the ground in sheets of ice. But that is because in Minnesota they know it will be sticking around for months, and here we (mistakenly this time) assume it will just melt away within hours or at most a day or two. Fooled us this week!
That is dose 19 of 22 - so only 3 left in the investigational trial - currently scheduled for Monday February 7, Monday February 28 (along with a doctor's exam) and Monday March 21 - And we will be done!
So I decided we were close enough to the finish line to ask about monitoring after I finish the treatment course of Avastin. It will consist of an physical exam and CT scan after then completion of the Avastin course, followed by physical exams every 3 months plus CT scans every 6 months for the first 2 years. Then followed by physical exams and CT scans every 6 months for the next 3 years. Then, assuming I have gotten that far without evidence of recurrence, the follow up required by the GOG clinical trial will be completed. I did not ask about follow up not required by the clinical trial. I will be happy to make it to these first milestones, then figure it out from there.
For the first time in more than a week the roads are clear and the snow is largely melted and gone. I say largely because large pockets of my yard (the shady areas) still have clumps of snow waiting for the weather to stay warm long enough for it all to melt. But yesterday it was warm enough to enablt me to chip away at the remaining snow and ice stuck to my front porch, pry it up in sheets and move it off the porch. All the time remembering that my Minnesota days should have taught me that you ALWAYS remove snow from walk ways immediately after it falls and before it can stick to the ground in sheets of ice. But that is because in Minnesota they know it will be sticking around for months, and here we (mistakenly this time) assume it will just melt away within hours or at most a day or two. Fooled us this week!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
3 days and counting below freezing in the deep South...
At the end of the third day of being snowed in, the approximately 6 inches of snow in the yard has not diminished except in the places where one of us has walked on it, or shoveled it out of the way to allow safer access to the yard for ourselves or our dogs. The dogs tread cautiously around the treacherous back yard. The crust of the snow has turned into solid ice, resulting in the younger dogs skidding and sliding around the yard like young kids on ice skates, only not enjoying it nearly as much. The ancient dog, Jake, has the same problems but with less stable footing, so that he frequently skids down on the ground or his feet slide out from under him. Occasionally the iced crust fails to hold their weight and one or more legs breaks through, which is even more difficult for the old dog, who creeps gratefully back into the house as soon as possible. The young dogs also do not care to linger in the yard.
Threatened with the requirement to make it to work or take personal leave today, my niece Dorothy managed to walk to the nearest MARTA stop (Atlanta subway) - a normally 15-20 minute walk that took more than 30 due to the slipperly road conditions - and made it in to work, only to return about 4 PM. They decided the 11 AM - 4 PM work day had been ill advised, sent the employees who made it in home and declared the business closed for tomorrow.
I have not exited the house since Sunday night except to help the dogs down the back stairs and to shovel off the back deck so they could make it into the yard on their own.
Temperatures did not rise above freezing today, and are not scheduled to do so tomorrow either or anytime before Friday afternoon at the earliest.
Never the less, CDC has announced to employees that we will open tomorrow, just at 10 AM instead of 8 AM. I guess someone got impatient with all those federal employees staying home, despite having spent the past couple of years encouraging the employees to telecommute whenever possible. All fine and good except that the dangerous conditions that closed the agency have not improved. Wishful thinking will not make it safer to try to drive to work tomorrow, and it is not possible to walk that far or take public transit since the subway does not go anywhere near most of the campuses.
I worked full time at home yesterday and today on CDC business - starting with a teleconference this morning at 9 Am and finishing about half an hour ago. So just over a 10 hour work day, and a slightly shorter one yesterday. GRanted on Monday I only did a few hours of CDC work, and having depleted my at home resources, likely would not have been able to do much for CDC tomorrow. Still out of 3 snow days I have performed work from home for approximately 2.5 full working days - not bad. I am not really thrilled about risking my car and my life trying to get into work tomorrow over very dangerous icey roads.
I will wait until 10 AM and hope that either the weather predictions are wrong or someone with authority will come to his or her senses and call off the work day. But if not I will be treading my way into work tomorrow and hoping I do not wind up in the hospital again - this time for trauma. After 8 years in Minnesota and 2 in Boston I am pretty comfortable handling my car on snowey roads. But even up there I would be attempting to stay off these roads, since unlike the upper midwest and new England, we have no road clearing equipment so if the snow does not melt it simply turns to patches of ice and the roads do not improve. And being able to handle your own car does not protect you when the guy next to you who has never driven on ice before goes into a skid.
We hear they are planning to cut the agency staffing by 10% by attrition as a money saving plan. We just did not realize they were planning to do it all tomorrow.
Threatened with the requirement to make it to work or take personal leave today, my niece Dorothy managed to walk to the nearest MARTA stop (Atlanta subway) - a normally 15-20 minute walk that took more than 30 due to the slipperly road conditions - and made it in to work, only to return about 4 PM. They decided the 11 AM - 4 PM work day had been ill advised, sent the employees who made it in home and declared the business closed for tomorrow.
I have not exited the house since Sunday night except to help the dogs down the back stairs and to shovel off the back deck so they could make it into the yard on their own.
Temperatures did not rise above freezing today, and are not scheduled to do so tomorrow either or anytime before Friday afternoon at the earliest.
Never the less, CDC has announced to employees that we will open tomorrow, just at 10 AM instead of 8 AM. I guess someone got impatient with all those federal employees staying home, despite having spent the past couple of years encouraging the employees to telecommute whenever possible. All fine and good except that the dangerous conditions that closed the agency have not improved. Wishful thinking will not make it safer to try to drive to work tomorrow, and it is not possible to walk that far or take public transit since the subway does not go anywhere near most of the campuses.
I worked full time at home yesterday and today on CDC business - starting with a teleconference this morning at 9 Am and finishing about half an hour ago. So just over a 10 hour work day, and a slightly shorter one yesterday. GRanted on Monday I only did a few hours of CDC work, and having depleted my at home resources, likely would not have been able to do much for CDC tomorrow. Still out of 3 snow days I have performed work from home for approximately 2.5 full working days - not bad. I am not really thrilled about risking my car and my life trying to get into work tomorrow over very dangerous icey roads.
I will wait until 10 AM and hope that either the weather predictions are wrong or someone with authority will come to his or her senses and call off the work day. But if not I will be treading my way into work tomorrow and hoping I do not wind up in the hospital again - this time for trauma. After 8 years in Minnesota and 2 in Boston I am pretty comfortable handling my car on snowey roads. But even up there I would be attempting to stay off these roads, since unlike the upper midwest and new England, we have no road clearing equipment so if the snow does not melt it simply turns to patches of ice and the roads do not improve. And being able to handle your own car does not protect you when the guy next to you who has never driven on ice before goes into a skid.
We hear they are planning to cut the agency staffing by 10% by attrition as a money saving plan. We just did not realize they were planning to do it all tomorrow.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Am I in Minnesota?
Tonight, for the first time ever in the history of my living in the South, I had to shovel snow! The (by my estimate) 7 inches of snow crusted with ice that coated the back deck and the 4-5 steps down to the yard were too much for my ancient mostly-pointer Jake to negotiate. I carried him down once - then got to work clearing the steps.
Last night I was cohosting a dinner party for a Foyers group (from church) but we tied up early because of the predicted snow. My cohost Sue insisted that I head home and leave most of the clean up to her. Sure enough, the snow began as i was loading the car (more like tiny balls of ice), was coming down steadily by the time I started out, and was accumulating steadily by the time I got home. Fortunately the roads were still clear, but by 10 pm last night the yard and neighborhood looked like a winter wonder land, and my neice and her boyfriend were out playing in the snow. This morning the CDC was closed "except for essential personnel". Fortunately for me I am not currently essential because I don't know how I would have gotten in if I needed to. The same 6-7 inches of snow that coated the deck, steps and yard also coated the driveway and street.
Since I have not ventured out I don't know if the roads are clear once you get off my street. I do know that the temperatures have not risen above freezing yet today and the block remains totally snowed in. I am searching the internet and keeping an eye on my Blackberry for another email from the CDC EOC telling us not to report to work again tomorrow. But since none has arrived yet, I am beginning to turn my mind to thinking about how I might best attempt to get into work if I am expected to report tomorrow.
I still have those Minnesota cross country skiis - but the same absence of side walks that makes it hard to walk anywhere in this city would inhibit my ability to skii to work - not to mention that physically I doubt I could make it these days.
Today was very productive - perhaps not for the taxpayers but for me, as I finished 3 loads of laundry, a couple of loads of dishwasher, a lot of accounting and filing and tax preparation at home.
Tomorrow morning I will try to get a photo of the lovely snowy land to post.
Meanwhile, how many mass killings in schools and public places do you think we will have to have before the Congress decides that if it is necessary to have a license to drive a car and to renew that license periodically and keep that car registered then it should also be necessary to have specific training and a license to have a gun and also necessary to register that (those) guns? Why does the right to bear guns make it necessary to have laws that prevent the ability to have a national database documenting gun owners? Why is it necessary, easy, even possibly for mentally ill people to easily equip themselves with automatic weapons? Am I the only one who thinks that the NRA has had too much influence on Congress, and in ways that go way beyond protecting the ability of my acquaintances who hunt to put food on the table to coninue to be able to do so?
Last night I was cohosting a dinner party for a Foyers group (from church) but we tied up early because of the predicted snow. My cohost Sue insisted that I head home and leave most of the clean up to her. Sure enough, the snow began as i was loading the car (more like tiny balls of ice), was coming down steadily by the time I started out, and was accumulating steadily by the time I got home. Fortunately the roads were still clear, but by 10 pm last night the yard and neighborhood looked like a winter wonder land, and my neice and her boyfriend were out playing in the snow. This morning the CDC was closed "except for essential personnel". Fortunately for me I am not currently essential because I don't know how I would have gotten in if I needed to. The same 6-7 inches of snow that coated the deck, steps and yard also coated the driveway and street.
Since I have not ventured out I don't know if the roads are clear once you get off my street. I do know that the temperatures have not risen above freezing yet today and the block remains totally snowed in. I am searching the internet and keeping an eye on my Blackberry for another email from the CDC EOC telling us not to report to work again tomorrow. But since none has arrived yet, I am beginning to turn my mind to thinking about how I might best attempt to get into work if I am expected to report tomorrow.
I still have those Minnesota cross country skiis - but the same absence of side walks that makes it hard to walk anywhere in this city would inhibit my ability to skii to work - not to mention that physically I doubt I could make it these days.
Today was very productive - perhaps not for the taxpayers but for me, as I finished 3 loads of laundry, a couple of loads of dishwasher, a lot of accounting and filing and tax preparation at home.
Tomorrow morning I will try to get a photo of the lovely snowy land to post.
Meanwhile, how many mass killings in schools and public places do you think we will have to have before the Congress decides that if it is necessary to have a license to drive a car and to renew that license periodically and keep that car registered then it should also be necessary to have specific training and a license to have a gun and also necessary to register that (those) guns? Why does the right to bear guns make it necessary to have laws that prevent the ability to have a national database documenting gun owners? Why is it necessary, easy, even possibly for mentally ill people to easily equip themselves with automatic weapons? Am I the only one who thinks that the NRA has had too much influence on Congress, and in ways that go way beyond protecting the ability of my acquaintances who hunt to put food on the table to coninue to be able to do so?
Thursday, January 6, 2011
And Another Haircut!!!
Today I got my second haircut since chemo. Now the first one in october did prehaps shape the hairs a little more evenly. But to be completely honest the major incentive for a haircut at that point was simply the idea that I finally again had hair that could be cut.
Today I actually had enough hair that indeed things looked better after the haircut. AS Yang (my excellent hair stylist) said, he had a little more to work with. It was still under normal circumstances nothing really to write home about. But I really enjoyed it. Enough to also purchase the stuff that he recommends I put into my hair to be able to shape it. And to agree to another appointment on saturday when he will stripe color into it.
Never thought it would be so very much fun just to have hair...
Today I actually had enough hair that indeed things looked better after the haircut. AS Yang (my excellent hair stylist) said, he had a little more to work with. It was still under normal circumstances nothing really to write home about. But I really enjoyed it. Enough to also purchase the stuff that he recommends I put into my hair to be able to shape it. And to agree to another appointment on saturday when he will stripe color into it.
Never thought it would be so very much fun just to have hair...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...
No, I did not drop you off of my annual Christmas letter list. I just have not gotten around to sending one since 2008. But I will get one out this year, I promise. Maybe not for another month or so but...
So the dogs and I drove up to Sylva, NC on Christmas Eve where I had rented a cute little house in Dillsboro (kind of a Sylva suburb) with just enough room for me and the dogs for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Despite grim weather predictions, the drive up was lovely. We arrived in time to settle the dogs and make it to the First Baptist Candle and Carol service (me that is, I left the dogs in Dillsboro) and afterward to the usual open house at the home of parents of high school friends where their extended family (and my extended high school friendship circle) gather on Christmas eve. And after that to the next extended family gathering, this one a bit more compact and the children and grandchildren of another high school friend. It was all lovely. Significantly, First Baptist is between pastors at present and as a result the design of the Candles and Carols service was up to the congregation. They decided to revert back to the original design - just scriptures interspersed with carols, lite by candles, with a pleas for funds to support service to local residents in need and a choir special or two. It was lovely. And short. which we all appreciated.
the following day 3 to 12 inches of snow were predicted, and by the time I was up and stirring at 8ish there was already at least an inch on the ground. I decided to make a calculated gamble that I could load up the car and get over Cowee mountain before the snow froze and thereby get back to Atlanta on Christmas Day. The alternative seemed to be maximizing the value of my rent by staying through Christmas Day as originally planned, but risking letting the roads freeze and being unable to return to Atlanta for several days. While I greatly appreciate several high school friends who offered me a spare bedroom for my own use, or a basement for the temporary dwelling of my dogs if my stay was forced to exceed the duration of my rental reservation - the fact that my next Chemotherapy (Avastin) appointment was on Monday Dec 26 made it highly desirable to return to Atlanta on schedule.
So i packed up the car while the snow continued to fall thickly all around. By the time I had the cars loaded and added myself and the dogs and started out, there were likely an additional couple of inches of snow on the ground. And it continued to pile up as I drove out of town and headed up the mountain.
The drive was beautiful. The snow was falling so thickly that distant vision was limited. Fortunately all the way over Cowee mountain the traffic was very limited, so it was easy to keep large distances between cars. But I had no trouble - no slipping or sliding. Anyone who has traveled over Cowee mountain and admired the view from the large drop offs will recognize this as an excellent thing. My usual traveling speed of 55 - 70 MPH was reduced to something more like 20 - 35 MPH all the way through North Carolina and the first part of North Georgia. Around Tococca, Ga the snow turned to rain, and shortly thereafter the roads cleared and travel returned to normal speeds so that I arrived home in Atlanta by early afternoon.
Temperatures hovered around freezing the whole time, however, and within a couple of hours of the time the dogs and I re-established ourselves in the house in Atlanta snow began to fall here as well. By Sunday morning the roads were iced in, the yard was covered with snow and I did not bother to try to leave the house until Monday when it was time to depart for chemotherapy. Fortunately the roads had cleared and the snow and ice in the yard had diminished.
And today the snow and ice in the yard is largely diminished - almost gone in fact.
Now I know that about now those of you in Minnesota and Boston and New York and Canada and other points north are thinking "What is the big deal?" But trust me, down here in Dixieland a white Christmas is a rather rare commodity. This was the first white Christmas in the mountains in, if I remember the news correctly, several decades, maybe even 50 years. And the first white Christmas in Atlanta since sometime before the turn of the century.
It was all very very beautiful, and we (Jake, Balsam and me) enjoyed very much our low key white southern Christmas. We spend a lot of time eating tomato soup full of crumbled corn bread, drinking cinnamon flavored hot apple cider, and thinking happy thoughts. I spent a good bit of time reading the load of Christmas cards and letters and often giggling over various reports from you and your families. Thanks for keeping me informed.
The snow and ice are largely gone now, but enough remains to make the trip up and down my back stairs a bit treacherous. Fortunately I make it rarely but the dogs make that trip multiple times a day. But it is lovely. Sorry I did not catch a photo for you.
So the dogs and I drove up to Sylva, NC on Christmas Eve where I had rented a cute little house in Dillsboro (kind of a Sylva suburb) with just enough room for me and the dogs for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Despite grim weather predictions, the drive up was lovely. We arrived in time to settle the dogs and make it to the First Baptist Candle and Carol service (me that is, I left the dogs in Dillsboro) and afterward to the usual open house at the home of parents of high school friends where their extended family (and my extended high school friendship circle) gather on Christmas eve. And after that to the next extended family gathering, this one a bit more compact and the children and grandchildren of another high school friend. It was all lovely. Significantly, First Baptist is between pastors at present and as a result the design of the Candles and Carols service was up to the congregation. They decided to revert back to the original design - just scriptures interspersed with carols, lite by candles, with a pleas for funds to support service to local residents in need and a choir special or two. It was lovely. And short. which we all appreciated.
the following day 3 to 12 inches of snow were predicted, and by the time I was up and stirring at 8ish there was already at least an inch on the ground. I decided to make a calculated gamble that I could load up the car and get over Cowee mountain before the snow froze and thereby get back to Atlanta on Christmas Day. The alternative seemed to be maximizing the value of my rent by staying through Christmas Day as originally planned, but risking letting the roads freeze and being unable to return to Atlanta for several days. While I greatly appreciate several high school friends who offered me a spare bedroom for my own use, or a basement for the temporary dwelling of my dogs if my stay was forced to exceed the duration of my rental reservation - the fact that my next Chemotherapy (Avastin) appointment was on Monday Dec 26 made it highly desirable to return to Atlanta on schedule.
So i packed up the car while the snow continued to fall thickly all around. By the time I had the cars loaded and added myself and the dogs and started out, there were likely an additional couple of inches of snow on the ground. And it continued to pile up as I drove out of town and headed up the mountain.
The drive was beautiful. The snow was falling so thickly that distant vision was limited. Fortunately all the way over Cowee mountain the traffic was very limited, so it was easy to keep large distances between cars. But I had no trouble - no slipping or sliding. Anyone who has traveled over Cowee mountain and admired the view from the large drop offs will recognize this as an excellent thing. My usual traveling speed of 55 - 70 MPH was reduced to something more like 20 - 35 MPH all the way through North Carolina and the first part of North Georgia. Around Tococca, Ga the snow turned to rain, and shortly thereafter the roads cleared and travel returned to normal speeds so that I arrived home in Atlanta by early afternoon.
Temperatures hovered around freezing the whole time, however, and within a couple of hours of the time the dogs and I re-established ourselves in the house in Atlanta snow began to fall here as well. By Sunday morning the roads were iced in, the yard was covered with snow and I did not bother to try to leave the house until Monday when it was time to depart for chemotherapy. Fortunately the roads had cleared and the snow and ice in the yard had diminished.
And today the snow and ice in the yard is largely diminished - almost gone in fact.
Now I know that about now those of you in Minnesota and Boston and New York and Canada and other points north are thinking "What is the big deal?" But trust me, down here in Dixieland a white Christmas is a rather rare commodity. This was the first white Christmas in the mountains in, if I remember the news correctly, several decades, maybe even 50 years. And the first white Christmas in Atlanta since sometime before the turn of the century.
It was all very very beautiful, and we (Jake, Balsam and me) enjoyed very much our low key white southern Christmas. We spend a lot of time eating tomato soup full of crumbled corn bread, drinking cinnamon flavored hot apple cider, and thinking happy thoughts. I spent a good bit of time reading the load of Christmas cards and letters and often giggling over various reports from you and your families. Thanks for keeping me informed.
The snow and ice are largely gone now, but enough remains to make the trip up and down my back stairs a bit treacherous. Fortunately I make it rarely but the dogs make that trip multiple times a day. But it is lovely. Sorry I did not catch a photo for you.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Another avastin dose down, 3.5 months to go...
I had another Avastin dose today. This will continue every 3 weeks through March 21. The good news is that my blood pressure was excellent today on my current medication - with a systolic under 130. High blood pressure is a frequent and problmatic side effect of Avastin, and I have had to go on medication for it, but appear to be doing fine on my current medicine.
My hair continues to grow but (maybe I imagin it) much slower than before chemo. I am not complaining. I am so happy to have any hair at all again!
Jake, my 14.5 year old pound mutt with the tumors in his live and lungs, continues to do surprisingly well. He sleeps a lot, but then he is more than 2.5 years beyond his predicted life expectancy so... He hangs out closer to me, and seems a bit slower, and continues to slowly get skinnier - but otherwise he just keeps trooping along, sweet as ever and apparently happy. Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. I am renting a tourist house in Sylva on Christmas so I can take the dogs with me instead of boarding them, but otherwise they, and I - we are all doing well.
I am taking a lot of personal time off last month and this one. BEtween the time off work and the increased energy I am finally makeing real progress in catching up on the mail, filing, paperwork, and just plain stuff that piled up around the house over the course of my chemo. Hopefully by the new year the house will again feel more like a home than a ware house.
Otherwise no real news to report. Hope all your holidays are happy and healthy.
My hair continues to grow but (maybe I imagin it) much slower than before chemo. I am not complaining. I am so happy to have any hair at all again!
Jake, my 14.5 year old pound mutt with the tumors in his live and lungs, continues to do surprisingly well. He sleeps a lot, but then he is more than 2.5 years beyond his predicted life expectancy so... He hangs out closer to me, and seems a bit slower, and continues to slowly get skinnier - but otherwise he just keeps trooping along, sweet as ever and apparently happy. Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. I am renting a tourist house in Sylva on Christmas so I can take the dogs with me instead of boarding them, but otherwise they, and I - we are all doing well.
I am taking a lot of personal time off last month and this one. BEtween the time off work and the increased energy I am finally makeing real progress in catching up on the mail, filing, paperwork, and just plain stuff that piled up around the house over the course of my chemo. Hopefully by the new year the house will again feel more like a home than a ware house.
Otherwise no real news to report. Hope all your holidays are happy and healthy.
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