Feeling pretty good

Sally had a successful trip to the Texas Hill country to look at antiques with Lorrie and Judy. They left about 9:00 am and got back around 6:00 pm all exhausted and happy. I'm so glad this worked out well for everyone. We have had a great few days with Judy who is leaving today. Interestingly, Judy had the same intestinal illness that we both had and has just recovered from it. We think she must have gotten it from Sally over the phone--one of those phone viruses I guess.

Today Sally has the CT scan that was cancelled last week when she was ill. Tomorrow we go to Dr. Conlon's office. I hope the scan results will be available then. We will discuss with Dr. C. the upcoming chemotherapy session (scheduled now for next Wed).

Both are feeling better

The stomach virus or whatever it was is nearly gone. Both of us are feeling better--Sally has lagged me by about a day in the onset and recovery. Sally is planning to go to a big antique show in the Texas hill country on Tuesday with Lorrie and our good friend, Judy Bedford, who is flying down from Denver to visit us. This is a significant outing and we are thinking that she will be just fine.

Still slow to recover from last chemo

Sally was starting to feel and eat a little better, but because she felt things were not going as we expected, we went to see Dr. Conlon on Monday. He wants to get some scans and is thinking that the liver is enlarged. The scan was scheduled for today, but both of us have come down with some sort of intestinal malady--mostly nausea and pain with a little fever. Mine started yesterday morning and Sally started to feel the same way last night. So we have cancelled the scan for now. In addition, Sally's ankle swelling is getting worse. Lasix did nothing for her. Apparently this is likely a problem due to her chemotherapy.

I wish I could be more upbeat, but we both feel so lousy right now that it's hard. I'm feeling a little better this morning and I hope that Sally will start to recover from this intestinal virus soon. For now we are hunkering down.

Pretty tired since Saturday

After Sally had that burst of activity last Thursday and Friday, she has been pretty tired and her appetite isn't so good. She may have overdone it some when she felt so good. We're hoping that this is temporary and that she will feel better soon. One thing the chemo does is take away much of her taste for food, so everything tastes like hay, she says. This and a sore mouth from the chemo doesn't help the appetite. The next chemo is the Wednesday after Easter, so we are all planning on a good holiday.

The day after Chemo

Today was a fairly typical day after the chemo. Sally still has a buzz on from the steroids that she was given yesterday to combat any nausea so she woke up ready to go out to the garden and get some spring color in. She skipped yoga today so that she could get going and work with our landscape gardner, Ken, of whom we are very fond. She went to some nurseries and worked all day without much rest. She still is going at this hour (5:30), but will stop soon. I hope she didn't overdo it, but she gets so much enjoyment out of it that it seems worth it.

I posted a picture of the crab boil a couple of days ago without Lorrie in it, but I have spent some time and now have pasted Lorrie in it so I will post it again--not great but not too bad for a fake picture.

Just finished Chemo #6

Sally is now home from the chemo today. The good news is that her hemoglobin is now 10.8 g/dl. This is clearly up from the values previously and is more encouraging news. Dr. Conlon wants to re-evaluate -- he mentioned scans but it's not clear to me what good they will be since they didn't show anything before. Anyway, we will see what he has in mind soon. For now, the next chemo is in 4 weeks.

The "Boil"

Here is a picture taken at Lorrie and John's at the crab/lobster/shrimp boil that was to celebrate Stephen's 16th birthday. It was great fun and the food was delicious. Lorrie was taking the picture so she is not in this shot. Today is blustery and rainy so we are having a quiet day at home. Yoga class is tomorrow for Sally and me (and Lorrie probably).

We're still here!

You must be wondering whether I have abandoned this blog. No, I haven't. Everything has been going well since my last post. In fact, Sally has stepped through a couple more milestones for her. Last night we went to a friend's house for dinner and to play some cards. We had a great dinner and Sally ate very well and was able to take in the whole evening just like she used to. She didn't get too tired, and so it was a great success. During this last week, she worked outside putting in new spring plants with the help of our gardener and again did it without getting overly tired. Gardening is like a tonic for Sally. There's nothing she likes more than to go to a nursery and pick out some plants, bring them home, and plant them. All of this is very encouraging to both of us.

Today we are going to Lorrie and John's for a "boil". This is a favorite thing of ours, and John is the master at doing this. Often it is crawfish but today there were no crawfish and so we'll have to "make do" with lobster and crab. Yum.

Next Wednesday is Chemo #6. Will update the blog then.

Oh, I added a counter to the blog a little while ago to see the number of "hits". You can see this number at the bottom of the blog page if you are interested.