Chemo (round 1, week 2)

It went fine on Monday. I felt less much queasy the days afterward–maybe it was not getting the bone-loss medicine this time (that’s only once a month) or maybe it was my body realizing the second time around that it would not be poisoned, or maybe it was the anti-emetic med I asked to take […]

what a nice weekend

I took it pretty easy Thursday and Friday, for me, and Saturday we had wonderful friends visiting overnight. I was tired & a bit loopy from the anti-seizure medication I’m on (standard prophylactic post-procedure stuff, along with steroids), but greatly enjoyed myself. This afternoon I took a walk and gradually edged myself into bed where […]

Zapped!

Yesterday was the full moon and my brain-zapping afternoon. The first half of the procedure, these were my breath mantras: “goodbye, brain mets” or “goodbye, cancer” on the in-breaths “thanks for not causing me problems” is what I was thinking on the out-breaths The second half, I changed them to: “glowing radiant cleansing cleansing light” […]

zapping day!

Today is the day for stereotactic radiosurgery at Albany Medical Center. I am loaded up with anti-seizure medication and steroids, and will get more steroids and Xanax before I get my head nestled into the “head hammock” (nicer than calling it the rigid-plastic-mesh face cage) for my 2+ hrs of radiation beams. I have to […]

post-chemo Buddhist reminder

I had an IV in my left wrist for chemo on Friday. I had to move my watch, which I check way too often, to my right wrist. So I decided I needed a little reminder for my left wrist:

Chemo starts tomorrow (Friday)

At our appointment with the oncologist this morning, we put our heads together and juggled the brain-zapping procedure (1/15), chemo on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle, and our planned last-minute trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (1/25-1/30 if it all works out). Stir in some anxiety on everyone’s part about […]

what’s going on this week: waiting

Last Thursday & Friday we met with the neurosurgeon and the radiation oncologist (at Albany Medical Center) to find out more about my brain situation and plan my stereotactic radiosurgery. It really does look like an ideal treatment for relatively small brain metastases (such as mine). I am the type of patient for whom this […]

Sharsheret

I am learning a bit about this organization Sharsheret and was really happy to watch this video interview of the founder…and note the date it was done: December 2010.