Hexalen®, days 3 & 4, 4th month

Yesterday, after my MRI, the 16-block walk to the Pacific Ocean was just the thing to do: beautiful weather and healthy exercise.

But on my return, first via the bus and then a brief two block walk to my car, I tripped. OMG, I was just one block from my car!

Two people rushed over to me as we all watched myself slowly move through space and come to an abrupt stop on the cement.

The worst part of this is that the scraped and bloody knee belongs to my lymphedema leg.

Hexalen®, day 2, 4th month

Today:

1. Take two ChemoCaps with light breakfast

2. Opps, nauseous. This is the first time with these meds. Take anti-nausea pill

3. Back to bed to rest

4. Physical therapy on leg followed by photo of ChemoCaps in therapy room

5. Back home to take a nap due to side effects of drug

6. Lunch: gotta be careful. No problem with 1/4 sandwich

7. Swallow two more ChemoCaps

8. Drive to see oncologist: 30 minutes from door to door

9. Blood draw

10. Chat with doctor

11. CA-125 tumor marker is down! On January 5th it was 510 and a month later CA-125 was 53! Truly exciting results!

12. Stop taking ChemoCaps because white blood count is too low

13. Return to doctor's office in a week for another blood check

14. Pick up a few items at the market

15. Take nap #2 because of the fatigue from the ChemoCaps

16. Go on the Internet, read emails, and check Facebook

17. Review genealogy materials from cousin. WOW! Here is a picture of my grandmother when she graduated from high(?) school

18. Create a Food Network inspired dinner. YUMMM

19. Telephone conversations with friend and cousin

20. Create entry for blog

21. Stretch

22. Clean up

23. Go to bed and remember, no eating or drinking in the morning: MRI check-in at 7:55am

Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll have time to work on my art projects. Opening Reception of Art Exhibit is in three weeks at Premiere Oncology.

14 Days off: #12

For many travelers

Santa Monica is a destination

and,

for so many of us

we photograph

After a few minutes

the men got back into the white van and

left this View of the Pacific Ocean

Update on my new order of chemotherapy capsules (aka, ChemoCaps):

I finally have them in hand, six days after my first call to refill the prescription.

As you will see in a few days, my ChemoCaps are in a different shaped container, instead of a generic pill container. I suspect, the new container came directly from the Hexalen® laboratory distributor.

The label is preprinted with the contents of 100, but since I'll be taking 112 ChemoCaps it appears that my local pharmacy added the additional 12 capsules. They come right to the very top!

You don't see that very often--remember the wad of cotton in some pill containers?

Inner Child in the Pool

Recently my inner child was with me in the swimming pool. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the event, other than swimming has been a life long hobby.

I recently re-joined the YMCA, the Santa Monica branch this time, because it has multiple pools and therefore, almost limitless opportunities to develop my strength, flexibility, and endurance in the water. While there are endless other non-water activities at the "Y", I took the recommendation of my lymphedema doctor to return to swimming.

Since I know a good exercise routine should include a total body warm-up period, exercises for the upper body and lower body, stretches, and a cool down period, my inner child was ready for the structured playtime in the water.

"But wait!" I heard a voice in my head call out.

"My feet hurt! I know we are wearing water shoes and cotton socks to reduce the pressure on my feet when we walk in the water, but remember, they are swollen, swollen from the chemotherapy...I know the new chemo is working, but my feet really hurt!"

After a pause, the voice deep inside my heart softly consoled herself by saying, "I'll try not to focus on the pain, I love the water so much."

So we walked in the shallow end of the pool to warm-up. For 15 minutes I was humming songs to the beat of my marching legs and my arms were swinging to the rhythm of my steps. Every so often I checked my pulse to monitor my cardiovascular warm-up progress.

Next we were ready for the water toys. I put the yellow, buoyant noodle between my thighs. Now my feet didn't touch the pool floor. Then I got the two yellow thingees for my hands--something equivalent to water dumb bells or weights. We were doing arm and shoulder exercises. This was fun.

Another fifteen minutes quickly passed.

Next, I decided to swim some laps: freestyle, backstroke and sidestroke.

My inner child called, "This is Fun! I love this!

"Do you remember when we were in water ballet?"