Exam passed, time for more homework

I was waiting at the stop for the struggle bus this morning, but decided not to get on it.  I have two solid tumors that I can palpate and they're definitely following directions of worse before better.  Even though I know this is expected and a good sign, it was a little rough this morning to think for a moment that progress was going to the wrong way.  But...it's not!  

Today's interstitial treatment was way easier than last week.  The tumor on my back is responding really well to the topical laser treatment, so further direct prodding is unnecessary for now.  It's located superficially, which is great on one hand, but on the other hand, it's where there are many more nerves.  It was actually much more reactive last week and a little painful this morning, so I was happy to hear that we weren't going to poke at it more today.  What was cool though, was in treating the liver today, I could still feel the other tumor responding even though it was indirect.  

The approach to the liver is through my ribs, which sounds bad, but actually isn't.  Yay lidocaine!  Because that was the only site treated today, I could lay on my back, which was much more comfortable.  The laser treatments are 20 minutes for each wavelength, and I do two different wavelengths.  Being in a comfortable position to hold very still for about an hour was a very pleasant change.  The doctor was super happy with the response from last week, as well as how today went, which is very encouraging!  

I luckily (?) had a solid distraction, too.  One of the photosensitizers can cause some muscle cramping in the arm with the IV.  I had it at the beginning of last week and it wasn't too bad--helped a lot with a heating pad on my arm.  Then I had 3-4 days of a different photosensitizer, then today went back to the original one.  Holy cow...my arm was ready to throw in the towel.  I've never had the pleasure of experiencing so many different muscles in my arm cramping, but now I know about all of them!  It's a pretty long duration for that IV, about 2 hours, so there was plenty of time for the cramps to move up and down my arm and back again.  I'd have some random moments of relief, but I'd nearly take getting poked in the liver over the arm cramping.  I appreciated the bag of tricks to try and help ease the discomfort, but I think ultimately it's a tough it out situation.  

It was a long day at the clinic, so the evening has been pretty quiet--catching up on the Championships in Herning and letting my body work on homework.  So much homework!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I gotta fix this

Image
 Oh dear.  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You know what looks really bad?? A BLOG about CANCER that HASN'T BEEN UPDATED IN 6 MONTHS !!! Hands up if you thought mine bucket hath been klonked! I've been writing quite a bit and sometimes even think it'll turn into an update for the BLOG about  CANCER  that  HASN'T BEEN UPDATED IN 6 MONTHS,  but then it becomes something more for myself than for public consumption and so here we are. Not great at the updates, but very much alive and thriving. Did I mention that chemo and I are going to do this little dance for- maybe -ever? Sometimes I want to know how long forever is, and sometimes I don't, so I'm still not sure how to answer the question when asked. "Indefinitely" pops out most often, while I squelch, "I guess as long as I want to keep waking up in the morning? *shrug*" Too dark? Ok, fine. Hi, do you need a walk? The very, very good news: I've finagled my way into a longer cycle between infusi
Read more

Happy Anniversary, Chemo

Image
It wasn't until we got home from the hospital yesterday that I realized that it was my one year anniversary with chemo. Leannda asked me to find the picture from Day 1. Scrolling through my phone, I laughed when I looked at Leannda and she was wearing the same sweater, and I was wearing the same shirt on Day 1 that I wore to the Maggie Rogers concert on Tuesday night, chemo day 365.  As years have gone by, touch points have arrived throughout my cancer journey and Maggie's music has turned out to be one of them. (And maybe Leannda's sweater and my shirt?) The month before my surgery in February 2019, Heard It in a Past Life was released, and in that month, I played the hell out of it. To make the point, the CD(!) is still in my car that has a CD player(!) and it will forever live there. This lead me to an earlier album (The Echo, also absurdly masterful), where I found "Satellite" and played it over and over in the February snow, waiting for my surgery date. There
Read more

She's musing about trees again

Image
I'm so grateful to be going through treatment at this time of year.  The trees and I look the same.  Familiar, but different.  Shedding old seasons, quiet, hibernating, but very, very much surviving.  Except for darling sharkoma, who has been greedily slurping its chemo and then complaining why it feels dead inside.  Bottoms up, y'all!  Happy New Year! If you were to ask me if I'm superstitious, there would be a long pause before a 50:50 shot at answering yes or no.  (I'm also a libra, so tralala) Sometimes it's just a little thing that can make the difference in happiness, confidence, whatever.  Keeping things the same for the sake of familiarity is sometimes all ya got.  I hesitate sometimes to write an update because things change--and have changed SO many times--that I feel like I'm just telling you about the same rollercoaster ride that I keep taking turns on except maybe its painted a different color.  Alas, that's just the truth of how this goes... He
Read more