Category: cancer

Chemo Day

My mother is receiving her first chemotherapy treatment in just under 10 years today. My father and my sister went with her to the appointment but they didn’t let my sister in with her. They did let my father in. That’s good, but we were really hoping COVID-19 would let them both in… even though I think we all knew that wouldn’t be the case.

She is getting a dose of Rituxin. The process is going to take four to six hours. We were really hoping it would go faster than that. She took this drug the last time she went through chemo, but she took the dose along with another drug or two she had to be checked into the hospital for the other one.

I’m trying not to worry. I’m trying not to freak out. Mostly I’m doing well with that, but my mom’s getting chemo so… you know how it is.

Fingers crossed. Let’s go, science! Kick cancer’s ass. I’m rooting for you.

Chemo

If the state of the world isn’t fucked enough right now.

After 10 years, my mother is going back on chemotherapy. It’ll be a couple of weeks before the insurance clears and all of that, but she’s going back onto Rituxan.

She beat it before, she’ll beat it again.

Free Books

I learned this yesterday and took advantage of it today.  If you are an audible member, Neil Peart’s books are currently on sale for… free.  This doesn’t include Clockwork Angels or Clockwork Lives as those are technically Kevin Anderson’s.  I think it’s a nice little treat for fans, but I hope audible/amazon is still sending Neil’s royalty checks to his family.

I am hoping Rush has a few live records in the can that they can sneak out in the years to come.  I want Neil’s family to be looked after.  I know they have been releasing anniversary, deluxe editions of some records.  I hope that continues.  I will probably buy them rather than just listen to them on Apple Music or Spotify.  I remember hearing people bitch about how Pink Floyd was always releasing compilations.  There was a reason for it that wasn’t obvious though.  All of those comps had at least one or two Syd Barrett songs.  They were always finding ways to re-issue his music so that his Floyd related income never dried up.  They were trying to look after him without interfering in his life.  Those releases never moved big numbers, but it was enough to help Syd and his family.  I hope so at least.  I’d hate to learn otherwise.

Anyway, if you’re an audible member I recommend Ghost Rider.  I know I’ve read at least one other book too, but I can’t remember which one.  I think it was Far and Away.  I bought it, started reading it, and realize I’d already read the whole thing.  Well, a lot of it at least.  Neil was a blogger and that book, if that’s the book I am thinking it is, was made up of old blog posts.

Someone pointed out the other day that we probably should have known something was wrong in the Peart camp because it had been a long time since he updated his website.  He had his blog but he also shared recipes and had a sort of book club thing, if I remember it right.  I hadn’t heard of any new posts there for a long time.  In hindsight it feels like he was circling the wagons.

Anyway, listen to his music and read his books.

I took my photo a day picture this morning.  It was another record player picture.  138/365, call it Moving, Moving Pictures.

138/365 - Moving Moving Pictures

The “R” Word

File this under “Best News Possible.”

My mother is in the hospital for another chemo treatment.  She spoke to my sister yesterday and my sister relayed this message to me.

She told me that Mom’s doctor used, “The ‘R’ word.”

Remission.

She’ll get a few more monthly chemo treatments just to be safe.  For now at least it looks like the cancer really is gone.  Now all we need to do is make it stay gone.

Mom Update

As mentioned earlier, my mother spent some time in the emergency room today. They didn’t find anything wrong with her. They did a test to check her respiration and it came back clean. They did another test to see if she might have a blood clot and she might, but they didn’t find anything specific so they discharged her. She’ll keep an eye on things and if her breathing becomes difficult again she will go back to the hospital. For now though, it looks like all is well.

Thankfully.

Good News and Bad News

Good news first. On the musical front, my 2011 RPM is completely tracked. I just finished putting leads onto the last couple of songs. Corners were cut, scratch tracks were used (including one really bad one on the last song), intonation is terrible, playing is sloppy, but next stop is mixing.

Now the bad news, that makes me feel terrible for even considering that the good news exists, and makes the good news so utterly inconsequential that I am embarrassed to have even considered it, my mother is in the emergency room.

She had some shortness of breath. Her GP is worried about chemo-induced blood clots so she’s been sent to the ER to have her oxygen checked and to see if there has been any clotting. It doesn’t sound like something that would be all that big a deal, but given the extended circumstances I think everything could be a big deal. I’m nervous.

Back to It

Let me preface this one by saying emphatically that I am ridiculously out of shape. Okay? We know that, right? I don’t have to qualify anything else in the post now that we know that I am in fact, a fat ass.

Right.

Oh the pain! The Pain! My step-daughter’s mini-birthday party/family cookout was a hit on Saturday and I am still paying for it. Jen did some major cleaning around the house on Friday before I got home from work. She did great. On Saturday morning she went out to do all of the shopping and I stayed home to finish the cleaning. That included sweeping and mopping all of the floors and mowing the lawn. My legs may never be the same. I did the lawn first and even before I was finished I was finding little things like, ya know, walking to be difficult. By the time the guests started arriving I had reached a point where getting out of a chair could cause me to shout in pain. Most of Sunday was just as bad. Today is better, but not that better. My legs, my back, my arms. PAIN!

Okay, on to less painful (slightly) things.

Why, oh why, are the Bruins and Lightning not playing game two tonight? Doesn’t VS. generally have a Monday night game on their schedule? What? The? Hell? There are only two series left, and we have to add in extra days? I don’t get it.

What I do get is that if the Bruins continue to play the way they played game one they are going to be golfing before the weekend is over. They sucked on Saturday. Just. Sucked. Patrice Bergeron may in fact be just as important a piece of the Bruins puzzle as I knew he was. I was afraid of that. Let’s hope he comes back quickly.

In happier news, how about those Red Sox, huh? Finally up to .500 at twenty wins and twenty losses. What does it say about the American League East that we are still only three games out of first place? What does it say about the New York Yankees that they got swept by a last place team who can’t get it’s head out of it’s ass (figuratively) like the Red Sox? I think it might be a clue that the Yankees Suck! hehe sorry, Boston fans have to work that chant in to everything they do. Jen and I are going to the game tomorrow against the Orioles and I expect to hear the Yankees Suck chant at least once.

Oh, did I mention we’re Fenway bound tomorrow? (yes, I just did) Our tickets are in the non-tall people section which means Robbie’s going to have to find a standing room spot, but expect a few pictures either way.

Finally, and far and away most importantly… in fact the only thing in this dumb post that actually is important… Mom’s kidney is back to normal and she goes back onto the chemotherapy starting today. One step closer to beating the cancer! Beat that Cancer!

Let’s Go White Blood Cells!

The last two days I wasn’t feeling very good. Today I am a little better. Still very tired, but not as bad as I was yesterday morning. Unfortunately, Jen and both kids are now feeling less than 100%. Jen and I need to be better by Sunday so that we can go to Easter Dinner and not get my mother sick. The kids need to be better because those lucky little people are going on a cruise to the Caribbean! Everyone get better, right now!!!

As for my mother, she is temporarily off of the main chemotherapy drug, methotrexate. She went into the hospital for a dose of it but there is something happening in her kidney that needs to be watched. They don’t know if it is actually related to the chemo or if it may be related to her having a borderline case of diabetes. Whatever it is, she’s off of it for the next few weeks. If whatever level it is is better in a few weeks she will go back on the methotrexate, but at a lower dose. The good news is that the doctors told her the tumor is small enough to be negligible, but they need to keep going with the chemotherapy in order to keep it from coming back.

She hasn’t had any side effects from the chemo. Maybe this is the first one. Maybe it’s unrelated. Whatever the cause is I don’t know, but I do know that I was feeling really upbeat and confident about the whole situation and now the nerves and paranoia are creeping back in.

Just cut the crap, all of you. Everyone get better. Right Now!

Mom Update

My mother had an MRI yesterday. Today she got the results. The tumor is still shrinking. Her doctors expect that one more cycle of chemo should eliminate what’s left of it. She’s being admitted today to start the next cycle.

Fantastic news!

(still keeping my fingers crossed)