Hi VP's...Our wonderful fill-in...Doc Vic...has gone back to her daily grind, her cool little dog Andi, and her poor partner with the broken, throbbing arm. Thanks Cal for letting her come take care of Brenda, and of course, thanks Vic for being such a dear friend. It was perfect timing for all those doctor appointments to be able to translate their medical "bullets." When I'm here at those appointments I just sit there with a glazed over look in my eyes saying "What did he say? And what on earth does that mean?" All you non-med folks out there in VP-land know exactly what I'm talking about. GEEZS!
So last night Brenda finished the final round of chemo in this "stage" of her CURE. She came up with this fantastic plan to break all these treatments into "STAGES" so she could feel like something was completed and the path didn't look so never ending. YEA! We've actually finished something!!! We'll know more in the days ahead, but we're thinking that the next stage will be the surgery, then chemo/radiation combo, and then the final stage (we hope) will be "GOING HOME!!!! Now all this is subject to change but we're no stranger to that situation.
I thought I'd include some pics in this post so you could see our gal. She looks a tad puffy in the face in last few nights pics because she's full of fluids and they give her a bag of steroids on the first night which puffs ya up. I also wanted you to see how much she enjoys the blog...so if you want her to keep that infectious laugh going...look at that picture...keep blogging.
So folks...time to get the laundry and the apartment cleaning done, and then try and figure out what on earth Brenda can eat today. She's really got that overwhelming metal taste in her mouth again...NASTY.
Keep smilin and be thankful for all the great things you have in your lives. Thanks for helping us so much...you'll just never know how much your contact means to both Brenda and I.
Nurse (Back in Action) Dee
Okay, there's a story about the cowboy hat that just arrived from my friend, Paulette Kasietta (P.K). Paulette used to be one of Scottsdale PD's finest for several years and realized that wasn't for her. She opened an amazing popcorn factory I worked with her while coaching H.S. softball in scottsdale. OMG was that fun. Unfortunately the mall closed as PK had to find some new adventure. She found the dark side as law enforcement calls it. She is an investigator at a public defender's office. She was in Phoenix and then moved to North Carolina where she now resides and still works on the dark side. She says that she has to be on the other side to insure that innocent aren't convicted of crimes that they could not do. So, of course she sends me the dark side cowboy hat because she has to clean up a lot of law enforcement investigative work to make sure innocent people don't go to jail. With that some guilty people don't go to jail either. That's why I call her the dark side and it has been a running joke for years. Thanks PK...Now I can call it a cowboy hat I got in Texas!!! Love you my friend. Where's yours???
ReplyDeletechemo sabe
Vic my friend I can't thank you enough for taking a week out of your life and vacation to come help me while my nurse takes her union break. Thanks to Cal as well that was stepped on by a Clydesdale horse she helps take care of while she takes care of her own horse on a cousin's farm. She broke both bone in her arm above her wrist and is now wearing a pretty blue cast. I love you both for your unselfish sacrifices. I learned so much and feel better now that I had another doctor to interpret for me. These doctors are really good about explaining things to me but how I interpret them later because somewhat of a foreign language. Vic is a godsend and helped to put things in lay terms for me. Since she was at my sinus surgery she was able to ask even more questions about my upcoming surgery.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see we had late chemo appointments this time getting out between 11:15 and midnight. That's a brutal schedule. Our Thursday schedule was a huge drain so you can see we are on the tired side with dark circles under our eyes.
I am truly blessed. Even though I have a tough road ahead of me the love and support from you all is so amazing and incredibly healing.
love, chemo sabe
Hi guys! I don't know if this will work for that nasty metallic taste but it seems to work for a lot of things -- EFT (emotional freedom technique). While the focus of it is on emotional stuff, it works for physical symptoms too -- headaches, shoulder pain, etc. It's a form of energy psychology that I've used for a while. It involves tapping on acupuncture/pressure points in order to balance the energy in your body. There's quite a bit about it in Dawson Church's book "The Genie in Your Genes" -- which is an awesome book, BTW.
ReplyDeleteLove you guys and think of you so often. Always sending good vibes your way...
Jan
So is there going to be celebration parties at the end of each stage??? I certainly hope so!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd please start singing "Mr Postman is there a letter or package for me?" because there is a surprise package on its way to keep you laughing... We think about you both every day and send lots of good vibes! Hoping to see you both sooner than later...
Love & Blessings
CAthie & Evelyn
Chemo sabe
ReplyDeleteYou look great!!! I should have known after seeing all those "bald is beautiful" bumper stickers, but I never really believed them.
I am sitting here in another hotel (as usual) looking at the picture of you and the laptop - reading the blog. It warms my heart to know that silly bantering and whimisical thoughts could bring so much joy to you. I can actually hear your 'subtle' laugh. That energizes me even more to make you laugh all the way to a cure so we can hear that infectious laugh for decades to come.
Love ya
It is great that STAGE ONE is now history and that you came through in good spirits and with a positive attitude. Brenda and Dee- I cannot begin to tell you how much I admire your inner strength and determination. You are wonderful human beings and an example to all of us. May all of this be behind you soon, so we can travel together again to celebrate the CURE!!!
ReplyDeleteKoko
Ditto what Koko said. I could not say it better.
ReplyDeleteI do have one observation: New cowboy hat - new sofa. I see improvement all the way around. I'm just saying :)
Vic - nice jammies ;)