2 Weeks and Counting

Last night marked the official 2 week point of taking the generic Gleevec.  So far my energy levels have gone down a bit, but not precipitously, and I think they're likely to increase as I adapt to taking this medication.  At least the nightly 23-hour delay I was experiencing (with a sharp feeling of faintness for about 2-5 minutes) has stopped.  It was super consistent and I'm paying close attention to what's happening.  There was also some occasional heart pounding that would last for about an hour, but I haven't had that happen in days.

The kind of scary lump I was noticing in my right groin (likely the soft tissue spot that was shown to have grown in December) really seems to be reduced already.  I had Ki measure it and he wasn't certain, but I'm going to take a personal stand and claim reduction :).  To be fair he only saw it once, and it was about a month back.  Of course we'll know for certain the impact when I have my next scan, which is likely to happen in a month and a half (roughly)?

I'll be seeing my oncologist up in Portland on the 13th of February, just to make sure I'm doing okay (per his request) and not having any significant side effects.  Ki and I will spend the Sunday night before the appointment with his friends (well they're my friends too... but really more his friends as I don't like playing Mario games on the Wii as much as they all do - give me some Galaga and watch out, but Mario...?  he was the barrel jumper in Donkey Kong :)  Now if they had a Mario makes pizza game... wonder if he'd prefer Neapolitan pizza over Roman style?

Ki is back home for the remainder of his med school days finishing up his rotation work here in the Rogue valley.  He'll find out where he matches for residency in a month or so, but we're both hoping for Corvallis at this point.

I've had fun retouching some old photos - like this gem from Crater Lake.  The water gets a little noisy, but whatever :)  It's like ker-pow and stuff don't you think?

Wizard Hat Island - Crater Lake Oregon by Doss Shropshire

A Pill Popping Fool... Finally

Wonderful to come home today after spending a few very cool days with the family (big thanks again to Liz for the ticket help... Even if I had to fly *cough* Delta lol - although the flight crew on the flight from Orlando were all burly dudes... not unpleasant haha :), and the real news here is to find my faux Gleevec had come in the mail!

So tonight I'll be starting the first pill with dinner. And later this week I'll contact my oncologist up in Portland to schedule a scan and follow up meeting in two months.

I probably need to read up on the possible side effects in case my toenails turn green and start to fall off... Or if my tongue starts to sweat and swell... Or hmmm you get the gist.

Oh and in case anyone is curious, the Mt Everest roller coaster at the Disney Animal Park kinda didn't suck like most Disney coasters in terms of not being overly mellow. Who'd have thought that day would come?

And I'm really looking forward to Ki being back home in couple of weeks!

Breathe in, Exhale, Repeat

Quick update - medication has shipped from India, and should arrive in one to two weeks. Apparently there is no tracking number as it had to ship USPS and wasn't insured.

I'm feeling fine physically aside from a hard lump in my upper right groin which i can feel from the outside and is likely the lymph node or bonus bit of growth from the last scan taken in December. It would appear I still have some recovery time from the surgery as well since there has been some light blood showing up on occasion in my stools. Either that or the original site is growing again.

Once the generic Gleevec arrives it should shrink the bump, and frankly this will give me a way to gauge the progress. And if the bleeding is an
indicator of new old growth (we like Old Growth Trees here in So Oregon.., just not new old growth tumors), the meds should take care of that as well.

Big happy fun time news!

I finally got my disability pay, and it was retro to Aug 1. Now I can go shopping and eat at expensive restaurants and fly on glamorous trips to Angkor Watt and dance with the idiots who actually believe the world is ending this year down in central Mexico at the Mayan ruins (their calendar cycle ends, just like any calendar ends... Why do people need to believe all the end of the world cranks?) and ... Where was I? Oh yeah, thinking of extravagances that I can't afford as my primary monetary expense will be paying off my credit card bill and seeing what I owe on taxes (since I had no idea how much to withhold I didn't have any taxes held). That will change once I have my taxes done in a week or two. It's all complicated this year I suppose since the disability check was cut at the end of last year instead of this year. I wonder if food could be written off as a medical expense? Hehe.

I'll be spending the next few days with my family (minus Ki as he has an intense medical rotation right now) at Disney-world in Orlando. It'll be interesting to see my newest niece for the first time (she's already 3... I'm a bad uncle). Big thanks to Liz for using some of those international frequent flyer miles to help me get there!

Let's see... Goals for now are to eat healthier, get some exercise going, sell some gear, and if I sell enough... Get a purple guitar! Yeah :). Hahaha

Hmmm Muzak is "We've Only Just Begun.". Go go hip Medford airport :)