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