Apr. 28: Chemo #8… is it over, Rover?

I hope yesterday was my last chemo. We won’t know for a while. Here’s the deal:

I’m having a CT/PET scan on Tuesday, May 4. It’s not being done in Victor’s department like all of my other CTs, because they don’t have a PET machine. Instead, I’m going to a doctor’s office to have the scan done, which means a radiologist in that location could very well be the one to read and report on it, which means I won’t get the results of the scan until my appointment with my oncologist on the afternoon of May 11. Even if I get the scan results before that, I won’t know what Dr. O will want to do with them until I see her on the afternoon of May 11. I’m being very specific because what this all means, Mother Mary!, is that if you call me after my scan on May 4 to see if OJ is still hangin’ around, I will not have an answer because I will not know and I might even scream at you for increasing my anxiety level. Ye be warned. Also, I love you for being concerned. ♥

Anyway, my appointment with Dr. O before chemo yesterday was uneventful. Nothing new. One good thing was that I didn’t need the Neulasta like she had planned to give me; my white blood cell counts “looked great.” I guess I’ve been lucky not to need the Neulasta at all yet, really, because it has some nasty side effects that I definitely don’t want on top of the other chemo crap. So, y’know, whew.

Kathy arrived while I was in with Dr. O. When Victor left the room to bring her in, I got up from my chair and tried to pull out the table’s stirrups and get in them quickly, but I couldn’t figger ‘em out! I don’t think they get used very much in that office, but wouldn’t it have freaked out Kathy good to walk in and see me like that??? Anyway, it was so great to see her face-to-face (as opposed to face-to-nethers)! She decided the day’s theme was “It’s Over, Rover!” and did her best to make us bark ‘n stuff. I was not so into the barking, but I was ALL OVER the dog treats and belly rubs! I felt extra-tired yesterday, and Kathy was tired from getting up in the middle of the night for her flight to Portland, so you’d think we would’ve just lounged all day quietly. You’d think wrong. We were good and noisy. (Mostly Kathy.) We even squeezed in some photography:

I like to call this picture “Damn, I miss my eye hair”

Even with Kathy’s jabbering, I did sneak in a quick fake nap in which I worked up some drool that totally grossed out my nurse. Soooo worth it.

This is quite possibly my least flattering angle. Me no likey. The drool doesn’t help either, I know, but at least it distracts from all some of my chins.

And lastly, here’s Victor pretending to tolerate all my demands and like me:

I love his smile. Still, I will call this picture “Damn, I DO really, really miss my eye hair”

Kathy presented me with some fun goodies; one is a book from which I’ll be sharing in future blog posts because it is AWESOME—very inspiring and uplifting and kinda bossy but in a good way. Mostly, though, it was just super-fab to have my big sister there with me. I like her kind of more than anyone.

Thank you to all of you who texted, emailed, and Facebooked me throughout the day! I love getting those little reminders that you care, and they continue to lift me and make me smile, and I soooo need that right now. This whole cancer thing seems to have gotten even more challenging in the past week, even when I haven’t thought it possible. Grrr.

Here’s what Kathy had to say about our day together on her blog this morning:

I just returned late last night from Portland, Oregon where I was honored to be with my sister for her last scheduled chemo treatment. She truly was a champ, all bandaged up in pink, signing thank you notes (which I will mail out shortly) and staying awake even during the slow, steady hum o' my incessant yammerin'. Jen had a great chemo party last time when I named it ROCK STAR CHEMO and she got all sorts of rockstar everything for her chemo party! This last appt was unofficially IT'S OVER, ROVER cuz, well, hopefully it is!! If I had been there when she walked out afterward, I would have serenaded her with WHO LET THE DOGS OUT, WOOF WOOF WOOF-WOOF. And while I try to stay positive and not get too pissed at her painless brazilian and to-die-for assortment of cute hats and wigs, I am reminded of the negative side of all that is happening. I mean, for cripes' sake, TAKE OUT LUNCH ON CHEMO DAY???? Hasn't she suffered enough??

…

What a windy, curvy, sometimes confusing road with lots of speed-bumps! My friends and me, we have so much to be grateful for. I love the way we find stuff to laugh at in the face of this monster who is powerless to our fixation with remission. Yesterday while Jennifer and I were complaining that the chemo room had no internet available, Jen said "If we're lucky, I'll still have cancer next year when they finally get wi-fi!!" Cooooool. :-) (Lesson here is only get cancer where wi-fi is available. Makes facebooking and online shopping so much easier.)

‘Twas a good day. Once again, I had way more fun at chemo than cancer wanted me to. HA! We are kicking cancer’s ass so big and so bad. As Kim F’n says, “Buh-bye, OJ!”