We have been lucky over the holidays as Amanda has had a pretty good week. Most of the nastiest side-effects of the treatment had passed, so she was able to enjoy time with family and friends. She, Yeats and I have spent most of the last five days together doing absolutely nothing important and merrily going on our way to nowhere in particular. It has been a wonderful gift, and one that we do not take for granted.
Amanda has a doctor's appointment in the morning where we will find out how much cancer's ass has been kicked in the last three weeks. After that, another treatment. Please send all the mojo and juju and positive vibes that you have available. If you happen to have gotten a magical, wish-granting unicorn for Christmas, I wonder if we could borrow it, just for a day. I promise that you will get it back.
For those who are not on the Facebook group, I want to take a moment to recognize what some very good friends are doing. I recruited a group of people to kick off a project inviting them to pick a song or songs from The Beatles, "The White Album," which is Amanda's favorite Beatles record. They then were going to do something with the song. Do a cover of it, make a drawing inspired by it, video an interpretive dance of it... You get the idea. A couple of friends made her a fantastic "Cept me and my Monkey" bracelet, and we have even had a couple of song covers:
http://picosong.com/download/4Uji/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=m40sgmub-Hw
Obviously, with this kind of support, Amanda is going to go all Rocky on this Drago. If you would like to contribute to this project, shoot me an email at, droahrig@gmail.com.
Alright, that's the news from Lake Woebegone. I wrote this on my phone, so please forgive the numerous typos that I am sure are there. We hope that all of you have been able to enjoy the holidays with your families and friends. We wish you the best in the coming year!
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Third Infusion and All is Well
First and foremost: Amanda saw the oncologist this morning and the tumor is softening and getting smaller! He is very pleased with her progress and thinks that she is on the right track to kicking this thing out the door, please let it hit you on the ass on the way out, thank you very much.
She is currently undergoing her third treatment. The bad part is that she has now twice exhibited some allergic reactions to one of the two chemotherapeutic agents. This means that she has to get more steroids, more benadryl and have the medicine administered over a longer period of time. They will very likely deal with this by administering a prophylactic dose of the anti-allergy medications in the coming treatments.
Overall, though, Amanda is in good spirits and still the strongest person I have ever known. I have seen her power through more in the past month than anyone should ever have to endure in a lifetime. She has done it with only minor complaint, and those complaints are more to do with the whole hurry-up-and-wait approach that is, unfortunately, standard in fighting this kind of disease. Not once has she uttered a "why me" or "this isn't fair." She grits her teeth, lets out some of her best expletives (And she is a virtuoso of profanity. One of the many reasons I lover her so.) and gets on with it.
So, keep the good mojo coming! You guys are a big part of her improvement, and we love you all for it!
She is currently undergoing her third treatment. The bad part is that she has now twice exhibited some allergic reactions to one of the two chemotherapeutic agents. This means that she has to get more steroids, more benadryl and have the medicine administered over a longer period of time. They will very likely deal with this by administering a prophylactic dose of the anti-allergy medications in the coming treatments.
Overall, though, Amanda is in good spirits and still the strongest person I have ever known. I have seen her power through more in the past month than anyone should ever have to endure in a lifetime. She has done it with only minor complaint, and those complaints are more to do with the whole hurry-up-and-wait approach that is, unfortunately, standard in fighting this kind of disease. Not once has she uttered a "why me" or "this isn't fair." She grits her teeth, lets out some of her best expletives (And she is a virtuoso of profanity. One of the many reasons I lover her so.) and gets on with it.
So, keep the good mojo coming! You guys are a big part of her improvement, and we love you all for it!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Getting ready for round three...
As we sit here on the eve of Amanda's third treatment, I wanted to take a quick moment to bring everyone up to speed.
The expected, but no less sucky, hair loss has begun. Amanda considers this a small price for ridding her body of this awful disease. Yeats and I feel exactly the same. While aesthetics may not be of chief concern, there is the practical issue of the weather getting colder. Luckily, I am a veteran of facing the cold with a naked pate, so she has me as a guide. Yesterday, we bought old t-shirts at Salvation Army which Amanda is going to use to make head wraps. She has an abundance of scarves, hats and various fabrics at the ready. As always, her attitude keeps Yeats and I in check whenever we start to get upset about the petty annoyances in life.
Please send some good mojo her way tomorrow. She will be in treatment most of the day. I will post an update sometime tomorrow night. Peace and love to all of you!
The expected, but no less sucky, hair loss has begun. Amanda considers this a small price for ridding her body of this awful disease. Yeats and I feel exactly the same. While aesthetics may not be of chief concern, there is the practical issue of the weather getting colder. Luckily, I am a veteran of facing the cold with a naked pate, so she has me as a guide. Yesterday, we bought old t-shirts at Salvation Army which Amanda is going to use to make head wraps. She has an abundance of scarves, hats and various fabrics at the ready. As always, her attitude keeps Yeats and I in check whenever we start to get upset about the petty annoyances in life.
Please send some good mojo her way tomorrow. She will be in treatment most of the day. I will post an update sometime tomorrow night. Peace and love to all of you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)