...and that's a good thing. I had treatment last Thursday that for the most part, was pretty unremarkable considering that treatments in the last few weeks have seemed to have some calamity associated with them. The new port has healed up nicely and worked flawlessly. We tweaked the meds a little more so that the queasy stomach that I've been getting in the past few treatments has been fixed. The down side of the new meds is that it means that I get to take the same steroids that keep me wired for a day or two following treatment for an extra two days. My stomach was great, but four sleepless nights might get old over time - but for now, I'm happy for the contented tummy.It was also nice to have visitors on Thursday - my friend Angela brought her two young sons up to visit - Angela is a fellow patient. I think that the best thing about their visit (besides their Valentines cards) is that one of her boys not only thought that their visit was OK, but that he decided that his bed time book would be "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" and that during their visit to the treatment center, "we didn't die" (his words). It sounds like kind of a strange thing to say at first, but when you're a little kid, the hospital can be a downright scary place - people die when they go to the hospital. I am so glad that I had some part in showing him that the hospital isn't so scary and that when we go there, we are getting treatment to make us get better when we're sick. The boys also got to visit the team of people who have been part of Angela's team - the Resource Center, Radiation Oncology, surgeon and oncologist. We also had a visit from our friends Bruce and Sally, who have been part of our "Thursday Treatment Club" for a while. Our "Thursday Club" schedules are all kind of out of synch with changes in our various treatment schedules so we don't always see each other now. They came to see us even though they didn't have to already be there for treatment, which I think is just wonderful.
Up until now, you have always read in my posts that I've been quite happy with the treatment that I've been getting at the Swedish Cancer Institute. I am still glad that I am getting treatment there, and think that my oncologist and nurses are the best in the world. But I have a beef now - it has nothing to do with my treatment. The folks who manage the information technology resources at Swedish have decided to block access to this blog from the computing system there. In doing so, they have limited the ability of the professionals who take care of me from keeping up with my progress between treatment visits. I realize that they have the right to decide how their computer and bandwidth resources are used in the workplace, but I think that this just seems petty. I'm guessing that other patient blog sites are also blocked when they show enough network traffic, so there are probably others who share my irritation with this censorship. For now, my friends at Swedish can still access this blog from the rest of the civilized world, but maybe the IT folks will come around and change their policy.
I really did feel pretty good with this last treatment round. I felt good enough to go out on a snowshoeing expedition on Tuesday. I haven't been out on my snowshoes since I was diagnosed, so I was a little apprehensive about my ability to be able to hike in the snow. We went up to the Paradise visitor's center on Mt. Rainier to enjoy the nearly 16 feet of snow that has fallen this season. I was a bit out of breath on the short uphill climbing, but it still felt pretty darned good to be out. It was a bright sunny day and warm enough to strip down to shirtsleeves.
I really did feel pretty good with this last treatment round. I felt good enough to go out on a snowshoeing expedition on Tuesday. I haven't been out on my snowshoes since I was diagnosed, so I was a little apprehensive about my ability to be able to hike in the snow. We went up to the Paradise visitor's center on Mt. Rainier to enjoy the nearly 16 feet of snow that has fallen this season. I was a bit out of breath on the short uphill climbing, but it still felt pretty darned good to be out. It was a bright sunny day and warm enough to strip down to shirtsleeves.
It couldn't have been better.
