Going Topless

Pat’s not minding, but we may have to buy thicker curtains. Why have I suddenly decided to become an exhibitionist or naturalist? Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with a recent episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. No, that was enough to turn me off of nudism….however it was a suggestion made to me by my oncologist. I’ll back up now and start from the beginning.

Went in for treatment on Tuesday. Felt pretty good, but side effects immediately began to appear after Michele got on the train on Thursday. Coincidence??? First I got some nice mouth sores, then I woke up Friday morning and the rash had returned. In the scalp, on my chest, but mostly on my back. It was red, irritated, and angry looking. Went back to the usual regiment of antibiotic ointment and have kept it as clean and dry as possible. But it got worse, as it usually does. By Tuesday when I showed it to the nurses, they were afraid that one more does was going to cause it to get infected. Dr. Lange stepped in, took a look, and told me to keep up the ointment, and to keep in uncovered as much as possible – suggesting going topless, or wearing a halter top. He thinks the sweat from covering it is making it worse. Well, I own one halter top, so I guess Pat will be seeing an awful lot of that when I’m home. Fortunately its still warm weather – not sure what I’ll do come winter.

They decided to do the treatment (after much begging on my part) and so I closed my eyes and woke up at the end of it. Went home and did not seem to have the same energy as last week, so I slept some more. Woke up again, ate a yummy dinner of grilled shrimp and veggies (which did not seem to aggravate me at all – one small step in the right direction), and then tried to go back to sleep. 2 sleeping pills later, I fell asleep around 1AM. Got up and somehow have made it through a work day. Looking forward to my vacation day tomorrow and spending time with some friends and our adorable goddaughter whom I haven’t seen in forever.

Despite the annoying side effects last week, we kept relatively busy, did more kayaking (at this rate we are going to need to buy one soon – anybody want to store it for us??) and blew out yet another tire on Route 95. That’s 2 this year. Guess where Pat got to spend his Monday? At least it got him out of the house for a little while and there is a Barnes and Noble close by, so not a total waste of time for him. Next post I’ll fill you in on some of the trips I am starting to plan for work travel. I’ve hit a plateau with the Sandostatin, but I can control my 7-8 daily bathroom visits with what and when I eat, which makes it easier to go abroad. By the time I do go, I may even have the diarrhea under more control since we are continuing the daily injections (though my belly is now as black and blue as my legs, but my arms a clear again, so we’ll probably start there again).

OK – must run…