Less Than 48 Hours...

...until the last kemo!!!

I'm sure the time has felt endless for Kathy, but can you believe she is almost done? It doesn't seem like that long ago that we met in the parking lot of the oncology center with presents and rowdy cheering. By this time on Thursday we can all be cheering that this phase of treatment is over!

Seems like there should be a party, but maybe Kathy wouldn't be feeling up to it. Let's have the a virtual party here on the blog! Click onto the blog on Thursday afternoon and join the party. As of today there were about 650 hits. Invite all Kathy's supporters to click onto the blog and lets see if we can harness the healing energy of at least another 100 by Thursday night.

Here are a few words from Kathy last week.
The nausea from this kemo seems to be a bit more pronounced than the last one, and I guess the next one will have the nausea fairy visiting me even more, but hey, it will be the last one! And, so far, my feet and fingers haven't gotten all tingly and numb (the side effects they told me about vs. the nausea that was supposed to disappear!). I have to say, I'd rather spend a couple of minutes with the toilet than walk around numb! Everything's relative. :-)

Hey Kathy, we're wishing you a restful 36 hours. Save up all your energy for this one last fight against those @#$%&*! cancer cells. They know they can't last against you. You know martial arts for goodness sakes!

Keeping Her Chin Up

So no news about our Blogstar since before Easter week. Sorry about that...I was out of town. I don't know how long it had been since I had seen Kathy. I didn't see her the week before spring break and I don't think I saw her the week before that when she had her 6th kemo. Our schedules at work are totally in conflict this semester. But I did manage to steal some time to stop by this morning. Here are the highlights in true Kathy fashion:

"They lie!" The Taxol treatments do make her nauseated--not the same way as her first kemo drugs, but still... Puking is puking, don't ya know!

She looks great! "But I'm getting up at 4 am so I have enough time to get my eyebrows drawn on straight!" and "I don't recommend the cancer diet, but...Don't tell my doctor, but I want to lose 7 more pounds."

All the appointments are driving her crazy--besides the kemo there are tests, and more tests, and tests on the tests and on and on and on. (See this blog to get a sense of what it is like to live on the schedule of doctors). But I did find out that it wasn't quite true that she hoped to have her surgery on a Thursday and be back to work on Monday! She figured maybe the following Monday so she would only miss about a week of classes! And she would really like to know if they could just wait a couple of weeks until the semester is over because it would be so much better to have her surgery after the end of the semester. I love this woman!!!! This even though the kemo has her @#$%&*! cancer on the run. The doctor reminded her that those weeks between kemo and a delayed surgery just might not be such a good idea!

And then, of course, we had some unbloggable talk about curriculum ;-)

Tomorrow is her PENULTIMATE kemo! I just had to use that word, it's one of my favorites. And now I have even more reason to love it. Kemo #7 tomorrow. After this one, just one more. After tomorrow she is 7/8 done. That's 87.5% finished with kemo Kathy! Ask Davis what percentage is left, he says he is doing fine in his math class!

Kick it Hard tomorrow Kathy! I can picture those poor, sad, haggard, sorry ass, limping cancer cells. They are GOING DOWN!!!!!!!

75% Done!

Kemo #2 of the second round of four Taxol infusions was yesterday. So 6 out of the total of 8 are behind her now. That's 75% done! That means only 25% of the kemos are left. (Can you tell I teach math? Sorry, can 't help it!) That is definitely good news!!!!!

Now it's time to schedule surgery--my sources tell me late April-ish. It's all moving forward even though at times it must seem very slow, right Kathy?

This coming week is our spring break and the weather is supposed to be nice from what I can tell. Enjoy it everyone. Especially you, Kathy! Rest, relax, sit on your deck and watch the weeds grow on the hills.

And don't forget to visualize all those @#$%&!* ing cancer cells gasping for their last breath and then disappearing... We will all be out here visualizing the same thing for you. (If you wonder what your visualization could accomplish, check out this link on Distant Healing from the Institute of Noetic Science webpage. Interesting and thought provoking.)

She's Back!

How is Kathy? In case you didn't see her yesterday, she was back!! Her voice isn't...quite. I didn't get a chance to stop by so I can't tell you if it is more of a sultry, sexy sound or a gravelly, cigarette smoker sound, but it is back and she was teaching her classes yesterday. Hurray! When she first started to recover from the flu the last time she said it was good to feel like a person with cancer again, rather than a person with cancer and the flu! So, although it sounds weird, I will say, "Kathy, I hope you are feeling like a person with cancer again! " ;-)

Still fighting the flu...

How did the week go by so fast?

Shortly after I posted last week, Kathy got sick again (same version of cold/flu again? new bug? who knows, but it really sucks!). She lost her voice, felt weak, tired and generally terrible and is on another round of antibiotics. She stayed home from work all this week to rest and recuperate. Good plan. I know it is really hard for her to stay home. I don't think she has ever missed more than a day or two (if that) during a year, so the decision to stay home and rest has been hard for her. I think in some ways it feels like losing or giving in. But it is a tactical loss (if it is a loss at all). Give this up in order to save strength for the real battle. (On the positive side, only three more kemo's to go!)

So keep sending Kathy your "get well" thoughts, either privately or through the comments here. You may not get a response from her since she is concentrating on getting well, rather than answering emails. But just know that she and her family really appreciate all the support she is getting from everyone. Thanks, all of you!

The Second Half....

...of the Kemo started off without a hitch!

Thursday was the first kemo of the round of four Taxol infusions. This phase of kemo requires some measures to prevent reaction to the drugs. The time at the center is longer because there first has to be a Benedryl infusion to prevent potential allergic reaction. Also there are some drugs Kathy is required to take the night before.

Some of us were worried that she might not get to have it (it was a week late already since she had that bad cold/flu). Others of us were worried that she might be one of those few who have a reaction. Good news! The worries were unfounded! Kathy did fine and she was feeling ok as of her last text. I'm guessing the cold/flu bug must be on the run, too, or they wouldn't have let her have the kemo.

No one said kicking the !@#$%&* cancer was going to be easy. Weeks like the last two test Kathy's strength and make her doubt her resilience. But true strength and resilience doesn't mean never going down. It means eventually popping back up after something's got you down. Remember these?

Hoping for a Better Week!

So what happened to our Blogstar? As you know, she was sick with the cold/flu that's been going around. Last weekend, she felt so bad that she went to the emergency room and ended up with HEAVY DUTY antibiotics. By Wednesday she still wasn't feeling better and had a Dr. appointment. On Thursday I met with her son for some math help and he sounded terrible! Between his coughing and mine we turned the hallway into a germ zone!

Today she's back at school, but definitely not back to 100%. If you've had this flu/cold thing you can definitely empathize. Cheryl and I have both tried to convince her to stay home longer. Stay home and kick this flu/cold in the ass so she can go back to kicking cancer. But I understand the drive to be at work. Besides the getting behind that happens if you are home sick, sometimes feeling crappy with some distraction is better than just being home feeling crappy. Sometimes it feels better to pretend to be o.k. when you feel terrible. Even if it's only just infinitesimally better...

Whatever wellness vibes you've got, send 'em this way! Kathy could really use them!