Am finely starting to feel like I've turned a corner re the flu. No vomiting at all today, and some semblance of an appetite - nothing extreme but better than it has been.
Realize that I neglected to report on last week's visit with the oncologist. Seems it's pretty much all good news.
For starters, I did not crack a rib as the ER resident said. Rather, it seems I had a bad pull of a muscle between two ribs. Bonus: the x-ray at taken for that diagnosis indicates there is no marked advancement of the cancer since Sept when I was last on chemo - woohoo! As for the fatigue, lightheadedness, etc. that's all part and parcel of the brain surgery recovery process. No telling how long these side effects will last, maybe months or longer. Just something I'll have to get used to it seems. Sacrum pain remains, but it nothing like pre-radiation, but won't be getting any better either. Literal bummer.
The upshot of all this is that I'm on track to begin chemo again in mid-March. If the cancer have another surge in the meantime, a "stop-gap/compassionate" chemo will be administered. The one I'm scheduled to have in mid-March is the investigative drug from a previous study I was on and there are strict rules about how soon after surgery/dexamethasone/hydramorph a course of that stuff can begin. Hence the stop-gap if needed. I'm very comfortable with all of this as the new drug doesn't have many of the side effects most of the other drugs I've taken have had.
The world will be relieved to know that I've hung up my crusader's hat re Vim & Vigour magazine. Interestingly, both the American Cancer Society and Jenny Craig wrote apologies for the pain and suffering caused by the publication (wrote the ACS because Jennifer Hudson used to be a spokesperson, and mistook JC for Weight Watchers which Ms. Hudson now speaks for). Not a single rep or agent that I was able to contact so much as acknowledged my correspondence. Proof once again that it's all about the money. Enough said.
Sunshine here today. Most welcome after a long stretch of rain. Can spring be far off?
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