Gearing Up For Treatment #5

The next chemo treatment is scheduled for Monday, June 1st. We have our 7:30 am time slot back so hopefully the day won't be quite so long. This treatment is a milestone for us....first, my "DONE" column will be bigger than my "TO DO" column and it is a new and different drug. The risk of having an "anaphylactic reaction" is greater with this drug so they do approach it a little differently. They start the administration very slow and they sit and monitor your reaction for about the first 30 minutes. If there is any sign of a reaction, (which usually begins with tingling in the mouth and throat area or difficulty breathing), they stop the drug, administer medication to counter act the chemo drug, wait and start again. This process works for almost everyone and it is a very tiny percentage of people that can't actually receive this chemo which is called Taxol. Also with this drug the risk of the severe nausea and vomiting is much less but the trade off is that the major side effect is severe bone and body aches and pains which usually occurs around day 7 to 10 after chemo....guess we will see what happens. Regardless, I will be more than half way done and I am thrilled about that!

A HUGE thank you to Kelly, Pat and everybody who supported "Lori's Fan Club" team at the Race for the Cure....we took 3rd place for the largest team.....not bad for the first year! More important than that was the outward and visible support that all of you provided for us...we are some of the luckiest people in the world!

As most of you know Molly graduated this past weekend. We had her party on the 16th and we had a wonderful time and a wonderful turn out. She received so many neat gifts that it makes me want to go back and live in the dorm! It is hard to believe that she is 18 years old...She is lifeguarding at the Country Club this summer and continues to work at the Knights of Columbus on Fridays. She will start IHCC in August.


I have also decided to close the scrapbooking store....it has been a wonderful thing but it is very time demanding and I need to put my energies into the glass company and our multi family housing business. There is a couple of people that are interested in re-opening it...I will know more in a few weeks.

Thanks to everybody for their prayers and continued support. I'm not very good at being "sick" so I am really hoping and praying that I will get a "pass" on the body aches and pains this next round....regardless, I have been very fortunate so far so I can't complain. Since my next treatment is Monday and Neal and I have had a committment every weekend now for months, this Saturday we are taking off for Des Moines for the day. I promised him he could go to the horse races Saturday night. It's a fairly cheap night considering he only bets $2 on a race for about 10 races...it will be nice just not having to do something....
With that I thought this poem, from one of America's favorite poets, Shel Silverstein sums it up...


So Sick

'I cannot go to school today, '
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more-that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play! '

Shel Silverstein