Laurie White’s Blog

Okay, this is a blog, not a suspense novel, so let’s get to the point. I had my second chemotherapy session. It went amazing well.

Now, the details. (And they’re not in a “click for more” section because Dad’s computer doesn’t always show the more and I want him to get all these details. Yeah, of course I called him already, but still.)

So, the day started great. I had breakfast with the ladies of the church. They are so kind and supportive. Not to mention fun! Breakfast was quite white–biscuits and gravy.

I got to go to my Scientific Inquiry class. My students are also pretty durn special (in all classes, not just SCI). It was good to spend time with them, even if we were talking about hypothesis testing.

The time at the doctor’s started slowly. My port didn’t give blood, so they had to flush it. While they were waiting for it to clear, I went to see the doctor. We played the “Find the Tumor” game. He couldn’t find it while I was sitting up and thinks that all he could find while I was laying down were the gel markers that were put in a few weeks ago.

So, it wasn’t just wishful prodding on the parts of Charlie and me. When your doctor loses at “Find the Tumor,” you’re the winner. Dr. Burns is even talking about the possibility of surgery after three treatments instead of six. (I’d still have the last three after surgery, but still, it’d be nice to cut out the cancer.)

When I got back to the chemo room, my port had cleared and the nurse was able to take blood. It took a while to get it tested, but it was good enough for treatment, so we started with three nausea drugs, then went through the three chemo drugs. It was pleasantly uneventful. I got a couple of hats crocheted. And I showed that I have a much better ability to learn than IkeGetDownFrom there. For lunch, instead of a 12 inch Spicy Italian sub, I had a respectable, bland, white, turkey sandwich.

At this point, a romance novel would say something like “Things looked to be going so well for Laurie and Charlie, but then…” But this isn’t a romance novel either, so then we came home. The worst thing I can say is I spent over 5 1/2 hours at the oncologist’s. And compared to all that could have been “the worst,” that is just not that bad.

So, we got home, walked the dog, and went out to Cancer Wellfit. I figured I’d take it easy, so walked a half mile less than usual, but went through the rest of the evening. After walking and working on the weight machines, we had an hour of Yogafit. We were a motley crew…one person had chemo two days ago and another was coming down with the flu. Martha took it very easy on us, but just being able to do simple things sure helped my mood and maybe even my body.

So, we got home, had another reasonable turkey sandwich, and are currently serving as obstacles in the war of the animals. It’s different in a good way from my first day of chemo (which really wasn’t that bad). I wasn’t nearly as afraid and had some idea what would happen. I took better care of myself and the Wellfit program is just incredible. It was good to have somewhere to go instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself and nice to have people who would be able to understand when I slacked off on some of the stretching (my port area is a bit sore, but I had a needle in it for over 5 hours, so I’m not really surprised).

And I had pears in pink jello for dessert, so there was even some non-white food in the day.

So, it may get worse in the next few days, but this second chemotherapy cycle is sure starting out well. Thanks for all your support–along with my crocheting, I brought the cards as I’ve received to remind me of all the wonderful people out there praying for me and wishing me well. As Julian of Norwich said “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Thanks y’all.