Last week’s chemo was not as smooth as I was hoping it would be. I was pretty much out of commission for most of the weekend. In addition to the exhaustion, the main problem I’m still dealing with, is the pain in my left arm. As you can imagine, pumping poison through a vein can be pretty rough on it. I have now had 4 infusions through my left arm – with this last one being the toughest. Over the past 5 days, the pain in my arm has been so severe that it has made it difficult to do basic activities.
Because I am concerned about the potential for long term damage to my arm, I’ve made the difficult decision to put a port in my chest. So – next Wednesday, I’ll head down to Stanford for this surgery. By putting in a port in, I will protect my arms from further infusions and it should make the bi-weekly chemo infusions easier to handle. Once the chemo treatments are over, they’ll remove the port, which should leave only a small scar.
Not that there was much of a decision to be made – but making the call to schedule the surgery was very difficult for me. I’m very squeamish and even the thought of blood, veins or needles makes me woozy, but I wanted to be able to use my left arm in the long term. So, next week, I’ll subject myself to the surgeons yet again.
For some good news, on Thursday, Pat and I are headed to Las Vegas to celebrate my friend Marianne’s 40th birthday (the gal in the Clinton pics with me). Not only will it be fun to celebrate with Marianne, but this will give Pat some much deserved R&R. When I told my oncologist that I was planning to go, his comment to me with a smile on his face was “I’m glad that you can fit cancer into your schedule!”
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4 comments:
EVIE!!! I'm so sorry to hear about the ouchie arm and more surgery. Surgery sucks. And I'm with you on the sqeamishness. I never got over it.
Now, what's this about "no statistics"?!! You know how I am, I never follow the rules. So, here are some hardcore stats for you:
4/5: Ratio of People Who Know You Who Will Grin Really Big When Your Name Comes Up And Have Great Stories to Tell About You
1/5: Ratio of People Who Know You Who Won't Grin at the Mention of Your Name Because They Are Severely Lacking In Sense of Humor (or have too much botox in their face?)
99.5%: Percentage of People Who Love Being Around You, Because of Your Amazing Energy, Laugh, and Joy
(the remaining half of a percent are just jealous or intimidated)
1,000,000,000,000: Approximate Number of Prayers Being Said for You Daily
1,000,000,000: Approximate Number of Daily Hits on the YouTube Video We Just Posted of You Dancing on the Bar, Singing "I Want Your SEX" (you didn't know we had it on video, did you?)
Ok, despite all the wonderful stats I have provided you above, I would like to share with you a quote from Alex Sutton, a leading health statistician from WHOSIS, the global health organization.
"Medical statistics are constantly misapplied- used to determine prognosis in individual cases. Each case of a particular disease is a unique situation. Statistics cannot reflect each of the variables that we do know, much less can they reflect those that we have not yet recognized. Besides the fact that medical technology is advancing so rapidly, many statistics are rendered obsolete even before they can be verified."
He said that statistics are only useful in policy planning- determining how to apply resources and prioritize strategies. I'm not sure how your YouTube ranking might be useful in policy planning, but I'm sure he's right. He's really smart.
Anyhow, you are a force to be reckoned with, My Friend. I know, because I've reckoned with you so many times. ;) And I've never won.
As long as you continue to ally with your body, using every possible tool and strategy to help it do its healing work, I am confident that you will come out on the other side of this, grateful for what you have learned and how you have grown from it.
That's not to say it's all peachy keen. I know it's not. It sucks.
And for Pat, too. He's such a doll! I totally have a crush on him, you know.
Glad you two are getting some R&R in Vegas. Will you be reprising your George Michael impersonation there? When will we be able to find that on YouTube?
XOXO,
ME
Eve? On a bar singing? HOW DID I MISS THAT?!?!
I think it's ironic that Eve works for the port and now she's going to freakin' IMPLANT A PORT IN HER BODY. is that dedication or what?!?!?
Okay, I admit, I just had a shot of the tequila she bought me in Mexico. I mixed it with Key Lime soda. It was great.
Mir
Dearest Eve,
I just received your very sweet phone message. I think you said you wanted to kiss me several times. But you were slurring- probably from that Vegas hangover- so it sounded more like "kill".
And there was something about suspending my commenting privileges on this blog? Is that because of the statistics thing? Ok, I won't do anymore statistics. But can I provide links? I noticed a surge in hits to your video after posting mention of it, but a link would be even better, I think.
I hope you and your darling hubby had a super good time in Las Vegas. You are so wise to get out and play and laugh and spend time with loved ones. That will help your healing.
I'll be doing my best on Thursday to send you good strong energy for backup reserves. I know this all seems interminable. It's so violating, so disempowering, and feels so, so wrong in some ways to be allowing these strangers to be doing what they are doing to your body. It takes a lot of strength and grace to get yourself to endure it. Good thing you've got both in spades. You are amazing, Eve!
And then it will all be done, and you will be back to your life, your very good life. With your hottie husband and your darling girls. Your friends and family who love you. And all the good work you do.
Anyhow, If you want to bitch, cry, or scream to someone who can somewhat relate, feel free to give me a call anytime.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Eve's one of the bravest people I know. What a difficult decision to make! I was with her today for her surgery and she handled it with such grace. It's my hope that the worst of the chemo is behind her.
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