cancer update #5
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
9:32PM
Janet’s Not Fond of Cancer: Update #5…the end of chemo and radiation!
Editor’s Note: Janet’s first post about her cancer diagnosis and treatment can be found here. Janet is going to keep udating the Colony and the Colony is going to keep sending thoughts, prayers and good juju her way.
Monday: The subject today could be “Why The Nurse Wanted to Look at my Vagina in the Bathroom.” I so did not want to get hooked up or radiated today, that I was more than an hour late for my appointment. Told them I overslept…when I got there I saw the PA (her FIL’s cousin was Julia Child) and told her about the fact it HURT LIKE HELL when I peed. I was hoping for a reprieve from the radiation, and she did ask if I wanted one…but I figured it was best to soldier on. She gave me a prescription for percoset, and hopefully that will help (I dropped it off to get it filled and dicked around, only to find out the pharmacy closed at 8. Huh? Wth, that’s kind of early, no?). Life, of course, provided me with some humor in the guise of the tech named Hiney; he’s into music, and told me about going to see Levon Helm this weekend. I told him about the movie I want to see that features Jimmy Page, The Edge & Jack White and he thought that sounded amazing. Got home, watched True Blood (oh no, I hope Lafayette is ok!), made melted cheese & Vermont maple sausage on anadama toast and marinated cukes for my friend Pat for dinner (another friend called, and I jokingly told her what I’d made…she said it sounded like a pregnant woman’s cravings) and Pat & I had a nice long walk (helped me to actually sleep til 3:45 am!!!). Feeling better about things now…I was uncharacteristically depressed about the side effects. Ok, one day down, 4 more to go!
Tuesday: Still burning, but the drugs take the edge off. Can’t take them and drive tho!
Wednesday: Met with the radiation nurse, who said, “I have something to tell you that I don’t think you’re going to like.” I’m not one to panic, but several thoughts did flicker through my mind. She said: “Based on the last xrays that were taken, you’re going to need to use a vaginal dilator.” And I just totally cracked up, inside of course. She shows me this honking big one and says, “Now, how many children did you have?” Um…none, I reply and she says OH, takes back the ‘dilator’ and gets a narrower one. Man, I’m having the hardest time not laughing during this. She dives into the details of how to use it, and really, do I look that innocent? Met with the radiation doc & his resident afterward and they said everything is going well.
Thursday: Last day of radiation and bye bye chemo bag! WOOHOO!!! Today there was a therapy dog in the waiting room and she was a beauty! Half golden retriever, half husky, she looked just like a golden…but with blue eyes! She was so good with us patients, letting us pet her however long she thought we needed.
Friday: Met with the radiation doctor, who also said everything was looking good and we set up an MRI and a CT scan for October, as well as a visit with all 3 docs (chemo, radiation, surgeon). This’ll all take place the first week in October, so I have all of September off to heal.
My friend Heather came up Saturday with her boyfriend, Tim, and they stayed til Monday. It was nice to have people here, and she’s a good enough friend that she’s not a guest or company, know what I mean? Tim bonded with my dogs, Wolf & Max; I think they miss a male presence. Monday I went to see that movie, btw, and if you at all like music or guitars or the creative process…go see it! Amazing!!!
Janet is…a woman, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, twice a wife (third time’s the charm, right?), owned by a shibanu named Wolf; she’s a photographer; a lover of life, travel, food, books, movies, tattoos, the usual and unusual, and, last but not least, hopefully, a cancer survivor. Happiest with a camera in one hand and Wolf on a leash in the other, she loves exploring her surroundings and sharing what she sees. You can read more of her at her blog Fond of Snape.

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