11/10/2010

Started session 8 today and creatinine still low at 2.99. I don't have my Mayo schedule yet but they are working on it.

We had a great Thanksgiving thanks to Fox & Obel Caterers and Matt and my Mom who managed the bird and most of the cleanup. This has never been one of my favorite holidays because it is so labor intensive on both the front and back end but I must say I was really able to enjoy it this year.

Matt is thankful that my creatinine is a 3.0 or lower and that all the boys have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. I was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC the day before Thanksgiving and Donald Trump was on. I was thankful for the excuse of velcade and steroids to explain why I actually thought he made sense. Shades of Ross Perot. Scary!!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day and managed to find something to be thankful for even if that meant only surviving the holiday.

11/17/2010

Just finished session 7 yesterday and creatinine was at 2.97. I am still not noticing a change regarding my appearance regarding the steroids but I am still on them and I've been on them for so long Dr. Gregory assures me it takes time.

We will be hosting Thanksgiving here but as it is my least favorite holiday (way too much work) we've decided to cater it (although we will cook the bird). Also with 3 dishwashers cleaning up is easier. If it won't go into a dishwasher I don't want to own it.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

11/10/2010

I haven't been too good about posting lately but that does not mean things aren't going well. I caught a cold last week so stayed in all weekend and have managed to keep it under control.

In the past when I have been fighting any illness or infection my creatinine has bumped up but my number this Tuesday was once again a 3.

I am still treading water and waiting for my trip to Mayo in January so there really isn't much to say. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in my appearance since being on less steroids so I'm still suffering from Body Dysmorphic Disorder. If things go well at Mayo I am hoping to get off all this stuff and give my body a break. At this point I'd just be happy with a couple of months although years would be great.

10/29/2010

My sister-in-law Alexandra sent this to me and I couldn't agree more so I thought I'd share.

Subject: A thought to share

a thought to share... I like this...

Someone had just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The
last lecture was on the mind-body connection--the relationship between
stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford)
said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could
do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one
of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her
relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he
was serious.



Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems
that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life
experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to
create more serotonin--a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression
and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings
whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely
sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain
things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports?
Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their
feelings?--rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our
souls with our sisters, and evidently that is very good for our
health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important
to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing
something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with
friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively
engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and
maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as
dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang
out to schmooze with a gal pal or sister, just pat yourself on the back
and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health!
We are indeed very very lucky.

Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends/sisters.
Evidently it's very good for our health.

10/27/2010

Sometimes I feel a little bipolar. Recently I feel like I have been going through a low period but now as I continue to adjust to less steroids I am on the upswing. I have taken control of the things that I can and that has been a huge weight off my shoulders. My office which is much more than that had gotten completely out of control to the point where I was so overwhelmed by the chaos I literally couldn't go into it. It was such a mess I didn't know where to start. At the suggestion of my dear friend DTS I hired this fabulous woman to come in and help me organize. Four exhausting days later you wouldn't recognize the place. This has totally translated into my brain feeling more organized and less chaotic. Controlling the things I can is empowering and calming.

Yesterday I started session 7 of 8 on chemo. My creatine is at 2.96. This is the first time it has been below 3 since the BMT. Maybe Amy has decided to take a vacation after all. I am thrilled and hopeful. Before we backed off the steroids I was not in a good place. I not only didn't look good but I felt awful. I was pretty convinced I was sacrificing my kidneys to some extent by cutting back on the steroids but I was willing to take the risk to feel better. Thankfully that has not been the case.

I tend to temper my optimism so if or when things don't go as expected I am not devastated but it's a little harder this time to not get excited.

10/20/2010

No chemo this week so no numbers but feeling well.

10/12/2010

Just a quick update from chemo today. Creatinine 3.1. Yipee! Dare I hope that all those nasty steroids gave my kidneys a chance to stabilize? It's hard not to get kind of excited.