Happy Mother's Day

This past weekend Dylan babysat with Tyler and Jenna Friday night while Megan and Alex attended a play in Towson. Jenna adores her "uncadin" as she pronounces his name. Saturday night I babysat while they went to a 3-band venue in Balto with two other couples. I spent the night and Dylan brought newly groomed Ditto over on Sunday. Megan and Alex prepared a waffle bar brunch. While the kids napped, Alex got topsoil and mulch and then he and Dylan spread it around out front of their house, preparing for Jenna's birthday party next Sunday. After Dylan had to leave for work, I watched the kids while Megan and Alex trimmed shrubs and broken tree limbs at the back. Got a lot accomplished. Dylan had gotten some huge ceramic planters for our deck and we went out Saturday to pick up plants and herbs that he set out in pots around the new deck. It looks great, especially with the new white painted adirondack chairs, stools and table Dylan placed on the front overlooking the bike path across the street. Megan framed this photo Alex had taken for me.

New port stubborn

On May 2 went to Weinberg's Outpatient Clinic to have the new port accessed and blood drawn. While still someone sore, nurses got both medial and lateral areas accessed. But no blood. Laid down, stood up, coughed, turned head, just about all but standing on my head. Nothing worked. So they shot both full of TPA (kinda rotor rooter fluid to clear the pipes). After 20 minutes, both lines gave blood. Yeah. So I don't have to write my surgeon a nasty note. I had told him to insert a GPS disk so when I'm old an senile Megan can find me. He said they didn't have them yet for people, just dogs/cats. Bummer.

Drugs and prone in bed good

My friend Ellen took me to Mercy's new Bunting Center surgery floor for my port replacement surgery 4/25/11. Great facilities and wonderfully helpful nurses/staff. Right port had gotten infected so it was removed and new one put in on the left side. You're given a coded name so Ellen could to see exactly where I was on a color-coded monitor in the waiting room. When she went to grab something to eat on another floor, she was given a beeper. Also had the key to a locker in which she had stored all my clothes, etc. Went home with a prescription for oxocodone. While it was being filled, we grabbed an early light dinner (my first food of the day) and then went back to pick up the pills. My cleaning lady had been home that day so I slipped into clean sheets, fluffy pillows and oxycodone. Ellen easily convinced me not to go to work the next day. Ended up staying home Wednesday too. Felt better except for my right knee pained me. Don't know why because I'd been off of it for 3 days. But without the oxy, I was able to take ibuprofen which helped the knee. Not fair that you get one part fixed and another part deteriorates.

Need port replacement

After a round of Keflex antibiotic followed by another 7-day series of Bactrim, still appear to have a low-grade infection in the area around my right-side port. Dr. Fitzpatrick, the surgeon who inserted the original port 10/8/08, decided I needed a new port installed on the left side. As soon as he gets back from the Boston area where he's watching his son complete in lacrosse this coming weekend, he'll schedule the out-patient procedure. The old one will be taken out, discarded, the area cleaned and sewn back up. Good thing I no longer wear low-cut blouses. Am headed to Weinberg this afternoon in 78 degree weather for a blood draw to check my numbers. Next avastin scheduled for 4/21/11 followed by a CT scan. A dear friend of Lloyd's and mine, Bill Dawson, died last Thursday of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood that also took my mother in 1956.

No, thank you

Jenna continues to give me joy. Saturday after a lovely brunch at Eggspectation with Ellen, I went to Columbia to spend time with my grandkids. After naps Tyler went with Alex to get a birthday gift for a friend and Jenna stayed home with Megan and me. While we were all in the family room, Jenna stood still and looked at me. I knew what she was doing. I said, "Jenna, are you pooping?" She looked at me and said, "No, thank you." I cracked up.

Monday afternoon I went to Weinberg for my usual blood draw follow-up to check numbers 11 days after an avastin treatment. My blood pressure was down to 125 which is great because avastin tends to push it up higher. Predicted downpours didn't materialize so that was good as it was pouring the last time I drove back from Mercy. Celebrated by baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies while fast-forwarding thru much of the excess on Dancing with the Stars opener.

Buster rest in peace

Had my 28th treatment of avastin yesterday, with orders signed by Dr. Im for two more: the next one on 3/31 and then on 4/21, when I have my 30th treatment in the morning and a CT scan scheduled for 1 pm. Yesterday's CA125 was 114.1, the same number it was at my last treatment on 2/17.

Rainstorm hit our area so it was awful driving to Baltimore and back. Cancelled dinner plans because it was drenching rains with 9 knot winds. Got gas for car ($3.38/gal), Panera take-home for dinner, and picked up "Unbroken" on reserve for me at the library. Let dogs out when I went home, ate my soup with them both beside me hoping for hand-outs. Then went thru mail, paper and DVRed shows. Went to bedroom to feed the dogs and found Buster, our lovely old (possibly 17) buff cocker, dead on the rug. He had been blind and deaf for many years, but had been failing in recent months. Concerned I'd have to put him down, he made the decision for me.

Dylan buried him not too far from our original dog, Darwin. The pound estimated Buster's age as 6 months when we got him in the fall of 1994 so I listed his birth date as 4/1/94. Megan, who started college that fall, remembers that he loved to run on the bike path with her. Dylan, in junior high school, had seen him in a corner cage and wanted him. Buster had obviously just been groomed so we were surprised when no one claimed him. He was so happy to go home with us, he jumped all over the inside of the car. Buster be missed.

And the beat goes on

I've been getting flack lately for not keeping my blog current. Sorry. Initially I planned to wait until I got the results back from the latest CT scan. I got busy. Good news is that the latest results were "stable exam; no evidence of disease progression. However one of the nodes showed "slightly larger mass in the right diaphragmatic surface." We're talking 0.1 cm growth on one and 0.1 cm smaller on another. The radiologist terms this "stable." But I still don't like that anything is moving up rather than down in any mm of size. Also the CA 125 continues to go up and down between the low 90s and 119. Normal is under 35 so this means there's some nastiness still "alive." Positive side no one seems worried and there are potions still in Dr. Im's arsenal to use should things go south.

Am buoyed by Phil's prediction of an early spring. After getting 3 inches of icy snow Monday night, this can't happen soon enough. Daffodils are struggling to emerge in my yard but ground is littered with twigs/limbs down from trees when heavy snows/winds have hit.

Daughter Deborah, husband Hugh and 16-yr-old granddaughter Perrin are down this week looking at DC/Balto area colleges she might want to attend as a polysci/international relations major. Megan took the week off to join them in checking schools. While Tyler and Jenna have a way to go before they look into colleges, it gives her a view of other area offerings.