Good Times!

February 29, 2012

So I'm now in chemo-week 3, which will mark my 1/2 way through this ordeal! However, I thought I would use this entry to document some moments over my 2 "off weeks" that can actually be classified as good times.

My good friend Scott Wilson graciously offered me to accompany him on his latest business trip to NY! I will jump at any chance to go see the girls, so I accepted the offer, although I was a bit concerned out my energy would hold up.We were there from Monday through Thursday, and my only low energy day was Wednesday. It was a fantastic trip and I had a lot of time to hang out with the girls. We ate at some amazing health restaurants such as:
- Bareburger (grass-fed beef with gluten-free buns!)
- Green Symphony (health foods and green juice)

Watching Hugo in 3D!

Playing Pool with the Gang

- Whole Food Buffet Meal

- Enjoying popcorn at the movies with Mr. Wilson

- Cruising the city with the Burrows Girls!

Additional good times included my first manicure (yeah - I admit it).

We got to the airport rather early and Scott talked me into getting a 10-minute manicure. I resisted at first but then gave in - and actally enjoyed it! My nails have never looked so good. Next step: pedicure!

So I'm now back at my 3rd chemo week, but just to show it's not all bad, here is a shot of me enjoying a complimentary foot massage at the clinic.

As a topping to these good times, Julia came out to visit me for chemo week! She has accompanied me to each of my chemo sessions and has cooked many gormet meals for me to enjoy. I am definitely getting spoiled!

Goals for the next couple of weeks:
- Finish taxes (yuck)
- Compose a blues song (possibly with chemo being the theme)
- Start the Artist's Way program (Author: Julia Cameron)

Love you all - thanks for following my journey and for all your supportive feedback!

Ron

Chemo Week 2...and Pho Soup

Friday February 10th,

By the title of this blog, many of you may believe that my sanity is slowly slipping away. This may indeed be true, but read on...

So Chemo Week 2 kicked my butt! Nausea, extreme tiredness, and all around feeling like poop! (Note - modified word from original draft...) If I initially had any thoughts of breezing through the treatment, those thoughts are definitely gone. On the other hand, so far it's not as bad as typically depicted in movies such as the Bucket List which show Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman frantically clinging to the commode - well, you get the picture!

I also found myself becoming very irritable and short-tempered, with very specific appetite desiires. Here are a couple lists for your enlightenment:

Food I do NOT want to eat but made to eat by my loving and knowledgeable wife:
- A fresh vegetable juice conconction with every imaginable grain, health powder, Goji berry, etc. etc. added to have the consistancy of a soup!
- Soups that contain not only every vegetable known to man, but with seaweed added!
- No less than 20 vitamin supplements.
- A gallon of water. (Ok this is an exaggeration, but I feel like a fish).

Food I want to eat:
- Pho Soup

For those of you that haven't experienced the joy of this Vietnamese soup sensation, stop reading this blog, look up Pho Soup on Google and find the nearest restaurant. It is very simple: a beef broth over rice noodles with thin strips of rare beef that cook right in the soup. Add garnishments of mint leaves, bean sprouts, and a killer red sauce to top off.

For some reason, even with an upset stomach, this is the most soothing food to me right now and has the ability to alter my mood to one of serinity and satisfaction. (Wait...this sounds a bit like bordering on addiction).

Anyway - enough of this diversion about food. One thing of note this week: after my "chemo-bag" disconnect on Friday (Liberation Day for me), I went out to see the musical "Man of La Mancha" with my good friend and adopted daughter, Jessica Wilson. I am not normally an emotional man (ask Cheryl)...but one of the strange side-effects of the chemo is a very heightened base of emotions. Although I tried my best to hide it, I cried like a baby during the grandiose and heroic proclamations of Don Quixote de La Manacha in To Dream the Impossible Dream, and proclaiming his undying love for the barmaid Aldonza, whom he only sees as beautiful, virtuous, someone to go into battle and die for, and whom he renamed "Dulcinea"!

Sorry if you were embarrassed Jessica!!!

Well, enough said in this blog. Looking forward to 2 chemo-free weeks. Will post if something else exciting happens such as I discover a new entree!

Love you all!

Ron

Chemo Brain!

Thursday, February 2nd.

What is Chemo Brain?
According to the American Cancer Society, Chemo Brain is:
- Forgetting things that they usually have no trouble recalling (memory lapses)
- Trouble concentrating (they can’t focus on what they’re doing, have a short attention span, may “space out”)
- Trouble remembering details like names, dates, and sometimes larger events
- Taking longer to finish things (disorganized, slower thinking and processing)
- Trouble remembering common words (unable to find the right words to finish a sentence)

So here are a few things that happened today:
- I went to the Mail Room to buy some movie tickets, and I couldn't for the life of me remember my Employee ID - the same one I've had for 8 years at the company.
- While leaving work, I went down to my motorcycle in the garage as usual, but this time I put my shoes (with special orthodics), new coat, and company iPad in a different saddlebag compartment than normal, and left for home. When I got home and opened the usual compartment, guess what - all these items were missing! My immediate response was to panic. I called Russell at work and confessed that I had left the iPad, shoes, and coat on the back of my motorcycle and could he go down to the garage and check if it fell off. Well he not only checked there, but walked about 1/2 mile down to Jamboree to check if it had fallen off! He called me with the sad news that alas, they were not there, nor were they in the company Lost and Found.

As I'm really dependent upon my orthodics, I immediately went to Runner's High and purchased another pair, all the way lamenting on the loss of my precious iPad, my ECCO shoes, and my new coat that Jenae bought me. Well, about 1 block from home, I had a flash of what I had really done, and was overjoyed to find all my stuff in the "other" saddlebag.

So after apologizing profusely to Russell, I realized that I was ready to take some time off work. This just confirms what MANY of my friends and co-workers have been advising me to do. Rather than trying to cope with the stress of undergoing therapy and continually trying to keep up at work, I think it's fair for both me and my job to take Leave of Absence.

I honestly don't know how I'm going to cope with all of the free time I will have, but I'm definitely going to start with creating a "Bucket List" and checking off all I can. I am anxious to see what God has in store for me over the next few months.

As always, I'll keep y'all posted.