Hey , y'all!
I finished my second round of maintenance chemo last week. One day a week, for about 5 hours, 4 weeks duration.
Uneventful, mostly. Don't notice even much changing of taste any more. A little fatigue seems to be about it.
I will have maintenance again about July, then again January 2013, it looks like now. Then, hopefully I will have "clean scans" and be free to proceed to my next life threatening catastrophe.
I'm SO excited!
I got a couple of inquiries from people who called for me at work and were told I was in chemo. Jon said, "Steve, do you mind if I ask you a question? Are you OK?". I explained that everything was fine, the maintenance was expected and totally tolerable, all that. Then a couple days later, I got another call, from another coworker just like the first. I guess the word "chemotherapy" has such a bad connotation that people always assume the worst when they hear it. I know I always did.
The personnel at the Treatment Center has changed somewhat. The scheduler took time off after having a baby and the receptionist seems to have been replaced. Most of the nurses are the same. I have to admit it was a little off putting to go back to a spot where I felt so "comfortable" for lack of a better word and found the landscape had changed significantly. But it's all good. Life is all about change, hopefully for the better. Making new friends is ALWAYS a good thing.
Rewinding:
At Thanksgiving, we journeyed to Florida to see our old friends from the 'hood. We had a GREAT time, and it was hard to leave even though we were there a week. Austin went with us and he had a great time, too. The weather was outstanding. We went to the beach at Clearwater one day, and went to the neighborhood pools just about every other day. We are very happy for our old buds that they wound up in a place that they love. But we do miss the hell out of them.
At Christmas we had Tessa's housemates and the house mom stop over for a pizza party (Tessa was already home for the holiday). One of the girls has no living relatives, so she doesn't leave the group home at Christmas. She was very excited. One of the other girls' family takes her out only occasionally to eat, which she loves to do, so she was happy to get pizza. Julie bought them all a Christmas gift. It was actually the highlight of our Christmas to be able to share it with these young ladies.
I sure hope that some day when Julie and I are dead and gone that someone thinks to take a little time to make Austin or Tessa feel special at Christmas.
If you were raised Christian, whether you are a a person of faith when you grow up or not, I can't imagine you would ever forget how special Christmas is for a child.
Back to the present:
Tessa is doing great, she has really settled in at her 2nd home. We are very proud of her as she hasn't really missed a beat. We generally get her every other weekend. On Sunday afternoon, we make sure we prominently display her travel bag. Once she sees that, she knows she will be heading back to her other home that evening. A couple of times after she spotted her bag on display, she just went out in the garage and got in the truck... like, 'allright, if the train's leavin, let's roll, I got stuff to do!'. There really hasn't been any drama with her, and we are grateful for that.
I hope you are doing well.
