Today is chemo day, so I’ll take a few minutes to write an update. Tomorrow we are leaving for Natchitoches Louisiana for an Airstream Rally at the Christmas Festival of Lights.
#chemoday
I’m on an annual schedule for echocardiograms, mammograms, and MRIs of the brain (is that all??🫤🤔. Every three months — or sometimes a little longer — I also get the following scans. CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis, and whole body bone scan. It takes about a half day, as they access my port, inject me with the nuclear medicine and then I have to wait two hours for the bone scan (which takes 30 minutes by itself). While I’m waiting for nukes to penetrate my body, I drink the contrast and get the CT scan over with. After it’s all done, they de-access my port. I usually need a nap after all that. 🥱🥱😴
I had my usual scans on November 22, 2023. It took a little while to get the results due to Thanksgiving. Added to that my annual mammogram (left side only). Nothing to worry about, but here are the brief impressions.
CT: “There are new indeterminate less than 5 mm pulmonary nodules. This this can be evaluated with follow-up imaging. There are stable bone metastasis.”
I have several spots in my bones that show up in the scans. Most likely it is degenerative. I do have back pain, but doesn’t everybody at my age??
Bone Scan: “1. Probably stable multifocal bone metastases. 2. Slightly more prominent activity in the lower thoracic spine is favored to be degenerative rather than metastatic, recommend close attention on follow-up studies.”
Mammogram: “There is no mammographic evidence of malignancy. Follow-up mammogram in 1 year is recommended.”
I have a cold, and coughing up phlegm. I believe those are the “nodules” on my lungs. I guess we’ll see in a few months when we do the update, but I bet they will be gone by then.
All in all, still stable! Thanks again for all your prayers.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
MD Anderson, The Woodlands. They are adding more handicap parking. I was hoping it would be done by now.
Today is scan day at MD Anderson. I just checked in and I’m waiting for my first appointment…Wow…They just called my name. Much quicker than I expected. To be continued…
I’m back. I felt so frumpy 🤪😜🤪. They gave me scrubs and the pants drag the ground. Also, the nurse didn’t like the top because it was a bit tight to access the port. She gave me a gown instead, then the next person gave me a second gown to cover the gaps 🥴🤣😂 from the first gown. But “you can wear your boots” 😂🤪🥴. Yeah, I looked frumpy 🙇♀️😖 . Sorry, I missed getting a picture of that 😂😂.
I got weighed, port accessed, injected with nuclear medicine, drank the raspberry flavored contrast, had my chest-abdomen-pelvis CT scan, then my port was de-accessed. A little trouble with the port being tighter today, but they decided it was okay to go on with a slower input of contrast.
After all that, I went to the Market Place on the second floor where I currently sit. I have about 75 minutes between scans, so I ate breakfast and opened my computer.
I like sitting here because you don’t have to wear a mask while you are eating and drinking. I’m waiting for the nuclear medicine to paint my body; I’m scheduled to go back for the bone scan at 12:00 and then the mammogram at 12:35.
Tim dropped me off this morning and went to Panera Bread around the corner to work while he waits. (I’m sure his lunch will be better than mine 😂🤩.) Actually, I had brunch. Oatmeal and fruit+nut trail mix. They installed a self-pay kiosk in the Market Place, but I wanted hot tea so I went to the cashier today. It will be helpful when I want a snack and the cashier is unavailable, which is quite often!
My husband is always waiting on me. He has probably completed a million games of Solitaire on his phone while waiting for me. Two reasons I can think of that lead to him saying, “Just waitin’ on you, Babe!” First, I’m slow. Second, he’s fast!
I admit it. I’m slower than most people. I’d like to say it’s because I’m old—and I probably have slowed down even further with age—but no, I’m just slow. I have a hard time getting up when I’m sitting down. My ankles and knees take a moment to get into first gear. My steps are cautious, and I think things throughnbefore making a decision. That includes where to put my foot 😂🤪.
Tim, on the other hand, is faster than most people. He completes ten tasks in the time it takes others to complete two or three tasks. And they are done well! I don’t know how he does it. His stride is long and when he gets to thinking it speeds him up. Thinking slows me down.
Some might say we are incompatible, but we’ve learned how to adjust. It does present a challenge when we walk together, and it’s sometimes a problem when we are getting ready to go somewhere. But he has learned to adapt to my speed and sometimes (albeit rarely), I speed up to match his stride.
After nearly forty of years of marriage, his mantra never changed. I doubt it ever will. “Just waitin’ on you, Babe!”
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
We ordered all these books while we were on the road in October. I was so happy when they arrived at the KOA safe and sound! The top four are the rest of The Walk series, in sequential order. The bottom one, The Secret History, is for our December book club meeting. I wanted to get an early start, as it is a doozy. I finished the book a few days after our November meeting!
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is an intriguing murder mystery novel. I was captivated after reading the prologue, which tells you that someone nicknamed Bunny will be murdered, and Richard (the character telling the story in first person point of view) was at least partly responsible for his death. Wikipedia calls this an “inverted detective story” also known as a “howcatchem.”
It’s not very often I start a book and have trouble putting it down, but this one was just such a book. Psychologically thrilling and intriguing as well. I was thankful the book is a work of fiction, but the story did seem plausible.
I started reading it in October, as I had finished our November club book quickly, and went on to read this heftier novel. It has over 550 pages, and small print at that. I finished it about a week ago, just after our November meeting.
I think this book could be made into a movie, although there are a few scenes I wish the author would have deleted. Those scenes did show you how depraved this group could be. The plot was quite involved.
Also, there is a lot of alcohol and drug use in this book. It is a college scene, after all, but are all college students thatbad? I went to a small Christian liberal arts college for my undergraduate degree, so was probably a bit more sheltered. The worse thing I remember happening was the panty raid when all my underwear went missing. They were found, á mon grand et total embarras (to my complete and utter embarrassment), strung up in a public place. I’m pretty sure I know who did that. 😂😂
I thought the setting as well as the plot of this book were both very interesting. The plot had several twists and turns. You don’t even experience Bunny’s death until half-way through, as the entire book to that point is building the characters and providing a foundation for how this could possibly happen. At one point you could nearly be convinced that he has to die! From there you see how his death affects the other players, as they are waiting to see how the police and FBI are going to handle the case.
I thought I had it all figured out, but then the book deviated and meandered around corners I didn’t know existed. A flurry of emotions kept popping up, but mostly frustration at the stupidity (yes, stupid geniuses), and all the poor choices made throughout the book. I just wanted to slap some of the characters. Come on, don’t do THAT! Maybe it is a product of their age, but they had no foresight into possible consequences for their actions until much later. Nearly all of the characters go through a mental health crisis in the second half of the book, as they one by one begin to experience the repercussions of their actions. There’s a lot to be said about thinking ahead.
The main characters are six college students at an elite liberal arts college called Hampden, located in Vermont (I fact-checked to see if it really exists. While Hampden College is fictitious, Tartt attended Bennington College between 1982-1986, and patterned her book after this school). The six students are all part of a very small, prestigious clique of what I would consider genius level intelligent students of the classics, who are also learning to speak in multiple languages including ancient Greek. They have one professor. I looked up The Secret History on Wikipedia, which you could do if you don’t mind spoilers. Apparently this book, published in 1992, helped popularize “the growth of the dark academia literary sub-genre.” (I learned a new thing today.)
Several times I was forced to pull out my dictionary to check definitions, as well as my translator to look up the Greek, Latin, and French which the students used to communicate between themselves in public settings. I think it helps that the author actually attended a similar school, and probably had some training in the classics. Since I didn’t, I wouldn’t really know if the things they described could be for real, but it could be. I had to skim over some of the philosophical discussions, as it got pretty deep and a bit over my head. Their professor is a bit far-fetched. Who gets an entire building endowed to them, so they can teach just five students? Yeah, right.
I had to learn the characters, which were so many it confused me at first. To help with this, I made associations. Basically, I assigned famous people to each of the main characters based on the author’s descriptions, and how I viewed them.
A young Johnny Depp was who I pictured as Henry, if you imagine him to be a few inches taller wearing an expensive English suit, round glasses, and sporting a mysterious façade. Henry seemed capable of talking anyone into anything. He was rich and used his money as a means of manipulation and control. He started to remind me of a cult leader by the end of the book. I think Johnny Depp could really bring this character to life.
Gru from the Despicable Me animated series immediately came to mind for Francis, but since he doesn’t have any hair and is a cartoon character after all, I looked online for red-headed actors. When I saw this picture of Benedict Cumberbatch my mind said, “yes, that’s it!” He’s a natural ginger, believe it or not.
Christina Ricca sans her gothic persona fits nicely for Camilla, who is a twin to Charles; they are two of the six. Charles reminds me of Rami Malek (below) who incidentally studied Greek, and is an identical twin himself. This is something else I just learned! He would need to lighten his hair to a dark blonde, but I could see these two as a pair of twins in the story.
I think Bunny could be played by Owen Wilson, as he is a bit more comical. Owen would make a good Bunny, as he is the jokester in the group, and he knows how to make people laugh. I see that with Owen. Bunny can get serious when he needs to, though, and eventually his discontent with the rest of the clique is what leads to his demise.
Emma Chambers (left) or perhaps moreso Heather Matarazzo (Lilly in the Princess Diaries below) is who I pictured for Judy Poovey, the somewhat absent-minded neighbor who doesn’t enter the picture until a few (long) chapters in.
Richard was telling the story, and I imagine he would look like Eddie Redmayne since he grew up wearing freckles, with intentionally messy hair. He was not rich, so anything fancy came from years of hard work and savings. I found this picture of Redmayne on the left, which reminds me of Richard in the beginning of the story, while the one below would come later as he seems a bit disturbed by something he has just done.
Lastly, we can’t forget one of the premier characters, the one who started the school of Classics, and has a substantial influence over his very select group of students, Julian. Donald Sutherland is who I picture when I think of Julian. He is an extremely intelligent faculty, knowing several languages and works of philosophy as well as other classic literature. He can be endearing toward his students, while at the same time aloof and uninvolved. One might think he instigated the murder of Bunny, or at least encouraged the activities that lead to his death. But he doesn’t take accountability and removes himself from any connection. He is an interesting character, of which I could never fully resolve.
Okay, I’m showing my age. Most of these would not likely pass as a 20-something aged college student, so we’d have to get some much younger actors to play their roles. But it helped this old bird keep them straight! Anyway, you get the idea. If you’ve read the book, who would you cast as these characters?
I won’t tell you how Bunny died, or whodunnit or how they did it, or why, (although you will learn in the brief Prologue that Richard was an accessory and Henry was the instigator. You’ll also know how he died), but I will say if there is one moral to the story, it could be summed up in the following.
Bad Company Corrupts Good Character.
1 Corinthians 15:33
That’s all I have to say about that.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
We read this entire book in one day, as we were traveling with the Airstream from New Carlisle OH to Franklin TN. Well, I read and Tim listened. It kept us company along the path and we finished right when we pulled into a hotel (after deciding not to stay at the campground we had booked). We liked The Walk so much we bought the whole series, for other trips. We actually read the second one on another long day. Two down, three to go. This review is on the first book in the series.
The Walk, by Richard Paul Evan, while it was a simple and easy read, captivated our imagination. It begged us to keep turning pages as we read. In some pages it could be a little cheesy, but at the same time it was heartwarming. We liked the main character, Alan, who has decided to fill his brand new backpack and walk from Seattle Washington to Key West Florida (because it was the furthest designation) after losing everything of value to him. He is an ad guy, and he was gifted the highest quality camping gear for doing their campaign. We were a little jealous of his gear. For some, the “coincidences” might seem unbelievable, but to a believer they could be acts of the Holy Spirit. We love adventure, and since we have been to the area where he was walking in this book, it was easy to “see” the cities he passed through.
It was a little awkward and disjointed how the author decided to write the story. At the beginning of each (short) chapter, there is a quote from Alan’s diary. Then he proceeds to tell the story; however, it is unclear at first whether the author is telling the story or if it is the character Alan’s travel journal. It is written in first person point of view, and it is Alan’s story, and we eventually got used to his writing style.
He only makes it to Spokane Washington in this book, and we felt like the author could have written the whole story into one book, rather than dividing it into a series of five. We were curious to read about the rest of the journey, so we did purchase the whole series. It’s the first time we have had anything shipped to our campsite, so this was kind of a trial run, but we had a lot of road left to travel so we took the risk. It worked out just fine. We were staying in a KOA in Little Rock for a few days. Even though we thought it could have been a single novel, The Walk is an easy read and in some ways it’s gratifying to know you can read the whole novel in a day.
We rated it 8.5 out of 10.
Not everyone in my book club liked it. I think the Scriptures contained within might have put some people off (the author is Mormon), or they didn’t think the story was believable, so a few people rated it lower. Overall our group liked the book, however; and we had some deeper discussions than our typical book club. For example, he meets a man with no arms who is looking for a book with all the answers. We had a lot of deep thoughts about whether we would like to have “all the answers.” Great discussion. For that reason I felt like it was a book worth reading. Here’s what my book club had to say about it, courtesy of our leader.
“Ten of us gathered at Canopy to discuss our November book The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. It was definitely an easy read but there were a lot of differing opinions of the book. Some people didn’t believe Alan’s story to be real. Some of us thought the journal entry in each chapter was written by Alan but the chapter was written by the author which was confusing at first. Several felt a connection to Alan in his journaling and his journey with grief and loss. We all agreed that we would like an answer book and answers to why things happen to us. As a group of survivors and caregivers, we agreed that going through our journey changes your perception and how you treat people. Our overall rating is 7.0.”
Our December 13th book is The Secret History by Donna Tart. I have already finished this one as I started it after we finished The Walk. I’ll give you my review after our December meeting.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
Things you might hear while waiting for MDACC nurses to call your name for chemo… (Old cowboy wearing boots and hat, on his phone with a stereotypical Texas drawl):
“I have a .22 and I was wondering if you have a night vision and scope, and can you put it on there?” 😂😂
Long chemo day. One bag down, one to go. Whenever I go more than three (Trastuzumab) or six (Pertuzumab) weeks without treatment, we have to reload. That means one bag is an hour instead of thirty minutes and the second bag is ninety minutes instead of thirty. It’s been a while since I had to reload, so I kinda forgot how long it was. The infusion time is in addition to accessing the port, flushing, heparin and de-accessing the port, with a prayer that we get good blood return or additional processes have to take place. My appointment was scheduled for 12:30. I’m still here at 3:13, and just started on the ninety minute bag.
Before lunch I also saw my oncologist and his nurse, who were particularly chatty today, about books, family stuff, Netflix series and they were eager to hear about our Airstream trip. And of course we discussed medical updates, time for scans, yada yada. Honestly, I enjoy seeing them. It’s like visiting with old friends every time I go in. Today is the first time I have seen their faces without masks for over three years. (They took them off inside the room.) That was an especially nice change of pace!
Before the doc was the blood draw, which took a while to get in. This first visit to the building came with an interesting surprise as well. Funny how much can change in just a few weeks; we were greeted by large, green construction fences all along the north(?) wall. They are expanding their handicapped parking next to the building. They should have done that all along. Apparently the patients were complaining about having to walk too far from the current handicapped parking. I’m happy. More spaces for me as well.
As if that isn’t enough, we got up early this morning to take our son to the airport and then Tim went to the dermatologist (he needs another biopsy) while I sat in Panera Bread and read my book and ate breakfast. We decided to drive together, which Tim might be regretting now that he has decided to sit here in the room with me. Usually he drops me off and picks me up, a habit we never changed after the pandemic.
❤️❤️ He decided to sit with me. ❤️❤️
This evening, I’m taking two of my grandkids to dinner while Tim will be in a church meeting. We will wrap up the day saying hello to our overnight guests, who are staying at our house while we all go to the Texas General Assembly meetings this weekend.
Whew. 🥴
Funny how you can have a whole week without much to do, and then multiple things seem to all converge on the same day. Has that ever happened to you, or is it just me? That’s the way of life sometimes. Keeps us on our toes, for sure. I’m just grateful to the good Lord for giving me the energy to do it all, tenacity to keep going, and a passion for enjoying life.
Might be time for a nap. I do have my pillow and blanket while getting infused, after all. 🤪🤩😁🥴
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”
Isaiah 40:29; Psalm 28:7 (NIV)
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!
