I received a phone call from the ENT-Surgeon today.  He and my oncologist huddled up and gave me their recommended course of action:  Tonsillectomy, allowing a full biopsy of the cancerous tissues which will eventually lead to a definitive course of action post surgery. I am now scheduled for surgery on November 5th.  We have […]

And.. here we are again… Most of you know already… it doesn’t take long for information to spread in this modern age… especially with two teenage daughters. 🤨 My MOTHER does NOT know yet. Please do not tell her, as she is on the tail end of her vacation in Greece. We will tell her […]

Cancer number THREE: Papillare carcinoma in the left side of my thyroid.   WTF! Just when I thought the world great and God was smiling on me, I get slapped in the neck with this crap. I was hoping – really hoping – that the biopsy would be the worst of this, but …. WHAT […]

Well, now. Where to start.  Where we left off? Yes. That sounds about right.  I apologize for taking so long – I am like that weird uncle that keeps everyone guessing. 😀 The last four months have been insane. My final dose of chemo (actually Rituxan) was on December 6, 2016.  Body felt the same […]

Wow. It really HAS been over six since my last blog post.   There have been some amazing moments since my last blog on September 1.  Some sad, most beautiful.  Most of you know most of it, some of you do not and some I have forgotten due to what I will attribute to Chemo […]

And a GREAT way to start the month of September!   The doctor called with my PET and CT scan results – all four areas where there was lymphatic cancer  have decreased in numbers (size) and the lung nodule (which has also decreased in size) is probably caused by inflammation – not cancer related.  Great […]

A bit nervous this week.  I am scheduled for my mid-treatment PET and CT scans tomorrow.

Today’s Rituxan and Bendamustine treatments went smoothly – without any problems.  We were out of Penn Medicine at Radnor by 3pm.  Record Time. What I wanted to post on today’s blog was what’s been happening to me physically and a bit mentally in the past four weeks since my last treatment.   Three days after […]

In my previous blog posts, I mentioned the names of the drugs that I was being administered, but never explained their purpose.  Today’s post is a short bio-chemistry lesson folks, and since we don’t have direct access to Father Ferrence at Bonner, Wikipedia references will have to do.  We’ll call this Bio-Chemistry 101. Rituxan:  Rituxan […]

Wow! What a difference twenty-eight days can make! Today’s Rituxin / Bendamustine infusions went smoothly. Very smoothly – thanks to the one week Claritin and two day Prednisone pretreatment… The Rituxin was administered in just five hours without any drawbacks as was a quick 45 minute Bendomustine drip which followed immediately. I’m not as jittery as […]

Today, I am at a routine follow-up visit at the surgeon’s office (from the appendix surgery).  While in the waiting room; I got to talking to an older but  all around healthy looking gentleman with a very noticeable Irish brogue.  Most of you know that I’m the talkative / conversational type – I got to […]

MOVING DAY : Today we are moving the majority of our STUFF out of our home (of almost 16 years) into storage and my in-laws.  It is very bitter-sweet.  We brought 3 babies home; lived, loved, laughed and cried a lot;   talked, whispered, and yelled a lot – all in that little home.  It will […]