Just when I thought I’d experienced pretty much everything I was going to with this cancer stuff. Then, without warning, my guts are hanging out. Literally. (Yuck. Even the name – “prolapsed stoma” – sounds disgusting!) I’ve been doing really well lately, feeling better, gaining weight, keeping busy. Then, last Thursday I noticed my stoma [...]
Archive for the ‘Journal Entries’ Category
Prolapsed Stoma
Posted in Journal Entries, Misc, tagged hernia, prolapse, sheep, stoma on June 3, 2010 | 14 Comments »
Acupuncture Treatment
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged acupuncture, chemotherapy, moxa, needles, side effects on May 26, 2010 | 2 Comments »
About a month ago, I had my very first acupuncture treatment (ever!). For years now I’ve heard and read about how helpful acupuncture can be, especially for symptoms that don’t always respond well to traditional Western medicine. But I was so put off by the whole idea of getting stuck with a bunch of needles, [...]
Wellness Workshop
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged cancer survivor, collage, creativity, perfection, wellness workshop on May 19, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Over the weekend, I attended a wellness workshop for cancer survivors hosted by the St. Vincent Cancer Center. Marla, the center’s social worker, had invited me ages ago, even before I thought to call myself “a survivor.” But as the workshop date approached, I found I was a little reluctant to go. I couldn’t really [...]
Mother’s Day
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged accordion, Café Paris, Christ Church Santa Fe, french restaurant, Mother's Day on May 9, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Spent the early part of the day with my mom to celebrate Mother’s Day together – something we’ve only been able to do since she moved to Santa Fe a few years ago. Before that, we mostly had to settle for a card and a phone call (okay, sometimes I’d send a small gift). I [...]
Chemo Completed!
Posted in Appointments, Journal Entries, tagged adjuvant chemotherapy, aspen, chemo treatment, crabapple, side effects, trees, Xeloda on May 5, 2010 | 4 Comments »
I got the nod from Dr. Fekrazad yesterday – it’s OK to call it quits with chemo!! I’ve been leaning in the direction of stopping for several weeks now. I finished my 5th round last week – and I decided “enough is enough” when my hands were so bad that I couldn’t open the yogurt [...]
Hand-and-Foot Syndrome
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged acupuncture, chemotherapy, hand and foot syndrome, side effects, Xeloda on April 24, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Well, I can’t quite believe I’ve gone 10 days without blogging! What’s up with that? Truth be told, I’ve been back on the roller-coaster of feeling good one day, crappy the next, terrible the next, then somewhat okay again…only to start the whole process over in some variation of the theme. I’m sorry to have [...]
Endurance
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged angels, assemblage angels, chemo treatment, marathon, running, Xeloda on April 14, 2010 | 5 Comments »
More and more, I’m finding that living with chemotherapy is really an elaborate form of endurance. I’ve never been a runner, and I’ve never entered a race, but I’m going to use a running analogy here – so forgive me if you’re a runner and I get some of the details wrong… Last fall, when [...]
Tribute
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged Easter, grandparents, wedding anniversary on April 4, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Today would have been the 79th wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, Ruth Cole and Vernon Wertz. They were married on April 4, 1931 in Washington, D.C. with only one other couple present (“to stand up for them” as Grammy would say) in a church filled with Easter lilies in preparation for the next day’s [...]
Chemo Reality
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged assemblage angels, chemotherapy, creativity, play, side effects, Xeloda on March 24, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Recently, as I was going through my stash of old sheet music looking for inspiration and something interesting to use in the creation of one of my assemblage angels, I came across a piece with the words “con fermezza” – an instruction to the musician to “play with firmness.” For some reason this idea appealed [...]
Colostomy Blow-Out!
Posted in Journal Entries, tagged baby oil, colostomy bags, cooking spray on March 10, 2010 | 7 Comments »
I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. But I somehow had the illusion that it wouldn’t happen to me! I had a HUGE blow-out with my colostomy bag. Thankfully, I was at home when it happened. It was bad. REALLY BAD. I was sitting at the computer when I realized something had happened, so [...]
