round 4

round 4 is in the books.

my liver levels are holding steady.

the only thing that came up today was that my potassium level was low. i wasn't surprised by that one as i had some wicked charlie horses in the middle of the night a couple of times last week. so i have been eating some bananas which have helped, amazing how those bananas can quickly help with muscle spasms.

the swelling is a little better due to the meds i started two weeks ago. hopefully it will continue to get better as more time goes by. i am on the lowest dose possible so that i don't have other side effects start to increase, so i guess i can tolerate the swelling in order to not have some of those side effects added into the current mix of fun.

my mouth is still like the sahara desert but i have found some lemon drops that help to break up the monotony of tea and water on a non-stop basis and get my saliva glands working for a few minutes. i seriously don't know how camels do it. but i feel like i could totally hang out with them at this point. dry mouth, moving slow, yep -- pretty much belong with them these days.

i haven't lost too much hair recently which is good news. i got my hair cut on friday and my hair angel jeremy and i were high-fiving that i still had hair to cut. oh the little victories, you have to celebrate them along the way.

since my legs hurt so bad, i haven't been getting out to do much any walking/running. actually i haven't done too much exercise at all since surgery in february because by the time i recovered from that we were into the treatment starting, and then the steroid phase hit and there went my summer.

so you know me. my legs hurt. they are swollen. it hurts to do much at all.

so of course i needed a good goal.

i signed up for a 5k run in december.

because if my legs are going to hurt, they might as well hurt while i am running with them.

right? right.

so last weekend i got my first walk in for a few miles, and plan to make it happen a couple of times this week too to work back up to running. i got zero walking in last weekend since stormapalooza was in effect here and i am not going to run in the rain and chance getting sick. my immune system needs to fight the tumors, not a cold. so when the weather cooperates i am all about it.

i read this article by tom brokaw last week and thought it was so well written (which was not a surprise because look who it was written by). i could relate to a lot of what tom talked about in the article. maybe like every word. and of course you know that i loved the last line.

like tom says, cancer hasn't been invited to a lot of things around here lately either. pumpkin patch trip. reading books. tickle fights. camp out nights. a lot of laughter. trips to the library. making some crafts. watching project runway. watching the voice and cheering on the singers (btw, is anyone else besides me so excited about the cartoon movie "sing" that comes out at christmas? can't wait). teaching art to malena's class. having a pumpkin carving party with our fun neighbors (and of course we had some photo props. you know that was a given).

there is a lot more to come that cancer won't be invited to around here.

and that is just the way i like it.

happy tuesday peeps.

thanks for all the continued love and support

four down. who knows how many more to go.

today the nurse asked me if i am ready to go back on the second drug if i have to.

i told her that i am scared because i am worried my liver will not take it and i will have to go back on steroids (which i really, really, really, really do not want to have to do again). but i told her that if that is what i have to do, then that is what i have to do. there are just no other options but to keep going.

but you all already knew that, didn't you?

anywhere i fight, you fight.

onward we go.