I have been feeling so good! Being able to get into my sewing studio every day and knock out those UFOs (Unfinished Objects for you non quilters ) has been so fun. Cristy came over on Wednesday and gave me a lesson on mitered corners so I was able to finish a quilt top called Attic Windows that I started in a class in 2009. Once again I am so grateful for her mentoring. The top really turned out awesome and I can see myself making more of them. Since I have been so productive in getting UFOs completed, I went to my stash of kits and started a new one. It’s going to be amazing.
Cristy and I went to the Long Beach International Quilt Show Preview Night last night. We visited the venders and then admired the amazing quilts on display from all over the world. Some of them are so amazing it is hard to believe they were made by human hands.
Lindsay and I have plans to spend the day today together. Looking forward to that!
The biggest news is that my last CA-125 was at …….. drum roll please……12! Whoo Hoo! Down from 15.
If you can imagine….there is a national shortage of the two most common chemo drugs for ovarian cancer (one of them Taxol that I have been on). How is that possible?!?!? Certainly demand has not gone down! Between my oncologist’s office and St. Mary’s, they are trying to get one more dose for me so I can get my final (I hope) treatment on Aug. 8. Otherwise I have to have a different drug. My surgeon at UC Irvine was adamant that I have six treatments of Taxol.
Is this shortage a ploy to increase revenue for the drug manufacturers? With the amount of people taking these drugs you’d think they would be swimming in money. I hate to think they are playing with people’s lives in order to increase the costs. But it seems odd to me that with three manufacturers making the drug, there would be a national shortage. I will just have to trust that I will somehow get that last treatment with the Taxol.
Well I’m off to mother/daughter day with the most amazing daughter on the planet!
Hugs to all,
Dar
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Friday 07/22/11
Considering that this is the week after chemo, I am doing really well. The only symptoms I’ve had are the shooting pains in my hips and legs, but even those have been minimal and have only happened in the evenings. During the days I have been able to be up and around doing the things I like to do.
I finished a baby quilt top for my brother’s great grandson this week. Today I’ll go and get the binding, backing, and batting for it. Shannon has been in New Orleans for a conference this week. Wes was here Monday night and last night. He made BBQ chicken both nights. He is a GREAT griller! Tuesday I went to Lindsay’s house and spent the night. Wednesday was Taylor’s 15th birthday. I came home Wednesday night.
Today Betty is picking me up so we can go have lunch, get the fabric for the baby quilt, and to my appointment at the oncologist’s office for my blood work. They will pull the CA-125 today so I should have the results on Monday. Sure would like to see single digits! I made my appointment with the oncologist for Aug 18 to see if I can get the PET scan. I’m hoping he will agree that I can stop treatment after the one on Aug 8. That will be a total of 8 treatments, not including the partial first one, and I will have had 6 treatments of the Taxol. The oncologist said I would need 9-12 treatments when I first started, but my surgeon at UCI said 6 treatments of Taxol would be sufficient. I just want to be done with this.
I feel like I have learned the lessons this experience was sent to teach me so it is time to be done with it so I can move on with my life. I just have to continue to practice those lessons. I doubt I will ever take feeling good for granted again and I know I will be much kinder to myself after this. Recognizing when I am stressing over insignificant (and most of it is insignificant in the whole scheme of things) events and releasing the need to fix other’s problems will go a long way in my recovery. Giving myself time to honor the six transpersonal psychology pillars that include, intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, creative, and relational in a balanced way will also contribute to my overall health and wellbeing. I have the time now to prepare so that when I go back to work on Aug 17, I will have a grounded and balanced routine in place. Although 2011 came in like a lion, I am intending that it go out like a lamb and that 2012 will be the best year to date. It’s all up to me.
Hugs to all!
Dar
I finished a baby quilt top for my brother’s great grandson this week. Today I’ll go and get the binding, backing, and batting for it. Shannon has been in New Orleans for a conference this week. Wes was here Monday night and last night. He made BBQ chicken both nights. He is a GREAT griller! Tuesday I went to Lindsay’s house and spent the night. Wednesday was Taylor’s 15th birthday. I came home Wednesday night.
Today Betty is picking me up so we can go have lunch, get the fabric for the baby quilt, and to my appointment at the oncologist’s office for my blood work. They will pull the CA-125 today so I should have the results on Monday. Sure would like to see single digits! I made my appointment with the oncologist for Aug 18 to see if I can get the PET scan. I’m hoping he will agree that I can stop treatment after the one on Aug 8. That will be a total of 8 treatments, not including the partial first one, and I will have had 6 treatments of the Taxol. The oncologist said I would need 9-12 treatments when I first started, but my surgeon at UCI said 6 treatments of Taxol would be sufficient. I just want to be done with this.
I feel like I have learned the lessons this experience was sent to teach me so it is time to be done with it so I can move on with my life. I just have to continue to practice those lessons. I doubt I will ever take feeling good for granted again and I know I will be much kinder to myself after this. Recognizing when I am stressing over insignificant (and most of it is insignificant in the whole scheme of things) events and releasing the need to fix other’s problems will go a long way in my recovery. Giving myself time to honor the six transpersonal psychology pillars that include, intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, creative, and relational in a balanced way will also contribute to my overall health and wellbeing. I have the time now to prepare so that when I go back to work on Aug 17, I will have a grounded and balanced routine in place. Although 2011 came in like a lion, I am intending that it go out like a lamb and that 2012 will be the best year to date. It’s all up to me.
Hugs to all!
Dar
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Saturday 07/16/11
I had an uneventful chemo treatment yesterday. Woke up this morning at 2am and was up till 5:30am. No pain or symptoms, just wide awake. My hemoglobin was up to 10.6 so even if it drops a point over this next week, I’ll still be ok. Hopefully I’ll be symptom free. :)
Cristy and I spent most of Monday, all day Tuesday (she finished her quilt top on Tuesday), and I continued working on it at her house all day Wed and a couple of hours on Thurs morning. This was a quilt top we started at a class at Road to California in Jan 2007. Judy Niemeyers Wedding Star. I still have some work to do on mine to completely finish the top, but I have the lion’s share done. I hope to have it completed by tomorrow night. Thanks of course to Cristy. She is a quilting teacher and mentor extraordinaire. I would have NEVER been able to get this done without her patience, experience, and amazing techniques. Thank you so much, once again, Cristy!!!
Today we are waiting for Sears to deliver the new dryer (ours bit the dust last week). Then we will be off to do a run to the dump to unload Shannon’s truck of junk we picked up around the yard. Now it doesn’t look so much like Sanford and Sons around here. Over the next month we will need to do one more run over there to finish, but now most of it will be off the property.
Well Sears is here. We ordered a white dryer with the white pedestals. They have arrived with a white dryer and purple pedestals. REALLY?!?!?!? So we will have to schedule ANOTHER delivery date. OYE! Oh well, in the whole scheme of things, it is not such a big deal. Can’t use the dryer anyways until we get someone over to put the conversion kit from natural gas to propane on the dryer. Soonest Sears can do that is 7/25. Oh well, good thing we have nice weather so we can air dry clothes.
And I’m feeling good with no symptoms so today is a good day! :)
Hugs to all,
Dar
Cristy and I spent most of Monday, all day Tuesday (she finished her quilt top on Tuesday), and I continued working on it at her house all day Wed and a couple of hours on Thurs morning. This was a quilt top we started at a class at Road to California in Jan 2007. Judy Niemeyers Wedding Star. I still have some work to do on mine to completely finish the top, but I have the lion’s share done. I hope to have it completed by tomorrow night. Thanks of course to Cristy. She is a quilting teacher and mentor extraordinaire. I would have NEVER been able to get this done without her patience, experience, and amazing techniques. Thank you so much, once again, Cristy!!!
Today we are waiting for Sears to deliver the new dryer (ours bit the dust last week). Then we will be off to do a run to the dump to unload Shannon’s truck of junk we picked up around the yard. Now it doesn’t look so much like Sanford and Sons around here. Over the next month we will need to do one more run over there to finish, but now most of it will be off the property.
Well Sears is here. We ordered a white dryer with the white pedestals. They have arrived with a white dryer and purple pedestals. REALLY?!?!?!? So we will have to schedule ANOTHER delivery date. OYE! Oh well, in the whole scheme of things, it is not such a big deal. Can’t use the dryer anyways until we get someone over to put the conversion kit from natural gas to propane on the dryer. Soonest Sears can do that is 7/25. Oh well, good thing we have nice weather so we can air dry clothes.
And I’m feeling good with no symptoms so today is a good day! :)
Hugs to all,
Dar
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Thursday 07/07/11
Wow! It feel so good to feel GOOD!!! I don’t think I will ever take feeling good for granted again. Shannon and I went out for lunch on Sunday and I could hardly hold my head up. It had been a whole week of debilitating weakness. I started to feel better on Monday so I began working on charity quilts for my quilt guild. By Tuesday evening I had three tops completed. I still have to get fabric for the borders and sew those on, but at least most of the main part is complete. I know I won’t have time to do extra projects once work starts and I’m focusing my attention on my dissertation.
Yesterday I loaded my HQ16 with a quilt sandwich of muslin and batting and set out to get the tension issues worked out. I had purchased a couple of gauges to help with that but after spending most of the day on it, the tension still is not where it should be. I’m going to work on it a little bit more this morning and then I need to quilt a top that a friend is giving to her guild. That will probably take me most of the day.
My CA-125 went down from 16 to 15 so it is still in the right direction.
It is so good to have energy again!
Hugs,
Dar
Yesterday I loaded my HQ16 with a quilt sandwich of muslin and batting and set out to get the tension issues worked out. I had purchased a couple of gauges to help with that but after spending most of the day on it, the tension still is not where it should be. I’m going to work on it a little bit more this morning and then I need to quilt a top that a friend is giving to her guild. That will probably take me most of the day.
My CA-125 went down from 16 to 15 so it is still in the right direction.
It is so good to have energy again!
Hugs,
Dar
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Satruday 07/02/11
This has been a tough week. Very little pain, but I have not had any energy. I was able to work on a quilting project with lots of breaks in between. I found out on Friday when I had my blood tests that my hemoglobin was down to 8.6. (The low end of normal is 12.0) No wonder I have been so wiped out! I got another shot of Procrit so hopefully that will help me produce more red blood cells.
I will have the results for the CA-125 on Tuesday due to the holiday. I’ll keep you posted. I’m so hoping that I only have two more treatments. If my results continues to be in the low numbers, that should be the case.
I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping both day and night. I feel a little better today and I’m hoping by tomorrow I’ll have enough energy to finish up a quilt top that is almost done. Next week I want to practice with my quilting machine (HandiQuilter 16). I have several quilt tops that are ready to be quilted so I hope I can get them done next week.
Wes started his new job and he really loves it. It looks like it is a good match for him and the VA.
I had planned to go up to Wrightwood today for Mountaineer days. The quilt guild I am a member of, Pine Needles Quilt Guild, was having a their annual mini quilt auction. It is one of our big fund raisers of the year. But I was not feeling up to it today. A year ago I would have pushed myself to go. But now I am able to realize that pushing is just not all it's cracked up to be. I'm feeling good about my decision to stay home and rest.
Not much else to report. Just taking it easy and doing a lot of nothing.
Hugs,
Dar
I will have the results for the CA-125 on Tuesday due to the holiday. I’ll keep you posted. I’m so hoping that I only have two more treatments. If my results continues to be in the low numbers, that should be the case.
I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping both day and night. I feel a little better today and I’m hoping by tomorrow I’ll have enough energy to finish up a quilt top that is almost done. Next week I want to practice with my quilting machine (HandiQuilter 16). I have several quilt tops that are ready to be quilted so I hope I can get them done next week.
Wes started his new job and he really loves it. It looks like it is a good match for him and the VA.
I had planned to go up to Wrightwood today for Mountaineer days. The quilt guild I am a member of, Pine Needles Quilt Guild, was having a their annual mini quilt auction. It is one of our big fund raisers of the year. But I was not feeling up to it today. A year ago I would have pushed myself to go. But now I am able to realize that pushing is just not all it's cracked up to be. I'm feeling good about my decision to stay home and rest.
Not much else to report. Just taking it easy and doing a lot of nothing.
Hugs,
Dar
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