5th Cycle, 1st Infusion – February 7, 2019

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Heck I don’t even know what a “cycle” really is. I’m losing track of all the infusions I’ve had. What I do know is that I’ve just gotten the first of only 2 more infusions before surgery, or at least that’s the current plan. I think that makes a total of hmmmm, 7 infusions of gemabraxine, plus 4 infusions of folfiri, plus 3 more of gemabraxine, that’s 15 treatments so far, with one more to go on the 21st of February, totaling 16 infusions.

OK, thanx for indulging me while I counted them up.

So folfiri involves that pump that I keep attached when I leave, so it can deliver the whole dose of juice slowly and not kill me with shock. I take the pump home with me and 46 hours later I usually head back to the hospital and have it removed. But wait, this week has been the extended “snowpocalypse” here in NW Washington state, and we got a total of 8-10 inches around here. For everyone’s safety they closed the infusion center on Saturday, the day I usually have it removed. Instead I had it removed this Sunday morning. I wasn’t alone. There were around 6 other patients in similar straits. It is not the kind of thing a regular person can remove safely…that is, if they want to sanitary and be able to use that port again. I got a bonus day of being hooked up to a device that I had to turn off ’cause it was beeping so much, telling me that it was empty.

Sundays right after the folfiri infusion are slow, lazy, and mildly sickening, but I wanted a shower and that meant the pump had to go. It was nice to get out of the house too. We’d been getting cabin fever. All in all it really isn’t very hard to get around a half-day after each of these snow dumps. A lot like living in Denver, where one can get around well enough if the snow is lower than your car’s axles. The hills in parts of Seattle are stupid-slippery though, so you just plot your way around them…just like in Denver. We had no trouble getting to and from the hospital both times. I mean come on, hospitals are surrounded by well plowed streets used as ambulance corridors.

Both times we got into town for the infusion and pump removal between storms. We had the first one, then another one went through on Friday night, leaving everything blocked up pretty badly on Saturday. Today we just got in before another predicted dump. It’s begun snowing again.

This week I’ve been kinda void of ambition. Work is fine, doing it from home is really nice, but there’s not much energy left over for other stuff. I think the snow has sucked us all dry around here, what with all these normal gathering spots all closed, like schools, YMCAs, work places, etc. It’s been going on and off since last Monday and we’re all running on whatever we’ve stored at home.

My neighbor just rented a Home Depot truck yesterday, went out to Port Orchard, and brought home a nice snowmobile that someone had to sell off on that day, for $85. It worked great, so I got to chew the fat with him before going into Seattle to lose the pump. He’s an interesting guy, as is his partner, and their husky dog. Our little Tina is in love with that dog. Sometimes we take her over next door so they can run and play. We haven’t introduced Baxter into the mix yet. Growing up with Ernest has skewed his doggie social behaviors a bit. He has misinterpreted Tina’s squeals greeting other dogs or people, as a threat to our pack in the past. I don’t want that happening here, fer sher. He’s a very effective dog.

I actually needed a nap earlier. Couldn’t keep my eyes open. Fell asleep twice, sitting up. It’s a couple of hours later and I’m still feeling a bit dopey. I’m going to relax into it now. Please leave comments if you’d like to give me a hint of who might be reading this. Thanx for reading.