Coming to grips with chemo and change…
I’ve decided to go with the Gandalf look. I had reconciled myself to the Yul Brynner or Zhaan look, but I didn’t lose the hair with chemo. It just went snow-white and brittle. It’s not bad, now that I’m not trying to be Cher. It’s shoulder-length. I think I’ll let it grow and see if I can rock the look. I have a light hat I can wear when the wind’s blowing, so I don’t look like sfx surround me—it’s super light, and doesn’t stay put.
Complexion—well, that’s aged a whole lot. Dropping 40 sudden pounds will do that to you: I am developing…character. That’s my take on it. Always wondered where the lines would go. Not too bad.
Strength: that’s the big one. I don’t have much stamina for standing upright—or for walking very far. Give me an ever-so-slight grade and that stamina evaporates like fog in sunlight. A ramp is harder than stairs, coming or going. But everything works. I’m doing PT to correct some things surgery did—like make it hard to stand straight. I’m gaining on it.
What I don’t want is to miss out on things because of it…and most of all, because Jane, who delayed her hip surgery for two years of misery to take care of me, now has had her surgery and can get out and do things, and I’m keen on it. Party, you say? I’m for it. I’m for craft shows and horse shows and cons and whatever. So I tried the rolling walker, and that’s good on some things—we even went to my first-ever concert. (The Monkees revival.) But—the stamina thing. So, step two, I’m getting a portable powered scooter that will let me get up and go and keep both of us active, so we can get out to cons as they become active again, go to exhibits and events, and so I won’t flag while doing them. It’s a light one, something we can take in the car with little fuss, and will let us both enjoy whatever-event-it-is. Most times I don’t need it. I can get up and sit on a con panel and such—it’s the walk down the long hotel hall to get there that does me in. Or the 2″ rise in that hall that isn’t that visually apparent. I’m still doing PT and pushing the walking as I can. But—if this keeps me active, that’s a plus on a lot of fronts.
So I will be doing public events again. I’m grayer, older, thinner, and using some aids, but it’s what I have to do. It *is* a decision to use the help getting about, and I understand the resistence to saying I need a machine to do it, when maybe on some level I don’t, but hey, like the going-grey thing, it is what is, and with it, I’m able to keep active, so that’s why. Hoping to see many of you at conventions as the circuit picks up steam again, in whatever way it takes.
Indeed! I think we are ALL so ready for a better new year! After so much adversity, over 800,000 Americans dead from the pandemic, we certainly deserve a much better year, don’t we?
The last week has been… interesting. Apologies to all concerned for the length of the following.
DH and I got tapped to attend our godson’s wedding. They had finally settled on a venue after many alarums and excursions = in a tiny resort town in Mexico. It took us 20 hours to get down there, including a plane ride on a flying bus and several suicidal cab rides; the whole thing was 5 days, including travel time. We washed hands often enough to chap them, used the stash of KN95 masks we had left from our east coast trip and enough hand sanitizer to float the cabs, and prayed every step of the way that we wouldn’t somehow get COVID and be trapped in Mexico.
The good, the bad, and the ugly: getting to the mainland was the easiest part of all, as Hawaiian was its usual efficient self. The next couple of legs, not so much. VivaAerobus is a small airline based out of Mexico, and checking in via their website didn’t work, so we just showed up at the gate and prayed for someone to verify our tickets before the plane departed, as we would have had to go out through security and back in again to find an agent elsewhere. The agent arrived half an hour before departure and we were able to board. Viva is a budget airline, so all the overhead bins were festooned with NYC subway style ads and overall a very Indiana Jones-like atmosphere; I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a crate of live chickens boarding with us. Still, we got down to Mexico City, where we hit our next complication.
Gates for Volaris. who handled the next 2 legs of our there and back again (final flight to the resort town, and 2/3 of the return flight), aren’t assigned in MEX until the last moment. Until the previously mentioned half hour before departure, we wandered around the concourse looking hopefully at the ‘departures’ screens to see where we would have to run to, then braved the last minute crush. This was a short flight, and an hour and a half saw us on the ground in Huatulco.
We were only there for about 2 days before we had to get on our return flight. We luckily shared a condo with a friend and his family; same friend also had made arrangements for everyone to be COVID tested before return, as mandated by US Immigration. The area is still very rural, and we saw lots of wildlife: turkey vultures, frigate birds, many other birds including an owl, bats, and a troop of coatimundis. The wedding was lovely, with the usual mini-dramas one expects (the fathers of the best man had a tantrum when they were asked to change rooms so the rabbi would have a place to stay) and went off fairly smoothly. Luckily, most of the bride’s family is bilingual, because my Spanish is Sesame Street level rudimentary and DH’s was learned *mumble* years ago and had rusted with disuse. The tech who administered the COVID tests did so the afternoon of the wedding and assured us we would have results by 4, which actually turned out more like 9 p.m., but we still got them so we could depart the next day. Naps were our friend.
Checking in for the flight back to the US on Volaris was muy complicated. On the way out, the flight attendants buttonholed us in our seats on board the plane, asked to see copies of our negative COVID tests and IDs, and uploaded pictures of them. We also had to upload shots of our vaccination cards (2 shots plus booster), more pictures of our passports, shots of our negative COVID tests, and fill out 2 huge online forms for each of us, one for the airline and one for re-entry to the US. This in Mexico City airport during our layover, over sketchy wi-fi, and the same previously mentioned ambiguity about just which gate was ours. Volaris also has (I discovered) a rep for canceling or changing flights with little warning; the friend who rented the condo found that their original flight had been moved 2 1/2 hours later, and all our flights had to be rescheduled at some point. Still, we all managed to get onto our assorted return flights. The airplane Volaris used for the 4 hours back to LAX gave ‘sardine class’ a whole new meaning, as the seats were not suitable for anyone taller than 5′ 6″, and DH ended up with knees jammed up against the seat in front and begging the person seated there not to recline. After that, we blazed through re-entry to the US. Note: make sure you have hard copies of any papers needed, as getting any type of phone service outside your coverage area or wi-fi is dubious at best. Fortuitously, I had printed everything I could, which let us pre-check for our return flight to HI and skip the lines to verify our vaccinated status. The Hawaiian return flight was a breeze, comparatively, and we survived to return home.
Phew! Bet you were glad to get home!
Amen. Next time I will pay attention to that little voice in the back of my head that says “This is a not very good idea.”
Brother’s bone marrow transplant is on hold. His COBRA coverage ends on Feb 27, his procedures were scheduled for Feb 17 to insert the central line and begin the process of destroying his cancerous bone marrow. The donated marrow was to be given on Feb 23. They’re now going through his wife’s insurance, which means renegotiating. Meanwhile, the donated marrow will be frozen until he’s ready to receive it. This means more blood transfusions until this mess is settled.
Oh for goodness sake! I’m so sorry to hear this latest stumble. Good luck to your brother and your family!
Phil checked in at the James Cancer Center at Ohio State University on March 10, started chemotherapy that night, last treatment was March 14. Today, March 16, he got the stem-cell transplant and said it was easier than a transfusion. The staff there said his prospects are good, but he has to stay in the hospital another 2-1/2 weeks, and then has to remain within 1 hour’s drive of the hospital for 3 months. Thanks to the donor who gave the marrow, donating marrow is a requires the donor to be under general anesthesia. The recipient gets the transfusion through a central line and no anesthesia is required.
Best wishes for his recovery!
Thank you for the update. Wishing for an excellent response and recovery!
Tested him Saturday, he’s doing well, had just finished his second post-transplant chemo. Scheduled for a blood transfusion today, possibly platelets later in the week. His appetite is nil, he has an aversion to food, and the chemo killed his sense of taste. I hope all of that comes back.
He’s in one of the best cancer treatment centers in the country. The staff says his prognosis is good. Fingers crossed…
🤞indeed!
The site wasn’t working at all for me, no connection, for about a week a few weeks ago. Then my old bookmarks just took me to Cherryh’s World, and the WWAS links just looped back there. Finally I was able to type in a URL that worked, but it’s been pretty quiet here. I wonder if our salads were experiencing the same thing, and weren’t able to work around the loop in cyberspace-time?
Yes, the folks on Shejidan reported several salads were unable to link. I never experienced a problem. I noyiced that the link from Cherryh’s World was an “http”, and when one of the salads changed it to “https” in their address line, they were able to connect…at least once.
Is Shejidan still open? I hadn’t visited in a long time, and the last time I had, it didn’t answer. I though the sock got a hole in it, and went empty. So I took it out of my bookmarks.
I understand why it went to “https:”. Most sites are encrypted these days, and it provides some security when we provide our UID & PW.
It would be nice if editing came back.