Back At It

My last chemo session was October 28. Today I was back at it.  It’s been an absolutely marvelous break. I’d almost forgotten how much of a annoyance the 3 hour chemo session followed by a 46 hour portable pump infusion is.  It had become a normal part of life, like taking out the garbage!  Not particularly pleasant, but just part of life’s little activities.  Fortunately I have the distraction of nice jazz from my iPhone and very pleasant Chemo nurses to alleviate the unpleasantness of the session. But that pump…well just deal with it Asbell….it’s only  2 days. Isn’t amazing how quickly we adapt to a “new normal.”

The reason for my break was a combination of Thanksgiving holiday closures and the slight possibility of a new very aggressive tumor in my left lung.  A CT scan revealed a very small new growth and the PET scan only a week later showed that it had doubled in size.  Yikes!!  It would be highly unusual for colon cancer tumor to grow that fast. Dr. P suspected pneumonia and gave me antibiotics to  deal with it. But while I’m fighting pneumonia it would be counterproductive to weaken my immune system with chemo therapy. I would have had chemo last week, but the holiday closure Thursday and Friday pushed it back to today.  So Jimmy had a nice chemo holiday. I enjoyed Thanksgiving with my family, showed my work at an art and craft fair, did a lot of commissioned pet portraits (with more in the works) and celebrated the end of  wine crush at a Beaujolais Nouveau tasting.🍷  

But back to the here and now.  The plan is to resume the chemo for two months (4 sessions) and then evaluate and choose the next course. Next week I’ll have the CEA blood work done, which will give an indication of tumor activity, and a meeting with Dr. P.  In about 7 or 8 weeks I’ll have another PET scan. But for now, to business  as it was May-October, sprinkled with holiday festivities, a Duck bowl game, and NFL playoffs to distract me.

Lee and I celebrate the 2015 Beaujolais crush with our wine tasting group, cheers!