Archive for August, 2007 Page 2 of 5

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Hair Brained Schemes

Published
by
Scott
on August 26, 2007
in Chemotherapy and Coping
. 9 Comments

BugsWhen Holly was first prescribed the adjunct treatment of Xeloda & Oxciliplatin, we were told that her hair would probably thin a bit, but it wouldn’t fall out. I think that our definition of ‘a bit’ and the doctors definition are two different things.

While I still think that she looks great, Holly has reached a level of frustration with the thinning. I don’t see it, but she is complaining that large chunks are coming out when she brushes. More than anything, though, she doesn’t want to let it go too long. In her words, she’d rather rip the band-aid off quickly. She has made the decision to shave her head. It is a way for her to be in control of her cancer and it is a chance to help other people. Her amazing hair will be going to Locks of Love, an organization that uses human hair to make wigs for kids with cancer and other diseases.

We recognize that for a lot of women going through cancer, the decision (or lack of decision depending on how forced it is) to shave their head can not be an easy one. Since day one, we’ve wanted to share our cancer experience in hopes that it will change lives either by education or empathy. This experience will be no different.

While the decision to shave is not 100% final yet, it is looking like that will be the plan shortly after her next treatment (1 weeks from tomorrow). I am planning on documenting the process and posting it on this and other sites (youtube, vimeo, Yahoo video, etc.). We’d love to do some unique things around this in raising both awareness and money for colo-rectal cancers.

We’ve thought about selling sponsorships or selling her hair by the inch in a banner ad, but we are really looking for some unique ideas that would help to encourage people to think about this horrible disease.

What are your thoughts?

Do Adjust Your Set

Published
by
Scott
on August 23, 2007
in Chemotherapy and Coping
. 4 Comments

TV & Pills

Back when I was a kid, we didn’t have 60″ plasma TV’s with 1,000 channels of crystal clear, digital, high def programming. No we had 7 channels. In Philadelphia we had 3, 6, 10, 12, 17, 29 & 48. You had to know the difference between UHF & VHF and you were stuck watching commercials. Cartoons were only on on Saturday mornings from 7 - 10. While being able to tolerate such limited programming was a skill, a far greater skill was the ability to adjust the rabbit ear antenna on your set.

Anyone over the age of 30 probably recalls the rabbit ear antenna. You remember your dad freaking out because the TV would go static-y during the most important play of the game. He’d get out of his Lazy-Boy and curse and scream and move them around to get a clear picture on a black and white 15″ set. Your uncle would wrap tin foil around them to make them longer in hopes of getting a better signal. And then, if it were an important program, he’d have you pinch one of the ears with your left hand and hold your right hand on the radiator (baseball season only) in hopes that your body as a conduit would somehow inherit more signal from the sky than rabbit ears alone.

Then the knobs. Oy vey, the knobs. Once you got your picture as close as you possibly could with the rabbit ears, it would be on to the knobs. Rotate the signal ever so slightly in order to dial in the granularity even more. Oh no, the picture looks great but it is flickering!!! “Get me my flat head boy”, the Old Man would yell. Of course, I couldn’t find one, but a butter knife worked just as well. Adjust the Vert & Horiz until that Phillies game comes in. The picture would look great for about 8 seconds and then the dance would start over again.

Cancer recovery is a lot like those old television sets. No one has the perfect picture, it is just constant, minor adjustments.

Monday was really bad. Not just like I don’t feel well bad, but really bad should we go to the hospital bad. Which had it’s own mental side effects. Anywhere but the f’ing hospital again. The side effects of chemotherapy seem to be incredibly unpredictable and contradictory. It might cause headaches, it might not. It might cause hot flashes, it might make you feel cold. It might cause constipation, it might cause diarrhea. Who knows?

So it’s an adjustment. Move the rabbit ears a little bit this way, oh, that makes it worse, move them a little more the other way. Oh, that did something else? Oh, move them around some more. It is a horrible way to live.

We’ve gotten into the point of documenting everything. What did she eat? What were the effects? Did she exercise? What did she do? What were the effects? How did she sleep? What were the effects? And so on and so forth. It seems to be the only way to understand cause and effect of what she does and how it makes her feel.

We are stating to get her body dialed in. The last couple of days she has been feeling good. Minor modifications to diet, increased exercise of course seem to be working, but as anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows, modifications to diet and exercise are tough to pull off. The rabbit ears seem to be in the right place now, I just hope that they stay there.

This Silliness

Published
by
Scott
on August 20, 2007
in Chemotherapy and Coping
. 2 Comments

Like a total dolt, I forgot my camera, but we had an awesome time anyway. Holly and I spent the weekend, kid free, at Hotel Valencia in Santana Row. We thought about going to Carmel or San Francisco, but decided that, rather than wasting kid free time driving, we would go some place close. We also lucked into some money recently, so it was almost like it was a free vacation. It was an amazing time. Upon arrival, I went across the street and did some damage at Borders and we spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the beautiful, Bay Area weather (88 sunny, of course) sitting by the pool enjoying overpriced, watered down cocktails. Saturday night, we did a bit of shopping, enjoyed a nice dinner at the quite uncool Left Bank (8:00 and empty at Santana Row is never a good sign - but no line) and retired early. Sunday morning, breakfast in bed with the paper, a trip to the farmers market for lunch and off home. A short, much needed vacation. It was just perfect.

Like our Hawaii vacation, this one was cancer free. Like Hawaii, if the subject comes up, it is simply This Silliness. As in ‘Once This Silliness is over, we will take a long vacation.’ or ‘I’m tired of This Silliness and I don’t feel well.’

Right now, This Silliness is causing some major problems. The side effects of chemotherapy have been less than pleasant. Holly has been experiencing major stomach cramps and more than a bit of neuropathy, but still remains insanely positive and upbeat about beating This Silliness. We know that we will. We know that we are winning this fight. Unfortunately, This Silliness has gotten some punches in during this round.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »