Beautiful Day

Graduation Day!

I had my last chemo infusion on Friday and I feel fantastic!! I have only felt queasy a few times so I don’t want to take my medications, but my mom is making me anyway. It is so fantastic to know that I am finished with chemo, finished with shots, nearly finished with all the nastiness that chemo offers, and ready to flush tons of pills down the toilet. Since January I have taken about 360 pills (not including my vitamin D and salmon oil supplements, fiber pills, antibiotics, or the 2-180 pill bottles of Tylenol PM, or the 24 shots to boost white blood cells!) I am so ready to be done being a pill popper and just go back to my vitamins.

While in Seattle I stayed again with my friends Anne and Jeremy which has become my home away from home while undergoing chemo. I love their giant Great Dane Sirus, as well as their lovely and slobbering blind 10 year old mastiff; Bava (means drool in Italian.) Anne actually called the guest room, “your room,” on Friday. It does feel like my room and I love staying in their cute little house that they have poured their blood and sweat into renovating. Jeremy is a wonderful chef and Anne’s laugh can put a smile on anyone’s face. Anne took the day off work to go with me to get chemo and she stood guard as I curled up and took a 30 minute nap in the radiation waiting room between my chemo infusion and my planning appointment for radiation. She was also my official photographer for my graduation day happily taking pictures of me with my oncologist and proudly holding my chemo diploma. I feel lucky to have so many friends in Seattle that I’ve had the chance to go to dinner with, share my chemo day with, and allow me to stay in their house. I am really looking forward to being down in Seattle for a month so I will have more of a chance to see my friends and family.

Dr. Malpass (my oncologist) Truly a man with a heart of gold!

During my preliminary radiation appointment, they fitted me for my “cast.” It was a plastic-like apparatus that they got wet and then molded over my face. They then bolted it to the table and I was trapped. They performed a CAT scan on me while the cast dried. I can’t say I liked it, and in my chemo induced state, I think I remember Anne asking me something about what happened if I there was an earthquake and I was bolted in. Maybe I was just imagining that part, but I have a faint recollection of her asking me that question. It was the type of question Anne would ask since she’s a civil engineer who designs bridges to withstand earthquakes. I was also given a tattoo that is about the size of a pin head. They said they’ll give me more when I come back on the 21st of June. I've actually been wanting to get another tattoo, but little blue/black dots up and down my chest are not exactly what I had in mind.

My Spittin' Image

My mom and I have been talking about our “move” to Seattle starting on the 20th of June and ending sometime around July 22nd. We’re lucky to be staying in a lovely condo provided by my friend Nicholle. Anne is letting us borrow all sorts of baby things so we don’t need to pack extra stuff and I’m preparing the “Honey Do” list for Addison (mostly reminding him not to let the garden and all my flowers die of dehydration.) I’m also trying to get my opera job in order and get things done before I leave, even though I’ll be working from Seattle. I’ve been very lucky that my opera job has been so flexible; all my board members are incredibly understanding and really stepped in to help when needed.

Right now I am counting down the days until I can resume eating the off limit food items. Doctors recommend that people undergoing chemo don’t eat undercooked meat, runny eggs, raw veggies, or moldy cheeses (the lack of blue cheese in my diet is really getting the best of me!) I haven’t been perfect in following the rules, but I’ve been careful, especially when it comes to the cheese and undercooked meats. In a few weeks, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into a medium rare cut of meat and cambozola. Yummy! Oh, and I haven’t been drinking either, so my martini with an olive stuffed with blue cheese will have to accompany my steak. I can’t wait!