Thursday, October 20, 2016

But, It Was Just A LITTLE Itch!



I just got back a little while ago from my latest visit for chemotherapy. They insist on setting my appointments as early as possible, so I have to leave Smallville in the wee hours of the morning in order to arrive in Gotham during the middle of the morning rush hour. For a long time I noticed that gasoline prices in Gotham averaged anywhere from 15 to 25 cents cheaper than local.  Since it takes almost three quarters of a tank to get there and back, I developed the habit of leaving town with just enough gas to get me there (with a little to spare) and filling my tank with the cheap stuff.  Suddenly something changed. Gas in Gotham was more expensive there than it was in Smallville. I figured it was just a temporary thing the first couple of times, but after three times I figured I’d better fill up before I left. Gotcha! Gas was twenty cents cheaper in Gotham today. Some days you just can’t catch a break.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve had some side effects from the new treatments. Most noticably, I've had a lot of itching on my back, shoulders and knees. Scratching at the itches has left a few small scabby places which I sort of expected…I wasn’t too concerned. The nurse asked me about the itch today, how it was doing, which I told her wasn’t severe and showed her one of my shoulders. “Hmm,” she said, “not too bad but we’d better have the doctor take a look at it.”

Doctor Whoosh arrived within a few minutes and took a quick look. “We’re going to give you a treatment today, but we need to postpone your next treatment for a couple of weeks and put you on some steroids to clear that up. I’ve seen this before in some of my patients and my concern is that if it gets worse, your skin could fall off.”  I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t smiling. He was serious. Terrific, just what I need…my skin sloughing off like an escapee from The Walking Dead.  If I start moaning “BRAINZZzzz,” and walking with a pronounced limp, you’d better give me a wide berth.

Upon returning to Smallville, I discovered that my insurance had denied coverage of the prescription for the steroids. I bought enough out of pocket to cover me for a few days while I call the insurance people and threaten to go Zombie Apocalypse on them if they don’t change their mind.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

The Cat Did It...

I awoke this morning to discover that one of the cats had knocked a nearly full can of green wall paint off a table and onto the kitchen floor sometime during the night. Our dog, a Jack Russell that can't sit still, then tracked it through every room in the house. Spotty green paths on dark brown going in every direction. Not to be outdone, the cat took the mayhem into the vertical dimension and tracked it onto chairs, beds, tables, desks, and whatever else it could find to climb on. We're still assessing the damage, but it looks like a trip to the paint store to get something to cover this mess up with is now on today's agenda.

In health news, my latest round of chemo went well. I've been experiencing a few minor side effects but nothing I can't handle so far. It's mostly some fatigue and excessive itching on my back, shoulders and knees. My next treatment is in about 10 days or so. The latest CT scan showed no growth in my cancer since the last one.