Chemo #6, dentist, various

3/28/12

Appointment with the oncologist, Dr. Ikeguchi, scheduled for 9:00am. At 8:50 the alarms sounded and the entire building was evacuated. We waited outside for about 15 minutes then went back in. I'm assuming it was a drill?

Anyway, back in the building Dr. Ikeguchi said the large mass in Anthony's chest is about 25% of its original size and no longer contains active metabolizing cancer cell... essentially the cancer is dying off.

At 10:00 we were up on the 3rd floor for chemo #6. Today our RN was Vicki, one of our favorites. She's actually the nurse who explained everything to use the first day of chemo. Wanna know something else I love? How the receptionists, and other nurses know us and make it a point to say hello, even if we've only been in their section once. The staff at the Peggy & Charles Stephenson Cancer Center is AMAZING.

Before administering chemo some blood has to be drawn and tested to make sure all blood and organ levels are within normal ranges. The last couple of times the nurses had a hard time getting blood, but eventually got some. This time however, it was a no go. Vicki had Anthony turn his head this way and that, lay down, stand up, arms raised, the whole nine yards. Nothing. She finally had to do an IV to get a few vials of blood.

Levels were fine, chemo administered.

Anthony walked in feeling on top of his game, and walked out feeling ready to faint or throw up... or both. The last few days have been miserable. C'est la vie.

We're currently looking at two more months of chemo, then one month of radiation.

Enough about him, lets talk about me. Just kidding. Sort of. But not really.

On 3/27 I went to the dentist for a regular check-up. The hygienist, whom I'd never met, said "oh, you have a beautiful mouth." Mmmh, that's one way to make a girl feel good about herself :) I LOVE the dentist, I truly do. My favorite part is having my teeth flossed after the cleaning. Love it. I had a panoramic x-ray done of my mouth, and my earrings were left on by mistake. Looks pretty cool huh?

I only have two fillings on the top right, the other lighter sections are the way my teeth look overlapped in panoramic view.

In other news, it's March 30 and supposed to get up to 81 degrees today.

It rained almost 6 inches in four days. Oklahoma is no longer in a drought.

It's Spring and actually looks like it. So much different than all my Spring in Utah experiences.

I don't know what the deal is with the domesticated buffalo around here, but they sure are cool.

I know this little bug as a Mosquito Eater, you may know it as a Mosquito Hawk, Mosquito Fly, Skeeter Eater, Gallinipper, or Gollywhooper. The true name is Crane Fly. "Despite their common names, as adults, crane flies do not prey on mosquitoes, nor do they bite humans. Some larval crane flies are predatory and may eat mosquito larvae. Adult crane flies feed on nectar or they do not feed at all. Once they become adults, most crane fly species exist as adults only to mate and die." - Wikipedia

Now you know