The Long Wait

*updates have been made to Chemo Playlist*

It has been really hard to wait to be allowed to get chemo.  That is an odd thing to say.  It isn't like chemo is something people want to undergo.  Continuing my treatment and finishing chemo is, so it was frustrating to have to take so much time off between rounds 14 and 15.  Here's what happened.

As I hope you have learned by now, chemo works by killing off offensive cells in your body, and especially your blood.  The first delay was just to let my blood cells recover for chemo.  After waiting the weekend, my kidney function was then out of sorts.  Surviving on one kidney is just fine, in fact you can live a full life on one third of one kidney, but not when you are trying to push chemo through it.  Needless to say, Reggie wasn't too happy.  It took a week and a half of daily fluids to flush the build up out of my kidney and have my creatinine levels into a safe range to once again push chemo through it. 

What did I do in my off time?  I made the most of it.

When my grandfather passed away in February, he left moms childhood home with a need for a deep cleaning.  Through the mounds of family photos and ancient stuffed animals, we have also found my moms record collection.  No they are not for sale, they are her records!  It has been an emotional experience to clean the house, but I am glad I can help my mom with a challenging project, and that I'm feeling up to it.

I also kept up my end of a promise.  At the beginning of the summer I posted a list of one of my favorite authors summer reading suggestions for children.  Along with this list I promised that if any of my students were to read one of these books, they would have to discuss it with me, over ice cream.  Only one kid did, ONE.   Morgan and I enjoyed discussing Harriet the Spy and our custom ice cream sandwiches very nicely.  Her sandwich was rocky road ice cream with a peanut butter cookie on one side and a chocolate chocolate chip on the other topped with oreo crumble.  I had carmel fudge swirl ice cream and chocolate chip cookies.  They were almost as delicious as the company.

While I was getting hydrated every day the house on the corner went up for sale.  Tradition in our neighborhood is that the kids host a lemonade stand while the open house is going.  This alerts potential buyers to the fact that there are kids in our neighborhood, and they will adorably sell you lemonade.  Because I had to go in for hydration, Shac had to supervise for me, I took over when I got back from the hospital.  Molly, Audrey and Oliver each made more than $5, but they really ought to start charging more with what they were asking for the house.  Our neighborhood rocks.  Whomever has bought that house (it was only on the market for five days) is one lucky duck.

During the third weekend of my break, I invited myself on an outing I heard about.  Some of my former students and their families were going to a minor league baseball game, my favorite kind, so joined in.  I figure if I'm not in the hospital, I might as well have a good time if i'm feeling up to it.  So I did.  Ball game, awesome kids, wonderful parents and friends, tasty food makes for a classic good time.  I can't wait to be back on campus with my bears, I'm so proud of them going out onto the field to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," what a treat.

Summer is drawing to a close.  Many of my past students started school this Monday, and the next group start next Wednesday.  A new chapter in their lives is starting and soon, hopefully very soon, this chapter of mine will be over too.

Saturday I went in for chemo.  As predicted, since I had had so much time off, I certainly seemed to feel the effects of the chemo more.  I've been in bed since then, or at the drs office getting hydration to flush out my kidney.  Hopefully this is the beginning of the end because I have two rounds left.

TWO ROUNDS

TWO, out of 17.

Holy cow!