Still Kicking

I know it's been so long. Some of you have even emailed me to say that, which I love. I've been thwarted by the thought of trying to catch you all up, but I've got to give the short version of the loooong past couple of months.

Some of the most important things:

I got a port, making chemo much easier.

I've gained a shit-ton of weight; all in my belly and lower abdomen, which I found out Friday is attributable to my menopausal state and steroids. The chemo I'm on puts me in early menopause. No period, but all the WONDERFUL effects of PMS.

I had a fabulous 35th birthday weekend, with plenty of wardrobe malfunctions. I was a total bridezilla and Mom was a fairly calm mother of the bride.

Lucius is a dream, aside from his recent development of pissing on my couch when he's mad at me for leaving the house.

I got some really amazing birthday presents, and some incredibly generous donations to my Stand up to Cancer team, Dishalicious.

And perhaps the most significant development: Friday we got the results of my latest PET scan. After SEVEN MONTHS of chemo, usually with only a week or two in between cycles, the scan was almost totally clean. The only lesion left is on my sternum and that's too small to measure. Dr. Daryl is going to take another look, hopefully he will think the same.

So, chemo continues until we can't see this spot on my sternum. And I know we thought my life was Cancerous before, but now between bloodwork and treatment and scans, I spend about ten hours a week at the hospital—more on Carbo days. Tomorrow is a Carbo day. Have I told you that a Carbo (+ Gemzar + Avastin + Zomeda + anti-nausea drugs) puts my sessions at about five hours.

Tomorrow, Schwartz is going to cut down on the steroids and, oh shit, I just realized I don't have one of my anti-nausea drugs that I'm supposed to put on 24 hours in advance. Whoopsie. And then I have to call my gyno re birth control pills. Isn't that ironic? Birth control pills when I'm closed for business down there.

Anyway, I'm posting a video of the roast my friends did at my Bday celebration last weekend. I've talked a lot about how great my friends are, but now you can see for yourselves. Mind you, half of the people at this party were my parents' friends. You can see the photos on FB and the video in the post below this.