St. Patty’s day weekend was so much fun with family
celebrating Christine’s 60th birthday… The Food was wonderful as always… Can’t go wrong with
Curly’s, such an awesome restaurant…
The service was good, drink tasty, had a couple of glasses of wine
(Chardonnay) one of my favorites…
Yes I can be a bit whiny <smile>... I had salmon so I thought white wine would be good… Everyone seemed really to enjoy
themselves. Christine had a ball… Our family filled fun weekend started
on Friday, meeting the Cape Cod Tranchell’s at the Anchor Bar for wings, Megs
said don’t go to the Anchor Bar, go to Duffy’s, they have better wings. After dinner it was agreed that the
Anchor Bar was not what the Cape Cod Tranchell’s remembered. It has gone through a few owners since
it’s original chicken wing creation…
Next time it will be Duffy’s…
On Saturday we had the Party…
It was so much fun… Can you
believe I forgot my camera! Those that know me must be shocked... I
didn’t think of it until we got to Curly’s and Jesse said, “I have my camera”… I
looked at Lynn laughing and said I didn’t even think of our camera… Better not to have forgotten anything
else for the Party. After the
party the cousins all met up at the Hamburg Tranchell’s for a get together. Lynn text Megs about it so, she could
join them after work, all the younger generation had a camp fire. Which she
did and that worked out great because she gave Jesse a ride back to our
house. Lynn and I hung out with
the baby boys and their dad… We
were having everyone at our house Sunday for breakfast so we could see everyone
before they ventured back home to The Cape and New Jersey. So we stayed home to
prepare the breakfast casseroles for tomorrows breakfast. The baby boys woke about 5-6 am for their
1st feeding. That
worked Perfect as the breakfast casseroles needed to cook for an hour each, so
we got to spend quality one on one time hang out with the baby boys all by
ourselves from 6 to 8… They were
so talk-a-tive… They did take a
quick nap. After about an hour
I heard cooing, I walked in the living room to see who was waking up and there
was Joe pulling on Jason’s hand and PJ’s as if to say HEY WAKE UP… I’m
awake… It was so cute… I had to work the get Joe to let go of
his brother so he could sleep… I
brought Joe into the kitchen with me to finish getting ready for breakfast
while we chit chatted… He is such
a flirt with his big eyes and easy smile…
Breakfast was all ready by 8am… When everyone arrived it was time to dig in… The last of the guests left about
11:30ish and we cleaned up… It was
really so much fun and tiresome.
We crashed I think at like 8:30pm and I slept like a log. I know I slept soundly as Monday I was
full of energy again.
With all the drug shortages and stress that goes with it
when it is your drug in short supply, compounded with what is definitely a
strong stance on women’s healthcare by some, I have been thinking a lot about
our healthcare system and how it operates. It is obviously based on a capitalist market. Profit driven and such… There is nothing wrong with making
money. There is something wrong
with making a profit at the expense of a person. There are some things that maybe should just not be so profit
driven. Some things obviously need
government intervention (regulations) for the overall good of society. Hence the division of opinions on what
that means...
Well in my searching to find the ingredients between Doxil
and Lipodox I did find a table that showed a comparison of the two. It is from the American Society of
Health System Pharmacists (ashp.org).
This is a member organization representing Pharmacists that work for
Hospitals and Health-care organization.
So I was happy to find this information. The link to the table is under a separate page on my blog
labeled “Table Comparing Active and Inactive ingredients of Doxil and Lipodox”. I don’t see any difference in the
drugs. None… I did notice the other day that
the FDA has updated the Doxil shortage with the company handling the importing
of Lipodox. It should be covered
by insurance companies, if it isn’t that is probably because the FDA won’t say
it is a comparable drug. I hope
and pray that isn’t the case.
It is April 3rd and time for my next Doctor appointment and
Chemotherapy appointment. My
appointment is at 8:00 am… normal
time, yippee. My CAT scan is the
same, no evidence of active disease.
I am stable, phew, yes big relief and we thought that so… That is
good news, I get nervous before my appointments after a test… That is to be expected… After all these months this feels
normal to me. I go with it… My CA-125 number went up to 2673 from
2342. Sigh it is considered
stable. Weird huh, it goes up 331
points and we don’t blink, simply sigh…
<chuckling> I
mentioned I had the stomach flu that lasted 24 hours a couple of weeks a go, don’t know if that could
have affected my number or not. My doctor
just looked at me and proceed to discuss that he is very comfortable with the
regimen I am on, that sometimes patients want to change up the drugs in an
attempt to get the numbers to change.
We discussed what drug regimens I have been on and he missed that I have
only received 4 Avastin infusions; today will be my 5th infusion of
it. When I mentioned that and he verified it in the chart, he
seemed to relax, if that is the right word, or not concerned maybe is better,
<smile>. I said, I am
comfortable staying with the regimen for the recommended treatments, which I
think is 6 or 8. That I was
uncomfortable switching drugs for the sake of switching drugs in hopes of a
drop without knowing that we should switch. He agreed that made sense switching at this time maybe
premature. That I certainly can
experience a significant drop completing this cycle. So Cisplatin, Doxil, and Avastin it is. The rest of my blood work looks good... So off to the infusion clinic we go
with our coffees in hand and snack for anyone to part-take in and conversations…
Oh!!! I have to mention that I finally tried a supplement drink
that my daughter Megs and her friend Meghan would drink as a meal replacement
thing when running late for class in the morning when she was at
Brockport. It is call Orgain. A doctor came up with it after going
through chemotherapy himself and was appalled at the taste of the supplemental
drinks on the market. So he worked
to come up with a drink that tastes good, low in sugar, high in all the stuff
you need it to be high in (like protein, vitamins, antioxidants, etc). It’s Organic, gluten free… I tried the Creamy Chocolate Fudge,
gotta love the name, how could it not taste good!… It tastes GREAT and I CAN DRINK ALL 11 oz and ready… I like it… No kidding… I
also like the Iced Café Moca… Yum. Even my “Oh my I don’t know what I can
eat days”, which Lynn just loves, yes dinner decisions are so much fun… It’s where I am eating something every
2 to 3 hours to keep my stomach busy, I can drink this, enjoy this and I feel
better. I noticed my energy level
is better and I feel better quicker…
I will be the first to admit I am very luck, I bounce back from
Chemotherapy; this stuff helps me get there better… Of the other drinks I can choke down Strawberry Boost and
most times I cannot finish the 8 oz bottle. If I don’t chug it all down the 1st few gulps
then I have a hard time drinking it after that, usually I throw it out, don’t
want to start a gag thing... Know
what I mean… Don’t get me wrong
Boost helped. With Orgain I like
it and I finish it, it does not taste vitaminie. It is well worth the extra pennies more it costs to buy it
and gratefully we can buy it… If I
were to cost out what I don’t finish with boost and what I do finish with
Orgain, I think it costs the same…
I have been telling everyone I know on chemo or having
trouble eating for whatever challenge they have about this drink… Here is the link to it if anyone
would like to check it out…
In the WNY area Wegman’s has the most reasonable price I
have found… Though with me telling
everyone about it, it seems to be flying off the shelves <laughing>… My daughter Megs went to Brockport to
visit friends and bought me a case of the Creamy Chocolate Fudge, because we
have been having a hard time finding it here, she said I should keep it to
myself, alas that isn’t going to happen <smile>… Again with a name like Creamy
Chocolate Fudge who could not love this drink… <laughing>
I love chocolate, then again not many woman don’t… A co-workers son is going through
chemo too and his favorite flavor is the Ice Café Moca… I am not a fan of vanilla, however if I
add berries to it or a banana it would be marvelous… Just have to drink it at home and not grab it out of the
fridge and off I go… Orgain does not
have to refrigerated, but it is best chilled to drink… So buying a case or two is fine as it will
last just fine… I throw 4 or 6 in the fridge and away I go... Can you tell I
love this drink… <smile &
twinkle & wink in the eyes>…
