Deb's Update: 04/04/2007 10:30 PM P.S.T.

Hi All,

I finally feel better today. This cycle was a bit tougher than the last one.... I actually felt yucky until last night/or early today. I actually felt nauseous on days 3, 4 and 5... and believe it or not, my body just decided to vomit on the last day just to say, "there, you're done, don't forget it!". I actually couldn't believe it because I was actually taking the Kytril and it usually did keep me from vomiting.

Of course I am still napping a lot... I take about a 3 hour nap daily I'd say... but then you guessed it, I can't go to sleep as early as I think I should (hence this blog update!). I finally got back into walking the dogs today... it had been almost a week that they didn't go on a walk (just frisbee in the backyard so thankfully Radar is into that too!).

I am going to head to the med oncologist probably on Friday to get labs done (even though she doesn't suggest it!). It always means a lot to follow your blood count to possibly explain why you are feeling like you feel (get it?). For instance: I am feeling very fatigued and even have a little light headedness.... so, in my opinion, why not take a look at my blood counts to see if I have any major anemia going on!? Why wait until right before the next cycle...? So, I've decided get labs done when I think I need 'em done.

Rae, you're the Glio CRA, when do your GBM subject get their labs done? Interestingly enough, Dr. Anita Kaul (my med onc doc) used to be at COH so she knows Somlo, Morgan, Shibata, Doroshow, etc... Maybe you should ask them if she's good enough for me to have as a medical oncologist! ;-)

Another reason I want to get my labs done more often (at least during this cycle) is because I really want to see how my counts are and if it will be safe to be back at work. If my counts are soooo low, I could get sick at work and I definitely don't want that. I'm starting to look forward to getting back to work and just moving on... of course I have envisioned what I will need to do at home: hire a cleaning lady, a dog walker and that sort of thing. I am just thinking that I will not have the extra energy to do that type of stuff if I am working an 8 hour day. So, as you can see, there are lots of things to think about in terms of my blood counts!

I talked to Dr. Yu at Cedars-Sinai the other day (last Friday) and his thought is that I will actually have my first vaccine before Cycle 3 (which starts on April 24th).... so, I guess the next few weeks I will be heading to Cedars-Sinai for stuff to be done! Stay tuned...

Ant's visit was great! She came on Wednesday and left on Friday (amazing because it was a LOOONG drive from San Francisco to Thousand Oaks). Unfortunately I wasn't feeling that great so we didn't really do anything fun... of course she told me that it's okay that we weren't able to do anything fun... her purpose was to come and help me! We actually went out for Reiki (okay Mollie, say something about that one!!!) .... I'm not going to get into what that is, but it was great... just a half hour for each of us and I certainly felt the guy's energy! She also cooked me a meal and of course we went to pizza since I was very interested in that. She cleaned with her steam cleaner that she brought for me and that was amazing too...

We watched The Secret as well... My Briard friend Noreen talked me into seeing that, so I listened.... I'm not sure how many of you have heard about that book The Secret but the DVD is apparently very much the same as the book, so that's the one I got. It is an interesting thing to read or watch/listen to, I'll leave it at that... It was a book on the Oprah list so that always does become popular doesn't it?

Donna, I'm glad to see that your daughter is able to grow plants :-) That is certainly something that you never were able to do, was it? Too funny.... but I'm sure your sunflowers will be bigger than you could expect!

I am still working on some sewing projects: everything from curtains, to chair covers, to quilts. Whatever I can do on that day! Usually the quilt stuff is the one I do the most. But, on the days I feel yucky, I can't do a darn thing... NOTHING!

That's it for now... it is actually time for me to have a snack and then head to bed. When my stomach says "feed me", I do it!!!

Love Ya!
Debbie