Time for a cancer update - only 5 days later than promised. (Give me a break, I have cancer.) Honestly, there isn't much to report. I got chemo on Wednesday, which went fine, but then I promptly came down with chemobrain and lost my keys. After an enthusiastic search, in which two nurses and a security guard helped us turn the hospital upside down, our hero, Cassie, thought to see if we'd left them in the car. We had! The keys were found and a delightful ride to State College was had by all (actually, just me and Cass, because it would have been weird if the nurses and security guard came home with us).

This chemo cycle has been different from the previous one in a few ways. First off, I received slightly lower doses of most of the medicines due to my unfortunate hospital stay during the last cycle. I've also been getting daily neupogen shots to boost my white cell counts. The shots seem to be helping, since I haven't been having many of the infectious type side effects that I suffered from last time. While the infectious type side effects (ITSEs) have been practically nil, I've been much more fatigued with this cycle and the aforementioned chemobrain (a real thing they tell you about in the hospital) has been worse. Today, I woke up pretty bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (growing a tail is a side-effect of one of the meds I'm on), though, so I'm hoping that I'll be back to my perky self in no time flat.

Some excellent news did come out of my pre-infusion doctor appointment. Every time I see my medical oncologist, she takes a little measuring tape and does a rough estimate of my tumor size. After my first round of chemo, my tumor has shrunk from about 5.5 cms, to 4 cms! If it continues to shrink at this rate, I will have no tumor by the time they do surgery! Not only is this fantastic news for my tumor, but it means that any cancer cells floating around in my bloodstream are in for a world of hurt.

So, that's about it for this update. I was hoping to write something a little funnier, perhaps incorporating some of the weirder chemo side effects, like taste changes, but the brain fog is impeding my usually rapier sharp wit. I'll try to save up some good jokes for next time.