Time Flies When You're on Chemo!

Once again, it's been a while since my last post! Last time I checked in, I was a week through cycle 8. Now, I'm on the verge of starting cycle 9. I'll get hooked up in the morning, get flushed full of fluids, and then get the mix of ifosfamide and etoposide for the entire week. Hopefully, it goes (relatively) smoothly like cycle 6, minus the brief hospital stay. I accomplished something the last two cycles -- they were the first pair of consecutive cycles in which I did not get sick at all! Previously, I'd had isolated cycles with no illness, but never two in a row. In fact, out of my first 6 cycles, I was illness free for only cycles 1 and 4. The illnesses I had were always small things (a cold or a stomach bug), and only two of them required a hospital stay (the others occurred when my white blood cell counts were high enough to avoid it), but still, they were no fun.

I should say, though, that the time that really flies is when you're not getting the drugs and you feel well. Days where I don't have to go to the clinic and can either recover from chemo or do things when I have energy always go by the most quickly. Before you know it, it's time for another cycle! Now, if there were a way for the chemo administrations to go by as quickly...

Ashley visited again this past week, and we visited the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Going to the museums enabled me to get my walking in without boiling outside (and sweating a lot in my prosthesis), as it's been hot and humid here the past week. I also saw some neat stuff. The natural history museum had a neat exhibit featuring live (in contrast to most of the animal exhibits, which featured skeletons or stuffed animal speciments) frogs ranging from bullfrogs to brightly colored poison dart frogs from the Amazon rainforest. The Metropolitan has a vast collection of items. I saw things ranging from paintings and sculptures to armor and old weapons. Highlights there for me there were the big painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River and two items on loan for special exhibits: the Cyrus Cylinder from ancient Persia and a detailed bronze statue of a boxer from ancient Greece.

One more thing before I get back to the chemo, another milestone: my first sports activity! Yesterday, I played table tennis for the first time since before my cancer odyssey began last October. It was me versus my dad. We didn't keep score, just hit the ball around, but I still had to move and get it. My forwards/backwards movement was slowed down but ok. However, my side-to-side movement was very slow, so there were shots I was once able to reach that I couldn't yesterday. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I was able to get some good shots in of my own. I look forward to more games once I'm through this cycle.