Category Archives: Cancer

Mrs Charm is in remission

Posted on February 24, 2015 | 6 comments

It’s official. Mrs. C’s oncologist says her latest PET scan shows “no evidence” of the lymphoma cancer she was diagnosed with back in September. So chemo is over and she’s in remission.

The only (literally) dark spot is a reappearance of the “ghost” that first appeared back in December on a CT scan. Although now, with the finer resolution of the PET, the doc says it is not a mass as previously feared but apparently an inflammation of some sort. Mrs. C. is scheduled for a colonoscopy next week to try to be more precise.

For now there’s joy in Mudville. Mrs. C. got to ring the bell at Texas Oncology’s infusion center. It’s the signal for a cancer patient who has successfully completed chemotherapy. There were smiles all around. And plans for her to go back to work in a few weeks, probably for half days at first.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Cancer, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly

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The successful, last-minute black-eyed peas run

Posted on December 31, 2014 | 6 comments

Our local H.E.B. was sold out of the magic peas when I went late this afternoon so I scurried a few miles across the neighborhood to Randall’s and lo and behold they had several cans left. “I’ll be damned,” I said aloud I was so surprised to find any. A woman in the aisle beside me said, “Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot.”

The peas were ordered up by Mrs. Charm who said we didn’t eat them on New Year’s Day last year and “Look what happened.” She was diagnosed with cancer. So this time she didn’t want to take any chances.

The magic is an old Southern tradition meticulously observed in our (Central) part of Texas. Eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day and you’ll have a lucky year. Don’t and you won’t. Like I say the mrs is in no mood to tempt fate again. So I didn’t give up when I found the shelves bare of them at H.E.B. And I’m sure glad I didn’t. Eat your peas, America!

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Posted in Cancer, Mrs. Charm, Texana, The Culture

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Uncertainties

Posted on December 26, 2014 | 1 comment

Mrs. Charm’s cancer treatments were going well until the other day when her latest scan found good news and bad. The good news: her lymphoma tumor load seems to have significantly decreased across the board just four doses into her eight-dose chemo regimen.

The bad: the scan showed there was a dark mass on her small intestine where it connects with the large one. It could be a hard tumor, possibly a sign of small intestine lymphoma which is not an unusual development in lymphoma cancers. Or, as her gastroenterologist said, because she has none of the expected symptoms of small intestine lymphoma, it could be a false reading and he could be chasing a ghost.

So this morning he made what Atul Gawande says in Complications, A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, is the hardest medical decision of all: to do nothing, not even a biopsy. Only to continue the chemo doses. And wait until the next scan six weeks from now, unless symptoms set in before then, to see if the mass is still there. And so there we are, still uncertain about what’s going on but still seeing progress and hoping for the best.

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Posted in Cancer, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering

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Adios Scott, again

Posted on December 19, 2014 | 4 comments

Adios Scott Chaffin, your blog The Fat Guy is no more. We’ll miss it as we have been missing you.

Likewise Sullivan’s Travelers, a spinoff of the rare readers of Alan (The Seablogger) Sullivan—who was one of Scott’s blog friends. At least Alan’s blog remains. Without him, alas. Or his good photos, poetry, novels and memoirs. Pity Alan never did any of them up for sale on Amazon.

Only the long and winding road remains.

4 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Cancer

When boring is good

Posted on December 11, 2014 | 4 comments

Mrs. Charm’s struggle with Stage III Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, DLBCL continues towards apparent remission. So little has changed in the past month it’s become boring to write of and easy to forget to do it.

Fourth chemo session Monday is producing the same familiar exhaustion, and the white-blood cells booster shot on Tuesday some bone pain, but neither was unexpected.

She’s due for another scan next week, a PET this time, after which we’ll know for sure if the cancer continues to retreat from her lymph nodes. That’s what the most recent blood test suggests and the doc found nothing worrisome.

So there are times when boring is good and this is one of them.

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Posted in Cancer, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly

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Rule 5: Elly Mayday

ellymayday

Hard to believe she was once an airline stewardess, as her Facebook fanpage says. Must have had wider aisles than I’m used to. She’s also, for the past year been struggling with cancer, so the pretty hair here is long gone.

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Posted on December 1, 2014 in Cancer, Obsessions, Rule 5

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A CAT Scan’s good news

Posted on November 7, 2014 | 2 comments

Last night’s persistent stomach pain for Mrs. C. had us worried. It was keeping her awake. This morning we were all smiles when we found out the latest CAT scan showed her tumor load (awful term) was decreasing.

Things are progressing nicely, her doctor said on the phone. As for those stomach pains, said the doc, reassuringly, probably something greasy she ate. Greasy and chemo don’t play well together. Whew.

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Posted in Cancer, Science/Engineering

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