26.2 Green Light

I'm sitting at MGH hooked up to an IV which gave me, first, some plain old saline, then a super steroidal anti-nausea med, then the red pee inducing Adriamycin (pushed, not dripped), and finally the hair depleting Cytoxan. It takes about 2:45 to get it all into me. I suppose if we hadn't tried to mainline the pudding and custard from lunch, it might have gone more smoothly. Oh, well. Today, I was in the main room, on the 8th floor with a pretty amazing view of Longfellow bridge and the Charles River. I could easily see the white caps all the way to the Harvard Bridge - ugly day for rowing on the race course. Special - my chair was an electric reclining model, and the remote was personalized - Champion.

Once again, and as always, lunch was provided - soup, sandwich, fresh fruit cup, chips, custard, and pudding. Since I did lose a little weight last week, I went for all the options, though I am not convinced on the weight loss. None of the doctors said anything about it. Call me a neurotic former lightweight (is that redundant), but how can you be sure how much someone weighs in variable street clothes? Sure, I had to take my shoes off, but I could have been carrying a phone, hat, sunglasses, and any number of wrenches in my pockets (or taped to my body), and they would never have known.

Since I was unsure of the lunch situation with my 1:00pm start time, and without a lunch date, I brought snacks. Given that I was going to be away from home for about 6 hours, it only seemed reasonable to have a supply of food with me - a couple of sweet rolls, a cup of yogurt, and a bag of mixed nuts, never mind that I was smack in the middle of a major metropolitan city with a nearly infinite number of food options at my disposal with cash, credit, and debit cards burning a hole in my pocket (see former lightweight). Having planned a walk between my blood work and oncology appointments prior to the infusion, I proceeded to stroll down Charles Street at a tourist's paced. I continued into the Public Garden, past Mcckloskey's ducklings, and sat on a bench to eat my snacks by the pond. Note, this did not preclude me from eating hospital lunch as outlined above including the pudding and the custard.

I should point out that on my walk I was strollng on air due to the appointment with my oncologist and her oncology fellow having gone very well. First, the fellow was surprised I still had my hair (I give it a few more days, so he's not that far off). Then, we reviewed the past two weeks for any symptoms. The fact that I can exercise and feel ok totally trumped the poor experience on the bus. That was a plus. The really good news is that based on my blood work, I got the green light to run the marathon. I lost track of the number of hugs I got from my oncologist, she was that happy.  I only had to promise not to do anything stupid like run if I am not feeling well, or to not keep going if I do start to feel badly. Duly promised. Double plus, I get to run! I did mention to the fellow that while I didn't want to being up ancient history from my rowing past, I did and framed it to demonstrate that I know what my body can do and would respect its limits. It sounded very convincing in person. Really. Ultimate take away from the first 14 days is now rule #1, always travel with medications! Lesson learned.

Being able to run brings back a whole new set of nerves (7 days to go - what was I thinking? 26 miles?), which will now be an excellent distraction. What really made the visit great was that both doctors could feel that the lump had changed. It is now less dense, less 3-D than it was only two weeks ago. This is proof - not just a bad stomach - that the chemicals are taking their toll on those stupid cancer cells. Is there a triple plus option? How about a the traditional Hoorah!

gratuitous photo of Max

2F4+ from scullingfool.org