Category: Cancer Update

16 October 2023

It’s been a rough day. I crawled out of bed around 6:30 am, had coffee, cereal and read news online and went back to bed and slept 3 hours. The pain in the joints of my hands and knees and ankles kept me awake last night. So much so I texted Dr. Velez and asked if I could take Tramadol or Gabapentin for pain relief. He recommended Tramadol as the better choice and I’ll definitely take a dose tonight. I can take it once every 8 hours.

I later called Joel and asked if he could take me in tomorrow for my last Taxol treatment. He said he was free which means he’s adjusted his schedule to take me in. I’m just not sure I could drive safely.

That’s also why I called my endocrinologist, Dr. Jellinger, and asked if we could do a conference on the phone or computer. The secretary at the front desk checked and agreed. My appointment was for 2:30 pm and he finally called me on the phone at 3:30. I really didn’t mind. What I like about him is he talks to his patients and is in no hurry to leave them. I usually spend at least an hour with him in his office. He forgot his laptop at home so we did the consultation on speaker phone. He, as always, gives me a lot of information, mostly technical because he knows I understand most of what he’s saying.

He was very concerned my A1c had shot up to 8.6. On June 19th it was 7.8. After explaining they were giving me 4 mg of Dexamethasone (a sterol) the night before and probably the same amount IV during chemotherapy, he agreed that was the problem but alerted me to the possibility of adrenal withdrawal symptoms if they stopped the dexamethasone after the last Taxol treatment. He wants them to taper me off the drug and not go cold turkey. He suggested 1-2 weeks of prednisone to wean me off dexamethasone. Dexamethasone hangs around for long periods of time.

Dr. Jellinger also warned me my glucose levels might not ever go down at all once I successfully come off dexamethasone. He said not to worry because I’m on the most basic of treatments for high glucose (Metformin) and there are many, many other treatments that can compensate for that.

He’s also concerned about the Herceptin treatment every three weeks until I complete one year (I started it on June 5th). I told him my MUGA (Multigated Acquisition Scan – similar to an echocardiogram) reading was 62% and he said that was good but there are problems with any reading. One problem is HFPEF (heart failure preserved ejection factor) which means my reading could drop to 50%, still be in the normal range, and yet lead to heart failure. He mentioned that my low hemoglobin levels could cause a drop in efficiency but it could also be a serious heart issue. At least 62% is good for now.

Then there is HFEF (heart failure ejection factor) which the efficiency drops to 40% or less. That’s even more serious but also why they will continue to do echocardiograms and MUGA’s.

He would like me to go on Jardiance or Farxiga if my MUGA efficiency drops below 60%. I’m to talk with my cardiologist, Dr. Tepper, on Thursday and tactfully bring up the recommendations of Dr. Jellinger. Dr. Tepper is more of a minimalist and Dr. Jellinger is more proactive on issues. They agree to disagree sometimes. Another possible drug is Invokana. All three: Jardiance, Farxiga, and Invokana have the added benefit of lowering A1c.

Dr. Jellinger mentioned some signs of problems with the heart are shortness of breath and lack of endurance, both of which I currently have. I’ll also mention that to Dr. Tepper on Thursday.

I’ve noticed my eyesight seems to be changing. Jim recommended Elena Roth with Bascomb-Palmer in Plantation. I tried to get an appointment and when I finally reached a person on the number they said call, she transferred me and the call dropped.

I then called my primary, Dr. Dunhill, and he recommended someone from Holy Cross. I have an appointment with Zuzana Hrdlicka on Monday, October 23rd for a general exam. What I’ve noticed is lights seem dimmer and it’s almost like those old movies where they put vaseline around the lens of movie cameras to get a softened effect. From the general exam I can at least get an idea if I need cataract surgery. Chemo has a myriad of effects on the body.

Toes and fingers are still numb. Nose bleeds every morning along with runny nose. Absolutely no energy for anything. Back to little or no appetite. Itching is back. Joint pain, shortness of breath and I alternate between diarrhea and constipation. Vertigo continues to be a challenge along with bloating and wacky taste buds. A really weird thing is some mornings my fingers feel “fat” and bloated and other mornings my fingers feel slender and normal. My question is which of all the symptoms will eventually go away and return to normal and which I will have the rest of my life?

Stay tuned!

15 October 2023

It’s been a rough week. I knew chemotherapy was cumulative but it’s been a little more cumulative than anticipated this week. I’ve mentioned the numbness in toes and fingers but what has caused me real problems the last two nights is the aching in my joints: fingers, ankles, knees. It’s been really painful and it keeps me a wake.

In an attempt to control it last night I took two Advil, one Tramadol, one Claritin and one Xanax compliments of Fred’s Pharmacy. The drugs finally kicked in sometime after midnight (I went to bed at 8:30). I guess the only saving grace is that my diarrhea seems more under control. I’ve mostly had solid stool with the exception of one diarrheal episode yesterday and to be honest, that was a relief since I’ve tended more towards constipation than diarrhea.

One thing I’m trying for the numbness (and cold feeling) is I bought a pair of gloves for me and Kurt that supposedly keep your fingers warm and also allow you to use touchscreens.

Mine are XL and I ordered Kurt a pair of large. Mine came today and Kurt’s should be here Monday. They are very comfortable even though I’ve not tried out the touchscreen feature yet. For the toes, I bought us both a pair of Bombas Gripper Slippers. These have pads on the bottom that grip the surface you on which you are walking. Years ago Tanis bought me a pair of cold weather socks with this feature and I constantly wear them around the house because of the perceived cold from the numbness – along with arctic dress.

I generally change into a long sleeved knit shirt and a long pair of gym pants and the socks. The socks are pretty much worn out, thus the order from Bombas. At night, I start out with the down comforter on me and only later in the night am I warm enough to throw the comforter off.

I’m a little concerned about the last Taxol treatment on Tuesday and what it’ll do to me next week. Usually, after a Taxol treatment (with a liter of saline) I feel decent until Thursday. I’ve felt lousy all week and by the time Friday rolls around with the hydration treatment, I need the hydration. Usually, after the Friday treatment I feel great. Remember the deep cleaning I did on the house after one such treatment? That went by the wayside this week. Friday and Saturday were pretty low physically.

The numbness continues and it’s causing me problems picking things up with my fingers and even walking. Vertigo continues to be a problem and I stagger around the house bumping into things right and left and I don’t even have the benefit of having cocktails to cause it.

I really have an appetite but nothing seems to taste good. Last night I opted for barbecue beans from a can. Bread works for me and I did make some canned cinnamon rolls. My nutrition is for the birds. I take the Enterade and when I can remember it the high protein Ensure. I try to hydrate with coconut water which actually tastes good to me.

I was pretty much a couch potato yesterday after washing clothes and cleaning at the house. At least there were some interesting football games on. Hopefully, this next week will be my nadir and when I switch to every three weeks of Herceptin, things will begin to pick up.

Tomorrow I face the music with my endocrinologist. I dread to get the A1c report since my blood sugar has been all over the place with all the sterol they give me with each chemo.

Thursday is an appointment with my cardiologist, Friday is a blood draw for my annual wellness check with my primary and hydration in the afternoon. On the 24th, I have an office visit with Dr. Velez to map out the next year of treatment with Herceptin and then on the 27th I have my wellness visit with Dr. Dunhill. It’s a good thing I ‘m retired or I wouldn’t be able to juggle all these appointments.

By the way, I got my Medicare Summary Notice for the first chemotherapy and hydration therapy treatments this week. The August 21st chemo was $25,385.10. The Taxol and Herceptin drugs alone were $20,258.15. The other $5k was getting ready to inject the drugs.

The hydration infusion by itself was a bargain at only $6,268.65. That included the blood tests.

So far, the Medicare statements run from August to September and don’t include the month of October. August alone was $40,716.00. My share of the bill for August and September would possibly be $1,122.31 but the supplemental policy took care of all that. I’m so lucky to have Medicare and an excellent supplemental policy.

I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store today so I ordered delivery from Whole Foods. You know I don’t feel well when I depend on someone else to select my food.

Stay tuned!

13 October 2023

Ugh! Another bad night and lack of sleep. I took two Advil PM in hopes of getting some rest but either they are too old or they just didn’t work. It looks like I’m back to Xanax before chemo and infusions. To make it worse, I was totally stopped up last night. My nasal passages just didn’t want to cooperate. I’m dragging today and probably will be until I get a boost from the infusion this afternoon.

I did manage to clean the pool filter and spray for weeds. That was about all I was able to accomplish. The weeds get out of control in a few days’ time and it’s a constant battle.

UPS is updating me frequently about the arrival of my new iPhone. First it was out for delivery, then out for delivery between 7 am and 9 pm and now it’s out for delivery from 4 pm until 8 pm. Take your pick. My money is that it arrives either tomorrow or Monday.

Everything at the cancer center was late today. Pat was my nurse and I like her and she’s very competent. Not so the person that ended up helping her. If you don’t hear from me for the next few days, I’m probably in the hospital with sepsis. The person helping Pat dragged the tubing for the IV across the floor and the nipple that goes into my port was on the floor. She was about to insert it when I started to correct her and she said “I’m gonna clean that off.” My thought was why did you let it drag across the floor in the first place. She did clean it with an alcohol wipe and then used the same alcohol wipe to clean the port entrance. Some people have no concept of sterile technique.

The good news is the only thing wrong with my Complete Metabolic Panel was high glucose (always) and low protein. Everything else that is normally out of wack was normal. They didn’t do CBC today. Even with just the saline and magnesium (always low) it took 3 hours for the infusion.

I told Pat that Tuesday is my last Taxol session. She went out of her way to tell me that the Herceptin will be much, much easier on me. About the only thing to expect is some fatigue during the 3 week intervals but that I should be able to handle that much better than the Taxol. That gives me some hope. Maybe I can also hope for some reversal of the side effects of Taxol.

After the infusion, I ran a pair of gloves up to Kurt on the 6th floor of Holy Cross. He’s had some real problems and this is his third week in Holy Cross. Both of us complain about how cold our hands and feet get. I took him a pair of my lightweight hiking gloves for the rest of his stay and I ordered us both a pair of woolen gloves that will allow you to use electronic devices. I don’t know if they will work but if they do, it’ll be worth it not having to pull off gloves to make a phone call.

Amazingly, UPS delivered my phone just now (5:50 pm). I’ll probably spend Saturday getting it set up and my old iPhone ready to be returned. Exciting times!

Dialecta

Holley mentioned another phrase using the word carry as in “I’m fixing to carry y’all to the store.” Then she mentioned using the word buggy for shopping cart. I had forgotten about buggy.

Somewhere I read that the Southern accent is the most closely related to the English accent. I’m not sure that is true but there are hints of it here and there.

Stay tuned!

12 October 2023

Usually, Thursdays are a low point for me as well as Friday’s before the hydration. I felt fairly well this morning but not as well as yesterday. The big problem for me was flatulence. Sorry, but this is about to get dirty. However, I want to be as honest about what I’m going through with this chemo as I can.

I’ve never had so much gas as I did all day yesterday and all night last night. I kept trying for a bowel movement but it just wasn’t happening. Instead, I passed gas. At least mine weren’t as bad as Rocky’s. He could cut as fart that would make your eyes water. The gas problem was reflected in my sleep schedule.

I got up around midnight and tried a warm cup of milk. Around 1:30 am I had the brilliant idea to take an Advil PM. That seemed to work OK.

After my first cup of coffee, I realized a bowel movement was imminent. Like right now. There’s no other way to describe it other than massive. It wouldn’t flush. It took three tries and a plumber’s helper (plunger) to get it to flush.

I then did my morning walk (three in a row!). I wasn’t in as good condition as I was yesterday but made the walk anyway. Anyway, after the second cup of coffee, I had the urge again. Back to the bathroom and another massive bowel movement. Thankfully, no more gas as of yet. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling.

The numbness is about the same as yesterday. It’s not any better but at least it’s not any worse. My energy level is lower than yesterday but not as bad as it usually is on a Thursday.

Tomorrow is my hydration infusion and Tuesday is my last infusion of Taxol. I’m curious as to how that affects me and then how the Herceptin infusions will affect me afterwards. As I mentioned, I have a list of questions for Dr. Velez when I next see him. I really hope there’s more “up” time for me with the three week periods between Herceptin infusions so I can get back out on the road and travel again.

My new iPhone is still scheduled for delivery today before 7 pm. I suppose it really could arrive today but I have my doubts.

Update: UPS sent me an email rescheduling the delivery, as expected. It’ll be sometime tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll be back from the infusion before the delivery.

I quickly went downhill during the day. My energy is at as very low ebb so I know tomorrow will help boost me back up.

Dialecta

Cousin Jean reminded me another form of plural for y’all. She remembers saying “All y’all” meaning a group of people. I confess to using it also. I’ve lost a lot of my Southern accent (not all of it) but I still slip and say y’all.

Stay tuned!

10 October 2023

I made it to 3:45 am this morning. I probably should take a Xanax the night before every infusion but those things really give me a hangover and I don’t like to drive the day after taking one of those. I don’t really mind getting up so early. I seem to get a lot accomplished.

Food tends to be frustrating right now. Some things seem like they would taste good and don’t. Other things just hit the spot. Yesterday afternoon I put some dried black-eyed peas on to soak and then cooked them for dinner. It was a 14 oz. bag and I used half of them. After cooking, I ate the entire pot. I added a little extra salt and chopped up some red onion and pigged out.

Compare that to the homemade spaghetti sauce on Sunday which I ate only half of what was on my plate and you can see somethings work out and some don’t. I have noticed that I have to cut back significantly on spicy foods. If I do use some spice, I now add half as much so my mouth doesn’t go on strike.

For being up so early this morning, I feel pretty good. I may try to take my morning walk for the first time in a while. Me staggering down the street will give the neighborhood something to talk about.

Yesterday was a domestic dispute on Riverland Road at a house that I walk past quite frequently. A woman was injured and a man barricaded himself in the house and fired on police officers. I knew something was up when I saw three helicopters over the area and a litany of police sirens. The man who barricaded himself in the house finally surrendered around 8:15 last night. I’m sure they closed off the road all day and they had the middle school on lockdown until they could evacuate it.

When I do walk Riverland, kids on the way to school constantly pass me on my walk. I’m sure it was an exciting albeit scary day for them.

Today is just a Taxol/saline/magnesium day. I probably will talk to Dr. Velez as he makes his rounds in the infusion ward. I have a list of questions ready for him. I made a list of effects of the chemo and I want to ask him how many of those will persist and how many will abate after my final Taxol treatment. Foremost in my mind is what he anticipates the effects of every three weeks of Herceptin for a year will be.

It’s taken two years but the DeSantis administration has settled a lawsuit about restricting data of Covid infections in the state in order to put the state in a more favorable light. The state of Florida must reimburse the lawyers for the plaintiffs who sought the release of the data and the state must begin to release all data associated with Covid infections in the state. The DeSantis administration is not admitting any fault but it looks like everything went the plantiffs’ way.

I was riding that horse three years ago claiming that there was incomplete and insufficient data on the state’s website for Covid. Add to that a surgeon general for the state who is encouraging people under 65 to not get the new vaccine and you have a recipe for disaster. Florida leads the nation for hospitalizations for Covid. At what point do these actions become criminal?

9:00 am
Phaila took my vitals and Pat is my nurse. That’s my second time with Pat. She’s great.

9:21 am
Getting hooked up to saline and magnesium. Waiting for lab reports before Taxol infusion.

9:38 am
CBC with Auto Differential
The lab report came back with low white blood cells (4.0 with normal 4.5-11.0 K/mcL), low red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Neutrophils relative were high and lymphocytes relative were low. Lymphocytes absolute were low and monocytes absolute were also low. So far, situation normal.

9:55 am
Magnesium is low, of course. It’s 1.4 with normal 1.9-2.7 mg/dL.

The Comprehensive Metabolic Panel miraculously showed my sodium level normal for the first time in a while. Glucose was high because of breakfast and sterols (288). My calcium continues to be low at 8.4 (normal 8.6-10.3 mg/dL). A new thing is my bilirubin total is low (0.2 with normal 0.3-1.0 mg/dL). This is probably a side effect of the medications I’m on.

11:08 am
Pat’s getting ready to administer the premeds for the Taxol. Looks like the Taxol will be about an hour and I still have some magnesium and saline left. She’ll give me the Taxol and then finish with the saline and magnesium.

Noon
Pat started the Taxol. In for 1 hour.
Stay tuned!

6 October 2023

It was a strange night. I would wake, get up and pee, go back to bed just about every hour – all accompanied by weird dreams. I started out with the comforter and somewhere in the night what little fever I had broke so I threw it off sometime in the morning.

I was completely stuffed up this morning and spent a good part of it getting my nasal passages cleared. I wonder if I just had a bad cold? In any case, I opted out of the morning walk. I feel OK but just don’t think I have the strength for it today.

Along the lines of TMI, I had a major bowel movement this morning. It seems to have cleared the constipation problem. What a relief! So much of our lives seem to revolve around intakes and outflows of our bodies. No wonder our dogs think we are crazy when we follow along behind them and pick up their poop.

I did have enough energy to clean the pool filter and the pool this morning. It’s a beautiful day with low humidity and nice temps. Even the birds were happy.

I made it to the infusion center with plenty of time to spare and they actually took me in a little early. I think the front window is getting to expect my Tootsie Roll miniatures.

Kenyda is my nurse again today and she has a very pleasant and competent way about her. All of the nurses here have been exceptional except the one about a month ago that seemed to be training.

They took blood for analysis and will probably go ahead with a liter of saline and 250 ml of magnesium before the blood work is done.

The CBC with Auto/Differential came back and my white blood cell count is down along with hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cells. My neutrophils relative were high, and lymphocytes absolute were low.

My magnesium, as usual, was low (1.6) and the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel showed glucose high (223), calcium low, AST(SGOT) high, ALT(SGPT) high and total protein low. Both the AST and ALT indicate liver inflammation. I suspect with the low white blood cells, I’ll be back on the injections to boost them three times a week pretty soon.

I finished up around 4:30 pm and then headed to the main hospital to visit my friend Kurt. I didn’t even know he was in the hospital but he had gall bladder surgery and then, on top of that, got an infection. It was a good visit and I think he’s on the way to recovery.

After the hospital visit I stopped at Fresh Market to get some bell peppers and ground sirloin. I want to make Mom’s homemade spaghetti sauce tomorrow. She used to cook that all day long. What made me think of it was Kurt’s dinner tonight which was pasta with tomato sauce. I still don’t care for pure hamburger, steak, pork chops, or any type of whole meat at the moment but can eat stews, and I hope spaghetti sauce.

I brown the ground sirloin and remove. Then I cook the onions and peppers and celery together and at the last minute add garlic (Mom never added garlic because Dad couldn’t stand it). Then I add the meat back to the veggies, add tomato paste, tomato sauce and spices. I then add beef broth and some red wine and let that simmer on low for a few hours. It works out pretty well, freezes well, and goes well with rice or pasta.

I got home after 7 pm so it’s been a long day. I’ll head to bed early tonight.

Stay tuned!

5 October 2023

About three this morning I realized I was getting chilled. I put the down comforter on the bed and that helped. When I did get out of bed at 6, I found I was running a moderate temperature of 100°F. I texted Dr. Velez and asked if he wanted me to still go in for the echocardiogram scheduled at 9 am. I’m to notify him if it ever climbs to 100.4°F. That’s a sure sign of infection for chemo patients. He said yes, go in and get it done. As a precaution, I took a Covid test and it came back negative.

Don’t get on I-95 at 8:05 am on a weekday. It was stop and go and I made it with about 5 minutes to spare to Holy Cross. The echocardiogram people are apparently backed up and Dr. Velez scheduled me for Nuclear Medicine. Finally, around 9:35 am I was taken back and met Felipe. He needed to establish an IV and draw blood. He had a real hard time finding a vein in my hand. Eventually, he was able to draw enough for the test.

Felipe wanted to gossip and when I mentioned I had fired one hematologist/oncologist, he wanted to know who. I told him and he said he had heard, like I told him, that he wasn’t a great communicator. When he asked who I had now, and said Dr. Velez, he said everyone speaks very highly of him. That’s pretty much the response I get from everyone who wants to talk about doctors.

They take my blood and load the surface of the red blood cells with the radioactive isotope Technetium-99. It is a short lived isotope so they use it as a tracer as blood is pumped through the heart. It took about 25 minutes for them to load my red blood cells with enough T-99.

Since the IV would not accept a flush, Danielle came in and put an IV in my arm around the area of my elbow. Everyone has trouble putting an IV in the right arm because they apparently moved some stuff around during the biceps tear surgery several years ago. She made it seem easy.

I had to wait 10-15 minutes for the tracer to circulate in my blood enough to be registered in the heart and then Danielle took me back to photograph my heart with three different angles/images, each lasting 10 minutes. It’s difficult lying there with your arms over your head for 3 ten minute photographs. Danielle started the process but Travis finished it up with me.

I asked Travis to send a copy to my cardiologist who I see next week and, of course, to Dr. Velez.

I got home around noon after a stop at McDonalds and immediately went back to bed and crashed for a couple of hours. Joel called around 2 pm and said he was outside my door with a “gift.” Everyone is telling him manuka honey is supposed to be good for diarrhea so he brought me a jar.

I’ll try it but to be honest, diarrhea isn’t a problem at the moment. Constipation is the problem of the day. I’m not sure which is worse. Constipation makes you feel like you constantly need to void and never quite get there. I did have to go before the imaging and again once I got home and again this afternoon. It’s very solid stool. Of course, diarrhea makes you very weak and it put me in the hospital one time. I think I’ll cut back on the anti-diarrhea medicine to one tab every 4 hours – at least for a little while.

In any case, the test results came back. My left ventricle, the one the think is most important to photograph, registered at 62% efficiency. Anything in the 50-75% range is considered normal so my heart hasn’t been damaged by Herceptin – yet. I have a whole year of the stuff to do, every three weeks.

I just checked my temperature again and it’s at 98.6°F now. I don’t particularly feel any better but at least I’m not feverish. Tomorrow, I have hydration therapy and I can tell I’ll need it. Looks like day 3 and 4 after the chemo is my roughest time. I’ll be curious to see what my temp is tomorrow morning. For some reason, they have me scheduled for 2 pm instead of 1:30. Maybe they have a staff meeting to attend.

Stay tuned!

3 October 2023

The alarm waked me at 6 am.  I took a Xanax last night because I had some restless leg and knew I needed some sleep.  The good news is the Xanax didn’t give me much of a hangover.  The bad news is I may becoming used to it.  

I got my morning routine done in time and even though traffic on I-95 was very slow and equally slow on Commercial, I made it in time.  As usual, I left the front desk some Tootsie Roll miniatures.  

Julianne is my nurse again.  I really like her attitude.  Nothing seems to get her down.  Today is indeed Taxol (1 hour) and Herceptin (30 minutes) but it also includes 1 liter of saline and 50 mls of Magnesium.  It will be a long day.  We are also doing the cryotherapy 15 minutes before Taxol and 15 minutes after.

They did not do a blood test this morning since I had one Friday.  

I followed Jimmie’s suggestion and brought my own pair of dishwashing glovers for my fingers and quart freezer bags for my toes.  At least I won’t have to wear gloves on my feet today,.  The numbness seems to have plateaued.  It’s bad but not unlivable.  The ice bath seems to have worked well. I like the 15 minutes before Taxol and 15 minutes after routine. It beats an hour of ice for the Taxol.

Years ago in Morton, a friend of mine, Kevin, was mowing grass and he fell backwards and pulled the mower over his foot.  That was back before they put safety bars on the handles that automatically shut the mower down.  He severed his big toe and always had balance problems after that.  I don’t want the numbness to get so bad that I have balance problems.  Toes are a major factor in your balance – along with the inner ear.  I already have a little positional vertigo since chemo began.  Maybe I’m not replacing the hairs in the inner ear fast enough.

Back to the numbness. It does seem to help. In talking with Julianne I mentioned the patient who had read a paper on using ice and she said the patient told everyone it was one hour during the Taxol infusion. Dr. Velez said it was 15 before, 15 after. I trust Velez’ reading of the article over a patient’s reading of the article.

I was done with all the infusions by 3 pm. That seems like record time. Since I haven’t had any reactions, they are really eager to push the solutions through me. I’m not complaining.

I’m still having problems establishing a hot spot with my laptop.  I guess that means I need to call Apple help desk again when I get home.  

Now I can’t wait to replace the laptop.  When I type on the keyboard, it automatically erases some text without me doing anything and then shifts my cursor to the middle of some already typed text without direction.  It’s already done it three times with these four paragraphs above.  I might also be having trouble with the numbness in my fingers with typing but the problems with moving and disappearing text has occurred since I purchased the laptop.

I also tried out Jimmie’s Sweet Cream Cake. Never knew there way anything like sweet cream but Winn-Dixie had it. I actually like the taste and I may try some in my coffee tomorrow. Apparently, it’s a big thing at Starbucks because there were three or four flavors of sweet cream sold in Starbucks (one was caramel).

It makes a beautifully light batter. It forms a crust at the top and that is super sweet (think southern iced tea) and super crunchy. I suspect the cooking process allows the sugar to rise to the top of the batter and form the crust. Jimmie was right – it doesn’t need a glaze. Jimmie usually uses a tube pan and that would probably work better.

Two things. I think I would cut the amount of sugar back to 2 cups and I made a mistake with the Bundt pan. You can dust the pan with either flour or sugar. I chose sugar. Not a good idea. It caused the sugar in the cake to stick to the sugar in the pan. It fell apart after I inverted it. Still, it tasted good. Very light and just the right amount of lemon flavoring.

Sweet Cream Cake recipe from Jimmie

1/2 lb. butter (unsalted)                    1 tsp. lemon extract
3 c. sugar                                        2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 eggs                                              3 c. cake flour (plain)
1/2 pint sweet cream

Cream butter and sugar well.  Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add extracts.  Add flour and cream alternately.  Put in a greased and floured tube pan (Bundt pan will work).  Put in a cold oven and bake at 325^o for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  (No less time.)

I like to get all ingredients to room temperature before I begin.  As I mentioned, use whipping cream if you can’t find sweet cream.  I forgot to tell you about the lemon and vanilla extracts.  There is no baking soda.  I can’t find the glaze anywhere, but haven’t used one in years.

Try it, you may like it. It’s really easy with a stand mixer.

Stay tuned!

30 September 2023

I knew it was too good to be true. I went 6 days without any diarrhea. It came to an end yesterday evening after my hydration infusion. I had two explosive episodes that impressed even an old hand like me. Four days ago I went from two Imodium AD and two Lomotil every four hours (alternating) to one each. I’m now back to the 2-fer routine.

I was so tired I went to bed around 8:30 last night and then started to get chills. I put the down comforter on the bed and finally got warm. Then the aches to the long bones and joints started and I popped two Advil and a Claritin. It worked well enough to allow me to doze off to sleep but then I was wide awake (and achy) at 2 this morning. I’ll probably need several naps today.

At the moment (2:38 am) I feel pretty decent, considering, although my temperature this morning was 99.5°F. Hopefully I’ll have enough energy to do a cursory house cleaning and wash clothes. I also found out my unopened quart of milk had turned so no cereal for me. I need to go grocery shopping on Sunday anyway.

It seems my “to do” list is piling up. I need to return a volume of Flora of North America for a refund, I need to recycle my Apple Watch and iMac computer and all three necessitate a trip to UPS which can be a pain. Additionally, even though I purchased the iPad Pro with cellular capabilities, it has yet to show any inclination to provide those services. It’ll probably result in a series of phone calls to Apple and AT&T, both claiming it’s not their fault. It’ll all get done but I’m an impatient person (I’m sure that’s news to you).

Apparently, Fort Lauderdale went through a deluge yesterday. When Joel picked me up to carry me to the cancer center, it had not rained at the house but when we got closer to the center, most strip mall parking lots were under water. By the time I got back home (4 hours later) the deluge had hit my neighborhood so everyone got a pretty good soaking. Add to that and we are due King tides so things may get a little squishy around South Florida.

I may post an update to my update sometime today between naps and household chores. Then again, I may just crawl back into bed and stay there.

Stay tuned!

29 September 2023

The muscle relaxer did a number of me. I was in a daze all day yesterday not sure whether I was coming or going. I ended up napping for a couple of hours after doing some small stuff around the house but definitely didn’t feel like doing the morning walk, yoga, or swimming. I don’t know if the drug had anything to do with it but the numbness in my fingers and toes is much worse. I’ll be curious to see if they do the ice treatment today for the hydration infusion. I’m still pretty wiped out today but that could be the effect of the fourth day after chemo.

I did manage to straighten a few things out with the Apple Watch and McAfee Antivirus program. Of course, I managed to remove the new Apple Watch from the system and then had to re-install. Perhaps not a good idea to do computer things while in a drug fog.

I didn’t walk this morning, do yoga or swim laps. I was doing good to get out of bed. I did manage to clean the pool filter this morning but that was only because I could sit down while doing it. I missed last week and definitely needed to get it clean today.

I realize the chemo is cumulative in its effects but this week has hit me pretty hard. I suspect I’ll be hit harder yet. Strangely, in addition to the numbness, the muscle tics, bloody nose and shortness of breath, I seem to be developing little red spots all over my body.

My energy level is pretty low. I haven’t done a morning walk in a while and I’m not sure when I’ll be doing it again. The only good news is that there are only three more Taxol treatments. My last is on October 17. Of course, I’ve been receiving Herceptin every three weeks and my next Herceptin + Taxol treatment is October 3rd. After the Taxol, it’ll be Herceptin only until August 21, 2024.

Around 10 am I realized I was not in any shape to drive to the cancer center.  I called Joel and he was free to take me.  I didn’t want to chance it.  I still felt dizzy and a little disoriented.  Joel showed up early and delivered me in plenty of time. I’ll call him when finished.  I couldn’t give him an estimate of when but usually the hydration runs three or four hours.

Phailia is my nurse today.  She’s very efficient and had my blood drawn for testing within a few minutes of sitting down.  I’m awaiting the test results but I suspect it’ll be saline and magnesium, like every time before.

So far, it’s pretty quiet in the infusion center and there are a lot of open chairs but I suspect it’ll pick up a little later.  Phailia said they had 97 patients through so far.  The typical number is around 85. Today while I was waiting, they rang two bells to denote two people had finished their chemo.

2:18 pm
The CBC with Auto Differential came back.  The white blood cell was low (5.0) but in normal range.  The red blood cell, hemoglobin and hematocrit, as usual, were low.  The neutrophils relative were high but otherwise the other parameters that are usually off are back to normal.

Mia the nutritionist stopped by to check on me.  She’s always up and always has a few suggestions!

2:34 pm
The Comprehensive Metabolic Panel came back with the usual low sodium.  Glucose was typically high for this time of day at 167. Magnesium was 1.4 (normal 1.9-2.7).  Situation normal.  Funny how some things never change and others have subtly gotten better.  My blood results are certainly much better than when I first started chemotherapy

The hydration finished around 4:30 and Joel picked me up and dropped me home. As you can probably tell, today has been a little of a downer. I’ve never had to have anyone drive me to an infusion. Hopefully, by Tuesday’s chemo, I’ll be able to drive myself. I hate to depend on someone but I know I have plenty of people who will volunteer to drive me if necessary.

The good thing is that the hydration infusion made me feel much better than when I went in. Go saline! Go magnesium!

Stay tuned!