Category: Cancer Update

15 July 2023

I’m back home! Barbara picked me up at Holy Cross around 5:30 pm and took me to my pharmacy for Tramadol. I joked that she was my mule for drugs. I didn’t have my wallet and she paid for the drug ($1.70). Tramadol is a synthetic opioid used to treat sever to moderate pain. Hopefully, I won’t need it. Usually Advil stands me in good stead.

I got to the house around 6:30. To be honest, I was exhausted. I went to bed at 8:30 and slept like a baby until 4:30 this morning. I was wide awake. By 7 am I was on my morning walk.

The surgery recovery sheet recommends you walk. Not a problem. I’ve been missing my morning walks due to diarrhea and I wanted to get back to them. I managed 1.38 miles this morning. It was also good to get back into my routine.

I must have been tired because around 9 I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I headed back to bed and slept for another hour. I suspect I’ll be doing a lot of sleeping this week.

Instead of diarrhea, I’m slightly constipated. I’ll take that over the diarrhea although it does lead to some stomach cramps.

It was all a mistake. It was a false positive for Covid. In two days, I’ve had four Covid tests. The first was positive and done during the surgery. The second was done yesterday and was negative. Before they discharged me, they did two more and they were negative. My surgeon said when she saw the positive test during surgery it opened up a whole lot of questions in her mind. The second, third and fourth tests probably gave her some peace. I suspect the third and fourth tests were because they were concerned the negative was a false reading.

Since I tested positive during surgery, they put me on the Covid floor. The nurses there are great. They are also very careful to gown, glove and mask up before entering the room. Two nurses asked me to spread the word that Covid is back. Their case load is increasing and the nurses are very concerned and scared people will not take it seriously. One also indicated that it was good that I was going home and not staying on the Covid floor.

I have homework. I have to empty the drain bulb that is draining the area around my lymph nodes into a container and measure the amount of fluid. At this stage, it’s mostly bloody. Hopefully by the time I see my surgeon on the 20th it will be straw colored and the drain can come out. It’s not the most pleasant chore but it’s easily done. I pin the bulb to my shorts and go about my business after I complete the chore. It really doesn’t interfere with my sleep so that’s a plus. I just can’t sleep on my left side.

John is coming by today with home made chili and some rice crispy treats. Have I mentioned what good friends I have?

Another day in paradise with heat index of 105°F and thunderstorms!

Today’s flower is Bangkok Rose.

It’s another member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and is native to the Philippines. Look carefully at the bottom left and you can see a little orange flower. The white petal-like structure are actually the sepals of the flower and are by far the showiest part of the flower.

It reminds me of bougainvillea. The showy part of that is the colorful bracts. A lot of “flowers” are not actually the petals, stamens, pistil and sepals but modified leaves (bracts).

The name bougainvillea reminds me of the Pacific Island Bouganville. Dad was in the Pacific theater in WWII and was on that island. His army command relieved the marine contingent on the island. It was the scene of fierce fighting.

In any case, the plant bougainvillea belongs in the four-o-clock family of plants the Nyctaginaceae and it’s native to eastern South America. My Aunt Buleah used to have four-o-clocks growing around an old oak tree in her front yard and I would love to hang out there. They really did open their blooms at 4 pm. Of course, I’m not sure that was daylight savings time or standard time.

Another flower that has showy bracts is the American dogwood.

The green center is actually a cluster of flowers arranged as an umbel. The showy part are the bracts that subtend the flowers. It belongs in the family Cornaceae and over the years I’ve found six different species.

Species	Common Name	Location
Cornus alternifolia	Alternate Leaf Dogwood	Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Cornus canadensis	Bunchberry	Acadia National Park, Lake Louise – Canada, Bugaboos – Canada, Emerald Lake – Canada
Cornus florida	American Dogwwod	O’Leno State Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Cornus foemina	Swamp Dogwood	Silver Springs State Park – Florida, Blue Springs State Park – Florida, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Cornus sericea	Red Osier	Emerald Lake – Canada, Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park

That only leaves me 13 more species and 3 varieties to still find on my hikes!

Stay tuned!

14 July 2023

I spent a fairly restful night last night in spite of a vitals check every four hours. They gave me a Benadryl to help me sleep and ibuprofen for any pain associated with the surgery. I finally started to stir around 5:30 am.

An associate of Dr. Burgers came in and had a long conversation with me about the surgery, how to take care of the drain, and what to do with home care. He also said further analysis of the lymph nodes and the tumor might alter the treatment for the better.

Dr. Burgers came in later with the same associate and checked the surgical area, made some comments about how well it went. She also cleared up a question I had about whether chemo with Herceptin and Taxol was 9 individual weeks or simply three sessions separated by three weeks. It’s 9 individual weeks because Taxol is generally given weekly.

The surgical wound looks pretty large. You may not want to look at the photo.

I no longer have an areola or nipple. The length of the scar shows how far they had to go to find the sentinel lymph nodes. You can also see some bruising near my arm pit. She reiterated that the nodes looked clear of cancer and she didn’t anticipate further analysis of the lymph nodes to show anything cancerous.

Again, Holy Cross is an excellent facility. In a direct line of sight from your bed is a Nurses’ Board which the name of each nurse and the telephone number you may reach them. They actually answer their phones and come as quickly as they can.

The food is still hospital food but edible. If you don’t call down with your requests, they call you and ask you for your choices. They don’t call themselves food services but “Room Service.” I’m amazed the food is as good as it is.

They provide five entrees, some custom orders, like hamburgers, and a long list of sides.

My lunch was lemon sage chicken, garden salad with Ranch dressing, iced tea, mixed fruit and apple crisp. I ate my entire breakfast and lunch. I usually don’t have that much appetite.

The nurse came in and gave me another Covid test. She didn’t understand why because once you test positive they assume you are positive. Dr. Burgers requested an infectious disease physician to come examine me so that may be the reason for the additional test. Both were PCR’s so they are the most accurate of tests. Even so, some PCR tests give false positives. Dr. Burgers agreed that I may have been more susceptible to Covid because of that first round of chemo.

My hope is to be home by this evening some time. I have a prescription for Tramadol for pain ready at Walgreens. I’ve been trained in how to take care of the drain. I can actually shower on Saturday.

The one bit of great news is my diarrhea has stopped. It may return after some of the anesthesia is out of my body but right now I’m pleased.

Stay tuned!

13 July 2023

What a day. Holley stuck with me through thick and thin. See arrived at the house at 8:45 am and finally left and the only way 6:45 pm. She’s a trooper! She spent 10 hours at Holy Cross with me. I figure she colored quite a few pages in her adult coloring book!

First order of business after checking in was to go down to imaging for preop for a Lymphoscintigram which is a fancy way of saying they wanted to inject a radioactive substance into my sentinel lymph nodes. The idea is to pinpoint the lymph nodes so they can biopsy them during the mastectomy without having to explore too much. They take photos where the areas glow on a camera photograph. It takes 15 minutes for the radioactivity to find the nodes. Then they take five minutes of photos so they technician and doctor can mark them on my body with, get this, a Sharpie.

The doctor was a wit. When he found out my name was Searcy, he asked the tech who that was. The tech didn’t know so when he asked me I said a Demi-goddess who turned Odyessus’ men into pigs. Of course, the demigoddess is spelled Circe. The doctor was impressed. Then I explained the origin of my name from the province of Cerci in Franc and the Huguenot emigration to England.

I won’t lie and tell you the procedure didn’t hurt. It did. He said he does this numerous times of day with women and they never bat an eye. Only men express pain. I said “what did he expect – anything different.” My sentinel lymph nodes were in the arm pit region.

In part of the conversation with the orderly who wheeled me into imaging, he talked about masks and the need to wear them (we were) and how he needed to get back in the habit. There were eleven Covid patients in Holy Cross and it looked like the number was increasing. It did.

After that, things moved rapidly. I was taken back to preop.

I was wheeled into surgery at 1 pm. Poor Holley. They made her go to the waiting room. The surgeon, Dr. Burgers, came by and explained everything to Holly and me prior to surgery. Holley wanted me to stay the night because it’s easier to treat pain in the hospital through an IV line than at home with pills. The nurse suggested Dr. Burgers was adverse to the idea but she immediately agreed to admit me after the surgery. I guess I didn’t have to tell her men can’t tolerate pain as well as women.

Holley was on pins and needles while in the waiting room but Dr. Burgers came to explain everything. The lymph nodes were not cancerous. They will continue to do tests and I have a follow up appointment next week with both Dr. Burgers and the hematologist/oncologist Dr. Velez. Dr. Burgers is pretty certain nothing will show up on the extended tests of the lymph nodes. That was great news that the cancer had not spread. She also told Holley (and probably me but I don’t remember anything) that the tumor was easily detached and dispatched.

I was taken to recovery and was loopy for quite a while. Then they rolled me up to fourth floor for my night in the hospital. The nurse came in later and said there’s good news and bad news. The good news was things looked good surgery wise and the bad news was I tested positive for Covid. She said they would send me to the Covid floor on the second floor.

What’s so strange was four weeks ago I tested negative when I was in the emergency room from dehydration. I also show no symptoms. I found out tonight they will maybe keep me a couple of days for Covid observation so I guess it was a good thing they reserved a room for me post surgery. I may be in the hospital for a longer stay than I thought.

I do have a little pain from the surgery but they immediately gave me some happy juice through the IV and it’s manageable. I also have a bra to keep pressure on the wound. I knew they would put a drain into the wound to keep fluid from building up but I did not anticipate the size of the bulb used to collect the fluid. I imagined a small bulb like on a pipette. It’s huge! It has to be emptied once or twice every day for a week, at least.

My new room on the second floor has a scenic view of the air conditioning unit for this wing. Before bringing me down to the second floor, Holley went to the cafeteria and bought me dinner. Just as they took me down, the hospital brought me dinner and it was virtually identical to what Holley brought me.

Holley made me pack a bag just in case of a hospital stay and that’s where I kept my phone, iWatch, iPad and laptop. She kept it in the trunk of her car and when she brought it up I had something like 30 texts and messages asking about me and how I was doing. It was very moving.

I actually feel great. Could be the drugs but I’m not in a lot of pain. I’m mobile and I’m hoping for a false positive on the Covid test. My new room is a single so there’s no roommate. Life could have been a lot worse after the surgery today so I count my blessings.

Stay tuned!

12 July 2023

Tomorrow is the big day! I confess to being overwhelmed and humbled at all the attention my friends and family have lavished on me since this process began sometime in February. The old saying applies, you don’t get to chose your family but you do get to chose your friends. I apparently have a sixth sense in choosing friends – they’ve certainly come through for me.

Holley insisted on taking me tomorrow. She also insists she will spend the entire time at the hospital with me and take me back home. I protested but it doesn’t do any good with Holley. Once she makes up her mind there’s no changing it. She says she’ll take her adult coloring book and keep occupied while I’m in surgery.

Holley also made an excellent suggestion to pack an overnight bag and leave in her trunk in case the hospital admits me. That way no one will have to come back to the house and pack stuff up. Most of what I will need are charging cables for the lap top, iWatch, iPhone, and iPad. Apple rules my life.

John has volunteered to spend one or two nights with me in case I have trouble getting up out of bed. Neighbors have offered to cook for me, clean for me, and run errands for me. Not sure how I got so lucky, but I’ll take it.

People out of town and out of state call and wish me luck, cheer me up, and generally keep close tabs on me. It certainly has put me in the right frame of mind for the surgery.

Hopefully you’ll understand if there is no post from me tomorrow. I suspect I’ll still be a little hung over from the anesthesia and pain meds. I’ll start reposting as soon as I am able.

As far as the plant of the day, I submit to you Cape Leadwort (Plumbago auriculata), a native of South Africa. It was another of one of the first plants I learned with I moved down to Fort Lauderdale area. It’s a member of the Plumbaginaceae family but there are only two genera found in Florida. The other is Limonium.

Why this one stays with me is when I used to walk Rocky he would often brush up against the plant that grew along the sidewalks and the glandular flowers would stick to him. I would accuse him of being a hippie and wearing flowers in his hair. That evoked the old song “San Francisco” sung by Scott McKenzie where he sings “If you are going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair.”

The glandular hairs of the flowers are very much akin to the glandular hairs found in the sundew family which use the hairs to trap insects. Sundews, like the Venus flytrap, are carnivorous. The glands of the Cape Leadwort are strong enough to trap flies but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of this plant being insectivorous.

Wikipedia considers the years of the hippie movement to be from 1966 to 1972. From 1966 until 1970 I was busy with undergrad years at Ole Miss and trying to stay out of the draft. Ole Miss wasn’t terribly receptive to the hippie ideal although my dorm at Powers Hall had the first marijuana bust in Mississippi. Ole Miss was still making freshmen get freshmen haircuts and wear beanies.

From 1970 until 1974 I was in the Coast Guard and they weren’t terribly into the hippie movement either although Admiral Zumwalt relaxed the regulations for facial hair for the Navy which the CG tended to follow. Until then you had regulation hair cuts, no facial hair and no tattoos that showed.

I remember one crew member was so eager to grow his hair longer that he actually donned a wig that met the regulations. He spent the majority of time scratching the itchy wig.

The hippiest I got was buying a few paisley shirts I loved for liberty. The paisley design was very popular during the “Summer of Love” in 1967. I still like the paisley designs today. By the way, I wore those shirts to shreds.

It’s hard to believe but I still have bouts of diarrhea. I hope I don’t leave the operating team a present while on the operating table but if I do, it’s the fault of the chemotherapy. It might be a just payback.

Stay tuned!

9 July 2023

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was feeling good, no diarrhea for a couple of days, went out to lunch with friends, watched the final episode of “Endeavor.” I even had two solid poops. This morning at 5:30 am that all ended.

I was supposed to go to a house warming with Darla at Daryl and Bill’s. I had to cancel. My stomach is roiling and I don’t want to get too far away from the toilet. I can’t think it was the food because I’ve been on normal food for a while. I don’t think it was the alcohol. I still think I’m having some effects from the first chemo infusion on June 5th. By now, if I had continued with the infusions, I would be on my third. I can’t imagine that.

I plan to spend most of the day hydrating, napping, and trying to control the diarrhea.

It’s a good day to stay in anyway. We are under another heat warning and the sky is overcast with a promise of more rain. The ground must be. pretty saturated by now. Thank goodness the tropics are quiet.

Leaves continue to rain down from the mango tree. I’ll let a few more days go past before I do another rake.

Stay tuned!

6 July 2023

One step forward…. Diarrhea hit this morning at 4:30 am and continued until 8:30. Back on Lomotil and Imodium. Sigh!

I was supposed to go over to Michel and Nancy’s tonight and go to a Greek restaurant they’ve found and enjoyed but I’m not venturing too far from the toilet for a while.

Holy Cross has an app called My Chart. They notify you when anything needs to be attended to such as check in for your surgery. What actually happens is numerous people at HC make entries and you are bombarded in your email you have something to do on My Chart. Most of the time, it’s answering the same questions you’ve already answered three or four times before.

There was a new message this morning that I had an estimate for the cost of the procedure (mastectomy). My mastectomy is only going to cost $146,512.14. They kindly point out that this is entirely reasonable by telling you the low end of the spectrum for this procedure nationwide is $112,607 and the high end is $212.830.

They also let me know that my echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart) was only $4797 of which I may have to pay $106.94 if my secondary insurance doesn’t pony up. Dr. Velez says I’ll need an echocardiogram every three weeks for a year.

All I can say is I’m glad I have Medicare – which pays 100% for a mastectomy – and supplemental insurance to cover the echocardiograms. I can’t imagine getting sick in this day and time without health insurance.

I’m still waiting for Dr. Velez’ nurse to contact me about my early question. I was confused as to exactly how many infusions of Herceptin and Taxol I would be getting and how many of just Herceptin. In his written summary he said 9 weeks of Herceptin and Taxol and then just Herceptin for the remainder of 52 weeks.

The real question is he talking weeks or sessions. Infusion sessions occur every 3 weeks. So my question is the 9 weeks of Herceptin and Taxol – is that 3 sessions or 9 weekly infusions? I already know he means 12 sessions to finish the year of just Herceptin because he told me that directly. I can only hope the 9 weeks is just 3 infusions. It would be nice to know this and prep accordingly. The reason I think it might actually mean 9 infusions is he is going to give me lower dosages of Taxol because high doses lead to – you guessed it – diarrhea. He plans on giving me 80 mg/liter instead of the normal 240 mg/liter.

Brother Archie sent me a photo today of Dad on September 16, 1993. His neighbors Jerry and Lyla took him fishing. It was his 80th birthday.

Seeing him with that hat reminds me of the time he and Archie were down here and we searched for a hat large enough to fit his head. There’s a western store in Davie, Florida called Griff’s and it’s like a super Walmart of western goods. He couldn’t find one. He eventually had to special order one.

Stay tuned!

5 July 2023

The fireworks wound down around midnight, for which I was grateful. There’ll probably be a few scattered explosions for the next few days but not bad. I think the entire neighborhood went a little berserk last night. Maybe with the year we’ve had it was needed to blow off a little steam.

I took my glasses in today after the third time of falling apart. I explained it had to be either a design flaw or a manufacturing problem. To no avail. They repaired them and as they handed them to me I said “You know, these are going to break again.” He shrugged and said he couldn’t do anything about it even though they were under warranty. I then asked for my latest prescription and told him I would go elsewhere to purchase my glasses.

It really irked me. I’ve probably bought six or seven sets of glasses (1 pair of glasses, 1 pair of sunglasses) over the last several years and the bill always comes in around $2000. I’m looking for a new ophthalmologist and a new source of glasses.

The reason I’m looking for a new ophthalmologist is they went up on the cost of refraction from $50 to $60 and the last refraction I had was the most cursory one I’ve experienced – to the point I don’t really trust the person who performed it. I also don’t like the idea that my ophthalmologist is a D.O. not an M.D. They also have a lot of turnover in that office. I don’t think I’ve seen the same technician twice in the last 4 years.

Someone suggested a person at Bascomb Palmer Eye Institute in Plantation for ophthalmologist and Costco for a source of glasses. I put out an email to my locals and asked for recommendations.

My GP visit went well. He’s approved me for surgery on the 13th. He wasn’t concerned about the Gram positive bacteria (<10,000 CFU/ml [Colony Forming Units]) and was concerned about the white blood cell count. I explained after the first chemo, the next day they gave me an injection to boost my WBC. He agreed that was probably the cause of the high count.

He did write me a script for Lomotil pills and for Flomax. I told him I wouldn’t take the liquid prescription that took CVS so long to fill. I also changed pharmacies from CVS to Walgreens. Probably all the big chains are the same but I’ve gotten better service from Walgreens lately.

I know you know they do everything bigger in Texas but I put to you they can’t grow iguanas like I can.

Each tile on the pool is 4 inches. He spans 13 of them so he’s 52 inches long. That makes him 4.3 feet. By the way, he chose that spot to poop. It was massive!

Eric and Rudy from construction stopped by my house today to put a face plate on an electrical receptacle. The new one that was installed on the east wall required a new one and they showed up to put it on. That’s what I like about the company and the people that work there. They say they will do something and they show up and do it.

Next up is surgery.

Stay tuned!

3 July 2023

I met with Dr. Velez today at 2 pm and I feel better after the meeting. He explained that my diarrhea was due to the combination of Perjeta and Herceptin which blocked receptors in my colon and prevented the colon from absorbing anything – thus the watery diarrhea. It seems Perjeta is the major cause and it hasn’t been uncommon to see people admitted to the hospital with dehydration and kidney damage while on the drug. I’ll refrain from commenting about the previous doctor not explaining this.

My cancer is estrogen positive and HER2 positive. HER2 positive is an aggressive form of cancer. In males, breast cancer is most common in the left breast, as is mine.

Dr. Velez is recommending a protocol established by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The treatment, after surgery, uses the drugs Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody and Taxol (Paclitaxel). It will involve nine weeks of Herceptin and Taxol and a follow up of Herceptin for one year every three weeks. The nine weeks will be folded into the one year so it will be a total of 12 sessions of just Herceptin. This has a 10 year survival rate of 97%. Without any chemotherapy, after surgery, it’s 75-80% survival rate.

They will monitor my heart function every three months with an echocardiogram and I will still be on Tamoxifen for five years.

Dr. Velez looked at the ultrasounds and mammogram and also agrees with Dr. Burgers that the lymph nodes are not infected. However, the day of the surgery, sentinel lymph nodes will be sampled and if they are infected, Dr. Velez will put me on TCH chemotherapy (Taxotere, Carboplatin, and Herceptin) every three weeks for one year. Then it will be one year on Nerlynx. One of the side effects of that drug is – diarrhea. That’s a worse case scenario with infected lymph nodes.

He was very dialed in with my diarrhea. He says that Herceptin should not have any serious side effects for me and that Taxol can have severe side effects in large doses (240 mg). He proposes to dose me with 80 mg and says the only real side effect should be fatigue for a couple of days. They will, at the day of infusion, also give me a steroid which should give me a boost of energy. I will not have to schedule follow up visits immediately after the infusion, so no 118 additional appointments. He also said he has an 80 year old woman on this same regimen and she hasn’t had any significant side effects.

He also stated my bout with diarrhea from the TCHP protocol should be coming to an end. He did recommend to take double the dosage of Imodium (two tabs instead of one every four hours). When I can go for 24 hours without a bowel movement, that would indicate I’m over the diarrhea.

Speaking of diarrhea, I had three episodes last night so I might have been a bit optimistic about being over it. I didn’t have much energy today.

Even though I was kinda down energy wise, I did manage to do my monthly cleaning. I clean house every week but at the end of the month, I do a more detailed cleaning. It took me three hours but it was the first real cleaning job after all the construction. I certainly feel better about the house and can relax a little when anyone stops over to visit. Next month I’ll use the excuse of my surgery to not do the monthly cleaning.

Stay tuned!

28 June 2023

Had an endocrinologist appointment this morning at 10 am. The nurse took me in around 9:40 and took my vitals. In conversation (she knew about my cancer diagnosis) she asked who my new hematologist/oncologist was and when I told her, she had worked with him at the Breast Cancer Institute many years ago. Small world. She really liked him and admitted to having a crush. She says he’s very empathetic.

Now I get to quiz the new guy if he remembers her and then get to tease both of them about the crush. Life is good!

Normally, I always schedule the endocrinologist for the first afternoon appointment. I’ve learned he likes to spend time with his patients and if you are the second or third appointment, he is always running late. I had to cancel that particular appointment due to diarrhea and could only get the second appointment for this morning. He was only an hour late but I didn’t mind. He’s always late to the others after my appointment so I didn’t begrudge being late to this one after I made him late to so many others.

As I mentioned previously, my blood work was all over the place with high A1c, high white blood cell count, liver enzymes high, kidney function low, etc. that he decided not to fool with my current diabetes medications and simply retest me in three months. We talked more about my cancer diagnosis than we did diabetes. He kept trying to build my confidence in the surgery and the outcome and I appreciated it. He also suggested I ask for a hospital stay for a day or two since I live alone. He also reinforced the idea of home health care to tend to the drains and to change the bandages. He said Medicare should pay for that. That’s the type physician he is – he goes the extra mile with concern and advice.

He did mention that if I consistently test high in the 160-200 range for glucose any length of time to call him and he’ll add another drug to my metformin but not to be too upset if my glucose spikes for a few days.

After leaving the endocrinologist, I headed to CVS to finally pick up my prescription form of Lomotil. Holy Cross, when they prescribed it, specified a liquid. That had to be special ordered and it’s taken from 13 June until 28 June for it to come in. It cost a whopping $60. I’ll ask my primary to write a prescription for the pills which should be much cheaper and much easier to take.

The contractor texted me while at the doctor’s office and said he was at my house finishing the stucco. It looks good. He just stopped by to drop off some baseboard for the vestibule and to check there was no cracking in the stucco. He was in a talkative mood. He thinks he can finish up by next week everything that needs to be done on the outside and inside.

When we first met and he learned about my breast cancer, he admitted to feeling a lump in one of his breasts. His girlfriend insured he got checked out and he eventually had an ultrasound. The doctor cleared him of breast cancer and I’m glad he got it checked out. He mentioned that his Mom’s boyfriend had to also get checked out. Seems to be going around a lot.

Tomorrow, I take Tom in for his second knee surgery. I’ll drop him off at Holy Cross and another friend will pick him up in the afternoon after the surgery. They get you in and out in a hurry these days.

At least the diarrhea has abated for the last two days. My appetite is stronger and I seem to be more open to more different foods other than bananas, although I still have them every morning. Officially, I’ve lost 3 pounds. I think it was actually 5 but since I’ve been better with my appetite, I think I’ve gained a few of those back – or simply haven’t pooped it out yet.

June has been a very rainy month even as the rainiest month of the year in Florida. Our normal rainfall in Fort Lauderdale in June is 6″. The South Florida Water Management District reports that from January to June 2023 Broward county as had 38.99 inches of rain which is 165% of the normal and we are now 15.33 inches ahead of normal for the six month period. For June (with three more days to go) we’ve had 10.93 inches which is 147% of normal with 3.48 inches ahead of normal – and – it looks like it will rain this afternoon.

I suspect when the data are in, we’ll find June broke records again for highest temperatures. Humidity in Broward is normally around 74% in June in which is sometimes described as “sticky.” Nice euphemism.

Stay tuned!

25 June 2023

It’s been a good day. A couple of minor bouts of diarrhea last night but so far, today has been fine. Other than the rain. We are under a flood advisory and we are in the middle of an electrical storm. I’m staying off the big computer and have not turned on the television. People are amazed when I tell them about lightning striking land lines and the electrical shock traveling through phone cords. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that experience occurred with my Dad when he was in the military. The lightning bolt traveled through the phone line and knocked him across the room.

These days I tend to get a little nervous when rain starts to pool around the house. I’d just as soon not go through another flood episode for the next 100 years.

As far as the diarrhea is concerned, nothing seems to totally stop it. I’m alternating between Lomotil and Imodium. I’ve been told by the doctors that it’s OK to take Lomotil every six hours and Imodium every four. I don’t do that much but pretty close to it. Since it hasn’t stopped, I’ve given up on the BRATT diet. I’m still eating the diet but decided I need to get some real food into me. Even when I poop, it’s starting to look like little bananas. Can’t say I’ve ever had yellow poop before. Either that or I’m hallucinating.

I therefore went to Whole Foods today and bought some hamburger patties. They sell premade patties with additions like bacon and cheese or bleu cheese and onion. I bought 2 plain and 2 bacon and cheese patties and when I got home divided those into two to make 8 patties that are much thinner. I really prefer thinner patties. I made a plain one for lunch and put on the bun mustard, ketchup, onion and dill pickles and was able to eat the entire burger. That’s a first for me since my chemo infusion. I have no idea why hamburgers sound good to me, taste good to me and allow me to eat them when thoughts of other foods turn me off.

I made the mistake of brushing my teeth with minty toothpaste last night as an experiment to see if my gums and lining of my mouth had recovered from the infusion. It hadn’t. I can’t believe how much minty toothpaste burns. It’s back to baking soda for toothpaste.

I also bought some precut chunks of watermelon. I feel like I can eat the fruit (it still tastes good to me) and I need something in my stomach besides BRATT. I also mix vanilla yogurt with the fruit and the yogurt has probiotics. Hopefully that will help replace some beneficial bacteria in my gut. I suspect the antibiotic they gave me in the hospital did a number on my “good” bacteria.

While at Whole Foods, I always check their cut flowers. They had some beautiful peonies but I knew they only last a couple of days when the do open up. I think peonies are my favorite flower. It goes back to the days we lived in Boyle, Mississippi and the older lady next door was a retired elementary school teacher. Mother would go over and visit and she’d take me. The lady would give me mimeographed drawings of plants and a set of crayons and I was off the the races with coloring. I distinctly remember coloring in peonies.

The lady at the kiosk at Whole Foods said to wet your hands and force the petals of peonies open and even then, they’d only last three or four days. Instead, I bought yellow roses.

I always think of the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” when I see these.

I’ve always loved yellow roses. When I was union president and senate president of Broward College, I often had to go downtown to the administrative tower and deal with the president of the college and various vice-presidents on union and senate matters. Sometimes the meetings were rather acrimonious and I remember one time the president of the college tried to throw me out of his office.

Regardless, the personal secretaries (administrative assistants) of all the bigwigs always treated me with courtesy and respect. I got in the habit of taking them each a yellow rose when I showed up. I think that earned me more good will than anything in the downtown office. I also think it shamed some of the big administrators into thinking more about their administrative assistants.

June is almost over which means it’s getting closer to surgery time. I look at it as another step in the process and look forward to getting it over with.

Stay tuned!