The Next Mountain to Climb

Here We Go Again... Jim and I are sitting in registration waiting for “transport” to my home away from home for the week: St. Agnes Room 241 West.  Chemo round 2 will begin sometime this afternoon or evening. Please keep us all in your prayers. This is a busy week in the Mulligan household. Adding multiple days of chemotherapy to the schedule makes for even more adventure. 😜.  I probably overpacked again. I have books, puzzles, a Harry Potter coloring book and colored pencils (yes, honoring my inner fantasy nerd again) and numerous blogs to follow to keep myself entertained for the next few days. Chances are that I will probably sleep a lot and not get to much of it, but better to be prepared than not, right?  I don’t really have much more to share right now. I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying what remains of this spring-like weather. PS: while I’ll probably lethargic and sleepy at times, I’ll also be bored out of my mind. Don’t hesitate to stop by or call anytime...

Well, we finally got a little bit of good news Friday afternoon. The full bone marrow pathology report was finally back and the news was good. What I mean is that there was no bad news. The further testing showed that the Lymphoma cells are NOT a subtype that would have indicated a poorer prognosis. So, still Lymphoma of course, but not a worse type than we already know about. That being said, it’s almost time for the next round of chemo. I will be going back into St. Agnes on Tuesday, May 28th. It will again be the “good stuff” as Jim called it in a previous post: R-EPOCH. This is, as mentioned previously, a 5 or 6-day long series of chemotherapy infusion. In preparation for all of that time hanging out in the hospital room, I have my bag packed with books, magazines and puzzles. Thank you to everyone who has shared their favorites with me! In the meantime, I’m enjoying this beautiful evening on my back patio.

Well, it took longer than expected, but my hair has begun falling out in earnest. Time to make a new fashion statement...

We’ve had over an inch of rain in the last 24 hours with more on the way today and tonight. It’s quite the welcome change from our usual desert-like climate. Jim and I had planned to visit a botanical garden in Woodlake of all places. On waking, we thought that maybe we should postpone due to the inclement weather, but after our coffee we were ready to Carpe Diem! Woodlake or bust! While cancer will definitely get you in the end without treatment, with advancements, treatments are becoming ever more effective, but their side effects are what take the toll on one’s body. Antibiotics attack a virus and make one feel better within a day or two. Unlike them, in order to kill cancer cells, chemotherapy attacks all newly developing cells in the body usually making one feel much worse than they felt prior to the treatment.  The last few days my chemo effects have manifested much as expected. Tuesday was exactly as the oncologist predicted: I was dreadfully fatigued. Jim brough...

Home at last! I was officially released from St. Agnes this afternoon!! I’m so happy to be home. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!  I have finally begun to feel the effects of the chemotherapy. I’m very pleased to not be suffering from nausea, but the fatigue is starting to catch up to me. I ended up napping yesterday and being generally slower than usual today. To give some perspective to the fatigue, I’ll share that I made an effort to walk laps around the oncology wing each day for the first few days I was there. I was happy to get in a couple of 45 minute sessions each day between my morning and evening walks. Due to the fatigue, yesterday I ended up stopping after a whopping 15 minute morning walk and getting back into bed. I slept for a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day sitting or lying down. Today, I made up for it by walking for...wait for it... twenty whole minutes before having to crawl back into bed.  After rest, the fati...

So far, the hospital stay has been fairly simple. I won’t say uneventful because a lot has happened in a short time. In our last post I was able to show off my sexy socks. Not long after we took that pic, my first chemo drug was given. It was a drug called Rituximab and it took most of the night for it to be administered. In fact, I woke up the next morning and it still wasn’t complete. That didn’t stop the hospital stay event train from rolling on though.  There was a doctor from the surgical area waiting to take me down for my port installation. A very entertaining argument was taking place. The Oncology nurses appear to be very protective and territorial over their patients. They did not want me to leave until the infusion was complete. The surgery staff wanted me to be wheeled down and the infusion to finish while they prepped me for surgery so I would not disrupt their schedule. After arguing for ten more minutes, the nurses relented as long as one of them was allowed to stay ...

Great news!   Our insurance finally provided authorization for my hospitalization and the first round of chemotherapy. I was admitted to St. Agnes in Fresno Tuesday night at about 8pm after going home after my PET scan Tuesday afternoon. Part of the treatment will begin tonight and before the rest I will undergo a small surgical procedure to have a port installed.  This is a small device that will provide the hospital staff with direct access to one of the veins near my collarbone.  They will use the port to administer the chemotherapy drugs.  I’m glad they are installing a port.   When I had chemo for my breast cancer years ago, the nurses would start an IV for every treatment.   That was A LOT of pokes with a needle!   The port takes the place of the IV, thus, I’m assuming, making the process a lot less uncomfortable. I’ve taken up residence for the next few days in room 256. I’m free to have visitors. Feel free to call or text. Maybe the best ...

“Geez, my back hurts.” This has become my catch-phrase over the last couple of years. I’m pretty stubborn (yes, I can  imagine that most of you reading this are thinking “Pretty stubborn? More like as stubborn as a mule.”). As I was saying, I’m pretty stubborn so I don’t usually let little things like back pain get me down. Not until a couple of years ago anyway. At some point, the pain became so prevalent and constant that I sought out medical help to figure it out. The combined efforts of my oncologist, a couple of specialists he sent me to that ruled out a variety of causes, and our primary care physician couldn’t find a cause. Finally, our primary care physician suggested that I lose weight because he felt that I would improve when my body was healthier and more fit.  My desperation to get rid of the back pain fueled my resolve and I did as he suggested. In a little over 10 months, I lost 65 pounds. It was a difficult lifestyle change because if you know me, you know ...