Hi Everyone:
We arrived in LA during the afternoon of Xmas Day. Our Xmas dinner with Rick & Marie was unfortunately not to be as they had cancelled their next chemo session due to Marie having spent the last 10 days in hospital.
We were greeted at our apartment by a very unappetizing smell and after further investigation found that the fridge and freezer had been accidentally switched off by the cleaners for the 2 weeks that we had not been here. All food items and especially the milk in the freezer had to be disposed of. Gary and I immediately went into clean-up mode and opened the front door, all windows and the balcony doors to air out the space.
We must have done a great job as within an hour or so, our thoughts started turning to a Xmas turkey dinner which, somehow, had eluded us this year. We started checking out the hotels and other local restaurants only to find that turkey was not on anyone’s menu. Seafood and steak seemed far more popular. After a bit of grumbling, we decided to get into our car and drive around our area to see what we could discover. Not surprisingly, except for the odd fast food spot, most restaurants were closed. Gary, who had not had any lunch, was fast becoming quite ravenous and in the end, we found ourselves at our local Chinese restaurant at the corner of our street. Just as well, as they seemed to be the only decent “game” in town and was fast filling up with customers waiting for tables or their take-out. We eventually realized that as the U.S. Thanksgiving is at the end of November with turkey being served then, the poor bird is given a break from having to reappear on everyone’s Xmas table so soon.
The next morning, we showed up at Dr. Bill’s office for the first of my 3rd cycle (or 7th session). With patients’ schedules having to be squeezed in over the holiday season, the office was a hive of activity. Poor Sony, the shi-tsu was not happy at all with all the added stress in the office and spent a good amount of time barking for no reason other than to register her disapproval. Dr. Bill (from hereonin, will refer to him as Dr. I, which is his preference), had a young resident spend the morning with him/us. We reviewed once more all the side effects in detail and when asked whether the severe inflammation I suffered after the last treatment was normal, Dr. I responded that there was no “normal” as such as every patient responds so differently. We had brought a CD of my cat scan which Dr. I will review with the UCLA team which likely will not take place until the new year.
All blood counts were fine and I was ready to go. Gary and I moved to the chemo suite, which eventually became quite the “party” spot. We met Howard and his wife Marnie and Susan joined us afterwards with her son and daughter who were both on holiday from college. Howard explained how he had undergone surgery for colon cancer and that statistically, no more than 10 out of 500 people who have the surgery, could find themselves with a recurrence of the cancer. He was one of the 10 but had been fortunate enough to be referred to Dr I by the surgeons at Cedars Sinai. What came through from this discussion is that many of the very difficult cancer cases seem to be referred to Dr. I given his experience and rate of success. Susan, on the other hand, had gallbladder cancer, which we were told is quite rare and is treated very similarly to pancreatic cancer. Later, Rick and Marie surprised us all by showing up. They had driven all the way in from Vegas and were advised that Marie was just too weak to receive any treatment. While they knew that this was a strong likelihood, they decided nonetheless to make the journey to be able to see Dr. I if only to review her situation.
The chemo session was fairly quick as I did not have to receive any hydration this time around. On our way home, Gary and I decided to pop into a Ross Store just around the corner from us. I was on the lookout for a few warmer tops which were loose enough to allow for easy access to the port-a-cat for my chemo treatments. I also would need a few cardigans to layer over the tops, which would keep me warm yet continue to allow access to the port-a-cat. While the post-Xmas inventory was somewhat low, we did manage to find a few items which would be useful.
Judging from the snow storms throughout the country and continuous rain/flooding in the UK, we hope that you have all been able to manage the winter conditions without too much difficulty. We still find ourselves very lucky with the weather in LA… the early part of our week being quite sunny with some rain overnight. Yesterday proved to be a rather dull wet day with parts of southern California receiving a coating of snow. Today, we went for our walk under sunny skies and relatively mild temperatures, noticing how thick and green the grass had become with many bushes still flowering. The Rose Parade seems to be a very big event scheduled for New Year’s day and while I will not be able to venture into large crowded areas, I will certainly enjoy watching it on TV.
We close by sending you all our warmest wishes for a Healthy, Happy new year filled with joy and peace throughout. Gary and I look forward to embracing 2013 with the promise of renewed health and revitalization. We thank you all once more for the unconditional love and support which you have so freely given and always, for including us in your prayers.
Happy New Year!
Maureen and Gary