Lightning Bug BBQ

No, we will not be grilling insects. It's a potluck BBQ to celebrate the end of my cancer treatments, my survival, and the survival of the lightning bugs, who should be in attendance.  If you'd like to attend RSVP so I know how many dogs and tofu pups to throw on the grill.
Lightning Bug BBQ Invitation 

Down to The Wire

This week, Alex and I watched the last episode of The Wire Season 5.  I also got my last chemo treatment on Friday.  Yahhhh!  Many of my California friends visited NYC this month and have been helping me celebrate.  Amber dead headed some flowers and basil in the garden a couple of weeks ago (above).  Last Saturday Alex and I hosted a BBQ for Jon and Juliet.  Their friend Emma broke a world record for getting pooped on by birds 7X and yet still had a good time.  Thursday night Matt got Alex and I hooked on yet another TV series drama, State of Play by BBC.  Anytime I have a friend in town I take them to High Line Park, one of my favorite spots in NYC (below).

It's down to the wire but there is still more to come.  In a couple of weeks I will have a series of follow up scans and tests done for my oncologist .  End of August my surgeon will run more tests in preparation to reconnect my plumbing.  Hopefully I will have the surgery to reverse my ileostomy in September/October.

Less is more

How so?  My post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy is ending a month and a half sooner than I had expected.  If all goes well I will have my last treatment on July 5th rather than the first week of September.  Hell yeah!  My own independence day :).  By the way adjuvant therapy refers to additional treatment, usually given after surgery where all detectable disease has been removed, but where there remains a statistical risk of relapse due to occult disease.  In the case of colon cancer the additional treatment is generally six months.  But because of my good path report and other factors, the six weeks of chemo I had prior to surgery will be counted towards the total adjuvant therapy.  I am getting 4 1/2 months post-op chemo.   

Also Alex and I planted seedlings of lettuce, tomato, and herbs in our new 4X8 bed at the community garden.  It may sound small but having access to any land in NYC is worth fighting for. 

No Re-Up and Spring Beds

Yes that's barbed wire running along the fence to our community garden West 104.  Welcome to New York City!
My doctor's office forgot to re-up my chemo last week.  The benefit being I had more energy to help construct new beds in our garden over the past two weekends.  From left to right of the barbed wire garden members Jean, me, Sue, and Alan.  The downside is it adds another week to my total treatment time line.  Phhtpppt!  Also last week my friend Alan coerced me, after a beer or two, into joining the garden steering committee.  So this year Alex and I will be getting our own bed for vegetables this season!  Yeah, power corrupts.

Spring and side effects

Last week, I was waiting to get my "re-up" of chemo.  When a couple of fellow cancer patients, who I met previously months ago at the infusion center congratulated me on my hair growing back so quickly.  Hey, I said.  Ladies, this IS my normal amount of hair.  My hair hasn't fallen out because of a side affect it's called natural thinning.  Speaking of new growth, the daffodils have sprung in Central Park and it's time again to begin planting in our community garden (see map).  Also, Alex and I went to the first day of the Cherry Blossom festival in Brooklyn Botanical Garden last weekend.

Apart from the usual suspects: nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, and constipation (at the same time!?) I do have an unusual side effect - mild neuropathy when exposed to the cold.  Neuropathy is a condition that causes tingling or pin prick sensation in certain areas of the body, especially the hands and feet but can also occur in the throat.  Gag!  So I needless to say I avoid ice cold drinks on my chemo days and keep an oven mitt by the fridge.

My routine is I go every other Monday morning I go to the infusion center at the hospital where I get attached to an IV pump via the port in my chest.  Then I am sitting in a big lazy boy chair for about two hours while I receive two types of chemo.  I usually doze off listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on my iPod.  Later the nurse attaches a "to go" pump of chemo which I then wear home.  I return on Wednesday 48 hours later and get disconnected.  The best is that I don't have to return to the hospital for almost two weeks.  So I get one week on and one week off chemo

Get Well Card from Marty

And eat well!  Here is a shopper's guide to pesticides (PDF and iPhone app) from my oncologist's nurse.
http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

Time flies: Phase Three

Can't believe it's been a month since I left the hospital.  I got my last drain removed today.  Wow now I can wear jeans again ... ahh the freedom of denim.  How I loathed those sweat pants!  I've been off the anti-biotic for over a week and there have been no signs of infection.  My appetite has returned to normal.  But it's a gradual process of building back my muscle mass.  I lost twenty pounds or more in the hospital.  Hence the high caloric diet or what I call my donut prescription.

Next week I start phase three: post-operative chemo.  I will be getting a combination of chemo drugs used to treat colon cancer called Folfox.  It consists of the drugs 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin (FA, LV), and oxaliplatin (Eloxatin).  I will be receiving the Folfox over 2 days every two weeks for 4-6 months.