First, as I have said before this is my cheap therapy and my story but never wanted it to be about me, per se. But my naive hope is it is something relatable in this fun, joyous, ugly, messy thing we call life. Frankly, I do not really edit it much (Yeah Nick we can tell). Writing it is almost an exorcism for me. Let’s get started.
The week of November 10 was suppose to be a good week. I had concluded the chaos of biopsies, MRIs,CT scans, countless bloodwork, returned from a nice vacation in Mexico and had my first infusion on November 7. Lastly, Monday the 11 or maybe it was the 4th was my first day post hernia surgery to return to normal activity. I envisioned more exercise, golf, helping Mela again with real estate, work on photography etc,
The week proved to be the antithesis of my plans, Sunday woke up to a horrfic cold. I know who cares? The cold was only a prelude of what was to come. Monday morning - virtually blind and Tuesday a rash from head to toe or as I like to affetionately say from - Ankles to a$$hole & nuts to nipples. Too much? You have to admit it does paint a picture.
The eye damage and rash stemmed from my immunotherapy drugs for my cancer. (With steroids my vision is returning). My bad analogy - The drugs are intended to race thru my system at 4000 RPMs attacking the cancer. They went thru my system redlining at over 7000 RPMs attacking the cancer and crashing into everything creating the negative side effects.
Thursday was an up and back to SF to see my oncologist for follow up.He said my rash was one of the worst he has seen. Yeah!
Time for Mela to drive home. My vision was that of consuming a bottle of Jack Daniels with mental clarity of 5 years sober. Horrible combination. We stopped at Amici’s Pizza in Vacaville for dinner. So Yummy! You would have thought we were two wolves that had not had a kill in weeks.
Friday was a visit to my opthamolgist. Left with no real answers. No fault of theirs. Woke up Monday the 18th with ever so slightly improved vision. So grateful.
Getting caught up. Thurday Novemver 21 an emergency appointment with my ocular oncologist Dr Tony Tsai. I can not say enough how grateful I am for my team of doctors and their staff. After a lot of imagery of my eye and $20 words and consultation with my Dr Kim, my SF oncologist I left with a prescription for steroids to calm my system to help with my vision. Same drug as the one for my dear poodle Lila, Dr Tsai office is technically closed on Monday but have an appointment to see him at 2:30pm. So immensely grateful. If I had gone ahead with my scheduled infusion on the 26th without my eye check I may have had irreperable eye damage leading to blindness. The 26th had been posponed for about a week.
So here we are.Looking forward to Thanksgiving with some of our kids, granddaughter,dogs and general family chaos, Nothing better.
Wishing the Happiest of Thanksgiving to all of you. We all have so much to be grateful for.
Be Kind, Be Humble, Stay Strong and God Bless!