Oh yeah . . . and here's Eddie the Whammy!

I forgot to mention that my ejection fraction for my heart was 60 - good news as Tykerb can affect the heart. Normal is 50 to 70. I'm out of shape, though. The Anthro Club at OSU had a potluck and folkdancing last night - and with a couple of dances, I was breathing hard and my heart was beating. A couple of my colleagues lasted longer than me. I think that means that I need to do some more cardiac training.

I've been practicing this qi gong form called Eight Treasures which helps connect energy to your different energy meridians and, also, apparently, helps with joint health. I find it an easy form to remember and it only takes about 15 minutes. I did it last night before bed . .. and had a good 3 1/2 hour stint of sleep without waking up - the first time in about two weeks. Yay! Think I better do it as often as possible.

The CT scan is scheduled for Monday morning. It's a simpler one, apparently, I won't need to fast. And, it'll only be of the ribs on the right side. Cool.

Did I mention that I got my article submitted for review at one of the major anthro journals on Wednesday night? I'm pretty happy with it, overall. We'll see what they have to say - probably not for several months.

In terms of work - it'll be a matter of tying up loose ends from the Alaska trip and then trying to perhaps get in some interviews and hopefully get to the archives at UO to find some archival info on one project. Work is proceeding on the interactive web map. My grad student is working on biographies for the Alaska Native corporation leaders. Met with my colleague Tom in Portland last Sunday - just to check in with each other on that project.

Gradually getting housework done at home. I need to do some filing - will get to that this afternoon. Otherwise, here's a picture of Eddie for Halloween - he was a Whammy! from the game show "Press Your Luck". Enjoy!

What's Next for the Wound

First, Dr. K (my main oncologist) and Dr. M (the rad onc) looked at the wound. Overall, they thought it looked fairly well - they were both expecting something a lot worse, but they thought it looked a lot better than when the tissue expander first came out. Dr. M thinks it is highly unlikely that there's anything going on with the bone. Dr. K is inclined to stay the course - that is, just continue monitoring the wound and making sure that it continues to heal. He is going to order a CT scan of just that bone just to make sure nothing is going on. If the healing of the wound plateaus, then we may consider the hyberbaric oxygen treatment or surgery.

Regarding surgery, Dr. K believes that it would be okay for me to have it. He's going to look into whether or not I'd have to go off of Xeloda and Tykerb and if so, then it might only be for a couple of weeks prior to surgery. He doesn't think the risk of recurrence would be too much.

I mentioned that I still have a tissue expander on the left side, which has a metal-backed port, and that I'd like to get it out of my chest. So, that means surgery at some point and if I have to do surgery, then I might as well do reconstruction on the right side. Dr. K agreed - when he said that I couldn't have reconstruction "in your lifetime", he was referring to an implant, but has no qualms about the flap procedure. So, reconstruction is back on the table. And, if I do reconstruction, then they might bring in tissue to protect the bone, if it's needed.

As I understand it, here's the plan of action:

1) In order to encourage the wound to heal more quickly, I start taking Vitamin E and also something called Trental. Trental causes the blood to become less viscous - i.e., it allows red blood cells to go through restricted blood vessels better so that they can bring more oxygen to the wound. Possible side effects include dizziness and nausea. But most tolerate it fairly well. And, I continue with the dressing changes and periodic visits with the wound care nurse, L.

2) I will have another CT scan just to see if anything is going on with the rib bone. If there is something, then perhaps we consider hyperbaric oxygen treatment or surgery.

3) We put reconstruction back on the table. Dr. K will talk with Dr. H (the plastic surgeon) about the timing of this surgery. It may be as early as December or not until March, to work around my teaching schedule.

Continued Great Tumor Marker News

First, the tumor marker update:

CA 15-3 was 15.3!!! Here's the history:

Anything below 31 is considered "normal"
Sept 2007 - 23 U/mL
Jan 2008 - 31 U/mL
Mar 2008 - 36 U/mL
June 2008 - 23 U/mL (started radiation that month)
Aug 2008 - 18 U/mL
Sept 2008 - 14.5 U/mL YAAAAAAY!!!
Oct 2008 - 19.6 U/mL
Oct 31 2008 - 15.3 U/mL

The CEA was 1.2 - still well below suspect levels. 3.8 and under is normal. Here's the history:

1/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL
3/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
6/2008 - 1.0 ng/mL
8/2008 - 1.1 ng/mL (need to double check this number, but it was in that 0.9 to 1.2 range)
9/2008 - 0.5 ng/mL
10/2008 - 0.9 ng/mL
10/31/2008 - 1.2 ng/mL

Cool, huh?

This is a Good Day Indeed!

Why? Do you ask? Well, of course, because

OH SHOOT! won our first volleyball match tonight, it was 21-14, 17-21, and 21-19. Yay! It's nice to start the season 1-0.

Hey, I bet you all thought I'd be talking about the fact that Obama will be our next President!!

I got to admit, that is exciting, too. But as I said in my earlier post this evening, I haven't really invested too much energy into this election; I am just not that interested in the daily shenanigans of American politics. I pay attention to those issues that matter most to me, which are issues like Native American rights, environmental health, education, social justice, and health care, but for the most part, I prefer to spend my time doing work that I love and taking care of my family and enjoying the company of my friends.

But as I sit here watching Obama's acceptance speech, I admit the fact that we've elected the first African American President sends chills down my spine. And, I was alive to witness this historic moment. I just need to end by repeating something in his speech:

Yes, we can.

Auspicious Dates

One of my blogger friends, Jeanne in NYC at "Rock the Bald", said something about auspiciious days on her blog. It seems an apt description for me as well.

1) It just hit me today that I've been blogging for over a year - I started this blog on October 15, 2007. Boy, those early entries of mine are interesting to read - it was when I thought that my cancer was only 2-3mm in size. What a difference a year makes!

2) Yesterday - November 3 -marked the one year anniversary of my Boob Ball. In honor of that anniversary, here is another picture of that event that I don't think I posted before:

Karen's entry for the "boob food" contest -


Heather Kenagy with her stepdaughter, Kiana - (This is Heather from "My Xeloda" fame.)


I think I should have another party sometime soon, huh?

3) Yesterday, I worked on my placename density article all day and got an almost final draft! I think I need to fix some typos and make a couple of other small changes, but I think that I will be able to send it out tomorrow! Yay! Interesting that I finished it on the first anniversary of the Boob Ball.

4) Today, as everyone knows, is Election Day. Two of my fellow bloggers (NYC Jeanne and Carver) said that they went to their polling stations when they first opened today. Laurie, at Not Just About Cancer, lives in Canada, but she posted a Doonesbury cartoon about the election. I'd more or less tuned out most of the campaigning - I'd made up my mind long ago and the stuff I found out about Palin when in Alaska only solidified my vote (i.e., for Obama) - and today felt like a normal kind of day to me -nothing special. Part of that is because Oregon has mail-in balloting, so there's no going to the polls and standing in line to cast your vote. On the one hand, as an anthropologist who appreciates rituals and how they highlight special events in life, not going to a polling station does diminish that sense of camaraderie that can come with seeing evidence that you're doing your part in a democracy. In other words, we Oregonians do lose out, to some extent, on the excitement that comes with bumping into fellow voters at the voting booth. On the other hand, I do think that the mail-in balloting does increase voter turnout. Bill Bradbury, Oregon's Secretary of State, said that after the 2004 election, Oregon had an 87% voter turnout rate in a Washington Post article. However, there are some critics that state that perhaps Vote By Mail isn't a good idea because it seems to favor affluent voters, because they state that there is a higher chance for fraud, because it could be manipulated by election officials and because it relies on the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service.

I want to note that one study they cite shows that Vote by Mail increased voter turnout in Oregon by 4% (another study said 10%), but that it only tended to increase the numbers of people who were more inclined to vote anyway. At first blush, my response is that any increase in the numbers of voters is a good thing, right? In terms of fraud, the only studies that the authors cite are from local elections in Georgia and Florida - there doesn't seem to have been any cases of voter fraud in Oregon. In fact, during last spring's primary election, on my mail-in ballot, I forgot to sign the envelope (they put a secrecy envelope over your ballot and then you stick this into another envelope that you sign, stating that you're registered and that you are the person listed on the ballot) and the election officials tried to contact me at work to let me know, but it was toolate in the afternoon and by the time I got the message, it was too late, so they didn't count my ballot. (I think I need to give them my cell number.) In terms of being manipulated by election officials - the authors state that Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and California do distinguish between active and in-active voters, with the implication being that in-active voters might not be sent a ballot. But other than citing an example from Colorado, it does not state that this kind of thing happens in Oregon. As far as I know, Oregon sends ballots out to all registered voters. Oregon even makes sure when you get your driver's license that you can register to vote and/or change your address as a registered voter. And, the comment about the U.S. postal service - I think it's fairly reliable. And, I think that if voters did not get their ballot here in Oregon, they could go to their county elections office to get a replacement one.

I, for one, like the convenience of vote-by-mail. It works for me. I've lived in three other states - Alaska, Virginia, and Connecticut - and I only really remember voting in Connecticut as the years in Virginia and Alaska were non-presidential election years, so I didn't even bother to register. I notice that I vote in the smaller elections, too, because of this vote-by-mail system. The ballot comes in the mail and it sits on my table, reminding me that I need to vote, as it is my duty as a citizen.

I'm currently watching CNN and based on their projections - as of 7:41pm PDT, Obama has 207 electoral votes and McCain has 135.

Zometa Side Effects - Minimal

I had my third zometa treatment on Friday. My temperature was slightly elevated Friday evening - and I felt a bit tired. I also had a slightly elevated temperature Saturday afternoon and a bit of a headache. But, overall, it didn't keep me from doing anything. I'm glad I took it easy on Friday. The nurses at the infusion center also said I should drink lots of water to help flush out what my body didn't use. Maybe that helped? Anyway, glad it wasn't worse!

Have a good Monday tomorrow, everyone!

P.S. A big thank you to my folks, who put plastic on my windows - to try to help with heating costs this year. Not sure where I'd be if it weren't for my folks. I try to help them out as much as possible, too, but in different ways. I love you both!

A good, busy week-end

This past week-end was pretty full. On Friday, after my appointment and after the lecture in my department, I took Eddie trick or treating downtown (will post a photo in the next couple of days), then his dad took him to the public library for the city's Halloween Party for kids. I went back to my office, visited with my office manager and then put in a couple of hours working on my article on placename density. Came home and didn't really work - just watched a movie entitled Feast of Love which I enjoyed. I did read some stuff in preparation for the article.

Saturday, after putzing around the house and then running errands around town, I went in to my office and put in another couple of hours on the article, then picked up Eddie at his dad's and took him to a birthday party of a boy of a friend of mine, then dropped Eddie back as his dad's and then came home and worked on the article for another hour and a half, met Scott and his daughter for dinner, and then he and I went out for another drink at Strega (one of the newest restaurants in town).

Got up Sunday, had breakfast, then went to Portland to pick up my colleague Tom at the airport. We had lunch and discussed the Alaska Native corporation project. We had a good visit. He's been in England for almost three months -his wife got a position at Oxford. I think I know what my next steps should be. Then, I picked my son up at my sister's house - his dad let him go over there to play for a bit.

Now, I'm home. I'm going to pay bills and just relax this evening. I'm tired!

It's a good tired, you know. I'm tired from all the activity - not all the treatment. Yay!