Posted by Stephanie 5 :10pm CST from the apartment Houston, TX

It’s a crazy gorgeous day here—81 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The last couple of days have been really nice out, which is a welcome change from the five straight days of rain, wind and cold we had last week. Mom and I got out for a half hour walk the day before yesterday—there’s a trail that runs along the canal across the street from the apartment complex. I’ll probably try to get out for a walk early this evening too, once it’s cooled down a little bit.

So, I’m officially on my own down here for the rest of the day. I took mom to the airport a couple of hours ago, and now I’m a lone ranger till Reba gets in late morning tomorrow. I must admit, it’s kinda nice to have a few hours on my own. Not that I don’t love having mom here, or being home with Sammy, but 99% of the time there’s someone around, and, hey, everyone needs a little time to unwind on their own. No big plans—just gonna kick back and chill, surf the web at an insanely slow speed, have a yummy dinner and hopefully get a good night’s sleep so I have plenty of energy for all the fun stuff Reba and I are gonna do this weekend.

As for a chemo update, this round is going okay. I officially cleared the methotrexate from my system yesterday. It took one day longer this time to clear than in the previous three rounds, but I’m not surprised about that. It makes total sense that the more rounds I go through, the harder it will be for my body to keep up. Even so, four days to go from a MTX level of 1480 to 0.05 is pretty impressive. Drinking four liters of fluid a day certainly helps. Dr. Benny will be pleased. The rest of my counts are looking good too. Platelets are staying right around the low side of normal—140ish. White count is up in the middle 5’s range, which is great, and my hemoglobin Monday was 12.4. This is the highest my white count and hemoglobin have been since before I got sick three years ago. Even after I finished treatment the first time and was in remission for 14 months, my white count and hemoglobin never even got close to normal range. Makes me a happy girl—I have a decent amount of energy most days and I don’t have to be quite so paranoid about coming down with a cold or something. Oh, and there’s a budda belly update. The dose of steroids they gave me with my chemo infusion Friday worked for two or three days to keep any side effects at bay, but then by Sunday I was getting the expected sore throat. I was optimistic the abdominal swelling might stay gone, but about 3am Monday night/Tuesday morning I woke up to take my methotrexate and found that my abdomen was huge. I went back to sleep, but an hour later was awakened by shooting pain in my midsection, and knew it was time to restart the steroids again. So far, it’s working like a charm *knocks on wood*, but I want to devour everything in sight, and I’m sleeping like crud. Oh well, take the good with the bad.

Speaking of bad, I’ve been pretty bummed lately. Even cried myself to sleep the other night. Sadly, it happens more than I’d like to admit. Those of you who were along for the ride the first time around will remember me getting really down towards the end of treatment and beyond. Having your life in complete upheaval for the better part of a year, then trying to come back home and readjust to a new normal and a new set of priorities proved insanely difficult. I’m not ever sure I made it all the way back from that before the cancer was back once, and then again. I thought it would be easier to handle the second and third time around, since I knew what was coming, but in some ways it’s been even tougher. Let’s start with the fact that I’ve already been undergoing treatment this time for a month longer than the first time, and we’re not even to the end yet. I spend the majority of every day sitting around the apartment with nothing to do but read a book or watch TV. I can’t even do much on the internet with it running as slow as it does, and though mom and I try to get out and do things often, most things cost money, which is problematic. I don’t get the chance to talk to friends very often—they’re busy with their own lives, which is totally understandable, and when I’m gone down here almost all the time, it’s all too easy for more time to go by between calls. Heck, I get to see them even less. I miss my husband terribly—we’ve been apart so much more this time, and it’s hard on both of us. And then there’s the feeling of not knowing exactly what I want to do and get out of life right now. That was the biggest point of inner turmoil I went through the first time, and it’s back again. I used to not want to do anything other than teach music, but out of the last three and a half years, I’ve taught a measly five and a half months, and I’ll admit that the passion I used to have for teaching band, well, I’m not sure it’s there anymore. Unfortunately, I’m in a tough position. My teaching salary is higher than anything other position I could probably find, which unfortunately is a huge factor in our current situation, and most of the other things I’m interested in require training or additional education, which means time and money we don’t have. Ugh, it’s all so complicated, and I just don’t feel led in any one direction. Not that I expect some yellow brick road to appear in front of me and carry me exactly to where I’m supposed to be, but a little help would be nice. I continue to pray everyday for the strength to get through the rest of this, and the wisdom to know where to go after that. Having Reba down for a few days will help breathe a little life back in me, I’m sure. I’m really looking forward to that.

I guess that’s it for now. I’m gonna pop off here, recline the chair back and admire my newly painted toenails—mom and I treated ourselves to pedicures yesterday, her first one ever (what a tragedy!). It was something really nice and different to do before she headed back home. Hope everyone is doing well. I’ll be back soon to chronicle the adventures of Stephanie and Reba.

--Steph

Posted by Sammy

1030pm ET from Home

Well Ohio has finally figured out it isnt February anymore.

Ive been able to get out and ride a few times and it looks like ill have a nice groove to get into over the next few weeks. That is a good thing. Had a really great ride yesterday. About 30 miles from Springboro, through Franklin and Middletown and back. While the trails around this area are way nice and probably safer than riding on the road, its always really cool to see the area from a bike instead of behind the glass bubble of a car. Its fun trying to plot out what the next route will be....should i cruise for a while or push my cadence up and do tempo riding?....should i try to tackle that hill or not?....if i do this descent, will i enjoy it or will i look like Wyle E. Coyote when his ACME RoadRunnerCycleTron 5000 malfunctions? And I always notice more when im on my bike. Probably because being that I dont have 1000 lbs of steel surrounding me i need to be more alert.

Suprisingly the dirvers have been pretty courteous so far this year. However, the winner of the town with the most considerate drivers for Sunday was....Franklin! Most of the people there gave me a ton of room and friendly waves...it was nice. I cannot say the same however for the two Cadillac-driving Cruella DeVille stand-ins who nearly side swiped me. Yeah thats all I need...get run off the road by Opal who cant even see me above the steering wheel, then the headline reads "Cyclist run off road; beats woman to death with water bottle." Coming in second to the Cadillac Death Troopers were about half of the SUV drivers. They are the ones who dont actually have kids, or any practical reason to own an SUV....they just still think that SUV's make you look important, sporty or somehow successful. But I suppose it could be worse......

The devil went down to Georgia, and after getting his butt handed to him by Johnny, he decided to pick on the only other guy in the state who wore lycra.

But it was a good ride. I felt pretty strong on the bike....actually seemed to be stronger and faster than last summer/fall so i must have done something right this winter....dont know what though. But im feeling confident for August now. I think i can tackle this...100 miles might be a bit farther than 30 but it was a good start and aside from just some tired in the legs and empty water bottles i probably could have kept going yesterday. Did a short recovery ride today .....gonna shoot for about 25-30 more miles tomorrow boefore a rest day or two. But yeah...looking forward to Philly more now.

Just, ya know, make sure that this guy isn't gonna be there....cause if he is, im not going. That or were gonna fight. Dude, we already ride around the midwest on french-looking bikes wearing lycra shorts....YOU'RE NOT HELPING!

Anyhoo...thats it for me for now...off to bed for more of OGT week...my favorite....evar!!! Riiiight.

Oh and THANK YOU to all who have donated to my LAF fund....lets keep fighting to make a difference.
For anyone who needs it again here is the link

http://philly09.livestrong.org/sammyminge

Sammy

Posted by Stephanie 5:30pm CST from an infusion room at MD Anderson

Here we go a chemo-ing.......round number four is being infused as I type this. Methotrexate is this awful neon yellow color. Brighter than a tennis ball kind of neon yellow. Don't like having that flowing into my veins, but it's a necessary evil. Anyway, I'm hoping this round goes smoother than the last one. In my last post, I talked about the abdominal swelling, tenderness and pain that showed up a day or two after chemo. The three day dose of steroids I took really helped, and by last Thursday morning when I stopped them, I felt much better. However, 36 hours later, I was starting to swell up again, and by last Saturday evening, the pain was back as well. I tried pain medication, hoping if I could just give it a little more time, it would resolve on its own, but that didn't work either. All it did was take the edge off and make me vomit. Ick. I ended up re-starting the steroids, and again they helped immensely. I completed the second three-day round on Tuesday morning and waited. Wednesday was okay, yesterday started okay but then by late afternoon the buddha belly was emerging yet again! Enough already! Luckily, there isn't any pain or tenderness, and it's not as bad as it has been, so I guess that's good. I have no doubt that here in another day or so the chemo will inflame it and I'll be back on the steroids, so it's really a moot point. Sometimes I think it'd be more helpful to just stay on them all the time until treatment is over. Then I might actually feel somewhat normal, instead of being constantly uncomfortable and puffy. But, with long-term steroid use comes nasty side effects, some of which I'm already experiencing. Steroids increase your appetite, so I have been eating everything in sight--not great when you can't be very active. They also can cause hyper-activity. I haven't been bouncing off the walls, but they have caused me to be unable to sleep. I toss and turn, and wake up every hour or so. I'm soooo tired all day long but can't do a dang thing about it. Le sigh.

Okay, so I saw Dr. Benjamin yesterday. Nothing new to report, it was just a brief appointment to check on how the steroids worked and get things set up for today. Like Sammy said in his post yesterday, they'll do an abdominal and chest CT here in a couple of weeks and re-evaluate where we are in two weeks. I'm hoping he'll feel okay with being done, but my gut says he'll want to do those last couple of rounds, so I'm not banking on being done yet.

Not much else is really going on. It's really yucky weather-wise here--mid 40's and raining. Raining for days now, and supposed to rain for days to come. Much needed down here, but it makes it tough to get in walks. I'm just hoping it's drier and warmer for when Reba comes down next week.

Anyway, I'm gonna get back to drinking mass amounts of fluid. This whole 4-5 liters a day thing is just so much fun. Hope everyone is doing well back home. Adios for now.

--Steph

Posted by Sammy

515 pm from Wilmington.

Off to conduct the musical in a bout 2 minutes but a quick post to say steph starts chemo again tomorrow...this round then scans and hopefully only 2 more rounds at most.

Things are good here. The band did great at contest....got a II (Excellent)....pretty good no matter how you cut it and especially since the last time EC went to OMEA large ensemble i was going to Mrs. Wilson's 2nd grade class at Roosevelt Elementary....never really knew which Roosevelt that school was named after. Im gonna guess Teddy.....

The Fiddler on the Roof is eating my soul...we open tomorrow night, and next week we all get our lives back, and promptly surrender them along with productivity to the OGT. Woooooo.

Sammy

Posted by Stephanie 6:40pm

Okay, I'm back, just like I promised. Oof. It's been a looong few days. Let's see, I hardly know even where to start.

I guess I'll back up to my spur of the moment trip home back a couple of weeks ago. As I've said in previous posts, we've been trying for weeks now to get information about whether or not the rest of my treatment could be done at home. I checked via e-mail and phone calls everyday with Mara, and kept getting the same thing--"Dr. Benjamin says he'll make some calls." A few days after my second round of methotrexate, it had already cleared from my system, and there was no medical reason for me to stay in Houston when I wasn't due to start the next round for more than a week. So, mom and I make the last minute decision to head home. We had to drive, of course, as plane tickets were mega-expensive on such short notice. We did have some great entertainment on the way home. While looking for a traffic report on the AM stations, we stumbled upon a show in Dickon, Tennesee called "Swap n' Shop". People call in with things they want to sell or trade for, or if they're looking for something and want to know if any listeners have it. I heard a version of this show years ago on the house boat trip with Sammy's family called "Tell It n' Sell It," but this was even better. Here's an actual call that came in:

Chuck (the show host and probably the only guy who works at the radio station--he did all the commericals): Good morning, you're on swap n' shop.

Caller (in a thick southern drawl): Yeah, I've got an old G.E. washing machine. It don't work no more, but somebody could maybe get some parts out of it. I'm asking 40 dollars for it. I'm also looking for some old fashioned porcelain cups with the handles still on, and some size 20 ladies dresses. My number is....

Chuck (typing frantically on a keyboard): Alright, that's caller 15, he's got a G.E. washing machine he'd like to sell for parts. He's also looking for some glassware and some size 20 women's clothing.

And on this went, the calls getting even more entertaining. Some lady even called in with a description of her missing dog, asking for anyone with information to call. I began to wonder whether or not anyone ever prank calls "Swap n' Shop". Mom and I started coming up with all kinds of great things to call in about. I wanted so much to call in and say "Yeah, I've got an old barbie doll....um, she aint' got no head no more, but otherwise in good shape. Oh, and I have another barbie doll with the head on, but she got some gum in her hair and we had to cut it out with some scissors. I'd like to trade those for a Christmas sweater for my dog." Ah, good times.

Anyway, it was really great to get home--first time I had been back for a visit in about six weeks, since my time there over Christmas and New Year's. I was only around for about four days, and spent most of that time rounding up and calculating medical expenses for taxes so that Sammy could have them to take to our accountant in the coming weeks. I'm always amazed at how quickly things add up--travel costs, hotel, Texas apartment rent, prescriptions, medical bills, parking at the hospital and airport, mileage, and on and on. So far I've come up with over $25,000 that has been paid out of our own pocket, most of it just from June when the recurrence showed back up til' the end of the year. Take into account that I don't have any sort of decent income right now (just the small amount paid out by social security disability), and that's one large chunk of change to pay. In fact, now that I think about it, I've only had a steady source of income for five and a half months out of the last three and a half years. Dang. Ouch. I know with absolute certainty that it is only through our family, friends and the grace of God that we have been able to survive financially through all this.

Alright, back to treatment news. While I was home, I had bloodwork done at Romer's office, and decided that I would track down someone in person there that might be able to give me some information, since nothing was getting down from the Houston end of things. I spoke with his nurse practitioner, who said, "Oh sure, doesn't sound like it'll be a problem at all". Ha, right. She said she'd talk it over with Dr. Romer and get back to me. A short time later, Dr. Romer himself called and said, "Wow, that's a high dose of methotrexate." Yes sir, it is. He said that because of the dosage, the only way he'd feel comfortable administering treatment was if it were done inpatient in the hospital. He'd want to admit me for a couple of days, and then once released, he said he'd order home care to give I.V. fluids and take the required bloodwork to check daily methotrexate levels. He asked how I'd managed to stay well hydrated without having I.V. fluids at home, and when I told him I just drank 4-5 liters of fluid on my own every day, he couldn't believe it. As hard as I tried to convince him that being inpatient and having home care afterward each time was not necessary, it's the only way he'd agree to it. Boo. I called Mara that afternoon and let her know, and she wasn't at all surprised. She said she had an inkling that if we tried to have it done anywhere outside of MD Anderson, that's probably what we'd find. Finally, knowing information like that, and as nice as it would be to be at home, having to pay for hospital admissions and home care seemed more trouble than it was worth, and mom, Sammy and I made the decision to just get back to Houston and finish things up down there where I know the protocol and feel comfortable with everything.

Mom and I headed back last week, and after seeing Dr. Benjamin on Thursday, I had round three on Friday morning. I again cleared the methotrexate from my sytem within just a few days, but this time had some unexpected side effects. Ever since starting the MTX rounds in January, I would occasionally experience some abdominal swelling and tenderness, usually associated with eating. It always went away after a day or two, and was more of a nuisance than anything, so I never even thought to bring it up. This round, though, the abdominal swelling and pain started Saturday night, and by Sunday, I was having shooting pain through my abdomen, couldn't stand up straight, and could hardly walk. You know those little starving African children on the tv sponsorship commericials with their big bloated bellies? Yeah, that was me.....well, expect for starving African child part. Late Sunday night, when I discovered I couldn't lay down comfortably and therefore wasn't going to get any rest, mom and I decided to head to the ER. It was 5am when we got back to the apartment, and despite extensive bloodwork and several x-rays, we sadly had no answer to the cause of all this, nor any resolution to the pain and swelling. They had given me some pain medication, which took the edge off, and allowed me to sleep a few hours sitting up in the recliner chair before having to get up and head back to the hospital for my scheduled bloodwork. We decided to go up to the sarcoma center and see the triage nurse just so in case anyone up there had a better idea of what we could do. Upon hearing about my problem, Dr. Benjamin himself wanted to examine me. He thinks that the methotrexate caused severe irritation and inflammation to my peritoneum, which is the membrane lining that surrounds your entire abdominal cavity. He said I could wait it out a few days and see if it cleared up on it's own, or he could put me on low dose steroids for three days, and that should help quickly. As much pain as I was in, I opted for the steriods, and sure enough, even after one dose I was feeling markedly better. At this point, most of the swelling has gone down and I only have a little abdominal tenderness left. Dr. B thinks it's a problem I'll probably have to deal with in each round from now on, so the plan is to start the steroids as soon as the problem creeps up. Hopefully that'll head it off.

I think that's the big points as far as an update goes. I am excited to say that Reba is going to be coming for a visit to Texas the third weekend in March. First Baptist has been generous enough to offer to send her as a church representative. I'm really looking forward to showing her around MD Anderson and the Houston area--she's been such a big part of my recovery from afar, and I think that finally seeing those places and being able to put a vision with the stories will really help. And, of course, we'll eat some great food and do some shopping. I'll be between chemo rounds, so I should be feeling pretty good. Hooray!

Alright, time to relax. Have a good night all.

--Steph

Posted by Stephanie 10:00pm

I swear I haven't forgotten you all. Things have been crazy around here--home for a few days awhile back, had some more drama with the home vs. Houston chemo battle, then wound up back down in Texas to start another round of chemo, etc. Plus trying to gather up and add together all the medically pertinent tax info, and well, there's been no time. Speaking of no time, I can't stay on to post now, but I will tomorrow, I promise. Right now, I need rest. I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights due to the chemo side effects and early a.m. trip to the ER that I had night before last. A good night of sleep should do me well.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Be back soon.

--Steph

Posted by Sammy
7pm From Home

Well it sure got quiet here in a hurry. 2 days ago, both Steph and Jeremy were here and were having a grand old time. Now, not 48 hours after leaving mom and dads on sunday night, Im here accompanied only by Simba and the sounds of Rhapsody's Mardi Gras playlist. You know, since its Fat Tuesday and all. Im all set....got my King Cake and im ready to go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kingcake.jpg
Its wierd being alone now. It was really awsome having Jeremy here to hang with for a whole month. He's always been a great friend, and now was the perfect time to have him around, when were finishing up the cancer deal again. It was a much needed boost...kind of a shot in the arm. And he always has some new music or something to show me...in this case he's gotten me hooked on the cartoon show Metalocalypse. Pretty funny stuff. I really dont like death metal at all but its a really spot on spoof of the genre and of a lot of other things in the process. But it really was nice having someone (esp a great firend) around to keep me company and what not.

Steph is on her way to Texas for round 3 of 4 or maye 6. We'll see. It was an adventure just deciding that she would go back. Ill let her fill you in on those details. But all is well and she will be getting lit up on friday. Im hanging in there...the light is at the end of the tunnel. And Ive got the musical and OMEA contest to keep me busy for the next few weeks till either i go down or she comes up. So its all good. We went to church on sunday and steph got "drafted" to sing with the choir. Was nice to have a little bit of normal life for a day. Saw Jeremy in The Elixer of Love. Dude can serioiusly sing.

Anyway, im off to eat dinner downstairs.

Still looking for donations for philly!!!!!! Need your support for this ride!

http://philly09.livestrong.org/sammyminge

Sammy

Posted by Stephanie 6:20pm CST from the apartment Houston, TX

Happy Valentine’s Day! Okay, honestly, it’s not really that happy, since Sammy and I have to be apart. Boo. I sat out by the pool for a few minutes this afternoon so that we could use the webcam for a choppy but much needed 20 minute conversation—it was soooo good to see him (first time in over two weeks!). I sent him a gift package home, and he sent one here. He got me a very cute Vermont Teddy Bear wearing a white lab coat and holding a stethoscope—said it was another pair of hands to help Dr. Benjamin get things done.

Speaking of Dr. Benjamin, I had an appointment with him on Monday. He wanted to see how I’d done through this first cycle, and figure out whether this chemo regiment was something that could be done at home. Our track record for achieving that has not been good, as you all know. They’re for sure able to get their hands on the methotrexate in Ohio, but there’s some other logistical issues. A special piece of equipment is necessary to perform the methotrexate level test that I have done every day after chemo until that level is below a certain point, and we learned that there’s only one hospital in the whole Dayton area that can do it—Dayton Children’s Hospital. Some of the other area hospitals said they could draw the blood, then send it there for testing, but they couldn’t guarantee we’d get results back the same day, which would be imperative. And, there’s possible issues getting the test done over the weekend. Because of those potential roadblocks, and the fact that Dr. Romer’s staff is not trained to deal with doses of methotrexate this high, it was decided that I’d go ahead and do my next round here while Dr. Benjamin did some legwork with Dr. Romer to see what the options are for the rest of treatment.

Dr. Benjamin was really pleased with how well my body tolerated the methotrexate (so well, in fact, that he decded to up the already lethal dosage the second time around by about 20%….great). He said that the numbers showed I had cleared it from my system the first round in about four days. Confused, I said, “No, I had to take the leucovorin for eight days!”. He said that when he got back from France (he was out of town all last week at a conference), he looked at my counts and had been confused as to why I had continued to take the leucovorin and get MTX (methotrexate) levels even after the level got below 0.1. I told him that the prescription information said it had to be below 0.01, and that the nurses who called with my results everyday (and the other sarcoma doctor who double checked them) also said it had to be 0.01. He shook his head and muttered something about that being wrong, and adamantly maintained that it was 0.1, and unless I heard differently, I could stop at that point. However, when I went and had chemo on Wednesday, the spot on the chemo orders where it had been typed, “Take leucovorin until level is below 0.1”, someone had crossed it out and written 0.01. UGH! Conflicting numbers everywhere! Wanting to make sure we really had a straight answer once and for all, mom trotted up to the sarcoma center during my four hour chemo infusion, showed Mara the orders, and asked her to check with Dr. Benjamin again. It’s not at all that I don’t trust him, but when fifteen sources give me one number, and he gives me a different one, it makes me wonder! He stands by 0.1, put a note about it in my file for all the triage nurses to see when they call me with answers, and that’s what we’re going with. Mara said that different doctors go with different numbers, and it’s dependent on the patient, too.

I’m glad to report that as of today, I have already cleared the methotrexate. The level on Wednesday after chemo was 1536.15, down to 27.64 on Thursday, 0.53 Friday, and 0.08 today. What can I say, I’m just good like that. I attribute it to the five liters of fluid I’m drinking everyday (and yes, I feel like I’m going to float away). Once again, I’m thankfully not experiencing many side effects. I did wake up Thursday morning feeling like I had been punched repeatedly all over my body by someone wearing brass knuckles, then forced to run two marathons, but that only lasted a couple of days. Aside from that, a sore throat and some tiredness are about it. I can’t even begin to convey the feeling I have when I think about not having to do anymore inpatient chemo. Not that any kind of chemo is a walk in the park, but compared to what I endured for the majority of my 17 cycles so far (yikes, there’s been that many), outpatient chemo has been extremely tolerable in every way. No puking or nausea round-the-clock, no I.V. pole tethered to you for a week, no being stuck inside away from fresh air and sunshine, no 4am vitals or bloodwork,…the list just goes on and on. It’s not only a relief physically to finish up treatment on this easier regiment, but it’s a mental relief as well. One of these days when I feel up to it, I’ve got a lot of thoughts and feelings about this time through treatment that I’m anxious to share.

Well, I guess that’s about it from here. I’m sure there’s tons of stuff I’m forgetting (it has been 10 days since I’ve posted, after all), but I think I hit all the big points. Mom’s heating up leftovers from our V-Day lunch at Cheesecake Factory, so we’ll eat that, then dig into the piece of carrot cake cheesecake we’ve managed to keep our hands off all day. Have a great weekend everybody!!

--Steph

Posted by Sammy
930pm From home

Ok so jeremy gets all the credit for the title...it was a snow joke while we were pretty much snowed in for 4 days. Though we did hitch up the sled dogs and mush to applebees one night. It was a lot of snow but its all gone now, thankfully. Hopefully no more lost reherasals. Eeek. The snow also reinforced my theory of "some people should not be allowed to drive cars". Like half the people on the road on my way to work. Its fine in Springboro and once im near school but I swear until i get on I71 its a crap shoot...especially by ceasar's creek. I might get normal drivers. Will I get Super-Yuppie, tenaciously clinging to his cell phone, oblivious to the fact that he is driving? Or will I get Selectively Blind High School Girl, who seems to have a disproportionately heavy right foot? (saw her get pulled over...i laughed... a lot....all day). Perhaps I'll get snow-is-the-devil's-plaything guy....yes snow eats your soul....you must go UNDER 40mph all the time or it will kill you and drag you to the abyss. Or if im really lucky, its Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard who's 1935 tow truck gives my car's air filter tumors from the blacker-than-black exhaust. Mmmm, nothing like some fresh pressed carbon monoxide with a side of burnt oil to go with your morning coffee.

Yup...thats the one!

 Been back at school for a while now though and all is well. Im starting to plan ahead for the Livestrong Challenge. The link will be at the bottom of the page again.
One way you can help me raise money is to take some info I have to where you work (if that is ok) and set it out for people to read and they can take a donation form and either mail it to the LAF or do it online. Any help is appreicated and I am working on possibly some collection jars at local businesses, so if you know someone who would be willing to set out a can/jar (id provide and pick up) send them my way. There is no minimum amount and any money goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. If you havent seen much on their Global Cancer Initiave, check it out at http://www.livestrong.org

Lots going on in the cancer world. I havent had time to read much but there's supposedly some cancer funding in this stimulus package. I'd say that plus the education money is long overdue. If we can bailout greedy banks we sure ought to be able to get some money in the hands of reserachers trying to end this disease. Also, there's been more and more about some famous names battling a very deadly form of cancer. Both Patrick Swazye and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg have been battling pancreatic cancer. Mr. Swayze wrote an open letter to congress published in the Wasthington Post and if you havent read it I suggest it   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020602850.html?sub=new
I hate that anyone would have to face this illness but I am really happy to see him using his celebrity to speak out agains the disease and to push Washington to do the right thing and increase the funding. I know these are tough economic times but you cant put a price tag or a value on ending the suffering caused by cancer.

Ok heres the link and if you want info to distribute, email me at sammyminge@hotmail.com

http://philly09.livestrong.org/sammyminge

Sammy

Posted by Stephanie 6:35pm CST from the apartment Houston, TX

My apologies for not updating sooner, but we’ve had some additional issues with getting internet access here in the new apartment. I know I mentioned in my last post the trouble we were having trying to find a way around the internet issue, and we thought we had it finally figured out when the church contact for the apartment said we’d need to get set up with a mobile internet connection through our cell phone company. HA! Easier said than done. Mom and I went to a Verizon store last Friday, told the salesman our situation, and then listened as he starting spouting off our options. “….it’ll be $60 a month for five gigabytes, and you’ll get the wireless card free after the mail-in rebate when you sign a two-year contract….” Now, having done some online research prior to going there, I knew there was a month-to-month option. I told the guy, “We only need this for two to three months, and I know there’s a month-to-month option.” “Yes, there is,” he said, “but if you do that, we have to charge you retail price for the wireless card, which is $300.” THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS?! Come on, that card probably cost thirty bucks to make, and they want to charge me three hundred dollars for it simply because I don’t want to sign a two year contract?! The look of shock on my face must’ve been pretty apparent, because the guy launched into some spiel, saying, “Well, if you go with the two year contract, you could always drop down to a lower coverage plan once you head back to Ohio. We have $40 plans that give you a half gigabyte….” . I interrupted him and said, “But I don’t have ANY use for it once I go back home, NONE at all.” “Well then,” he said, “you could terminate the contract once you’re done here in Houston, but it’s a $175 termination fee. Oh, but if you wait to cancel for a full year, we drop the fee to $115.” Gee, how kind of you. Frickin’ ridiculous.

So there we were with two options through Verizon. 1) Sign the two year contract, get the wireless card for free, pay $60 for three months, and then be stuck with $175 termination fee (which still would be cheaper in the long run than keeping the service for any remaining part of the contract) OR 2) Pay $300 for the wireless card, then $60 a month for the time we needed it. In other words, no matter which option we went with, we’d be looking at a minimum of at least $350 for a measly two or three months of internet service. And then there’s the fact that a large chunk of that money, whether spent on a wireless card that doesn’t cost that much to make, or on an early termination fee, would be basically wasted—like taking a couple hundred bucks and flushing it down the toilet. Unbelievable. Both of those ‘options’ (and I use that term loosely, since I don’t consider either one of them viable) go against every financially smart principle (hello, living on one income right now), not to mention it’s a downright rip-off by the cell phone company. No way I was gonna do that. Good customer service, my butt. They expect me to believe there’s no other option? Right. Truth is, they’re just too dang greedy to actually do anything helpful for their customers.

Anyway, I’ll quit fuming about that infuriating experience. Every cell company we checked with offered the same options. Ugh. Home we went to brainstorm. Sure, I could check e-mail at the hospital, but that means driving over, paying to park in the garage, and being at the mercy of the cyber center’s varying hours. I learned from the office at the apartment complex that it’s possible to get a wireless connection that doesn’t require a password if I take my computer out by one of the swimming pools. Sound strange to anyone else? But, I tried it, and it worked. However, the signal is weak, and if the weather is bad, I’m out luck. By Friday evening, I came to the sad, sad realization that if I wanted any sort of internet connection in the apartment, I’d have to use…*gulp*…..dial-up. Suckage.

By the end of the weekend, I had AOL set up on my computer (still $26 a month), and the dial-up connection is enough to let me check my e-mail, but I can’t do much beyond that. I’m not able to play World of Warcraft, but I can survive a couple of months without that. The one thing that Sammy and I are quite upset about is the fact that the dial-up connection (or the connection by the pool) isn’t fast enough to run the web-cam. That means I don’t get to set eyes on Sammy for weeks at a time. Very upsetting. I cried a lot. It’s tough enough for us to be apart so much during this, but now we’re without the one method of communication that would let us see eachother (or the cat!).

Okay, enough about the internet drama. Let’s talk about this chemo round. So far, it has indeed been very mild as far as side effects go. I’ve had a nasty sore throat and mouth for a few days, and my usual fatigue, but that’s about it. I’ve been getting my methotrexate level checked daily, taking my leucovorin, checking my urine pH, and drinking massive amounts of fluid as instructed. The methotrexate level dropped quickly at first—it was 980.32 right after the infusion Wednesday, and already down to 19.64 the very next day. After that, it went to 0.59 Friday, 0.11 Saturday, 0.04 Sunday, then 0.02 for two straight days. It has to be less than 0.01 for me to stop the medication, and I thought today would be the day. But, when I got a call with my results today, the nurse told me my methotrexate level was 0.7. She quickly went on to say they thought it was a lab error, because a jump of that much makes absolutely no sense, but nonetheless, I have to continue my medication schedule and go in tomorrow for another check.

Aside from dealing with this chemo cycle, there’s not much going on here. Mom and I enjoyed a nice spread of goodies on Superbowl Sunday (yay Steelers!), and we’ve been taking walks as my energy level allows. Otherwise, puzzles, books, and tv round out my activities during the day. What an exciting life I lead.

I guess that’s about it. I hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to drop an e-mail or call—I love to hear from people. If anyone needs the address for the new apartment, drop me a line. Stay warm those of you back home (it’s in the 70’s here, I’m glad to say) and have a good night.

--Steph