Cancer Bitch Gets Served

Today my posse for the trip to JH was a friend who makes a mean Chicken Tetrazinni and homemade Pound Cake!

We exchanged stories on the road about childhood run-ins with bears in Yellowstone (both times bears leaned on cars scaring the crap out of us) and hiking past steam vents at Volcano National Park in Hawaii (once again scaring the crap out of us). She told me about her new glasses, and I told her about my vision problems in May (which went away) and how I continued driving to work at that time. She went ballistic!

Told me that I was alternately gung-ho about fighting cancer and passive-aggressive with negativity - saying to myself I'm not going to survive this anyway and can therefore justify eating an entire bag of potato chips. Caught! It was so true I had to laugh out loud. That's what happens when you ride with a professional life coach. I had a huge chunk of her pound cake for dinner, but I'll have a salad and lots of fruit tomorrow.....

Cancer Bitch - "No Grits No Glory"

We're back from a whirlwind summer of travel - Grand View, NY; Parkersburg, WV; Pensacola, FL. Am now back on chemo and wishing I were back on the beach. We saw movies ("Dinner for Schmucks" "Salt" "Despicable Me" ate a LOT of food and actually got some rest.

Now, I loved "Lulu's" and "Rockland Bakery" in Nyack, and had fabulous "Grape Salad" in Parkersburg (yeah, I know its not really a salad - details, details). But my favorite place in Pensacola was the "Coffee Cup"(went three times) where I discovered the joys of deep-fried French Toast. Its a southern axiom that anything tastes better deep-fried and damn that French Toast was good!

My second discovery was "Grits A Yaya." They did a lot of creative stuff with grits in Pensacola (Nassau Grits also fabulous). But the "Fish House" restaurant's Grits a Yaya made with smoked gouda and shrimp made me actually consider moving to Florida to be near my new love. My vacation resulted in a gain of 12 pounds. Success!

(shout out to "Oh Snap" cupcakes in Pensacola where Mom was scandalized by the price of $2.50 per cupcake!)

My third discovery was I could actually take it easy and still have a good time. And when people allowed me to rest or when they offered help - I learned to accept it graciously. My cousin, Shenae, actually whipped up some "Spiced Pecans" when I came over for dinner.

You know this was a long time coming. I didn't want to feel like "The Patient" and I was determined to party as hard as I did before the big "C". But I learned, thanks to all who hung out with me this summer, its the people not the party. Took long enough....

Now my next party will feature giant cupcakes and Grits a Yaya. With limoncello!




A very empty Pensacola Beach.

Cancer Bitch - Gets Marriage Proposal

Went to West Virginia over the weekend for a family reunion, but first we stopped at Johns Hopkins Friday morning for a CT scan. (I'm becoming an expert at those). Chris, the attendant, started a conversation about driving to Florida on family vacations (I'm an expert at that, too).

I told him the best part of the trip was stopping in Atlanta for lunch at "Steak N Shake." That sent him over the moon! He watches the Food Channel and raved about steak restaurants in Arizona and Texas. He said he was going to Philadelphia with some friend this weekend to tour. I told him he should definitely go to "Spataro's" for a cheesesteak, "DeNics" for a Philly pork sandwich and the Amish Market for Apple Dumplings. And definitely "Ishkabibbles" for Cheesesteaks on South Street - not Pats and definitely not "Genos." At this point Chris told me I was his soul mate and that if he weren't married and I weren't married, he'd propose!

Left JH to go to Parkersburg with the grand-girls. Had a great time in the hotel pool then spent Saturday at a Cornhole tournament. Went out to dinner and brunch. But was tired and disoriented on the drive home so I mistakenly called Dianne Burr and wished her a Happy Birthday (a month late. Meant to call Carol Van Dam instead. (now two days late)

Went back to JH Tuesday morning, where I got some good news - no problems detected on the MRI (the doctor checked them from China where he was vacationing). He also said the CT scan (thank you Chris) showed the lesion on my liver had almost disappeared and my tumor had shrunk again.
The bad news - one more round of chemo. Dammit. Any of the posse up for another trip to Baltimore?

Had to take a photo of the fabulous spuds Mary McCowin brought us from Idaho.
Can you tell which one is the real spud? We had stuffed baked potatoes for dinner tonight.
They were damned good! (at least the one on the left is - we're afraid of the one on the right! We're looking forward to lying on the greasy
beaches of Pensacola, soon.
And, for once, doing absolutly NOTHING.

Cancer Bitch - Now its Bananas

(Brenda with friends doing her favorite thing in the world - eating)

About the only thing I enjoy during my trips to Johns Hopkins is eavesdropping on my fellow patients. (once heard a guy talking about his backwoods militia group).

Today the discussion was what to eat - one patient confessed to another that she had pigged out on bbq ribs and potato chips. I ducked my head in shame. I ate a whole bag of chips over the weekend! (and a carton of ice cream and all 5 desserts at tea with Jamie on Saturday)

The nurse told me my potassium levels were still high, and I confessed that I had given up on collard greens but I was eating a banana every day with breakfast. She gave me a look that pretty well said I was hopeless.

Went to Hopkins today so that we could leave for Grand View, NY on Thursday. Nelly has a job interview at a clothing manufacturer on Friday in Manhatten- I told one of my doctors about it today and she gave me a list of places Nelly could stay if she gets the job - including the number of her daughter in the Lower East Side! The power of networking.....

I'll try to do better on my diet - after we get back.

Cancer Bitch - When Vegetables Turn on You

My chemo treatment was delayed today by over an hour because my potassium levels were high. They looked over my blood tests, hooked me up to an EKG - everything was fine and eventually I got the chemo. Posse member Beth and I drove to Silver Diner for lunch, then had to scramble for home when Steve called and said the home nurse had already arrived. I swear the fork was halfway to my lips!

I told Jackie, the nurse, about the potassium concerns. She asked me if I consume a lot of orange juice, bananas or kale. I had made a big pot of fresh collard greens last week and had been eating them every day. Case closed.

Some of you know that last Friday's trip to JH was a big old mess. I was scheduled for a CT Scan because my doctor was concerned about the occasions I experienced blurred vision and he said my face was no longer symetrical (like Lyle Lovett??). Turns out he had actually ordered a brain MRI. I knew it was a mistake when the nurse told me to drink 2 large cups of water to expand my bladder. What tha what? The MRI is now scheduled for Saturday morning. Holiday weekend.

On the way back from JH Friday, Steve, Doris and I drove to Ellicott City to meet sister-in-law Mary for lunch. We got lost. Repeatedly.

Today, we received a box from Amazon. It was a GPS system, sent by Doris. Steve loved it - got indignant-loved it. He then took it to his basement lair to play with it. I had only one emotion - THANK YOU DORIS!

Cancer Bitch - Baltimore in the Summer

Nelly at the Wheel

Drove back to Johns Hopkins in the summer heat (just got home air conditioning repaired - now the car)

8:30 AM in the waiting room and I hear an incessant buzzing - like a hornets nest. I look across the room and an elderly woman is on her cell phone and everyone else is just sitting there, either reading or talking to each other. I finally realized that I has hearing vuvuzelas. And the elderly woman was watching the world cup on her cell phone. THERE IS NO ESCAPE!

Everything went well - even got out of there in record time. But the home nurse didn't show up. So now I'm exchanging telephone calls with "Home Solutions" while they try to figure out where she is and what went wrong and if they can get me hooked up tonight. If they have to do it tomorrow, I'll have to wait until Friday to get unhooked. We are not amused.

(Addendum - nurse called. 8:30pm and she's on her way. She forgot)
(addendum#2 - 10pm. Nurse just left. She's a substitute and no one told her she had to come today. At least I got my meds)

Also saw sign today at Camden Yards that pretty well sums up our situation!

Cancer Bitch - On the Upswing

Got good news today. Dr. Zeng says the tumor has shrunk, and I've gained weight. The bad news - blood pressure is up and I can't eat just everything. (I've demolished entire cartons of Haagen Dazs with the excuse that I've got to get my weight up).

So, I'll allow myself the Eastern Market Lunch crabcake - I'll just skip the french fries and soda.

Also, got to start another round of chemo next week. Sigh.