Just another crazy day yesterday. David is on an extended business trip this month, so I’m holding down the fort on my own. As I had to leave for Boston and my appointment at the crack of dawn, Peter spent the night at a classmate’s house. That meant Buddy and a cup of coffee were my only early morning worries.
The waiting room in oncology was a bit of a grim place yesterday. Lots of wheelchairs and a stretcher or two; hale and hearty was the exception. As I waited to check in a woman moved out of my way and explained that she was not in the line. “Oh, you’re lucky, I quipped”, and she agreed, that yes, coming here made her count her blessings.
At my meeting with Alice (Dr. Shaw), she reiterated that enough tissue had been retrieved for several studies. First and foremost, is seeing whether or not I have a new mutation. All of the information gathered from analyzing the biopsy will also be collected for a clinical trial that I signed consent forms for a month ago. It is basically a data bank, and is actually my fourth clinical trial to date. Only one of those, PF-02341066 or crizotinb, involved my active participation (and, ultimately, personal benefit). Two earlier trials required only some additional blood draws. I point this out simply to accentuate that there are actually lots of ways in which to contribute to clinical trials; some of them risk and hassle free.
After saying goodbye to Alice, I went up a floor to infusion. I was early and they were way over-booked, so I grabbed some lunch and then returned. I didn’t have to wait very long, and to my great pleasure, I was given a bed and a short acupressure and acupuncture session by Irene.
It was a few minutes before two by the time I had collected my paper bag of meds, and I needed to be at Peter’s bus stop in New Hampshire by 4:05. I would need the gods of traffic to watch over me.
Well, they did, and I even had ample time to pull in at the rest stop cum state liquor store on the border for two bottles of zinfandel.
Peter called me from school just before I passed the exit to Sant Bani, and so I made a detour and picked him up there instead. This meant we had ten extra minutes in which to zip home and walk the dog, before we had to drive to Moultonborough for Pete’s guitar lesson at 4:30. As soon as the lesson concluded, I headed to the polls (election day!) and then after (had to be) dinner out, we pulled into our driveway only a little past Buddy’s dinner hour.
Geez, what a day.
This morning should have been the start of a less hectic day, but half way down the hill we realized that Peter’s lunch was not in the car. Back for that and we rushed to the bus stop, only to discover that the bus had just gone by. Sigh. Buddy, who was along for the ride, was thrilled, because what should have been a twenty minute ride now ballooned to an hour and twenty minutes. I was having serious flashbacks to my days as a single mother some twenty plus years ago…
But home was some grotty apartment then, not this house at the top of a hill. And I definitely didn’t own a camera like the one I have now which I quickly grabbed before rushing out to capture some leaves before the hard frost melted away…
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 