• Dragonslaying Blog
  • Gallery of Armor
  • Links
  • Dragonslaying Mix
  Adventures of a Girl with Hodgkins

Uncle Gino is Sleeping on My Couch

9/28/2010

9 Comments

 
Picture
I have learned THREE very important things this week:

1. My friend Meghan Metzbower makes a mean veggie lasagna, which tastes even sweeter when it’s hand delivered to your door;

2. My doctor - who is “very serious" - actually has a sense of humor hiding under his white lab coat that comes out when I wear shirts that say things like “Hey Cancer, You Picked the Wrong Bitch”  (thanks Cyn & Eva!)

And most importantly;

3. Apparently my version of "taking it easy" and my immune system's version of “taking it easy” are very different. 

When I went in for my chemo treatment yesterday, they checked my blood counts and the white cell count was too low to treat me.  The doctors want the number to be 1,000 or above, and mine was 400.  Thursday it was 1800.  So in the span of four days, it had dropped 1400 points or ccs or whatever unit they measure white blood cells in.  Yikes.

I also learned that I am not bulletproof or superhuman.  (Dammit!! – And I was so sure…)   Apparently that whole “getting kicked in the head by a horse” feeling that I so naively thought I had avoided, is a side effect of this drug called Neupogen, which is used to stimulate rapid grow of white blood cells.  I didn’t have to get it last time.  I got it yesterday, and...I feel like I got kicked in the head by a horse.  Or at least like the horse is sitting on me.  Either way the horse is not a nice horse and it's definitely not a pony. More like a giant stallion that's used to pull heavy machinery.

This whole immune system snafu feels kinda like those times in high school when my mom told me to do something (or more to the point, NOT to do something) and I did what I wanted to anyway, because my plan sounded more fun -- and then I got caught. Well this weekend was really fun...and my immune system just grounded me.  For like 6 months.  This is a bit tough to take at 35, but I think this is part of the larger lesson I’m supposed to be learning: Just. Slow. Down. 

 It’s a lesson that the universe has been trying to teach me for years, and one that I've more or less successfully ignored, but this year it seems the gloves are off. I am picturing the cancer like a big, hairy Italian man named Uncle Gino, tapping a lead pipe in his left hand and telling me to rest up “or else.”

Fine. I get it.  It’s a bummer too because there’s this awesome grape stomp/wine festival at the Sugarloaf Mountain winery I wanted to go to on Sunday….Okay, okay fine.  I’ll sit on the couch and watch movies and eat soup. FINE.

I had taken a whole “screw you, cancer” attitude, which makes perfect sense given that it's trying to kill me, but I’m starting to view it more like a slightly overbearing house guest who’s arrived from out of town and wants to crash with me: You can stay for a week and then you have to leave.  And in the meantime, I will appreciate my time with you as much as I can, given that you’re eating all of my food and you snore like a truck driver and you’re sleeping on my couch.    Or to put it another way: you’re in my life for a reason, so let me try and focus on that.  Also, you’ll be gone in a week.  And a week (or six months) in the scheme of my very blessed life is not so  bad.

And now for  the good news – the Neupogen is working, my counts are up to 900 and with the second shot I got today, Dr. Fishman says I can get chemo on Friday.  Woo hoo!!  (as my friend Amy said “who thought I’d be HAPPY to hear that you can get chemo?!?”) What can I say? This whole "having cancer thing" is full of surprises.

9 Comments
b.a.g.
9/28/2010 06:08:41 am

What's this talk about the lead pipe? Did you already forget the 4th very important lesson of the week: "omerta?" Uncle Gino will *not* be pleased.

Reply
Kate
9/28/2010 08:42:36 am

Girl, I got the same lesson myself this year at the ripe young age of 35. I have to slow down. More importantly, I have to learn to relax. I have no idea how. But my body has forced me to. If you want a partner in crime who must also keep things on a relaxed level call me! If you are allowed to do "gentle yoga" I'm going to classes on Monday. Its for those of us not allowed to push ourselves much or our bodies rebel.

Reply
Nayna link
9/28/2010 08:43:46 am

Love you, Erin. And, while I can't make a lasagna, I can buy one. And I'll buy one that rocks your world. I'll buy seven. And then, I'll rock my Hello Kitty skater outfit that highlights my cellulite in all the right places. xoxo, n

Reply
Audrey
9/28/2010 10:17:02 pm

Love you girl. I'm still searching for just the right T-shirt. It's gotta have the right 'tude. Might have to create my own. Stay strong. Lots of love and healthy vibes sent your way. Always....

Reply
Deitra L. "Other Mama" Jackson
9/29/2010 03:38:03 pm

So like, is Gino wearing a wife-beater t-shirt with sweat rings? BLEH!!!!

You are a Coda warrior! (ask Deilia)

Lovin' You,
----- D

Reply
Virg
10/5/2010 03:11:50 am

So, here is all I want you to know about grape stomping. We both know that this very well could have been the outcome for you my friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk

Hugs!

Reply
wow power leveling link
2/10/2011 11:33:40 am

it had dropped 1400 points or ccs or whatever unit they measure white blood cells in. Yikes.

Reply
Ray Ban Sunglasses Sale link
8/17/2012 11:32:37 am

That is really amazing. Thank author for it. it is rare articles. Thanks for putting in the effort to put it all together.Thank you for new issue, I really like this website.

Reply
Tiffany and Co Outlet link
8/17/2012 11:32:56 am

Thanks this made for intresting reading. These are hard to come by , now mixed network can insight into this site really is not easy.Thank you very much!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Standing in the breach, trying to hold the flashlight for love.

    Picture

    Archives

    November 2016
    January 2014
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    June 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed