"Animal Kingdom" ...

Wednesday - August 8, 2012

The hounds got me out and MOVING!

... (as Joe puts it) certainly has its pros and cons.  The hounds fill our days with connection, personality, and perpetual attempts to communicate their understandings and also their needs / desires / requests.  They really structure our days with walks, feedings, and delicious cuddles.  Dusk's interactions with us enjoy a less mutual give-and-take; we definitely serve him and his demands are often relentless and delivered in a less than polite manner.  This morning, Dusk had somehow remained in the house overnight and emerged to yowl at me and paw my head, awaking me from precious slumber at 6 a.m. - that was good news!  I had about seven hours sleep on my last day of steroids!  After chasing a very noisy cat away from the bedroom and downstairs towards his soon-to-be-filled food bowl, I started the day with a Dusk-induced energy rush, some shortness of breath, and a readiness to start the day.  I am functional, relatively alert, and ready to heal up, process my chemo, and get ready for next week's round #5 of 6.  Oops! First things first - I need to clean up the salamander parts off the kitchen floor - thanks Dusk  :)

Today is a relatively low obligation day.  No physician appointments for ANY Ammiratis.  Just a time to rest up and regroup.  Tomorrow, we return to the PCP for an initial read of Jonathan's early bloodwork and an EEG.  Friday is a red-letter assessment of "Partial Response" to my two months to date of this Hyper CVAD protocol.  I will have blood work followed by a PET scan that will then serve as a point of comparison with my initial, pre-treatment PET scan from mid-May.  Before and after.  How MUCH has the lymphoma activity declined (or disappeared) and where have these changes occurred?  We should have the results during my upcoming August 14th 4-night hospital admission.  I am clearly eager to see the results.