It Was a Gemzar Week

This week Karen had the chemo medication Gemzar without any other medications. This was the first time she’s had that one without the Carboplatin, so we weren’t really sure what to expect. The Carboplatin/Gemzar mix last week rolled over her like a steam roller, and it took days before she was able to be up and about.

The Gemzar gave her an uncomfortable feeling that she couldn’t quite explain. It was as if she could feel stuff going on in her body, but not know what. She didn’t stay in bed as long, but did have most of the normal symptoms, including mouth sores, stomach pain, leg pain, fatigue, nausea, and digestive problems. At this point Karen takes most of those in stride, as her benchmark for a “good day” has changed quite a bit over the last year. The stomach pain and fatigue never seem to go away, even after some of the other symptoms subside, and that can be frustrating. The up side is that she should be able to keep most of her newly growing hair.

This week she had more good days than bad ones, and Karen managed to spend some more time on her tractor. The Kubota is a nice therapy device, not just emotional, but physical. It gets her up and moving around, but not so much that she gets exhausted quickly. It has power steering, so it’s easy to operate, and there is a sense of accomplishment in the yard work. And there is always more grass to be mowed, so it always there when she needs it. I am relegated to the little garden tractor most of the time now.

No chemo this week, so we’re hoping the symptoms ease up a little more. She has a doctor’s appointment up at the Cleveland Clinic on Friday, but that should be the only medical appointment for her. We expect to discuss the first round of chemo, and also any impressions they got from the recent PET scan.

In other news… We finally have furniture. Both our dining room table and our great room couch/love seat/chair suite arrived, after being on order for three months. The suite in the great room was from Lazy Boy, so it seems like it should have arrived sooner, but the dining room suite was all custom made by an Amish gentleman, so we knew up front that it would take a while. Both conveniently arrived on the same day. After already living here a year, the arrival of the furniture was a nice thing. We put the buying of furniture off when Karen was diagnosed, because we wanted to make sure we had enough to pay any medical expenses she might have. Our insurance has covered everything, so a few months ago we cashed out her retirement plan to pay for some furniture and landscaping. We’ll add pictures sometime soon!

We wish everybody a happy and respectful Memorial Day.