Let the Healing Begin

Sunday: I’m writing this the Sunday before Christmas, the day before the final week starts. I don’t have any mixed feelings — all of my feelings are centered on being done. I am, however, wondering what’s life going to be like after treatment. And after recovery. It’s hard for me to imagine. Will I always […]

Chemo is over!

Chemo is over… need I say more? Mr. Taxol and/or Mr. Carboplatin may have a surprise planned for me, later in the week or coming months, but I’m done with them for now.

Thank You, Nurses!

(This is Suzy.) I want to give a big hug to all the nurses in the world. Steve’s neck has been painfully raw from the radiation quite for a while now. Every doctor he saw would say, “That looks painful”, they’d tell him to put Aquaphor and lidocaine on it, then they’d move on to […]

Six weeks down, less than one to go

Monday: I am sitting here in the infusion area of Mayo, waiting for what I thought was my last chemo to start. Right before I came in, I had a consult with Dr. E, my medical oncologist. He realized that I needed one more week of radiation (he set up my chemo orders before the […]

“Phenomenally Well!”

(This is Suzy.) Just a few days after hitting the wall — Bam! — things change. The roller coaster changes direction. Today Steve had an appointment with the radiation oncology physician assistant, and she said Steve was doing “phenomenally well”. She also threw in a couple of awesomes. The good news — You’ve heard some of […]

Bam! It’s Here.

Here I was, cruising along in the middle of week five. The nurse practitioner said I was doing “awesome” and that she was sending me “to the head of the class.” I found out that my cancer was shrinking on my tongue, and they reduced the size of the field for the highest-powered radiation. My […]

Team Fleury

Earlier, last week even, I thought about my treatment in terms of days – Monday, Tuesday. Now it’s just weeks. The fourth week is done, three more to go. Last week was good. Although I’m having lots of symptoms, the Mayo doctors have given me ways to mitigate them, some a lot, some just a […]

Hump Day!

I can’t remember the day-to-day routine of work anymore (perhaps I’ve blocked it out) or what I felt when I was a kid in elementary school, but Wednesdays were always “Hump Day.” Well, Wednesday, December 2nd is the biggest hump day ever for me. I can’t imagine it will ever be eclipsed. Wednesday — that’s […]

Challenges

I’m not sure what you find daunting. Remember the feeling that you get before you do it? Perhaps it’s walking across a bridge where you can see through to the water, or being near the edge of a tall cliff, or climbing a big ladder, or speaking in front of a crowd. For me, the […]

A Fork in the Road

As I laid under the mask in radiation today (the Friday after Thanksgiving), I thought of the great philosopher, Yogi Berra. He has many memorable quotes, but the one that was in my mind was “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” On Wednesday of last week, I passed over some […]