Desert Dispatch

And a triple play

Dear Friends — Thanks to many of you checking on me of late. I had a brutal summer and so the plan was to settle into a more familiar rhythm — oral chemo rounds, recovering from the hard twists in July and early August. Plans are so adorable, aren’t they? When they work they are telling reminders about our good instincts and forward thinking; when they fall apart, we’re humbled like never before. Hopefully with some humor layered in to keep it real.

So with that, many of you know my chemo rounds of late have been harder than normal (not the plan). I get it’s hard to keep track because looping back to March, my health issues have been one long saga of hard. But after clearing through brain radiation and acute pneumonia and then a broken arm, you’d think that basic chemo in August wouldn’t be all that awful. And yet, it was.

So we ordered a scan last week and then I flew to Phoenix.  I was feeling just poorly enough that it began to make more sense to not be alone, and instead spend a few days with my brother and his family. They have a lovely home without inside stairs and family close by to fetch me things when they needed fetching. Plus Bonnie has been living her best life here as of late, and I wanted to have a taste of that too.

Bonnie is now a Desert Princess

I also booked an appt with Dr S, who faithful readers will remembe holds a long and good part of my medical story. He oversaw my trial here last year, is one of the top CRC oncologists in the nation, and knows my case well. I thought he could help me understand why I’ve had such awful joint pain and exhaustion.

My sister-in-law and I met with him early in the week – or rather Dr S. plus seven members of his team. When I meet with him, we fill a small conference room. All his lieutenants come with their laptops open, with my scans staring at them while I glance at all of them. It’s a team effort, and everything about that is wonderful.

So I started off with my little speech about back pain and leg pain and exhaustion and is there another chemo we could try. Then Dr S. said, “Why would we try that? Your cancer has spread to your spine and right femur. You need radiation.”

WHAT ON EARTH.

So I scanned the room again. “Anyone here slightly panicked with this news?” I asked. “Raise a hand if you’re just a little panicked.” Zero people except me (and my sister-in-law) raised their hands.

Instead one of the lieutenants got on her phone and muttered something about me, an appointment, and urgency. Then she looked at me as said, “Can you be at Overlook at 3p?” 

I thought she meant next Monday, or the following. “I’m not sure when I’m going home this week, or next. Did you mean next week?”

“No like today. In an hour. We want you to see Dr S(2) for radiation. He’s the best. He’ll see you in an hour.”

Pause the movie here to know that this kind of thing – getting seen by a specialist the same day – doesn’t happen in medicine. Or even dentistry. 

I said yes to seeing Dr S(2) and then wanted to know why we aren’t more panicked.

Dr S:  “This is terrible and entirely treatable. But we need do this fast to get you out of awful pain to keep this contained. The lungs look basically stable. We make the play in front of us.”

So a new plan is motion. I’ve done prep work for new rounds of radiation, which will begin here in the desert next week.

And after that? Dr S has an idea of bringing back Folfox – aka Foxy – which will involve some hospitalizations to somehow make me not allergic to the drug that made me allergic to it two year ago. I don’t fully understand it, but I’m being persuaded it may be the next best play I can make before finding a new trial.

Speaking of making the play in front of us, I might recommend we all watch this 90 second clip to see my Padres execute a flawless triple play to cement their spot in the playoffs, which began this week. This is an example of a miracle, crafted with years of careful practice, sprinkled with magic, which is the best kind of plan of all.

And when this happens, that’s why baseball announcers scream out: “Will this finally be the year for the faithful?!?!!!!”

I say yes.

💛🤎💛

p.s. — welcome to all the new blog readers who have found me through reading The Brave In-Between. I’m so encouraged by such warm notes, new friends for this mountain.

p.p.s — look who learned to swim this summer?!