A Step Back

Greetings Loyal Readers,

There are some days when it's not all that much fun to be Your Faithful Correspondent. Mom couldn't take chemo yesterday because her platelets were low. So, assuming all goes according to plan, she'll resume chemo two weeks from yesterday. There's a possibility that she'll need a transfusion of platelets, but it's a bit early to know whether that will be necessary.

After yesterday's disappointment, Mom was mollified somewhat by a lovely dinner with her neighbor Mark Garber. Your Faithful Correspondent was invited to witness the scene at the Standard Club, where yesterday's dining took place. It was a very refined experience: attentive service, good food, very good wine (2004 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Merlot, very smooth and drinkable), and excellent company. To avoid the paparazzi, we exited via a side entrance. Of course, once we realized that we parked the car out front, it became abundantly clear that our ruse was not going to be successful.

Mom will be jetting off to the sunny environs of South Florida later today. She will spend time with Maria, Margot and perhaps even a wee bit of time with Dad and Sue. Your Faithful Correspondent will also be on the scene (as will Melvin, though it hardly seems like it's worth a mention), so My Faithful Readers may want to be on the lookout for remote updates.

Sadly, YFC must cut this a bit short. Packing calls.

Faithfully,
Corey

Mom's Night at "The Living Room"

Greetings Loyal Readers!

A quick report on the exploits of our favorite heroine (whether she be Chemo Queen or Warrior Woman, just make sure to answer the new poll question)...Saturday evening Mom was invited to The Living Room, Uncle Phil's oh-so-exclusive club where only the who's who of the what's what are invited to gather. It was a particularly exciting for Your Faithful Corrspondent, since Sis and I have not been invited to these events on previous occasions (undoubtedly, YFC was being penalized for his sibling's misdeeds). Actually, when Sis and I entered The Living Room we brought the average age of the house down to approximately 98.6 -- good for temperatures, not so good for a Saturday evening assemblage. Nonetheless, after making sure that Michelle promised to be on her best behavior, we joined the cognoscenti for what was billed as:

An Unforgettable Evening
The Living Room Takes Pride in Presenting
Shecky Greene - Just Extraordinary
Ryan Oakes - Conjuror - Mystifying

YFC was particularly fond of the former Mr. Sheldon Greenfield, a man who's jokes seemed frozen in time. Of course that time roughly coincided with the lifespan of the Mercury Dime. From the food to the talent to the fact that YFC was made part of the act (not by choice, mind you), it was an excellent evening. Needless to say, though say it I will, Mom was looking radiant, as always.

So what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Gentle reader, did we not previously discuss that patience is a virtue? Well, without further ado, I bring you a short photographic essay of an evening at [dramatic pause] The Living Room...

[The rest of this post has been censored by the good people at Pravda. Something about offending delicate sensibilities. Though Your Faithful Correspondent tried to protest (for YFC is tireless in his efforts to bring you the the truth), the threat of the gulag quieted further dissention]

Sadly, on this alarming note, we must end this edition of The Chemo Chronicle. Tomorrow is a chemo day, so I am sure that there will be more soon.

Faithfully,
Corey

P.S.

For my loyal readers who e-mailed me to say that Pravda is the truth (Pravda -- Russian: Правда, "The Truth"), please check your snail mail. A FoMmie t-shirt is coming your way.

Poll: We Have Winner!

The poll question asked "Who is Mom's Favorite Child?" and now the results are in!

Corey was the most popular response with 44% of the vote.
Both Corey and Not Michelle garned 33%.
And finally, Not Michelle earned 22% support.

Thanks to everyone who voted and look for a new poll question soon!

Update: The new poll question is up. Since one of the options is "other", please leave any other possible nickname suggestions as feedback to this posting. Finally, in true Chicago tradition, please remember to vote early and often.

Look of The Chemo Chronicle and Comments

Loyal Readers,

Your Faithful Corrspondent is experimenting with the look and feel of The Chemo Chronicle (or as my French-speaking readers know it Le Chronicle Chemo). Please feel free to post feedback.

And speaking of feedback...YFC has tweaked the comments section so it's easier to leave comments now (you no longer have to be a registered reader...err...user).

Muchas gracias (this is a special nod to my Spanish-speaking readers...it means much gracias)

A Joint Update

Greetings Loyal Readers!

Your Faithful Correspondent is coming to you live again, with more up to the minute coverage. Now, I know how perceptive my readers are, so hopefully the title didn't throw you off. No, you're not going to hear the latest on Mom's knees, elbows, ankles, etc. No, the joint part of the update means that YFC is going to have a special message from Mum today. So without further ado let's turn immediately to Mom:

I wanted to thank my friends and family (FoMmies) for all the love and prayers and blessings that they continue to send me. And thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, I'm counting on a repeat for many years to come. I had wonderful celebrations.

Your Faithful Correspondent was able to snag an invite to several of the approximately 682 birthday celebrations and they were truly sublime. Her house was transformed into an enormous floral boutique for her birthday ( if you're reading this and you sent flowers, please note that your arrangement was Mom's very favorite).

So, in other news, Mom has her chemo drip, drip, dripping along. Mom's white counts were a smidge low -- not low enough to stop her from having her treatment today, obviously -- but she'll be coming back for a shot on Friday. The shot will boost her white counts and will allow Mom to return for treatment next week.

Note: at this point in our update Mom had Your Faithful Correspondent doing manual labor (oh the humanity!) -- nothing too taxing mind you, just pulling her "curtains" shut, which gives off the feeling of having chemo in a tent. Thankfully, the only injury to report was YFC's bruised ego.

Well, we are coming near the end of our update. If you're getting this by e-mail, check the blog later today or tomorrow for a photographic update! (if you're reading this the pics are up now...but you knew that already)

Good tidings to all...

Faithfully,
Corey

A Chemo Chronicle Live Update

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Yes, a live update from the site where Mom is getting her chemo as we speak! As much as I'd love to give you updates on cooking, the all-important poll question on the new blog, or just blogging in general, I must instead bring you this special live bulletin...

...MOM JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!!!...

So excited, so happy, I just want to dance and sing, la la la. Terribly sorry, you shouldn't have to see Your Faithful Correspondent lose his composure like that (YFC = Young, Fabulous & Composed) but this is good news dear readers. Very good news. Here are the details...

Overall the tumor in Mom's liver has decreased by approximately 60%. It started at approximately 30cm2 and is now approximately 12cm2. The tumor in Mom's pancreas has shrunk by approximately 50%. Doctor Troll's exact words were “I'm surprised by how much it shrunk.” The Troll made a minor change to Mom’s chemo regimine…Mom will temporarily be off of the Cisplatin because she’s worried about toxicity build-up. Now before anyone panics (my readers are loyal, but you’re also a panicky lot) let me assure you that nothing is wrong. Sometimes too much Cisplatin can cause a loss of balance and Doc Troll wants to avoid that, seeing how it’s irreversible and all. Mom may go back on Cisplatin in the future (probably for no more than 2 additional doses); as soon as YFC learns more my loyal readers will get the skinny.

Speaking of skinny [insert joke about sister here]

Doubtless my loyal readers are wondering, well what about that radiofrequency ablation (by the by, doesn’t that just feel so good rolling off your tongue?) that you told us about? Patience, dear readers, patience (it’s a virtue, you know). Well, assuming that we see a bit more progress, Mom could be a candidate for RFA (you did figure out that RFA = radiofrequency ablation, right? Of course you did) in December.

Well, Mom’s going through chemo now, so Your Faithful Correspondent must attend to his duties. A very happy Tuesday to all!

Faithfully,
Corey

P.S.
In case you missed it, the Chemo Chronicle is now available online at http://chemochronicle.blogspot.com/

P.P.S.
Since you're reading this online, you can pretty much disregard the p.s.

Birthday Fun

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Tonight we celebrated Mom's birthday with the family. If my count is correct (and why wouldn't it be?) this would be Mom's 4th bash in 7 days. Mom has 1 more shindig to go, as she celebrates tomorrow with Mary and Carol, dear friends from the building.

Your Faithful Correspondent is, well faithful yes, but that's not where YFC was going was this. Hmm...perhaps it's easier to say what YFC is not. A brilliant photographer. This is mentioned because today's update is not intended to be so much a textual update, but rather a visual one.

To the left is a picture of Mom on her 65th. As always, Mom was looking quite radiant. Standing behind her (and looking quite radiant herself) is the incomparable Bubby. It was quite a nice little affair and aside from YFC suffering from a mild case of heartburn, no injuries were reported.

The Chemo Chronicles

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Thanks to all of you who wrote me this past week. My spidey sense was tingling...methinks that Mom may have had something to do with the onslaught of mail that I received. I sincerely appreciate your words of support. To be clear, Mom should be the focus of your love and admiration for I am but Your Faithful Correspondent, a humble scribe who lives to serve and serves to live...

Now that we've straightened that out, on with the news...as you know, this is Mom's off-week but it's also a big week. Thursday is Mom's birthday and Friday is Mom's CT Scan. It's a lot to digest, so why don't we just take these one at a time?

Well, birthday week has already started. It kicked off last Saturday when Mom's neighbor Mark (who shamelessly begged to mentioned in the Chronicle -- hey Mark, how do you like your mention now?) took Mom to Greektown for an early celebration on Saturday. Thursday, we're likely heading to Roy's with Russell (hmm...Roy's with Russell...try saying that 3 times fast) for a little Hawaiian fusion cuisine. Saturday we'll be doing the family thing at Francesca's on Taylor. And on Sunday, Mom's neighbors Mary and Carol will be making Mom a party. 4 parties over 8 days = 1 busy Mom!

The CT scan is this Friday the 12th. YFC requests that you say an extra-special prayer for Mom on Friday. Last time Mom had this test, the results showed that her tumors had shrunk by nearly 40%. We are hoping for similar results -- or better -- this time around too.

Sadly, the news comes to an end here. Your Faithful Correspondent has a bit of a cold, so he is going to drink some more tea (peppermint if you're interested) and then it's off to bed. I look forward to bringing you good results next week.

Faithfully,
Corey

P.S.
If any of you have any questions for YFC, feel free to drop me a line and you may see your query in a future edition of the Chronicle.

The Chemo Chronicles

Greetings and salutations to all. Today Mom experienced another bump on the road to recovery. Mom was unable to have her treatment today because her white blood cell and platelet counts were low.

Cancer is a bully.

Of course the only way to deal with a bully is to stand-up to him and Mom shall continue to fight. We saw Cotton Troll (if you've been paying attention, you know by now that's Mom's doctor) today and she reported that Mom was still doing pretty well. Mom received a shot to boost her white blood cells and chemotherapy will resume in two weeks (October 16th).

(Incidentally, Mom told ol' Troll that YFC was writing these updates and that there was an anagram of her name...thank goodness she didn't ask what it was)

On Friday, October 12th -- that'd be the day after Mom officially becomes a senior citizen (shh...don't tell her I told you that) -- Mom goes in for a CT scan. As you recall, Mom did very well 2 months ago when she first had this test. The results showed that the tumor in Mom's liver shrunk by approximately 40% and there was progress in the other areas too. So we're hoping/praying for a similar outcome, if not better.

So what next? Well, you sure are a curious lot aren't you? Mom will have a maximum of 2 more cycles with the Cisplatin. Since Mom has now had 2 cycles in a row where she couldn't go for treatment on the 3rd week, it looks like Mom will go to a 21-day cycle. In other words:

Day 1: Cisplatin. Gemzar
Day 8: Gemzar
Day 15: Off week

Day 22 would be the first day of the new cycle.

If all goes according to plan -- and it will, Mom even has an energy healer working on her recovery (early reports are very positive) -- Mom may be a candidate for Radiofrequency Ablation. Now of course you're probably saying to yourself "radiofrequency ablation, what's that?". Well, dear reader, I'm oh so glad you asked! In a nutshell, it's a minimally invasive procedure where a needle is inserted into the tumor. Electrical energy is is delivered through the needle, which then heats and destroys the tumor. If your unquenchable thirst for knowledge has not been sated, try drinking this in: http://www.mayoclinic.org/ radiofrequency-ablation/

Anyhow, since I let the cat out of the bag on the big Six-Five (just to be clear, I'm referring to Mom's upcoming birthday now, not my darling sister's IQ) here's the skinny...rumor has it that there will be multiple events planned to celebrate the historic occasion. Our beloved Uncle Rusty ( umm, that's be Russell to most folks) is planning a bash at a not-yet-decided restaurant. Now Your Faithful Correspondent doesn't like to dabble in idle speculation (rumor and innuendo, yes; idle speculation, no) but a little birdie told me that the choices might well come down to Gibson's ( http://www.gibsonssteakhouse.com/) or RL (http://rlrestaurant.polo.com/). A soirée with la familia is also in the planning stages (note: YFC offered to host a shindig at chez moi, but was rebuffed in a most brusque and gratuitous manner). Your Faithful Correspondent is not one to take a gratuitous rebuffing lying down, so I have alerted my contacts in Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul and Pyongyang ( hmm...notice a pattern here?)...and they will be coordinating festivities to commence concurrently with our celebrations here in the Windy City. Now I don't mean to quibble but YFC is trying to plan multiple affairs in cities across the globe...is there anyway that someone charge can make decisions about the Chicago galas anytime soon?

This just in...got a text message (YFC hates text messaging...more on that in a future Chronicle). Apparently London, New York and, yes, Paris (France, not Hilton) will also host simultaneous parties.

Just got an update from the Guest of Honor...looks like the bash w/ UR (Uncle Rusty) will be on Thursday, October 11th (the actual day of Mum's birth) and the family bash will be held on Friday @ Francesca's on Taylor.

Well, things are flying fast and furious around here, another text received...Paris (Hilton, not Texas) will also host an event in Mom's honor. She's proposing a masquerade ball... tres swanky!

Another edition of the Chronicle is coming to an end. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow (for extra credit: name the play from which this line is taken).

Sweet dreams.

Faithfully,
Corey

P.S.
Anagrams for Faithfully Corey: Your Iffy Hellcat and Erotically Huffy (Your Faithful Correspondent is pre-emptively striking the use of the latter anagram...for goodness sakes, this is a family update!).

P.P.S.
The answer to our quiz: Romeo and Juliet. Act 2, Scene 2 ...but you knew that already.

P.P.P.S.
Took a trip to Berba's house on Sunday and prepared dinner for Mom, Melvin (the Sis), Bubby (the G-Mom) and Berba (the Aunt). New motto for Your Iffy Hellcat: have meat, will travel. On the evening's menu: Simple Salad (hearts of palm, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, and romaine topped with a homemade Dijon vinaigrette), sauteed garlic spinach, spelt and bell peppers (surprisingly good and high in fiber...spelt has an appearance and texture similar to Israeli couscous and a slight nutty taste) and the main course was a crusted rack of lamb.

P.P.P.P.S.
I just received a fax and a singing telegram from Moscow and Reykjavik, respectively....they'll also be celebrating in solidarity on the 11th.

P.P.P.P.P.S.
And finally I leave you with a quote from the well-known American/Scottish writer and suffragist Florida Scott-Macwell: No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.

Note to Michelle: I'm pretty sure she was talking about you.