Part II

Greetings Loyal Readers,

The FoMmie Nation must be commended as your goood thoughts and prayers have paid off. As you know, Mom's had some struggles when it comes to chemo treatment #3 (the last session of her cycle) but she was able to go today. Platelets were a little low (93, if you really must know, you nosy little monkeys), but Mom said "Let there be chemo!" Then there was chemo. And it was good.

Pardon that brief interruption (not that you noticed) Mom decided to inspect today's first installment and she was quick to point out YFC's typographical errors. Apologies to all whom I've offended by my ineptitude, it shan't happen again.

Getting back to chemo, next week is an off-week for Mom. But just because it's an off-week doesn't mean that she won't be busy, busy, busy. Mom goes in for a CT scan next week, that will allow another Cotton Troll to see how the chemo is working (now that's peculiar...Cotton Troll's initials are CT and she ordered a CT scan. Methinks something is rotten in the State of Denmark). We've had good news so far, so set your phasers to stun, light your candles, break out your mala beads, and daven like you've never davened before -- Mom's being scanned December 3rd at 2:45 pm so keep her in your thoughts, won't you?

Well, chemo has just ended and we're fixin' for a meal. Thus this posting must come to an end, typos and all.

A blogtastic Tuesday to you all.

Faithfully,
Corey

A Pre-Chemo Posting

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Today, you're getting a brief pre-chemo post, which will (eventually) be followed by a chemo recap. Now I'm sure you are squirming in your respective seats with anticipation. After all, with the promise of goodies galore this is a bit like Halloween isn't it? Well, with the lone exception of Halloween candy, nothing in life if free, but more on that later. Instead, let's move on to another holiday...

As you probably guessed (not just probably, of course you did...my loyal readers are oh so smart), YFC is going to give you a brief recap of Thanksgiving. Well, it's a traditional North American holiday to celebrate the harvest. It is observed on the 4th Thursday of November in the U.S., whereas our Canadian friends celebrate on the 2nd Monday in October (ahh Canadians....they're kind of like our non-threatening, distant relatives to the North. You scarcely think about or see them, except for maybe once a year. They don't really have great toys, but they play nice and will always share with you. And when they leave you think to yourself "hey that wasn't so bad we should see them more often" and then promptly forget them and play with your new model train).

Anyhow, I suppose that FoMmie Nation knows all about the origins of Thanksgiving. You wanted to know about Mom's Thanksgiving didn't you? Of course you did. Anyhow, we celebrated at Chez Berba (better known as Aunt Roberta's house) with the family. All the usual suspects were there:

• Mom, YFC & Melvin the Sis
• Berba, UM (Uncle Marc for the uninitiated)
• Bubby (grandmother)
• Uncle Aaron, Haley (cousin, possible Canadian), Lizzy (Uncle's paramour)
• Cousin Tobi and Daughter Jill (to be clear, that'd be Cosuin Tobi's daughter, not YFC's)
• Isabelle and Addie (friends)

Mom's contribution to the Thanksgiving meal was a delicious chopped salad (the delicious quotient was increased markedly by Mom's inclusion of diced dates...such an epicurean that Mom o' mine). The salad was large enough that it could have sustained the French army through a Russian winter; however, with the appetites in our family, it scarcely lasted us a full 5 minutes.

YFC made a chestnut mushroom soup. If you're interested, the recipe is here (though I confess I'm embarrassed to send you to blog deux because it has been sorely neglected. It's somewhat akin to inviting one into a messy house, and if you've been to YFC's casa lately, you'd understand the analogy).

There's so much more to tell, but my loyal readers will have to wait for the follow-up post. But remember that reference to nothing being free (except for Halloween candy, but we've covered that ground already)? Well, Mom is having her appointment with Cotton Troll at 12:30 p.m. today (of course Doc Cotton tends to run on TST -- Troll Standard Time, which is about 25 minutes behind). YFC requests that FoMmie Nation send Mom some positive thoughts/prayers at half past noon. Sure it's a bit of a quid pro quo, but when you compare the cost of YFC's updates with that of a gingerbread latte from Starbucks, it's really a hellluva deal.

More soon kiddies...

Faithfully,
Corey

Tuesday's Menu = Chemo, Thursday's Menu = Turkey

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Another live update from the site of Mom's chemo. Do you realize how lucky you are? I mean really, do you? Or to phrase it another way, do you know of anyone else who gets live chemotherapy updates? Of course not. You, dear readers, are enjoying unfettered access in ways that others can only dream about. But have you ever asked yourself why? Have you ever thought, "why oh why is YFC so good to me, why am I so blessed to be enlighted by Him?" Well my loyal flock, the reason is really quite simple, it's because YFC loves you. Actually love is too weak a word for what I feel - I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's, yes I have to invent, of course I - I do, don't you think I do?

Well, the sentiment is genuine and yet it might look strangely familiar. For 8 FoMmie points, name the movie from which "luuurve, loave, luff" quote came from. For an additional 2 points (to make it an even 10, dontcha know), what was the name of the character who uttered the line.

Ok, so much for fun and games, loyal readers, it's time to get back to serious business...chemo business. Well, the Mom's numbers are in...her white blood cells registered 3.7 (range 3.5 - 10) so hi-ho, chemo is a go. The saline is a dripping away and soon, the gemzar will kick-in. Chemo has very much become a routine. It's no longer as scary as it seemed in the beginning, now it's just "if today is Tuesday, it must be a chemo day" (unless of course it's an off-week). Mom has really adapted well. She's come a long way from the early days when she didn't want her port. Now it's all pish-posh, bring on the next challenge...

In non-chemo related news, la familia attended Ethan's Bar Mitzvah on Saturday (Ethan = son of Nanci and Frank Leigner, grandson of Uncle Phil). The event had been the talk of the North Shore for months and it managed to live up to all the pre-event hype. It was quite the bash...all the cool 13 year olds were there. The party was a nice eSkape for Mom, she even bowled a 72 (or thereabouts)...not bad for a woman with a titanium hip!

And speaking of hip...cousin Nanci looked impossibly young as the mother of the Bar Mitzvah boy. She also said the sweetest thing to Your Faithful Correspondent...no, it had nothing to do with blogging, etc. Instead, she said those 3 little words that I've been longing to hear for oh so long "we'll adopt you." Now, to be clear, YFC loves his Mommy, but sometimes the extended family is a little wacky. The details of the transaction have yet to be finalized, essentially we're just going to rearrange some of the branches of the family tree (and perhaps prune a couple altogether) so that we can create a lovely topiary.

Well, Mom is just about to finish up here. The next update will undoubtedly cover Turkey Day festivities, including YFC's award-winning recipe for chestnut soup. Happy Thanksgiving to all....

Faithfully,
Corey

P.S.
The complete chemo quiz quote (chemo quiz quote, try saying that 3 times fast) "Love is too weak a word for what I feel - I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's, yes I have to invent, of course I - I do, don't you think I do? " was said by the incomparable Woody Allen in the role of Alvy Singer in Annie Hall.

A New and Improved Regimine

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Today's blog is brought to you by Chemo Buddy, the most trusted name in chemotherapy. We'll hear more about that later, but for now we are back in the Windy City (and of course, I'm sure my loyal readers realize that Chicago's nickname was not inspired by weather patterns at all) and today was a family day at chemo. Now does family day mean:

a) Kids get chemo for half-price when accompanied by a full-fare adult;
b) Mum and YFC skipped chemo and headed straight for the local petting zoo; or
c) Melvin the Wonder Sis made it to today's session?

Well if you guessed (c) then you are correct (and jolly good for you if you did!). Now where were we? Yes, Family Day at chemo...well, Mom saw Troll Named Cotton for an a thorough once-over. The Doc said that Mom was still doing well and that she is a candidate for the radiofrequency ablation (RFA), but they'd probably only do the RFA to the liver tumor. The cancer needs to shrink a bit more before Mom can have the treatment -- Doc Cotton would like to see the diameter of the tumor to be < 2cm and Mom was last at 4cm. But YFC has faith that Mom can shrink that nasty tumor in no time.

Mom was also placed on a new and improved regimine (hence, the title of today's posting)...Mom is still on a 28-day cycle, but Troll-face is reducing the amount of the drugs that Mom takes in the hopes that she won't have to skip treatment due to low platelet counts. Nothing that extreme mind you, Mom went from 1800 cc's of Gemzar to 1488 cc's (now, who comes up with these calculations anyway? A drop of 312? What kind of number is that? Well, yes I know that it's the area code for Chicago...duh!...but really, there simply must be a better method for determining proper dosing).

The chemo itself (all 1488 cc's of it) went just fine. Actually, it was a treat to accompany Mom...a trick-or-treat. Ha ha ha, YFC just made a funny. Of course, it would have been much funnier had this post been about an October 31 visit. So sorry to have put you through that, gentle reader. However, the confusion was no doubt caused by the array of Halloween goodies that were available for sample at the chemo sweet table. What's that you say? You don't know of the chemo sweet table? Well, let me enlighten you, dear reader. As you surely realize, chemo can be quite an ordeal (unless, like Mom, you are accopanied by your own personal blogespondent). So fellow patients will often bring in snacks to make the day a bit more tasty. Now I'm not going to name any names (so instead, I'll just call out people by family relation) but I did notice a certain nameless Sister of mine helping herself to a Nutter Butter snack pack (and I'm pretty sure she went for seconds too!).

If you'd like to help yourself to some chemo-rific yummies, feel free to ask Mom about accompanying her to chemo. Yes, that's right, you too can be a Chemo Buddy. Also available are Chemo Buddy gift certificates. They're sure to delight anyone on your gift list this holiday season. Sessions are filling up quickly, so please, don't delay, reserve your Chemo Buddy slot today.

(note: this offer not good in Alaska and Hawaii)

Well, dear readers, sadly we must depart. But before we part ways, Mom is phoning in...(this is completely unplanned by the way...call it serendipity if for no other reason that it's simply a marvelous word to say):

YFC: Mom, your loyal fans would love to hear from you. What would you like to tell them?
Mom: I would like to tell them that it was fun to be in Florida and that I was really grateful that I had a place to go when I had to leave Maria's. So I want to thank Ivan and Sue. I had visits with Jim and Michael and Jeffrey and David that were highlights of my trip. And I also had a delightful time with Margot and Maria. And I was very happy to see Judy and Manny. And to my girlfriends...I'll never forget the Marvin story.

Your Faithful Correspondent has no idea about this so-called "Marvin Story"...sounds kinda fishy...but when the details leak out (and they always do), you'll read about it here, first. YFC also feels compelled to point out that when he encountered Margot, Maria, and Unclie Manny and Auntie Judy, all of them were kind enough to remind him about the tempertantrums that he used to throw when he was but a wee lad.

Clearly these tales of tempertantrums are utter blasphemy. Not entirely sure, but methinks that Marvin is to blame.

A very pleasant week to all (but not to Marvin)...

Faithfully,
Corey

We Made It!

Greeting Loyal Readers,

Well, the good news is that la familia made it to Sunny Florida (YFC longs for the days when Florida was abbreviated Fla. rather than FL. Can't explain why it should make a difference, but it was always 75 degrees and sunny before the change). Actually, Mom started feeling better by Thursday, so we waited a couple days (just to be safe) and we finally departed from ORD early Sunday morning.

Mom has spent most of her time with longtime friends Maria "Who's afraid of the big bad" Wolf and Margot "I didn't ask for Diet Coke, I wanted" Tabb (we were still living in Florida at the height of Tabmania. YFC will never forget the horror etched on the faces of South Floridians when they learned that Coca-Cola would stop producing their little pink cans of calorie-free caffeinated goodness). Last night everyone went and we saw the Garcias -- Uncle Manny and Auntie Judy. Why is it that some aunts get an "ie" added to their names and some do not? Your Faithful Correspondent can only speculate that it's a term of endearment. Nice = Auntie. Not as nice = Aunt. Still, why don't we have any Unclies? Men can be endearing too, after all. Come to think of it, Uncle Manny would be an endearing sort. Accordingly, the Garcias shall henceforth be known as Auntie Judy and Unclie Manny.

Now where were we? Ah yes, my Auntie and Unclie (thanks for pointing me out in the right direction loyal readeries). We we saw them at the Little Italian Tavern, that despite it's name was not really all that small (although it truly was Italian). Hey reader, are you looking for a restaurant review or do you want to know about the visit? Well Mom hadn't seen UM and AJ in probably...oh...20+ years? But they were able to pick-up right where they left off and, accordingly, Auntie Judy and Mom spent the better part of the evening lamenting the demise of Tab cola.

What else would my loyal readers like to know? Well, every newsflash from South Florida should contain a weather update. YFC is pleased to report that the weather has been vacillating between fantastic and fan-freaking-tastic (warm but not hot days and cooler nights). Also, due to circumstances that are too boring for Your Faithful Correspondent to transmit, Mom is now staying with Melvin and YFC and Chez Dad. Your Faithful Correspondent was a bit concerned that things would be awkward, but we've spent the last couple breakfasts cataloguing the reasons why YFC turned out to be good incarnate, while my Little Sis trails far behind in the favourite derby (note: the extra "u" was a special nod to loyal readers checking in from the U.K. and Canada).

Loyal readers, sun and fun awaits. Early wishes for a beautiful weekend to all.

Faithfully,
Corey

Vacay Delay

Greetings Loyal Readers,

You might be asking yourself, why is The Faithful Correspondent blogging from Florida? Does he have nothing better to do? Well, the answer to the latter question is a resounding "no," but more importantly, we didn't make it to Florida. No need to scratch your hear Dear Reader, for YFC shall reveal all...

Mom, Melvin, and YFC were heading to South Florida for a lil' R&R. We were scheduled to leave Wedesday, but Mom had a tummy ache. We were worried because for a while there, Mom did not seem to be doing very well. But whatever was in her system left yesterday (Loyal Readers, we've established a fair amount of trust, no? Have some faith when I tell you that you don't want YFC to divulge too much in the way of detail) and today Mom seemed perfectly fine. It's fair to say we were a bit worried, but YFC can attest that Mom was in rare form tonight.

So the plan is for Mom to depart early Saturday morning. Melvin and YFC will be accompanying her on this journey, though we'll all go our separate ways once we arrive (after all, one can only spend so much time with a little sister, especially one who nicked your LifeSavers). As the news develops, stay tuned to this space to find out all the latest information.

Faithfully,
Corey