Nausea -- A Funny Word to Spell But Not a Funny Thing to Experience

Greetings Loyal Readers,

Your Faithful Correspondent is back from Monterrey, the nacho cheese covered city (metaphorically, anyway). YFC mixed a little R&R with a little bizness, but we'll get to that a bit later. Before we get carried away, let's cut to the real star of the show, a little woman that YFC affectionately refers to as "Mom."

As Loyal Readers are well aware, Mom had TheraSphere radiation therapy 2 Fridays ago (that'd be April 5 if you really wanna know). Since then, Mom and nausea have gone together like peanut butter and jelly but in a far less delicious way. Almost immediately after returning home from l'hôpital (things sound classier in French, non?) Mom was attacked by a bout of nausea. Of course the nausea was just the beginning. Mom has also been feeling pretty run down and has been tiring more easily. Plus she's been running fevers and getting the chills. Though the nausea and fevers subside for short spurts, overall Mom's had a pretty icky (that's a medical term) week and a half.

We're thinking/hoping/praying that the nausea and the fatigue are side effects of the radiation working its magic. And why shouldn't we think that? The TheraSphere are often referred to as seeds. Jack (of Beanstalk fame) traded his cow for 5 magic beans (which are really just large seeds) and look what happened...big tree grows, boy climbs it, steals some giant gold, everyone lives happily ever after. Well, perhaps giant wasn't so happy. Nevertheless you're missing the point: Mom has her own magic seeds growing (or perhaps more accurately glowing) inside her, so ya gotta figure that the giant beanstalk in her tummy is sapping up some of her strength. Of course this really begs 2 questions: 1) when will this all be over and 2) who's the giant?

Let's take the questions out of order, cause we can dispense with query #2 rather quickly. The evil giant (YFC added the "evil" part there, but everyone knows that giants are evil) is undoubtedly YFC's little sister, Melvin. In fact just the other day, Mom heard her exclaim:

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!??
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he 'live, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

Pretty harsh words from Sis. Now of course, YFC isn't really English, though he has been accused of being an Anglophile (as "-philes" go, it's definitely one of the better ones). Let it be clear: YFC does not condone bone grinding of any sort, especially when it's his bones in question. Guess my Sis has let sibling rivalry get the better of her.

Again.

Let's not dwell on Melvin's shortcomings, so let's hurry onto question #1. The radiation from the TheraSphere lasts for about 2 weeks, so we're thinking that Mom should be feeling better by the weekend. Mom had an appointment with The Cotton Troll today and Le Troll gave Mom a little feel-good medicine in her chemo cocktail to take away the nausea (as cocktails go, YFC is much more fond of Campari and Soda, but hey, to each their own).

Friday, Mom gets a cocktail of another sort...a blood cocktail. Mom needs to have a transfusion because her hemoglobin was low (8.95 for the medically inclined). This is the first time Mom has needed a transfusion, thankfully she just needs to be topped off a bit (she'll stop in for a quick pint). My Darling Sis (that's her on the left, getting ready for a hot date) graciously offered to suck the blood from an unwilling victim, but Mom decided to go the hospital route all the same.

Mom's appointment with Le Troll was otherwise uneventful. It's been a l-o-n-g day at chemo, but you know how it is when you start with cocktails, it tends to stretch everything out quite a bit. Not a bad thing when you're with a captivating dinner companion, not a good thing when you're at chemo. Still, it has given us a little more opportunity to spend more time with the latest Chemo Buddy, Gloria. She has been put through the rigorous Chemo Buddy initiation test by correctly answering all 5 questions right. Now, don't let the fear of standardized tests prevent you from becoming a Chemo Buddy too. After all, the questions are pretty simple.

Here's a sample question:
Who is Mom's Favorite Child?
a) Corey
b) Not Michelle
c) Both Corey and Not Michelle

Now if you'd actually visited the website (instead of being a Lazy Mazie and just reading the e-mail version of le blog), you'd immediately recognize that it was a previous poll question. So feel free to visit the website and start studying today.

Incidentally, Monterrey was very nice (thanks for asking). YFC spent a little time hanging out in the mountains of Monterreal (about 2 hours outside Monterrey, 1.25 hours if David is driving) -- very relaxing. He even got to ride an ATV (all-terrain vehicles if you're not familiar), which is mentioned not to brag, but because YFC's Dad will wonder how he could have done so without a helmet (note picture to right). It hit 100°F a couple of days on the trip, which was a nice change from the dreadful Chicago weather we've been having, but you know what? It still felt very good to come back home.

YFC certainly has prattled on a bit, hasn't he? Ah ha -- that was a trick question! Why are you nodding your head in agreement? Well, Your Faithful Correspondent can certainly take a hint. Guess we'll be cutting this a bit short. Hopefully we'll be bringing you a special update soon.

Wishing you a fabulous week...

Faithfully,
Corey