Dear family, friends, and fellow travelers,
Under the wire (October is still a few days away!) here is the month's newsletter.
Image: Christopher asleep on one of his favorite windowsills.
We had a sad start to September, as many of you already know, because our cat Christopher passed away on August 31st after several months of a mysterious downhill slide. Christopher has been with us since May 2017 and was only about seven years old but coping with a lot of health issues -- including being FIV+, having a heart murmur, dental issues, and a seizure disorder. In the early summer he began losing weight and experiencing incontinence. We were working with the vet to diagnose and treat both issues when, on August 31st, we woke up to find him unable to stand. We rushed him to the local veterinary E.R. where they began stabilizing treatment but ultimately had to make the decision whether to hospitalize him and let his organs fail on their own or euthanasia. We were able to be with him in a quiet, private room to say our goodbyes and be with him while he passed away. We are grateful to have spent the past four years with him and are grieving the fact it wasn't more. The apartment still feels emptier without our little buddy, and I imagine will continue to do so for a while to come.
Image: Teazle (left) and Christopher (right) cuddled on the couch next to me.
Image: Christopher wondering why cats don't get to share the sushi.
My own health news is kind of "steady as she goes" for now. I continue to receive chemotherapy treatment and next week will have a new set of abdominal scans that will hopefully show further progress made in reducing the cancer cells. We meet with my oncologist on October 13th for an update and to discuss any revisions in my treatment plan. I have had to postpone the last couple of chemo infusions due to a low platelet count -- the aggressive four-chemical infusion schedule I am on, I have been given to understand, often requires breaks in order for the rest of my body to recover while the drugs do their work on the cancer cells. I postponed my 11th round of treatment by a week and my overall energy levels and side-effect symptoms improved greatly. My 12th treatment (which was supposed to happen this week) was postponed because my platelet count has dropped to 50,000 which is the cut-off for treatment (a normal range is 150,000-450,000). This means I bruise more easily and my bruises have some really exciting color schemes when I do! But everything else in my bloodwork, including white blood cell counts and the markers of healthy organ function continue to look good. My carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) count, which is one marker associated with the presence of cancer, has dropped from above 150 to 5.6 since the beginning of treatment (normal adult range is 0-4.0). So all of that is good! Please keep your fingers crossed that the scans next week show definitive improvement.
Image: Teazle asking me for dinner by head-butting my glasses off as I lie on the couch.
Image: My wooden pill case with added purrmaid sticker!
My life (and Hanna's to some extent) is ruled by the rhythms of chemotherapy and associated doctor's appointments right now. But I have found room for some other activities. I've been listening to the Maintenance Phase podcast, and reading a number of nonfiction titles including The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston by Cristina Groeger, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions by Megan Goodwin, and All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s by Robert O. Self. I also enjoyed Lee Welch's new fantasy romance, Seducing the Sorcerer, which was a bit like reading Howl's Moving Castle but for gay grown ups. '
Image: Sleeve of a knitted sweater in progress showing the stripes of yellow, brown, red, and purple.
I'm also still knitting. Currently the project is a striped sweater with five variegated atumnal colors -- perhaps I will finish it by the end of autumn! It's a lot of stockinette stitch so I have room in my brain while knitting to listen to the aforementioned podcast and watch Miss Marple adaptations through BritBox. We are enjoying the cooler weather by getting out for little walks when we can -- chemo has pushed my energy levels down to the point where a 1-2 mile walk is about what I am able to manage before becoming too fatigued. Thankfully, walking to the local coffee shop and back home with a latte is a one mile circuit, so I have incentive to go out most mornings.
Image: Pink dahlia photographed on one of our morning walks.
Autumn is definitely my favorite season. I enjoy sweatshirt weather and warm milk in the evenings along with all of the changing colors of the foliage in the world around us. Since I am no longer on an academic rhythm the autumn has also come to mean slowing down and beginning to take stock of the year as we look toward winter and its celebrations. Hanna and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on September 14th (how quickly and slowly time passes simultaneously!) and are looking forward to our usual quiet time off toward the end of the calendar year. My parents are also planning to visit again around the Thanksgiving weekend, so we can look forward to sharing our usual vegetarian roast with two guests. Maybe we'll even clean off the dining room table, converting it (temporarily) back from a joint home office to an area suitable for meals!
Take care, all. Slow down, take stock, and enjoy the season. Don't forget that apple pie is suitable for any meal this time of year! I just had some for breakfast. It went well with my latte.
~Anna
Under the wire (October is still a few days away!) here is the month's newsletter.
Image: Christopher asleep on one of his favorite windowsills.
We had a sad start to September, as many of you already know, because our cat Christopher passed away on August 31st after several months of a mysterious downhill slide. Christopher has been with us since May 2017 and was only about seven years old but coping with a lot of health issues -- including being FIV+, having a heart murmur, dental issues, and a seizure disorder. In the early summer he began losing weight and experiencing incontinence. We were working with the vet to diagnose and treat both issues when, on August 31st, we woke up to find him unable to stand. We rushed him to the local veterinary E.R. where they began stabilizing treatment but ultimately had to make the decision whether to hospitalize him and let his organs fail on their own or euthanasia. We were able to be with him in a quiet, private room to say our goodbyes and be with him while he passed away. We are grateful to have spent the past four years with him and are grieving the fact it wasn't more. The apartment still feels emptier without our little buddy, and I imagine will continue to do so for a while to come.
Image: Teazle (left) and Christopher (right) cuddled on the couch next to me.
Image: Christopher wondering why cats don't get to share the sushi.
My own health news is kind of "steady as she goes" for now. I continue to receive chemotherapy treatment and next week will have a new set of abdominal scans that will hopefully show further progress made in reducing the cancer cells. We meet with my oncologist on October 13th for an update and to discuss any revisions in my treatment plan. I have had to postpone the last couple of chemo infusions due to a low platelet count -- the aggressive four-chemical infusion schedule I am on, I have been given to understand, often requires breaks in order for the rest of my body to recover while the drugs do their work on the cancer cells. I postponed my 11th round of treatment by a week and my overall energy levels and side-effect symptoms improved greatly. My 12th treatment (which was supposed to happen this week) was postponed because my platelet count has dropped to 50,000 which is the cut-off for treatment (a normal range is 150,000-450,000). This means I bruise more easily and my bruises have some really exciting color schemes when I do! But everything else in my bloodwork, including white blood cell counts and the markers of healthy organ function continue to look good. My carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) count, which is one marker associated with the presence of cancer, has dropped from above 150 to 5.6 since the beginning of treatment (normal adult range is 0-4.0). So all of that is good! Please keep your fingers crossed that the scans next week show definitive improvement.
Image: Teazle asking me for dinner by head-butting my glasses off as I lie on the couch.
Image: My wooden pill case with added purrmaid sticker!
My life (and Hanna's to some extent) is ruled by the rhythms of chemotherapy and associated doctor's appointments right now. But I have found room for some other activities. I've been listening to the Maintenance Phase podcast, and reading a number of nonfiction titles including The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston by Cristina Groeger, Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions by Megan Goodwin, and All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s by Robert O. Self. I also enjoyed Lee Welch's new fantasy romance, Seducing the Sorcerer, which was a bit like reading Howl's Moving Castle but for gay grown ups. '
Image: Sleeve of a knitted sweater in progress showing the stripes of yellow, brown, red, and purple.
I'm also still knitting. Currently the project is a striped sweater with five variegated atumnal colors -- perhaps I will finish it by the end of autumn! It's a lot of stockinette stitch so I have room in my brain while knitting to listen to the aforementioned podcast and watch Miss Marple adaptations through BritBox. We are enjoying the cooler weather by getting out for little walks when we can -- chemo has pushed my energy levels down to the point where a 1-2 mile walk is about what I am able to manage before becoming too fatigued. Thankfully, walking to the local coffee shop and back home with a latte is a one mile circuit, so I have incentive to go out most mornings.
Image: Pink dahlia photographed on one of our morning walks.
Autumn is definitely my favorite season. I enjoy sweatshirt weather and warm milk in the evenings along with all of the changing colors of the foliage in the world around us. Since I am no longer on an academic rhythm the autumn has also come to mean slowing down and beginning to take stock of the year as we look toward winter and its celebrations. Hanna and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on September 14th (how quickly and slowly time passes simultaneously!) and are looking forward to our usual quiet time off toward the end of the calendar year. My parents are also planning to visit again around the Thanksgiving weekend, so we can look forward to sharing our usual vegetarian roast with two guests. Maybe we'll even clean off the dining room table, converting it (temporarily) back from a joint home office to an area suitable for meals!
Take care, all. Slow down, take stock, and enjoy the season. Don't forget that apple pie is suitable for any meal this time of year! I just had some for breakfast. It went well with my latte.
~Anna