good afternoon,

can you say very loudly Cancer Sucks! for all of you who have been so kind as t0 say i'm some sort of inspiration, it's a darn good thing you aren't around me today. The new treatment in my spine is time consuming but doesn't hurt until later...and then crapola, i've barely made it out of bed today..when you are hurting in every bone too much to get out of bed f0r chocolate, well, you know that means i'm a mess. can't read or hold a book or type for very l0ong, s0 sweet roger raised the tv in my room so it is high enough for me to see. mowstly i've been listening to old movies on it, NOW we kn0ow why we pay for all those movie chanels! and Sister Gail & Dreamboat Dakota the Wo0nder Lab came by for a nice visit today. so here's a toast to a pretty good, coould be worse day all things considered ;-) flowers from a month or so ago

Its about That Time Again

Oh my friends & family ,

so sorry I haven't been in touch much these last few month. I was very sick from some chemo & then when we went off that chemo & I got even sicker, go figure. The WORST has been that lack of feeling in my fingers has kept me from typing or lettering , not to mention dropping plates of food when I do attempt to eat...lost 30 lbs but trust me, this is NOT the way to go. It is also very hard to hold the phone for long!

This week, tests confirmed that I now have something called "Carcinatomous (Cancerous) Meningitis" on my spine & in the lining of my brain. There are several treatments but my docs and I have decided that surgically putting a "port" into my brain for chemo or getting radiation to my brain could leave me pretty disfunctional for long time (as if i haven't felt disfunctional for a long time now!) so I am going to start a treatment that means i'll have a Lumbar Puncture (or "Spinal tap") twice a week for about 3 weeks to receive chemo and then we'll re-evaluate. I had the Lumbar puncture yesterday & while it was briefly painful, it truly wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated.

So that's the latest on the Cancer Path for me. Lots of diagnosis could be worse, so I am trying to be positive that this might take away the nausea & back pain & give me back some finger feeling.

I can't tell you how much your wonderfully supportive e-mails, CARDS (all works of ART!), and messages have lifted me up...not to mention the prayers & love sent from around the world! Please understand if I don't get back to you right away!

doodles of Love and Gratitude to you all.