Milestones

The beginning of many milestones is upon me.

It has been exactly one year since I set foot on a softball field and tonight I had my first opportunity to go back out on the field and play a couple of innings at my position, 2nd base (insert dating joke here).  I was a bit nervous.  Things don't move the same in my body, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  It is one thing to play catch with someone, it is another to field a ball.  Overall, it went well.  Movement was good, covered my area, made a nice catch to end the 2nd inning, and I was done for the night.  Baby steps.  Plus, the little sprint I had to do to make my catch left me just a tad bit winded.  But, it sure felt good being out there again.  I didn't have to bat or run bases today, that will be saved for another day.

All smiles, two innings was perfect to get my feet wet again.

I am an anomaly

Follow up visit with the research team to check my injection sites this afternoon.  Science can be so fascinating.  And, I am quite the specimen.  This round of injections was a test round so we knew what was in each one.  Number one was the actual drug, two and four were saline, and three was tetanus (because they were hoping it would produce the same reaction as the actual drug).  So, I had a lovely reaction at injection sites three and four, but no reaction at one and two.  Now, since two and four were both saline one would expect that those sites would behave the same.  Nope.  Not on my leg.  Definitely a head scratcher.

The redness and induration was present at sites three and four but not as big as last time since the test round is a much smaller amount.  They were also tender to the touch, which the nurse felt compelled to do a lot of touching.  Measurements and pictures were taken and they I was sent off on my merry way.

Injection site 3

Injection site 4

A relative easy day at the Center

Drug trial day.

Stopped by the vampire's lair first.  Vampire Paul is on vacation this week, so his cohorts did their best to ease my anxiety.  Today they need to fill seven tubes, blah.  And, they were the bigger ones, double blah.  After what seemed like an eternity, all were filled and it was on to the next stop.

Today was a rather busy day so I had to wait for over an hour to see the doctor.  Our main topic of discussion today was why I have had five echocardiograms in six months.  The gist of the conversation is that they are being over precautious.  He does not believe that there is any concern; I am young and athletic and my heart should be pretty strong.  However, one of the remote side effects of the drug trial is potential damage to the heart.  The percentage is quite low, but they would rather be more proactive in determining the condition of my heart now than later.  I told him that I was having shortness of breath still and was a bit more tired these last couple of weeks.  We discussed how that might also be due to the forced menopausal stage I am in.  Not having normal hormone levels can do a number on the ole body.  And those pesky menopause symptoms are no picnic.  The hot flashes seem to be getting more intense and the water retention just plain sucks.  He is going to refer me to a Cardiologist to have them do a stress echocardiogram to get a more true baseline of my heart.

Next stop, infusion for the lovely injections.  Today is just a hypersensitivity test, so I will not be getting the normal dose.  But, it is still four needles to the thigh which really is just not very fun.  We put the lidocaine rub on while I was in the doctor's office in hopes that it will have enough time to set in and do the trick.  But, alas it did not.  I was happy that it wasn't the full dose because three out of the four went in with a vengeance.  BLAH!!  Injections 1, 2 and 4 hurt like nobody's business.  For some unknown reason number 3 went unnoticed.

Southpaw checks the syringes.

No time to play today, the research assistant is always worried that we won't get them into my leg before they "expire".

No shenanigans today, just chilling watching a movie.

Southpaw checking out the bandaging technique.

All is good, so I am sent home.

The treat I had in mind was not available today (they closed the shop for a two week vacation, so bummed).  My second choice is still pretty yummy:

Brownie sundae with 7 layer coconut ice cream

Yet another

Early morning at Cedars for yet another echocardiogram.  This will be my fifth echo since December.  The reading from last month's echo was again too low.  I am starting to get a bit worried.  Unfortunately my appointment with my oncologist this week has been post-poned for a couple of weeks.  So now I have to sit and wait to discuss what is going on with my heart.  Blah.