Things have been pretty normal, which I guess is good for me.
I had another PET/CT at the beginning of January and it was perfect once again, which of course is good news. Also my CEA level has been very low for some time now.
The new car is very nice, though is have given me a few troubles. For some reason lots of fluids in the car seem to get low. This car is fancier than my last in that it actually has sensors to tell you when something is low, rather than completely gone and damage is being done. The engine coolant light came on and I took it in. They said there wasn't any leak and topped it off. Why was it low all of a sudden? Who knows! Recently the brake fluid light has going nuts, and indeed the fluid was at about the low line. I topped it off myself, though I'm taking it in this week to make sure there isn't anything amiss.
Erin and Perry (sister and brother-in-law) came up and visited last weekend. It was good to see them and spend some nice quiet quality time with them.
Emily's 28th birthday was this week. She opened presents from various relatives and one from me (she figured out what it was! Though, she was there when I bought it.). Then we went out to eat at the Dogwood Grill in Baltimore, which recently reopened after like a 6 month hiatus (don't know why they were closed). The food was very good. We'll have to make it a point to take visitors there in the future!
Friday (Jan 22nd) was my one year colon resection anniversary. Yay! I can't tell if it feels like more or less than a year. Time seems to go by quickly in general even with the chemo and what-not.
Today Emily and I went to the Red Canoe and ate lots of food and came home with many muffins.
The chemo has been catching up with me, 10 months in. My hands and feet started to peel rather badly again the last time I had a dose. I took a one week break because of it, which tossed my normal 2-week schedule off kilter. It was really nice to have another week in there without the chemo. I had forgotten how nice it was to have a sense of normalcy. I've been doing some pretty interesting things at work and am a bit sad to have to stop again for 3 days. That one week break really reminded me what I'm missing out on. I'm trying to stay with the 2-week schedule for at least a whole year of treatment, but come a year or so I think I'm going to push the schedule out to every 3 weeks or something. I'm in no-mans-land statistically, so I'd rather have a higher quality of life and see how it pans out with the cancer. I still won't accept the fact that I'm "better", after having come to terms with a reality (which seems to have been avoided) which was significantly less nice. As much as I wish I were, I have to try to keep things in perspective and remember that even though it sucks a lot, I've got to do everything I can to stay healthy.
I've got another chemo dose this coming week, ick!
The week after this coming one I'm planning to visit a friend from high school and his wife in Raleigh, NC. He's getting his PhD in Materials Engineering at UNC. I've never been there, and though the dead of winter is probably not the best time to visit, I think it will still be nice. I hope Emily can come, but I don't think she'll get the time off work.
We still have our foster greyhound. Emily wants to keep her. Too bad I don't want a dog! I like her a lot, but I definitely don't want the long term commitment she represents. I hope someone adopts her before Emily absconds with her or something!
