Staying on chemo, enjoying winter

Currently on my 4th day of the 7th cycle of Temodar chemotherapy. Feel generally OK, a little fatigue, a little constipation, insides feeling kinds sludgy.

I spoke with my neurologist about 'pausing' chemo for a few months while I enjoyed my health during the winter. She didn't go for the 'taking a break' approach but said that 'it is not unreasonable to stop' the Temodar at six months, since that's the actual standard of treatment for glioma. She recommended continuing for another six months, however, because their trials with anaplastic (grade III) gliomas indicate that 12-14 months of Temodar is more effective for this type of tumor. She also said that she has several patients with similar tumors that are doing fine who stopped after 6 months of Temodar, so... She didn't have anything to add to the Temodar v. leukemia issue, only that 'all chemotherapy agents are toxic and have side effects', so... Well, Michelle and I discussed it and then called in Tim and Charlotte to confer Monday evening and I finally decided to continue with chemotherapy as the best path for my long term health despite the risks and discomfort.

In other news, I went camping in the Catskills with Tim and Eric last weekend - hopefully there will be pictures soon. It was the coldest few days of the winter so far, and within the first few hours of arriving, I was convinced I was not going to make it. But after warming up in the car for a while, I decided it was worth the adventure and we all ended up having a great time.

We camped near Notch Lake and hiked up Hunter Mountain on Saturday - in a little over 2 miles we went up about 1500 ft. Luckily, Tim voluntarily carried the food and a camping stove up the hill so we had hot noodle soup with salami and cheese in the lean-to near the peak, pictured above. By the time we came down, most of the ice we'd fretted over going up had melted away. We then demonstrated the depth of science that goes into making a Duraflame-style log by warming up to its amazing heat.

Sunday we packed up, stopped by Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia for breakfast - we were all amazed at the people with their down jackets on inside the restaurant at that point. After the two hour drive back to New York City, we went to the Russian baths on the Lower East Side to wash away two days worth of serious stink. Three days is not very long, but when its too cold to touch skin with water and sweat builds up from the hot sleeping bags and the hiking, well, we all felt much better and enjoyed each others company more afterwards.

This week, we leave for Texas for Christmas and such. We'll be staying at Michelle's mom's place in Corpus Christi. Since it got warmer again here, maybe it won't be such a big difference, but it will still be a nice change of pace. I'll probably write again from there... Happy Holidays and all!