Round 11...Finishing Strong – Brack 11, HL 0

Apologies for my lack of updates during Round 11. It's been a crazy fortnight with family and work commitments. I absolutely took this round in fine form. I felt pretty good throughout even though I was not at the top of my game as you can see by my scores below. Just when I was getting used to a cycle, chemo threw me a curveball a few weeks ago and the only constant now is change. During round 10 and 11 my ability to taste has been different each day. Some days I can taste just like normal, and the next day almost nothing. This round was also featured a higher than normal sensitivity with my tongue and gums.  I continued to rinse with saltwater throughout the entire round fand started peroxide/water rinses a few days ago – it helps some. Fortunately ice cream has continued to taste good no matter what. And yes my toes still tingle 24/7 although my fingers seem to be doing a little better. I know this because I can completely button a dress shirt in the morning without much pain. Ahh, the little things in life!

Round 11 Scores

I have been thinking a lot about being done with chemo and my awesome friends and family have kept me in that mode. Lori started a text message countdown each day for the past week - so cool. Her husband Dave just texted me some good luck. Terese sent her customary well wishes that always warm my heart. Mom, Angela, JJ and Sudi all left awesome comments on my blog. Paul has kept me in daily/weekly updates on his travels through the Philippines (see the blog stats below). Paulette reached out today with her well wishes (I miss her apple pies that she's been baking for us each Thanksgiving for so long I've lost count of the years). People I barely know at work like Sherry, also a cancer survivor,  sent emails wishing me well. Kelly just texted her well wishes and ML just emailed me to say he was cheering me on - as I was writing this. But the thing I'm most happy about this week, other than finishing chemo, is that mom has voluntarily turned tomorrow into a family party. Jen, mom, dad, brother Pete (squamous cell carcinoma survivor),  sister Les, and our family friend Sharon (visiting from Phoenix and an ovarian cancer survivor) will all be accompanying me tomorrow. So party we will!

Below is a cool thing provided by Google/Blogspot. I can see the countries where people are reading my blog. Notice Paul's hits from the Philippines…

Now for a funny story that could only happen as a result of chemo. A bunch of us went out in Baltimore on the Saturday after chemo treatment #11 to celebrate our friend John's 50th birthday. We had dinner and then went to Howl At The Moon – a dueling piano bar. I knew we were older than your average patron when the waitresses immediately walked over with jello shots. Of all the ironies, the shots were red jello served in "drinkable" (fake) hypodermic syringes. Faithful blog readers should immediately know that this is how I have received Adriamycin at each chemo treatment. It looks like red hummingbird food in a syringe. For a moment I thought I was being stalked by chemo!

Hooray for tomorrow!

Much love.