83.333...% of the Way!

This past Wednesday I received the 10th chemotherapy infusion of the planned twelve. This means I am 83.33% of the way to the end of this phase of my cancer treatment. Although my platelet level was down once again, no delays in the plan were introduced. This time, I did not have the Oxaliplatin infusion at the hospital. My oncologist has determined that the eight prior infusions of this drug will be enough. I did complete the 10th infusion via pump at home of the companion drug, Fluorouracil, and will have the planned remaining two of those at two and four weeks from now. Oxaliplatin is the drug that hit me with the most uncomfortable side effects and also was the probable cause of the platelet problems, so I'm really pleased to put that behind me. No more dealing with the strange sensitivity to cold and cold things, and the neuropathy that has caused some discomfort in my feet can now start to diminish, I hope. Some fatigue and sleepiness still hits me at about three and four days after each infusion, but as at least one of my grandkids has said, "Grandpa is the king of naps."

We talked with my oncologist about next steps this time as well. Following the twelfth and final infusion, I'll be free of those every other week appointments. At about one month out, a CT scan and some other tests will be done for reassessment. Assuming that this examination yields the same type of results as the tests and scans done back in February and March, the expectation is for a low probability of reoccurrence of the cancer. At that point, the medical port I currently have may also be removed. Furthermore, we will be able to return to our usual pattern of longer stays at our cabin in Wisconsin, something we have been looking forward to for quite some time.

On to other news! When we moved to our new home, we naturally wanted to personalize it and attend to a few things that needed repair or updating. We learned that furniture which worked perfectly well in one home may not work quite as well in another. Just yesterday (7/15), we reached closure on most of the changes we have been wanting to make. A new ensemble of furniture was ordered back in February for our living room. And though we did not expect to get it until this fall, it arrived just yesterday! Consisting of a sectional, new tables, and a swivel chair, the living room now looks like this:

The living room furniture we brought from our prior home was then relocated to our home theater area:

We hired a local painter to clean our back deck and screened-in porch, including some sanding and repair work, and then had him stain all of it as well as replacing the screens, which were damaged and showing age. The new color looks much nicer, we think, and the two Adirondack chairs I built for the deck now have a home. Kathie picked the "Real Teal" color for the chairs. I love the bright contrast they bring to the space.

The porch furniture we were temporarily using in the home theater now properly occupies the screened-in porch area of our back deck:

Finally, I finished a bench I made for the foot of our bed using some cherry harvested from a friend's woods.

That's all for now!