Tracie Fights Back

First a shout out to Lisa W-R, my new private duty nurse here in Fresno. Kind, beautiful Lisa, a winemaker and nurse practitioner in the cardiology office Michelle visits, volunteered to give me my Neulasta shots the day after chemo. Until this week, we had to spend the night in a pricy Stanford hotel so I could get my shot at the cancer clinic 24 hours after chemo. That meant Michelle had to leave her insurance office for two days, too.

Shout-out, too, to Caremark for over-nighting shots that cost $25k apiece to the house. You wonder why medical costs are skyrocketing? That expensive shot helps replace the white blood cells chemo kills when it attacks my bone marrow. Without it, I would be deathly susceptible to colds, the flu and infections instead of just horribly susceptible.

As if chemo isn’t bad enough, the Neulasta shot goes in the abdomen. Who thinks of this stuff?

Sue Morrow gave me this soft new head cover, my fave!

I look forward to Wednesday nights, when dear friends Rick and David have been coming to visit. Our get-togethers get me through the week when I am otherwise isolated at home with my doggies, blog, email and bad TV (Save me! I’m starting to like Khloe Kardashian). It’s a hard transitioning from the hustle of daily journalism to being a homebody, even if I sleep through a lot of it.

Last night Rick and David eased Michelle’s caretaking burden by showing up with tamales for dinner. It was my last night of real food before the queeze arrived this morning. Now I’m nibbling on spelt pretzels (an alkaline food) and sipping club soda.

A belated shout-out to my bro-in-law Jeff, who showed up at Stanford Tuesday to distract us from the chemo routine. And one to my normally cantankerous neighbor Ron who showed his soft side Monday by giving me the Chicken Soup breast cancer book!

I feel so much love, here in Fresno and across the miles. I’m overwhelmed and filled with gratitude for all of you who are on this journey with me. Your emails and comments and FB messages keep me uplifted and your encouragement gives me confidence. I constantly am amazed and grateful that you all are helping me get through this.

I could not have done so well so far without you!

Love, me

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