January 4, 2007
What’s going on? Why the long silence?
Well the long silence because really not much has been going on! Things have been going yaaaaawningly well; since our last set of stellar reports, Stacey has been much more interested in Christmas shopping and searching for chocolate tree ornaments. Did you know that almost no one makes these anymore? This was a huge tradition from our childhood: we’d go to bed on Christmas Eve, the tree looking just about as festive as one could wish, and wake up Christmas morning to a tree that had just exploded into joy and yumminess, all kinds of goodies all over. Next year we’re going to have to make our own.
Anyway, things look to be getting a little more interesting (not in a bad way, just in a “things to report on” way) Here’s a recent report from Stacey via e-mail:
I’m back to weekly visits for Herceptin. She’s doing 80% doses, presumably to avoid the whole heart thing. I mentioned to her the other day that the nurses were having a hard time finding my one vein for blood tests (and ended up using my hand…yuck!) and she said that not only do they not need to do weekly draws, but that they can send me over to the infusion area where they can access the port and draw the blood from that. So, now I only need to do the blood draws on the weeks that I get the Zometa. Score! I also got a flu shot (Dr. Johnson wanted me to have one, but wanted me to check with Dr. Browne first) and now my arm is red and swollen in the inches around the shot site. Not so score.
Next week I have an appointment with Dr. Johnson, just to check up on the blood pressure, and my weekly treatment. The week after I have another PET scan, an echocardiogram, and treatment.
Stacey has had all of these tests recently: the echocardiogram is to check that her heart function is still good, at which point I am assuming TFDB will go back to the full dose (but that’s just me). The PET scan is to follow up on the three areas that “lit up” on the last scan, all of which TFDB thought were anomalies and none of which behaved suspiciously upon further examination. And treatment is treatment: Herceptin (the fake-out hormones) and Zometa (bone glue!).
And a special Stacey Report shout out to our uncle Chris, lazing on the couch in Cali. At least, he’d better be lazing on the couch… Hey! Put down those skates!
The Stacey Report 
I’m happy to report that Uncle Chris is back playing hockey again, a short five weeks post massive heart attack. Obviously the Scammons are made of strong stuff!
This report comes from our aunt Janet; she is an entirely sensible woman, so we will accept her assessment that playing hockey 5 weeks after having a heart attack indicates “strong stuff” and not “dumb stuff”!
Which is to say, well done Chris!