Today was chemo day once again. Had a doctor appointment first. I guess this chemo regimen, we have a doctor appointment every time since it is every 2 weeks. Before it was only the 1st day of each month-long cycle.

Appointment was at 9:00 so it was an early start for us. We never know what the traffic is going to be like so we usually allow at least an hour, if not a little more.

Traffic was actually pretty good! We were about 15 minutes before the appointment (they usually ask you to be there 10-15 minutes before, but our experience is that we usually wait a long time after our appointment time.)

The appointment was with an oncologist we haven’t seen before. Since they all take turns doing rounds, they all see each other’s patients when they are in hospital. They have all been great and she was too! Very attentive and looking out for the patient.

Darrel’s labs were pretty good. Usually he has some that are high and some that are low, but this week, they were mostly in the normal range. Blood count was low, but that has been pretty typical. So, on to the infusion center.

I have to say, that the staff in the oncology area are all really good. They are friendly, empathetic, and know their patients. We had Vicki, the Kiwi from New Zealand again this week. While she was the one who always had problems hitting his vein in the beginning, now that he has a port, it isn’t a problem.

She is funny, nice and very concerned. Last week, her and I had a little talk about things, and she recommended a couple of books. Anti-Cancer and The Instinct to Heal, both written by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD.

I read Anti-Cancer, which is a lot about eating anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer foods with examples and data to back it up. There is evidence to show that many of these things work, but there aren’t too many clinical trials done on nutrition since no one can make money off of food like they can drugs.

We decided that it certainly can’t hurt to eat the healthy foods recommended, so we have been doing that for a little over a week. Mostly it is cutting out wheat (a highly inflammatory food) and lots of cruciferous vegetables and colorful vegetables. Not too different than we normally eat, except NO sugar. That is probably the hardest for Darrel as he does like his sugar foods.

Darrel has been doing very well since the last treatment. He didn’t experience any nausea from it, and didn’t get hit with the dreaded diarrhea on the 11th day as warned about. He also didn’t seem to experience any negative effects from the steroids that are taken for anti-nausea. At least he wasn’t any worse than normal – ha, ha.

He went halibut fishing last Friday and Saturday, out of Port Angeles, with his buddy, Max. They caught one on Friday, and 3 dog fish on Saturday. Not too successful, but they had a good time and great weather on the water.

We both have started walking on a regular basis, and have been busy around the yard and house.

Not sure if I had mentioned that Courtney was living with us again. He has been helpful getting a new chicken coop ready for my 2 new baby chicks. They need a place of their own until they are ready to face off against the BIG girls.

Life goes on in the Miller household for now. We will see what happens the next 2 weeks of this treatment, but, hopefully, it will be as non-eventful as the last 2.

That is is for now, hope all is well with all of you!

Your friend, Robin