Pepper fussed at me about putting a picture of him sleeping on Facebook. Two friends of ours mentioned it to him.

But isn’t he adorable in that photo? I think so!

Anyway, small update on the cancer business. At my last Dr. Hill visit, the tumors have not changed. The tumor markers indicate the tumors remained the same –they are the number 7. Now, as a reminder, 2.5 and under is in remission. Last October, my tumor markers were at the 160+ range. Seven is not bad and indicates small tumors. And my last ct indicated that I have two small tumors.

I was counting on the tumors to be GONE after three or four rounds of chemo. I was disappointed. But in four weeks, we will do another ct and see what we see. Dr. Hill said we may change up the chemo after looking at the new ct.

In the mean time, this round of chemo (despite being the exact same medicine as last time) is so different. Some things are the same — the feeling of stone bruises on the balls of my feet (can be excruciating), a little out of breath, funny feeling skin in my mouth, severe diarreha on the last few days of the two week cycle (usually starting on Tuesday or Wednesday) and unable to touch cold things. But add to all that, my hands feel like they have been burned with steam for a few days, drinking cold things only lasts a day or two instead of the whole time, and the severe diarreha can start day one and last most of the entire two week cycle. And today, for the first time, both knees had such bone pain it woke me up from my nap and I was in severe pain! The nurse practioner said to take my pain meds for it. After a while, the pain eased, but GOOD GRIEF!

And as always, all I want to do is sleep! My energy is completely zapped. I have small pockets of energy and I think I can get so much done, and then SPLAT! It is gone and I drag myself to the recliner. (If for any reason you have to live in a recliner due to illness or injury, get the recliners we bought at #ROOMTOROOM in #Tupelo. Message me and I will send a photo. We LOVE ours!)

So Dr. Hill basically said depending on the ct, we may have a new treatment plan. Otherwise, we will be sleeping all over the Cancer Center every two weeks until December or January.

#GODISGOOD in that the tumors have not grown and Pepper is now singing songs as “The Ghost of Buck Owens,” adding a spooky element (but I think it is a result of too much Hee Haw and Scooby Doo!!!) He is also learning to cook a little, and when he doesn’t feel inspired, he gets take out and tells the restaurants that he is “cooking” tonight and appreciates their help! The Mexican resturant in Eupora will ask, after I place our to-go order, “is Pepper cooking tonight?” –There is no way to win! He is so funny though!