Not much to report right now, still waiting for the people in Ireland to finish mapping my genes and I'll start chemo either Tuesday or Thursday next week. If Stanford/Novartis/the people in Ireland can't get it together by Thursday, I'm dropping out of the study and going back to Alta Bates. Which will be incredibly annoying if it happens, but I'll deal with it. Not incidentially, for the first time in a couple of weeks I started taking low doses of valium again today.
In the mean time, a bunch of people have asked how they can help, and what we need right now. The answer at the moment is that we're fine. We are incredibly lucky that I have a job that allows me to work from home 100% if I choose to, and I've never really kept traditional 9-5 hours on this job anyway, so I'm still working and intend to do so for as long as I feel well enough to answer emails and sit on conference calls. I expect I'll go on disability for a few months when it's time to do surgery early next year.
Right now Bob is working one part time job and taking a summer class. He had been looking for another job but we decided that it's more important that he finish school ASAP so he'll be taking a full load again starting in September in hopes of transferring to Cal State East Bay in January. So for the moment, finances are a little tight, but he's able to take care of the vast majority of the driving duties and our at home cooking and cleaning habits haven't changed significantly.
This fall and winter is when we're really going to need help - when he's in school and working football games (if you're not aware, he referees high school games here in Alameda County) and I'll be a lot sicker and more tired from the cumulative effects of chemo. He'll drop some games if he needs to, but I'm hoping he can do as many as possible since he loves it so much.
A bunch of people have already signed up with lotsa helping hands (talk to Mo - piegirl at gmail) and a few have donated some money, which we hugely appreciate. When the time comes we expect to use the money to go towards purchasing a few meals a week from http://www.threestonehearth.com/ - which is a service that has gotten rave reviews from a few of our friends who use it regularly anyway. They have a rotating menu of freshly cooked organic meals available for pick up or delivery and I'm feeling like this will be a healthier choice than generic takeout. If there is extra money we may use it to hire our housecleaner to come every week (she's been coming every other week for several years now) and possibly for massage therapy.
When I start with the surgeries we'll need more help with driving, cooking, grocery shopping because I'll be under orders not to lift anything heavier than five or ten pounds for several months.
So, again a HUGE thank you to everyone who has offered to help and I promise we will take you up on it in another couple of months when we need to.
In the mean time, a bunch of people have asked how they can help, and what we need right now. The answer at the moment is that we're fine. We are incredibly lucky that I have a job that allows me to work from home 100% if I choose to, and I've never really kept traditional 9-5 hours on this job anyway, so I'm still working and intend to do so for as long as I feel well enough to answer emails and sit on conference calls. I expect I'll go on disability for a few months when it's time to do surgery early next year.
Right now Bob is working one part time job and taking a summer class. He had been looking for another job but we decided that it's more important that he finish school ASAP so he'll be taking a full load again starting in September in hopes of transferring to Cal State East Bay in January. So for the moment, finances are a little tight, but he's able to take care of the vast majority of the driving duties and our at home cooking and cleaning habits haven't changed significantly.
This fall and winter is when we're really going to need help - when he's in school and working football games (if you're not aware, he referees high school games here in Alameda County) and I'll be a lot sicker and more tired from the cumulative effects of chemo. He'll drop some games if he needs to, but I'm hoping he can do as many as possible since he loves it so much.
A bunch of people have already signed up with lotsa helping hands (talk to Mo - piegirl at gmail) and a few have donated some money, which we hugely appreciate. When the time comes we expect to use the money to go towards purchasing a few meals a week from http://www.threestonehearth.com/ - which is a service that has gotten rave reviews from a few of our friends who use it regularly anyway. They have a rotating menu of freshly cooked organic meals available for pick up or delivery and I'm feeling like this will be a healthier choice than generic takeout. If there is extra money we may use it to hire our housecleaner to come every week (she's been coming every other week for several years now) and possibly for massage therapy.
When I start with the surgeries we'll need more help with driving, cooking, grocery shopping because I'll be under orders not to lift anything heavier than five or ten pounds for several months.
So, again a HUGE thank you to everyone who has offered to help and I promise we will take you up on it in another couple of months when we need to.
This thing is eating my comments!!
ReplyDeleteI've heard that from a couple of people, and I don't know why! I would like to know what you have to say. :)
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