More Medical and Life Updatery
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Monday, October 13, 2025
Hey, it's time for an update!
I'm here to tell you that chemo brain is real. Between that and the anemia, I'm having quite the adventure. The good news is that my hemoglobin levels are right on the edge of being in normal range. Oh, and I'm also blonde, so there's THAT. ;-)
The nausea has also been a thing, but I'm getting that under control. I thought I'd use up the previous round of nausea meds from my PCP, and those were sorta kinda working. Turns out the oncologist prescribed the same med, but double the strength. That works! (For the curious, it's ondansetron.) As noted before, I have other nausea meds, and I get the heavy artillery during chemo week.
The meds schedule during chemo week is wild, and I'm working on something that will help me keep track. I n
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Filed under: Life
10/13/2025 9:03:39 PM
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Bowling With Chemo Brain
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
The oncologist said I could go ahead and bowl as long as I wore a mask.
So I did both.
On a 146 average: 151-160-150=461
I'll take that! I'm celebrating with a zero proof G&T. It ain't bad, and I do tire of all water, all the time.
My kilt bag worked really well to hold the chemo ball. I hardly knew it was there. I did have to do a little MacGyver strain relief. No, that's the wrong term as he wouldn't wear a bra. Yep, we're going into that territory. There's a lot of tubing to give me room to hang my bag up while I take a shower, and the tube includes a connector or two and two cutoff clamps. It's just enough weight to tug on the port, and I don't need that. So (sorry, guys) I was able to pull the t
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Filed under: Cancer Sucks Bowling
10/8/2025 9:20:53 PM
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The Chemo Has Begun
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Today was my first day of chemo. There was a massive delay as someone forgot to put my name in the queue for lab work, which come first. They've always been fast on the lab work, so I was concerned. I finally flagged down a phlebotomist and told her how long I'd been waiting. She did everything but impale herself on the dinner knife to get me in next and get my blood work done.
But this meant a longer wait to talk to the doctor, and another wait to get chemo started. The doctor went over everything and also set up my appointments for the next six weeks. He said the slots fill up fast (I believe it! Every chair in the chemo room was occupied. There were at least 20.)
They finally got me in about an hour and a half later than my appointment time. That did give me time to go to their pharmacy and get some pills that I'll be t
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Filed under: Life Cancer Sucks
10/7/2025 9:30:05 PM
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Getting Crafty
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, October 3, 2025
Feeling better tonight. I might just be able to pop a Tylenol and be good with it.
I think I've found a craft that I can take with me to chemo. My problem: The crafts that I do require space. Or electricity. And/or heat. I don't think it would be a good idea to take my USB-powered soldering iron in. Or a laptop and prototype boards.
Most yarn crafts are out, because most of what I do requires lots of colors. Otherwise, I'd knit up another Fourth Doctor scarf.
I'll be confined to one chair, however comfy it may be, and (I think) a small side table. Not gonna carry in a large bag of yarn.
What to do?
I'm taking up hand embroidery again. It's been
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Filed under: Life Cancer Sucks
10/3/2025 8:10:30 PM
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Bring Back Telehealth!
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, October 3, 2025
Had a bad(ish) night and I am in some pain this morning. It's to be expected. I was given instructions on how to deal with the pain (stay ahead of it), and I intend to follow them. I was told to take a Tylenol when I got out of bed, and the pain is now down to a dull roar. This is all to be expected with this sort of procedure.
I will be taking it very easy today as I'm still a bit unsteady. I was also told that was to be expected. Yeah, make me sit at my desk and fool around with small projects all day. ;-)
I do want to take a moment to talk about something that happened with the shutdown, and this really shouldn't be partisan. It's about Medicare paying for telehealth visits. This was instituted during COVID in 2000, and Congress has continued to extend it.
Te
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Filed under: Life
10/3/2025 9:02:19 AM
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Port Day, and Good News!
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Medical update: It's been a busy, crazy day, but I shall not bury the lede.
I just got my PET scan results, and there is no cancer to be found! This is one time I'll take "unremarkable" a compliment.
Today was implant day. I was up early to get a light breakfast, which was allowed because the appointment was in the afternoon.
Got a call from my colon navigator this morning. She's going to hand me off to a chemo navigator.
It seems like we were forever at the hospital, but we were out shortly after 7. I now have a shiny (assumed, since I can't see it) PowerPort, along with a brochure, an ID card, and a rubber bracelet. It seems these things can set off some alarms. It's not a though I'm flying anywhere,
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Filed under: Life
10/2/2025 9:05:51 PM
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Scheduling Mayhem!
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Time for another episode of Medical Mayhem!
Actually, things are calming down. Not that my blood pressure agrees, but maybe after I get some sleep.
Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I have a port implantation scheduled. Sorta. First it was one day, then it was another, due to ever-shifting surgery schedules. It's not just the surgeon. It's scheduling the facility and making sure there's enough staff. Lots of moving pieces.
Anyway, we're set. I thanked the surgeon's scheduler profusely as I know she worked hard to find an open slot so I didn't have to change my chemo start date again.
Actually, this schedule is pretty convenient as I'll not be having infusions Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, and FenCon
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Filed under: Life
9/30/2025 9:03:02 PM
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More Medical Mayhem
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Got up this morning, had a cup of coffee and my limited meds, started in on the water, and the phone went off. Turns out my PCP is not in today. Hey, she's good people and I've no doubt she's out for a good reason. Getting my appointment rescheduled among all the uncertainty was a challenge, but the office employee was patient and had a sense of humor about it.
All this was on top of another anxiety dream last night. This one was in the category of being invited to attend an event and then being totally ignored when I got there. This time some people were going to hold one last Quantum Leap convention. I flew out and then few people would acknowledge I existed. Most of the other pros there acted like they didn't know me. I was on no programming. I was finally given a panel at 9:00 PM on Saturday, but had to find out about it second hand. I got there and the room was empty.<
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Filed under: Cancer sucks
9/30/2025 8:50:39 AM
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Health/Life Update
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Monday, September 29, 2025
Medical/life update:
When we last left our thoroughly frustrated cancer patient, she was begging for doctors to talk to each other to get a port implant so they could start chemo. Let's listen in on her current troubles:
It's been a Monday, folks. This morning I went in to check on my appointment with the surgeon tomorrow, and noticed the appointment said "Port placement." So they're gonna do it? Wait! Don't I need to prep for that? It's an outpatient procedure, and shouldn't I have some instructions?
I called his office. The employee I spoke with said she didn't think any prep was necessary, but that a member of their care team would call back.
And they did, just as I was about to sit down for lunch.
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Filed under: Life
9/29/2025 9:07:30 PM
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Health Update
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Thursday, September 25, 2025
A lot has happened in the past eight days, and it's been terribly frustrating. The oncologist sent the order to the surgeon to have the chemo port inserted - twice - and the latter either never got it or they lost it. When I called the surgeon's office this morning (the second time this week) to follow up, they finally said they'd schedule me. "We don't have an opening until February." But my chemo is scheduled to start Monday.
Please hold.
I now have an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday at his office that's about a 40 minute drive from here. I have a plain vanilla medical appointment that morning to see if other meds are doing their jobs. Gonna be a busy day.
My chemo now starts on October 7, assuming they can get the port in next week. This is incredibly frustrating, and I did let some people know about it. In as kind a way as I could manage, of course. After all, the people answering p
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Filed under: Life Cancer Sucks 9/25/2025 8:44:21 PM
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