Rainbows and Unicorns

If you think everything here at the Luck Ranch is always rainbows and unicorns, you’d best stop reading this update and move onto the next. Michelle’s week was full. It started on Monday at the foot doctor. She has an ingrown toenail that has been bothering her for a few weeks. The earliest we could get her in was this past Monday morning. After a quick visit with the doc, she decided to get the toenail cut back. When we told our family foot doctor of 22 years about Michelle's cancer diagnosis, she got emotional. After the podiatrist left the examination room, I climbed up on the one-person Podiatry examination chair with her and held her close. The nurse came in and caught us hugging on the chair with four legs but definitely built for one body. The nurse smiled feebly. I didn’t move, I held Michelle tightly while the mean nurse stuck her with the huge needle. (It wasn’t that big, it just felt big to Michelle) Her soft squeal was adorable yet cacophonic to listen to. I knew I couldn’t help her; all I could do was hold her. I climbed down off the podiatrist chair because it was uncomfortable for both of us.  When The doctor came back in, he started slowly cutting away at her toenail, he soon realized she was not numb enough. He had to stick her yet again. She’s a living pincushion I’m telling you. The podiatrist was finally able to get her toe numb enough to cut away the irritation and hopefully prevent it from causing a future nuisance. In our small talk, we mentioned that we were not happy with the oncologist at Texas oncology. He suggested that we try to do a transfer of care due to location and gave us the name of a friend and colleague of his. We didn't know this was a thing. So, a new chapter begins.

We wasted a trip to the oncologist this week. I set a reminder for 1 week out for some reason, then misread it thinking it was this week instead of next. When we got home, I saw Michelle was not in a good place. It is so hard to comfort her because I am not a counselor, and I am not sure what she needs.

I contacted the “LifeLine Lung Cancer Support” center hoping they could help. They assigned Michelle a mentor named Heidi who currently is struggling with small cell lung cancer as well. She talked to Michelle a lot about her own diagnosis, I suppose it may have been good therapy for Heidi. Michelle was not impressed.

Still struggling after hanging up with her “mentor”, I did my best to understand what was going on inside her head. Michelle finally opened up to me and explained that she was feeling like she was taking too many medications. Michelle is a visual person, so I put all her meds on the counter and showed her that all the medication that she is currently taking except for 3 were supplements. This eased her mind. I think she was feeling like she was an old lady with a medicine cabinet full of prescription pills that she needed to take. Once I made her understand this was not the case, she seemed to calm down a lot. Taking daily vitamins (& supplements) is not the same as taking prescription pills.

I logged into the patient portal at Texas oncology and started a transfer request through Michelle’s oncology nurse. While logged in, I looked at the cat scan results from April 4th. The results showed that the mass in her LIVER has slightly increased into a conglomerate mass measuring 48 x 35 mm previously 39 x 30 mm. She is not getting chemotherapy, so this is probably why this is growing/metastasizing. In her LUNGS, the right lower lobe nodule increased from 16 x 10 mm to 16 x 11 mm. There is an increase in the size of a right hilar/infrahilar LYMPH NODE metastasis measuring 36 x 30 mm, previously 21 x 20 mm (.5 in x .4 in difference). This is not a lot but it does mean that the cancer is still active and is still growing. This was compared to a previous scan on February 2nd.  There were a lot of numbers that stayed the same, these were just the ones that changed.

Michelle's current oncologist called on Saturday morning to tell me she approved the transfer of care. She explained there were some minor changes seen on the MRI results from 23 March.

There is positive therapeutic treatment response of previously identified intradural metastasis in the lower neck area (C5-6 level cord surface). This means that they are seeing positive results from immunotherapy.

There is new metastatic focus in the upper neck or the second vertebra of the spine. (Left C2 inferior articular process). In layman's terms, this means new cancer growth from metastasis in the spine.

The immunotherapy appears to be helping and has been approved for this coming Wednesday. We will see this oncologist one last time before we move to a new oncologist in Round Rock. I have discussed the option of chemotherapy with Michelle, and she is thinking about it.

Michelle had an MRI this week. They stuck her only once and besides the 90-minute wait for a 45-minute scan, it was the best MRI experience she has had to date!

Here is the feature of the week, Michelle’s firsts. Michelle was able to walk down to the creek on Bobby Road. She did this pre-clot last December, but this is the first time since December that she has made it that far. She described her legs as if they were rubber when she got home. "Jelly legs" is a common feeling for someone in her condition. I was excited to see she made it as far as she did.

Highlights of the week: Taking Michelle to the barn with me to feed the bees. She didn’t go into the apiary, but it was nice to have her there. She helped me make the sugar water to feed them, then she offered to come with me to the apiary while I fed them. We made a trip to Stephan’s house. It was nice getting out of the house again this week. We watched the movie “Tetris” (Apple TV) together. Henk Rogers discovers Tetris in 1988, and then risks everything by travelling to the Soviet Union, where he joins forces with inventor Alexey Pajitnov to bring the game to the masses.

Random Fact of the Week: There is no copper in a one cent piece. If you wash a penny, you will rub the magnesium alloy off and ruin the penny. (I wonder how I learned this?)

Luckatorium during the day: “Ice Road Truckers”, “Survivor”, “Fire Country”, “Chicago Med”, “So Help Me Todd”.

“The River Murders” (Amazon Prime) A homicide detective (Ray Liotta) investigating a series of murders becomes the prime suspect when the FBI uncovers his close ties to all the victims.

 “The Invitation” (Peacock) After the death of her mother and having no other known relatives, Evie takes a DNA test and discovers a long-lost cousin she never knew she had. Michelle loves a good vampire movie.

Luck Ranch Coliseum: “The Night Agent” (Netflix), “Yellow Jackets” 

“Schmigadoon”(Apple TV) . On a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship, a couple discovers a magical town living in a 1940s musical and learn that they can't leave until they find true love. I really liked this one. Michelle is still on the fence with it. It has one of my favorite actresses in it, “Cecily Strong”. I also really like Keegan-Michael Key who plays her boyfriend. It is just the 30-minute show that I have been looking for.

“Zodiac” (Showtime). In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. I was not feeling well, so I watched it in a mask, and found myself drifting off frequently throughout the movie. (I had already seen the movie before and liked it) One thing I learned was, the zodiac killer case is still unsolved!

This week “Persnickety’s Pub and Grill” Where she wants everything just so.

Once again, I tried to mix things up a bit. I had a failed attempt at an over cooked pork roast that I pawned off on Brandy and her kids. What should have been cooked for 5 minutes in the Instapot, I cooked for 20! Michelle opted for a hotdog with ketchup.

I thought a potato hotdish would be good too. It wasn’t too bad. Michelle said it was great, but I was a little more critical. I am not sure I will make it the same way again. Maybe next time I will use a recipe rather than just gather a bunch of things I think might be good.

I made a taco salad which is always a hit. It is not always great for leftovers. I still have some leftover taco meat that will probably go to waste.

We enjoyed some more pizza from Grazie! Pizzeria. Where the pizza is just as good on the second day.

One morning I made oatmeal and didn’t realize that our milk ad expired – 10 days earlier. She couldn’t eat oatmeal without milk, so down the drain went to oatmeal and out came the toaster. A cinnamon and raisin bagel with whipped mixed berry cream cheese was a perfect way to make up for a bad start.

We had Turkey and mashed potatoes for our Eater feast. It was a nice change. I am not sure why turkey seems to be a once-a-year meal in our house. I am going to try to change that.

We had a late lunch one day, so we skipped dinner. I made Michelle some corn bread so she didn’t take her pills without food but there was no main course for the evening.

We had a buffalo wings night this week. Deep-fried chicken wings have long been a staple of Southern cooking. We enjoyed them with some French fries and a couple of pieces of fried shrimp and some veggies.

Love, Brian

http://www.ItTastesLikeHerLegsFelt.eww