Shock Collar

Dogs are smart creatures. Take a dog that lives with one of those invisible underground fences that gives them a shock when they get too close. It knows where the line is, and the consequences of getting too close or crossing over. And only once in a blue moon does their desire for a pesky squirrel or evil car overtake their intelligence. Last night I was feeling very dog-like. Went to an outdoor summer concert to see Rusted Root playing. They were fantastic! Jam band, high-energy, highly percussive, tribal beat music. Perfect for a cooling summer evening, and just the kind of music that makes you want to move and groove and jump up and down. And any of you who know me, even the smallest bit, know that I LOVE to dance and groove. So the jamming starts up and my desire is to jump around, but that one staple in my bum was a serious shock collar reminding me that there was a line that should not be crossed. I accommodated as best I could with shoulder shimmying and arm waving, but it just wasn't the same. So world, you're on warning... when the bum recovery is over and this shock collar is removed, I am wreaking havoc with the grooving everywhere I go.

In other far less entertaining news... I start chemo next Tuesday. The medical wheels are moving quickly again, which means we're back on the fast track to kicking cancer's ass, but always a little scary too. I'll be getting the common colon-rectal chemo cocktail FOLFOX along with another drug that prevents growth in the body. Though we're waiting on the additional drug until my ass is a couple more weeks recovered. Every two weeks I'll have a couple hours of infusion and then go home with a continuous chemo pump for 2 days. I got used to having a pump on for a week at a time this winter, so two days should be a breeze. Then I'll have a week to recover before we repeat the cycle for three months running. On the bright side, I shouldn't lose my hair, though it will likely thin and I'm already thinking of shorter hairstyles to try out (think Audrey Hepburn folks). I have three pages of other possible side effects though, so we'll just have to wait and see how I respond. The low dosage chemo this winter didn't seem to overtly affect me too much, it was the radiation that really kicked me. So I'm hoping that I luck out again with the 'big' chemo.