I Think I Could Eat My Weight in Curry

Well, it's a week later and I'm doing well. The migraines are slowing down and life is returning to normal.

We had Indian food last night and I just had some of the leftovers as a snack. I grew up eating midwestern food without a lot of spice to it, so I'm not quite sure why Indian food has become a such comfort food for me, but it has. I love it and so does Joe. Date night inevitably will find us at an Indian restaurant.

Here are recipes for some of our favorites:
Indian Butter Chicken (Chicken Makhani)
Three Bean Dal
Potatoes and Cabbage, Indian Style

Now you can make them at home and spice up your life!

Well, It Was Either a Reaction or a Migraine

Either way, it stank. About 4:30 Wednesday morning I woke up with *something* happening--either a migraine or a reaction to the meds. It was hard to tell which one, but I couldn't take my migraine medicine because I couldn't keep anything down. Yuck, yuck, yuck. That was about five hours I could have done without.

However, now that the magical 48 hours after the infusion have passed, I'm fine, if a little lighter on the old scale.

I don't see the oncologist for another month, at which time I'll get another infusion of Zometa. I've got an x-ray of my hip I have to get before then to see why I get pain when I wear my cute high-heeled boots. I never used to get hip pain with them, but I sure do now. If I wear flats, I'm fine, but the doctor wants to check it out anyway to catch anything as early as possible. I may need radiation there if the x-ray shows it warrants it. I guess the x-ray is better at diagnosing some things than the MRI is--who knew?

Other than that, life is going on as normally as possible. Entropy Boy and I are marching our way through ancient Greek history. Today we discussed the Iliad and the Odyssey; Joe has English translations upstairs somewhere. I should dig them out.

Tomorrow Spiff has the day off school for a teacher in-service so we'll hit Dunkin' Donuts to make the day special!

New Drugs Today

Today was my first infusion of Zometa, a bone-building drug that is also used for osteoporosis. The infusion only took about 15-20 minutes and didn't need steroids or Benedryl with it, so it was quick and easy compared to chemo. Any side effects will likely happen in the first 48 hours, so I was told to take Tylenol every six hours until that time period is over. So far, so good. No side effects. Since the most common side effects are flu-like symptoms (fever, achiness, chills), that makes me pretty happy.

So right now the game plan is for me to stop the Tamoxifen as of today. I took it less than 90 days. It just didn't work for me the way it was supposed to. I guess I have super-charged ovaries. I got a shot of Lupron last month and then got a 3-month shot of it today since I tolerated it well. It puts me into menopause while it is in my system, so hot flashes are now part of my daily experience.

In a couple of weeks I will start another drug that is supposed to help combat the attack on my bones. That will be a daily pill--Arimidex. That, combined with monthly infusions of Zometa for the next couple of years, will be my new normal.