Comic

I read an interesting comic the other day.  It's by a guy who does about 2-3 web comics a week, and most of them are really nerdy.  The name of the site is "xkcd" and when asked what that means, one blogger says "It means having to look something up on wikipedia for every second comic".  It's that nerdy.

Anyway, a few months ago, the writer went on a bit of a hiatus because of a family medical problem, but he didn't disclose what kind of problem it was right away.  It turns out that his wife, who is in her 30's, has Stage 3 cancer.  Since her diagnosis, he occasionally writes comics about cancer, about dealing with people who don't understand cancer and treatments, etc.  But he mostly still writes nerdy comics.  The other day, he wrote a comic entitled "Lanes".  If you are friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed that I shared a link to it.  Here is the comic:

If you have trouble reading it, you can go to the original comic here:  http://xkcd.com/931/  Note that what those lanes represent is essential the stages of breast cancer.  The left-most 25% is Stage 1, the next 25% is Stage 2, and so on.  I thought the comic was a good way to sum up what it's like to deal with treatment from a bird's-eye view.  There is so much that is unknown.  You never really know if you're "cured", but you sure as hell know when you're not cured.

Obviously I'm not cured.  I really hope to stay on the road.  This Wednesday, I meet with my oncologist and go through a bunch of tests (including a CT scan) to see if I qualify for the next trial that I spoke about in my last post.  If I don't make it, I will most likely go to taxol next.  Here's hoping!  I think the only thing that has the potential to disqualify me is my liver numbers, but I've been very good about that.  I have not had an alcoholic beverage since Wednesday, and I won't have another one until after my test.  Honestly, I really don't drink that much anymore anyway.  I haven't had any tylenol, and I'm hoping to stay well-hydrated the day before and the day of the test.

I've been feeling decent over the last week.  The pain on my right side is definitely increasing, but it's manageable.  I am able to finally eat again!  On the advice of my aunt (thanks, Louise!) and my doctor, I've been taking an antacid about 30-60 minutes before eating lunch and dinner.  It has made a world of difference.  I'm finally able to eat again without having awful pain 5 hours later.  And that is a good thing.