Scan and Plan
- joemcgeeauthor
- May 20
- 3 min read
So, the recent scan was a bit of mixed media. Some good news, some not bad, but undesirable news: No NEW activity. Yay! But there are two spots that have increased in size a bit. And so, since cancerous growth is NOT a good thing, the doctor has elected to put me back on the heavier hitting chemo cocktail Oxaliplatin.
Yesterday, I had my second treatment with Oxali added in. Oxali sucks. It makes me feel much ickier for 3-5 days, plus messes with my taste buds, and gives me cold sensitivity and sometimes pins and needles in my fingers. The plan is to do about six treatments of Oxali and then another scan.
The first return to Oxali, a couple of weeks ago, hit me harder than it has (knock on wood) so far this treatment. Let's hope it stays that way. Otherwise, it's the same routine: Treatment day, go back two days later for pump removal, recover a few days, get one week of feeling pretty good, then back to treatment. Rinse and repeat.
In other news, today is the publication date for book ten...TEN! in the Junior Monster Scouts series: Castle of Schemes and Dreams. And books four and five in the Ready to Read level 2 series will be published in July (Pumpkin Party) and August (Don't Wake Dracula). The Night Frights Ready to Read level 3 books (three of them) don't have pub dates, nor does the Junior Monster Scouts R2R book six (tentatively titled The Show Must Go On). And finally, Sherlock Roach and the Case of the Missing Crumb, a new Ready to Read/Graphic Novel hybrid is slated for a Fall 2026 pub date. So....I've been busy. Chemo has not taken my creativity, imagination, drive, and storytelling ability. I have several things in the works as well.
Part of writing is the ability to find a way through adversity, to not let that be an excuse or a crutch as to why you are not producing. It would be easy to say "I don't feel well" and ignore the laptop, calling to you to get to work. Fortunately, I'm in a way better spot with treatments that feeling "icky" is nowhere near the couchbound mess I was a year and a half ago. Can you believe that I've been doing treatments for almost 2 1/2 years now? And radiation cycles twice!? WHERE ARE MY SUPERPOWERS!?
And how did I never lose my hair? Maybe I'm a mutant.
Spring has (mostly) sprung here in WV (we're about to get a week of unusually low temps this week). It's gorgeous outside - everything blooming and growing. Birds singing (a pair of wrens have made a cute little nest in our shed). Jess's gardens and plants (plants everywhere - it's so awesome) are doing great. The fish are happy in their cleaned out and improved pond. We still have all twelve of them and they've gotten pretty big! Butterflies, honeybees, hummingbirds, frogs, snakes, and the list goes on and on.
And everything is wilder, more wonderful, and much bigger in WV. Don't believe me? Check out these peonies from our yard (also, my lovely wife ;) ).
For those of you who know me well, you know I'm a big tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) gamer, as well as a miniature war gamer, and board game enthusiast. I've been fortunate to keep a weekly online game going every Thursday night with two of the kids and some other fantastic and close friends. I've also been crafting stuff for some miniature wargaming and occasionally getting games in at the local hobby shop (WV local = 45 minutes away). So, I'm feeding that creative outlet as well.
All in all, I think things are going well (as well as they can?). New scan in a couple of months will determine the next course of action. So...fingers crossed things stop growing, and we see reduction, and I can get off this damned Oxaliplatin.
I'm in good spirits, good health (besides, you know...cancer), and just trying (like everyone else) trying to navigate this mad world one day at a time.
Until next post! Be well and be kind.
j
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