Last night I went to bed in a lot of bone pain and with a pounding headache. Took a Darvocet and hit the sack about 10ish. For once the Darvocet worked like a charm and I was able to sleep and woke up this morning feeling so much better. Less bone pain, less body aches. Had a nagging headache off and on today, and have been slow and weak, but as far as discomfort, I think I have hit the upswing for this round. Yippee!

The wonderful Dr. George called about 9:15 to give me the results of the PET/CT. It was great news! He said the scan looked "just as good as we could have expected." Said all that was left of the cancer is a little rind on one node. Probably the one that was huge in my lung - looked like a golf ball on the x-ray. He confirmed that we are planning on three more treatments for a total of six. It was a possibility that we'd go to eight, but that doesn't look like it will be necessary. So after three more rounds of chemo, we get another scan and decide if radiation is necessary. So I am officially halfway done and it feels good.

I was also able to talk to him a bit about some side effects I have been having. The last two days the tips of my fingers have been numbish and sometimes all pins and needles. Very weird feeling. I can almost feel things I am touching but my fine motor skills are off. I drop things, can't maneuver things, etc. It started off kinda slowly; it took me a day or so to recognize that my fingers felt 'funny'. Heh, it makes sense now that I couldn't get my earrings off on Monday. My fingers aren't quite working. I vaguely remember this being one of the million side effects they told me to look out for when I got the first round of chemo. So I googled around a bit this morning and found that, indeed, peripheral neuropathy is a side effect of the Vincristine that is part of my chemo. Several online sources said to report this immediately as it needs to be monitored. And it just so happens that Dr. George called me about that time so I let him know about it.

He wants me to pay attention and see if it gets better this and next week before the next round. And if it gets worse I need to let them know. There isn't anything they can do about it except cut back the dose of the Vincristine, which he doesn't want to do unless this gets much worse. He doesn't want to compromise the treatment. Well I don't either. This is an annoying side effect that bothers me most when I try to do small work or now while I am typing. But reading about how bad it can be online showed me this is small potatoes. Some people who are on 18-month treatment plans (as opposed to my 18-week plan) report having to use a walker because they can't feel their feet. I just have some tingly fingers and am clutzy. I figure I can handle that. But he does want to monitor it and see where it goes. And it is most likely not permanent. Could take several months to resolve when I am done with chemo. But again, my youth helps.

I am so impressed that Dr. George called me with results this morning and I didn't have to make one phone call to track him down or request that he call me. He really has shown to be on top of things and courteous with the fact that this news means so much to us and waiting for it is hard. I am glad to know that I can trust him to give me the attention I need even when it is just a phone call to say 'looks good.'

Mom took me and Jackson to Target today to get a new car seat. She wants to have one in her car all the time, since she is my primary driver most of the time now. And Jackson always wants to go in 'Grammy's car' instead of mine. He would always rather go in Daddy's car or really anyone else's because he thinks mine only goes to work, I guess. Heh, we have been forbidden to drive my car on the weekends for some time now cause Jackson insists that we take Daddy's car. Throws an absolute fit if Daddy's car is in the garage and we still get in mine. It is not so bad with Mom's car, but he does get really excited to get to ride in her Santa Fe. It rides up high and he can see out and he loves it. So Mom got tired of switching the car seat in and out of my car. Plus mine does not fit very well in her car. I can get it so tight and snug in my car, but in hers, I simply can't get it stable and it always bothers me. With a new seat, we can use the LATCH system and it should be quite snug.

My carseat desperately needs a new cover. The elastic is fried from too much Texas heat and I can't even put Jackson in it without the cover coming off and bunching up and falling over. It belonged to my sister first and we inherited it. And it is still a fine seat, one of the best still on the market. Just needs a new cover pretty badly. Online, Britax sells new covers for $40 plus $10 shipping so I thought I'd order one. Then I saw that they sell new strap/buckle sets for $12 and I thought maybe that would be a good idea to replace the straps too since they've been washed in detergent, which they say not to do, and perhaps 4 or 5 years of use might weaken them. I went to checkout online and realized that a new cover, straps, buckle and shipping would come to $69. The brand new top-rated Graco at Target Mom bought today was $79. Hmmm. Now I don't know what to do. Refit perfectly good car seat or get new car seat for $10 more? If you have an opinion feel free to comment. I'll be pondering this for at least a day or two.

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, Jenni! Love you!