Reduce to the Ridiculous

Update August 15, 2008


Dear Friends,

I met my husband, John, at a Tom Hopkins Sales Seminar. Tom Hopkins has many great techniques for helping you sell; one is called “Reduce to the Ridiculous”. You use this when something seems too big to overcome, by reducing an obstacle to the smallest piece it is easy to overcome. Why do I bring this up now? Well, my third treatment of Taxol means that I am ¼ of the way through the Taxol Treatments! That is so much nicer than saying I have 9 more left to go!

We arrived and only had to do the complete blood workup, no doctor visit today! Then we went up the to Chemotherapy Floor and settled in, I got my fluffy slipper socks on, put on my fleece jacket and cuddled up with my blanket/pillow! The Taxol makes me feel cold and last week they had the Air Conditioning set at 68 degrees! John got his laptop out so he could work, filled up his coffee and I started reading a book. The Benadryl really got to me this week as I only had enough energy to read one chapter before the need for beauty sleep took over. Therefore, I slept through most of my treatment. I had wondered when I was doing the A/C treatment how so many could sleep through chemo… now I know their secret!

After getting home, the steroids started to kick in. They give steroids to reduce the nausea. There is a price to pay though, for the next two days I have such a rosy face that it looks like I have been out in the sun or went overboard with blusher! The other is that it makes my mind just race and I can’t sleep. I am currently writing this update at 2 in the morning. If my hemoglobin levels were higher, I would have some energy to put this ‘alert’ feeling to good use! By the way, my levels are still at 9.5 this week, so they did not go down any lower so I avoided a blood transfusion this week also!

Well, it is Friday at 3:00 pm… I am still awake and will just send this off to you all.

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers, they are appreciated!

Love,
Lynn