Sandy Beardsley
Living with a Brain Tumor
Categories:

Archives:
Meta:
November 2024
S M T W T F S
« Oct    
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
02/05/06
Blues before Chemo
Filed under: General
Posted by: Dan @ 8:55 pm

Sandy is basically feeling good these days… though we’re both recovering a bit from a late night dancing to a great blues band (the Rose City Kings). We had a lot of fun cutting loose with some good friends. Her fourth round of chemo pills starts tonight. It was supposed to start yesterday, but she asked her onclogist if she could put it off for one day so we could party a bit. The doctor said one day wouldn’t matter so… blues before chemo!

The last round of chemo made her a bit more fatigued and nauseous than previous rounds, and it tends to hit her in the few days following the five days of pills. So she isn’t looking forward to the next ten days or so.

Last week was very tough for her. A coworker (and mother of some children she has taught) died after a battle with cancer. Sandy attended the memorial service on Wednesday and it was an intensely emotional experience for her. Friday we went to her onclogist for the monthly checkup. Her blood tests so far have been good — white blood cell count dropped a little but still well within safe limits, and liver / kidney functions looked good from the blood tests also. So that’s good news. We scheduled her next MRI for February 28. After that we met with a lawyer to update our wills and health directives, since we hadn’t done that for about eight years - prior to her diagnosis. We sure know how to pack in a day of fun, eh?

On January 24, Sandy celebrated her 3-month anniversary since the surgery. Seems like a lifetime ago and just like yesterday at the same time. She also recently talked with her “Brain Tumor Buddy” - her roommate at Stanford hospital - who lives in the San Francisco area. She’s doing well also.

Our thanks to PVD, Eric, Robin and Chris for joining our LiveStrong Ride team. And thanks to Patty, Heather, Glenna and Paul for making donations. We’re expecting more friends to join the team and we’re hoping other friends and family will help us by donating to the team. Each of us riding in September must raise $500 each to participate. All donations go toward the Lance Armstrong Foundation funding of cancer research and empowering those affected by cancer. Check out the link at the left to see our team member’s webpages.

So here’s to the blues… and never stop dancing.

Good night,
Dan

2 Responses to “Blues before Chemo”

  1. Tim Gartland Says:
    At last, an update! FOSB-Gig Harbor nearly dried up and shriveled away for lack of feeding! Good to hear that despite “The Blues” Sandy (and Dan) are ready for next bit’o'treatment. Also great to learn that enthusiasm for cycling lives strong in Leavenworth!! Sadly I can’t say the same for the Gig Harbor area. (More accurately the 9120 Woodworth Avenue area of GH.) Although, I could blame it on the rain. Anyway, thanks for the update and we’ll look for another as another month passes. All the best, FOSB-GH
  2. Anne and Andre Nowacki Says:
    Hey Sandy and Dan, we have been thinking of you a lot. So glad you had an evening of good music and dancing. I’d trade dinner and conversation for dancing anytime, though the six of us had fun that same night, too. Thanks for the update. Very good to hear of good results of med tests. We are with you in thoughts and spirits. Anne and Andre

Leave a Reply