Never Trust a Vegetable

Yeah, it creeped me out too.

Some sort of nasty bell pepper dwelling caterpillar was my first guess when I found it inside the pepper-formerly-destined for Kevin's stir fry.

It's something inanimate growing in the pepper. Probably harmless, maybe a seed that's sprouted. But who knows? Maybe it's some "harmless" growth spurred by a chemically induced misfire in bell pepper DNA. Possibly it's the vegetable equivalent of my over-abundant estrogen fueled cell rampage.

Whatever it is, the last time I saw something that creepy looking growing in what otherwise appeared to be a healthy happy place was two years ago when a doctor showed me photos of the tumor he had just found during Kev's colonoscopy.

And that happy epidsode resulted in major surgery for Kevin followed by almost a year's worth of radiation and chemotherapy.

The Misses Lorri have always blamed my meat loaf for that entire incident. I've suspected all along that it was the vegetables. They look all healthy and good for you but you never know what secrets they're hiding.

This is why I've avoided vegetables as much as possible throughout my adult life. You can't trust 'em.

Chemotherapy II, a Primer

Chemotherapy Counting. Thought you might like an explanation of some of the terms/numbers we use when talking about Kevin's treatment. The terminology used by the oncologist made a lot more sense to me once I researched the whole idea of treatment "cycles."

Chemotherapy is usually counted in "cycles" which include treatment and a rest period. More about the treatment/rest theory on another day.

In Kevin's treatment, a cycle consists of 2 treatments, each two weeks apart. So he has a treatment period of Monday to Wednesday (his chemotherapy drugs are delivered over 48 hours--an IV drip consisting of 2 chemotherapy drugs at the clinic which takes about 2 hours, a "push" (larger dose injected through the IV over 5 minutes) of another chemotherapy drug, then 46 hours of the same drug infused through the portable pump). Then the infusion pump is disconnected and his body gets 11 days to recover. He has another 48 hours of chemotherapy drugs, 11 days to rest and the cycle is complete.

So a cycle is, roughly, a month for Kevin. More precisely, 28 days, 4 weeks, 2 chemotherapy treatments.

The cycles are recorded like this:
Cycle 1-1 (first treatment)
Cycle 1-15 (second treatment)

Cycle 2-1 (third treatment)
Cycle 2-15 (fourth treatment)

Cycle 3-1 (fifth treatment)...

A common plan for rectal cancer treatment, after surgery, is

2 cycles of chemotherapy (4 treatments)
1 month of no treatment (recovery)
5 to 8 weeks of daily radiation with continuous chemotherapy (through the infusion pump). "Continuous" can mean 5 days a week on the pump or, literally, 7 days a week on the pump, non-stop for the entire 5 - 8 week period--the oncologist decided which way to go.
The radiation period is given a little vaguely on purpose. There is a total amount of treatment that will be given. That total may have to be given in smaller increments depending on how his body reacts.
1 month of no treatment (recovery)
2 cycles of chemotherapy (another 4 treatments)

Something in the neighborhood of an eight month time span (5 to 6 months of active treatment with 2 months of recovery sandwiched inside), not allowing any periods where treatment is delayed because of illness or reactions.

Cancer has expanded our vocabulary. I'm keeping a growing list of word and definition--a cancer glossary--which I'll post another time.

I like lists. A list is almost as good as a plan.