Maggie is still doing fine.  Happy, happy.  We’ve had a recent respite on the vomiting, too, which is nice.  Pain seems to be not getting worse.  All of these things make for many smiles (and/or less frowns.)

A new pain appeared in Maggie’s shoulder area two days ago although there was no noticeable swelling.  We worried a little while but then remembered Maggie’s brief workout routine the night before, the one where she lifted heavy weights over her head multiple times.  We applied some Aleve and the pain subsided causing us to accept the association between the pain and the weights.  At least that’s our story.

At the advice of Nurse Jolie, Maggie now includes a daily Nexium with her morning steroids.  Steroids can cause acid reflux, says Nurse Jolie, which can in turn cause sudden vomiting.  Maybe it’s purely coincidental (and I’m hesitant to call this out to the universe) but we’ve gone a few days now without losing lunch (or supper or breakfast.)  As you might not have much difficulty imagining, that’s just a wonderful change.

Maggie’s arms, legs and butt have been shrinking.  The frequent vomiting purges her body of much needed nutrition and, as you again probably don’t have much trouble imagining, stifles the urge for a belly-stuffing meal.  We’ve begun to augment her intake with meal replacement shakes to try to help.  Hopefully, too, she can squeeze in some daily exercises, like knee bends or squats, to try to build back up her diminished muscle mass.  I might hide my weights, however, given her propensity to over-achieve.

Friday is her next treatment at MD Anderson.  It’s the same as the last one, mFOLFOX6 with special sauce R1507.  We don’t have set travel plans quite yet but we are hoping that Angel Flights will come through for the trip up to Houston on Thursday.  For Friday, we don’t have an Angel Flight option since they don’t fly after dark.  They also don’t fly on weekends so were we to wait for them it would be Monday before I’d see my smiling wife’s face again.  Thus, at least this is the plan, she’s going to fly Southwest back in the evening.  After seeing how her last treatment affected her, we both agree it would be a trivial event to fly home (vs. a personal carriage ride by her loving husband.)  Getting through security with two pumps and all that tubing should be fun.

Maggie went to watch Flo’s criminal court wizardry.  She also has a potential new client meeting this afternoon.  It’s not much but it sure makes her smile.  Hopefully the potential new client (“PNC” in lawyer-talk) will hire Maggie.

Thank you for all the well-wishes for my birthday.  I had a great weekend, sharing it with friends and, of course, my #1 sweetheart.  Our time together is a fantastic gift.