Schmutz Revisited: Currently in the midst of my 10th chemotherapy treatment (at home with the pump). Had the usual appointment with the oncologist yesterday and asked him some follow-up questions with regard to our last meeting after the CT. I asked about my progress and he said that he'd hoped for more, but people respond at different rates, with the further caveat that the spots on the CT may be "dead schmutz" (i.e., scar tissue; the guy loves this word!), and not tumors. He said that the body takes time to heal and grow over the areas successfully treated by the chemo cocktail and that may indeed what those spots on the CT might be. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Made a mistake on my last "scmutz" post: this is the third to last full session. After the 12th one in mid-April, he'll schedule a full PET scan to figure out exactly what's going on, and we'll decide a course of treatment from that point forward.

Had a rough night last night; chalk it up to the steroid. Also looking mighty flushed and experiencing the nasty chemical taste right now. Yesterday, the oncologist said that my face looked red and "puffy" ("Puffy TommyYumi" was going to be this post's title, but I decided it's too much of an in-joke); told him I had a long walk (5.2 miles) on Saturday and ended up getting a little too much sun (the sunblock I used didn't help much; chemo is rough on the skin), so that explanation satisfied him.

Ended up bumping into the neighbors at Kirk Pond on Saturday...

Pooki Jagger