Colon Cancer Sucks Ass

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

C3's Congressional Butt-In

Hello to all of you,

I would like to encourage you to participate in the Congressional Butt-In tomorrow 3/19 sponsored by C3 Colorectal Cancer Coalition. It is a simple process. Call the toll free number below, enter you zip code and tell your senators and representative that you want them to "'Cover Your Butt." For information on the pending legislation, you can go to Cover Your Butt.

All of us at C3 appreciate your support. Please forward this information to anyone you think would be willing to participate.

Thank you!

Christine

REMINDER!

Please forward this information to your friends and family and urge them to make the call TOMORROW.

Congressional Butt-In
WHO: You
WHAT: Call Congress and demand that they cover your butt!
WHEN: Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
WHERE: By telephone
HOW: Call 866-615-3375 to get connected to Congress
Three bills sit in the 110th Congress that, if passed, will provide coverage of nearly every butt in America that should be screened for colorectal cancer: those belonging to the poor and underserved, the elderly and those with private insurance. Learn about those bills here. Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19th, anytime from 9 AM to 5:30 PM EDT, call 866-615-3375.

You only have to make one call. You will be prompted to enter your zip code and be directly connected to the offices of your Members of Congress (your two senators and representative). When you reach the offices, simply say, “I urge my senator/representative to support colorectal cancer legislation and COVER MY BUTT!”

The more phone calls the offices receive, the better chance these bills have of getting passed so urge your friends and family to join you in the Congressional Butt-In tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19th!

The C3 Congressional Butt-In is made possible thanks to a grant from Genentech BioOncology.


C3's mission is to win the fight against colorectal cancer through research, empowerment & access.
C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition
1225 King Street, 2nd Floor
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-548-1225

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sleeping, Trying to Sleep, and Studying

That is all my life is right at this moment. Tomorrow marks the beginning of finals week for the Winter quarter. I only have one traditional final, but then there are papers and take home tests and papers (did I already say that?). I've been working since 8:30 this morning which is really early since I stopped working at 4:00 am. Now I'm just taking a brief break to write this update.

Insomnia and fatigue alternately hit me like a Mack truck. I'm dealing with the cumulative fatigue of two and a half years of either being in treatment or recovering from major surgery. I can't really explain what this fatigue feels like, but when it hits, I need to rest - I can't just work through it. If I was sleeping regularly, I don't think that it would be as bad, but my insomnia is back with a vengeance. During my undergraduate years I pulled one all-nighter. That's right... one all-nighter in four years. In the last three months I have had at least six nights when I didn't sleep at all. I have found that I can be extremely productive in the middle of the night, but I'd really rather be sleeping. I've tried Ambien - it doesn't really work for me and it gives me a headache. I occasionally take Ativan, but it doesn't make me drowsy anymore. I recently tried Lunesta - it didn't do anything. I'm just going to keep working to get back on a regular sleep schedule.

Finally, I have a cancer update that I should have posted a couple of weeks ago. I had an MRI to see how the chemo was working and to see if I would be a candidate for RFA on the tumor in my liver. Well, it turns out that I'm not a candidate, but for a really good reason. One the MRI, there was no measurable disease. There are still a couple of areas that don't quite look normal, but nothing that they could measure. So my oncologist is giving me a two month treatment break. After two months, I'll have a CT scan and if there aren't any changes, I'll get another two months! I am very excited to have this break. The last round of chemo was so hard on me that I really didn't know how I was going to handle it and school anymore. I really thought I was going to have to consider a break from school. I am still thinking about taking the summer off and postponing my internship until next summer and then not graduating until December 2009, but I think that it is probably not a good idea for me to push through until next June without a break. Plus I'm worried about handling a full time job without a lot of absences since I've had to miss so many classes. School is a lot more flexible about that than an internship would be.

Okay, I have to get back to my Health Economics take home final. Wish me luck in getting all of the work done by Friday!