Some of you may remember that last summer, ( 2011), I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They thought they'd caught it early enough that it would not come back. Nevertheless, I was put on a relatively mild chemotherapy, ( just in case! ). I was also put onto a trial study of a vaccine for pancreatic cancer.

After the chemo was over, the study and the vaccine injections continued. I also continued to get CT scans every three months.

This September, I was given some bad news. There were three new small tumors in my liver, so obviously the original cancer HAD metastasized. That dropped me from the vaccine trial, as obviously, it had not worked.

But, it put me back on chemotherapy, this time a fairly heavy chemo. I get an IV of one medication every three weeks, and pills morning and night for the first two weeks of the three week cycle. The side effects are somewhat like one Annette described. I become very sensitive to cold temperatures, ( And here I just moved from California to the midwest/mid east-isn't Indianapolis closer to the east coast, than to the middle of the country?).

Just putting my hands into tap water, around 60F/15C causes them to feel as if I am grasping nettles. Ditto for drinking, the same water or other liquid at that temperature makes my throat constrict, and feel as if I were swallowing nettles. And in both cases, the colder, the worse it feels. This lasts at least halfway through the 3 week cycle.

The pills made my skin start to peel. My fingertips peeled twice, and the soles of my feet once. When I took a more than 2 inch diameter callus from my right heel in to my doctor, she reduced the number of pills, and now, on the 4th cycle, it seems a lot better.

The good news is, that after 3 of the 3 week cycles, the tumors have shrink to a bit less than half the size they were.
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And, I got a second piece of good news the Friday before she told me the tumors were shrinking. After more than a year of trying, I finally found work, to supplement my Social Security money.

Yesterday I started working for a little company some of you may have heard of. Amazon.com has 4 of their fulfillment warehouse in the Indianapolis area, with two more under construction. I'm told the one I'm working in, is the largest such warehouse in the Amazon system. It's over 22 acres, and more than 1,000,000 square feet, with quite a bit of it 3 stories high under the single large roof.

It's fast paced, and 10 hour days, and I am just hoping I can keep it up until I build my stamina back up after the still continuing chemo and year without a lot of exercise. Tomorrow will be my first full day, and I expect to walk close to 15 miles, picking items out of the storage shelves to be sent to the packing area to be sent out.

On Nov 23rd, 'Black Friday' and the 26th, 'Cyber Monday' we expect to ship out over 1,000,000 items each of those days, and the 24th maybe close, with primarily orders that were not shipped 'one day'.

At least, I am indoors, out of the weather, AND, for the first time, I am working as Holly, instead of 'him!' I've been full time since moving here, and was mostly full time in California, EXCEPT for work, now, that is solved, too.

Now, I just need the chemo t0 keep working.

Holly