Back on the sauce

Thursday. May 20, 2025. Monday I went back on the sauce. It’s a different flavor of sauce than I’ve had before, but nonetheless it is still sauce. This particular sauce is called Dato-DXD (datopotamab deruxtecan-dlnk), and I am the first patient to receive it at the infusion center in Ukiah, California. It requires that I use eyedrops several times a day, rinse my mouth with salt water or a steroid mouthwash, and take anti-nausea meds if needed. I can expect some fatigue, but it should not cause much, if any, hair loss or negatively affect my white blood cell count. So far, so good. I actually had enough energy to mow the lawn yesterday.

Emotionally, it wasn’t easy to jump back into the deep end of the pool, for me or Steve. We just got home from a two-week long road trip that wasn’t so much about sightseeing as it was about reconnecting with family, both mine and Steve’s. We had a great time at every juncture traveling first to Wyoming (my aunt, uncle and cousins); then Colorado (Steve’s niece, nephew and their families where we gathered to memorialize his brother), Nebraska (Steve’s cousins) and Texas (first Steve’s sister and then my cousin). Along the way we also passed through Nevada, Utah, Missouri, and New Mexico. It was wonderful. We made memories that will remain with us always.

We left on April 30 (which would have been Dad’s 102nd birthday). That day I was gifted a video link to a talk I’d given for a local program called Avenues to Wellness. Public speaking is not my strong suit, but in a moment of weakness I agreed to participate. It was their 100th wellness presentation. What I had to share was unique to this venue in that it was my personal story rather than someone in the health field or a caregiver providing information about ways to support or improve your mental, physical or emotional health. I called my talk “Being at Peace with Cancer.” It’s about an hour long. If you are interested or have the time, I invite you to check it out. Perhaps you know someone on a similar path to mine who might find a nugget or two of comfort or insight or even a laugh or two.

The best part of life is when your family become your friends and your friends become your family.” — Robin Roberts