Sensitive Skin and Tight Abs

I have been having a hard time lately feeling comfortable. I am, frankly, not sure exactly what the problem is and it is hard to describe. First of all, the skin on my upper torso (front and back)is sensitive, as though I had a sunburn. It is not really painful, so much as "sensitive" the way your skin becomes sensitive after a sunburn. I am pretty sure this is from the chemo.

The other discomfort I am having is tightness in my chest and abdomen (just below the rib cage). The best way to describe it is my abdomen is constantly feeling tight, the way you might tighten you stomach in anticipation of a punch. It feels tight in my chest, like I have something constricting my chest when I breathe in. I am thinking that this could be the scaring post radiation and that maybe streching exercises or some sort of physical therapy would help.

The fact that I am feeling these symptoms now is rather strange, since I finished my radiation treatment two months ago. If I was going to have symptoms from radiation, I would have thought the symptoms would show up during treatment.... I have have these symptoms for a while, but they are more noticable now than they were a few weeks ago.


At Yoko's insistence, I asked Scott Lunin about this and he is stumped. Scott asked Dave Rice (my radiation oncologist) as well. I have an appointment to see Dave next Thursday, but I think I will call and try to see Scott sooner as this discomfort has become noticably worse. Yoko thinks it could be that the chemo I have had to date is beginning to wearing off. I did notice that I lost facial hair. In the past few weeks the facial hair above my lip has started to fill in (darker than before). I looked pretty strange for a while. So maybe Yoko is right...the skin sensitivity could just be the steroids masking the side effects of taxol and cisplatin. Hopefully, we'll figure it out soon. My new chemo regimen starts this coming Friday February 15th. Prior to that we will be living it up.

On Thursday Yoko and I went to Miami and stayed at the Ritz Carlton courtesy of John Hancock Life and Annuities. Thursday evening was a reception and dinner at the pool side in Coconut Grove. Yoko and I spent the time chatting with Hancock representatives and meeting other Morgan Stanley advisors. Friday morning I had my training meeting and Yoko just hung around the hotel and window shopped. The last speaker of the session at noon on Friday was Janet Evans, the 4 times Olympic gold metalist. They showed clips of her beating the East German swimmers and setting world records in distance swimming in the 1988 Seoul games . Janet carried the Olympic torch into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1996 games in Atlanta. If you recall, she was the one who handed the torch to Mohammed Ali, who lit the Olympic flame that year.

Evans was the event's motivational speaker who spoke about the difference between being a "winner" and a "champion". It was a good talk and an interesting story. I must say, however, that she was a much better swimmer than professional speaker! I don't think she applied the same kind of hard work and industriousness to her speaking skills as she did to her swimming. Nonetheless, as a person of accomplishment, she certainly has standing! Hancock arranged to have a photographer take her picture with us after the meeting. Janet gave Yoko one of her gold metals to wear during the photo shoot! I will share the moment on this blog if I get the digital image...

After lounging around the Ritz Carlton Friday afternoon, we met Eric and Diane Madsen for dinner at a place called Lola's on Harrison in Hollywood, Fl. Eric has apparently been reading this blog. After we sat down to dinner he immediately suggested that, "What you SHOULD have done when ENT girl said the bill was $360 was say....eh? what? I can't hear ya!" Pretty much that is how the entire evening was spent...laughing and joking. We shared lots of "father of the bride" stories....my favorite being how Eric dis-invited certain cousins of the groom and how the parents of the groom have not spoken to him since! Happily, Eric and Diane WILL be attending Paula's wedding in Santa Monica this coming June.

We got home from dinner with Eric and Diane at about midnight and were up at 7 AM on Saturday. After breakfast, we headed back home as I was the presenting sponsor of "Fiddler on the Roof" being performed by the Charlotte Players for the benefit of St Vincent De Paul Community Healthcare. We were home at noon and got changed and left the house at 1PM for the 2PM performance. We met Chris and Karen Maher, Kirby and Linda Rowe, Sabin and Kathy Taylor, and Mickey Gorman and his girl friend at the show. Tevya was being played by Ralph Yankwitt, who was a broker I worked with at Smith Barney. The little theater seats about 500 and I was thankful that it was nearly full for the performance. After the show, we all went out for drinks and dinner. Yoko and I did not get home until about 9 PM.

This morning I played golf at my usual 7:30 AM tee time. I played poorly, shooting a 90 on the same course I shot 82 last week... I got home from golf at 1 PM and rested before getting ready to go out to dinner. This was the 5th dinner out for Yoko and I this week! We met up with Vic and Eileen Friscia (Linda Oppe's parents) for dinner at a place called The Crow's Nest, on the water in Venice. The meal was delicious and we had a good time catching up with "Mom and Dad" Friscia, who have been virtual parents to me since I was in high school. We got home tonight from Venice at 9:50 PM.

Tomorrow night Yoko and I are having dinner at the Republican Club...that will be six nights in a row we are eating out. If you are worried about me suffering, the only suffering I am doing is for lack of macaroni and meatballs!