Chemo - Round 1

Chemo - wow! The early part of the day went well. The chemo infusion was OK. No pain. Got home just before the girls got home from school, I felt OK, until about 4:00pm when I started feeling sick. I stayed in my room from 4:00 pm until about 12:30am. It took about 8 1/2 hours to feel better. I got sick about 4 times. But just felt lousy the whole time. They gave me enough anti-nauseous medicine. I took a pill before treatment, they gave me a shot during treatment and I had two different kinds of anti-nauseous medicine to take at home. But somehow, the sickness won through the meds.
I'm feeling much better today. I went this morning to the dentist; for new wires to tighten my braces. Just to add a little pain to the pain :-) . I'm feeling better. I took a nap this afternoon. And I've been just relaxing. Al's been great with the girls. He took them swimming for family swim through the school last night. They had such a good time swimming. My in-laws have been great with the girls too. My Mother-In-Law took the girls to the movie today.
My Mom was discharged yesterday. She was tattooed for more radiation and will start that soon.

Here We Go

Everything is in place for me to start chemo. They got the drug today. When they called and told me I got a odd feeling in my stomach. I am nervous for tomorrow. I wasn't really nervous for the surgeries, but maybe I've been waiting what seems too long for this that the anticipation has me anxious. My prayers are with me and I'm hoping for things to go smoothly, I have no idea what this will be like for me. But I will find out soon.
My Mom is still in the hospital. She will be released tomorrow. They hydrated her and gave her a blood transfusion. She's feeling a little better tonight.

The Waiting Game

So, Chemo this week will be Friday. They mixed the drug today, will ship tomorrow, be received on Thursday and administered to me on Friday. I feel so impatient. It's been hard waiting. I knew it would be 28 days from the last surgery, I just didn't realize how slow that time would go by - so slow.
I'm on my way to the hospital. My Mom was taken there a couple of hours ago. She's dehydrated and in a lot of pain. It's strange these days the conversations I have with my family. I talked to Kelly and the conversation was about her MRI results (which were good), my Chemo day, and my Mom's scan results and her going to the hospital. Such a strange time in our lives right now.

Party

I'm excited to write this post and thank a special group of friends that were at a party for me last night. My friend Elise was having a few of us from softball over for a party. Kind of a pre-chemo get together to see friends I haven't seen since I was diagnosed, specifically my softball team. So, I showed up there and was very surprised. Not only was my softball team there, but so was my bowling team, my old bowling team, and several friends from school. I was shocked. Elise sent out e-mails and asked others to forward on and tried to get as many friends there that they could on short notice. Both of my sisters were there. It was great. She called it a "Decorating Kristy's Head" party. Everyone brought a scarf or a hat in all different colors and styles for me to wear as chemo does it job. What a great gesture! I was so surprised when I came in. I came home with lots of no-hair options :-). I now have head-coverings for all occasions. I also came home with a chicken-casserole dinner for tonight from another friend. I'm humble by every one's support. I hope everyone can sense my thank yous are sincere and I appreciate everything. My girls thought it was the coolest party when I told them about it. And again, they understand that support comes all different ways.

Oh, and several people have mentioned that posting comments were hard to do, so I have tried to change the way one posts and the ease in doing it. Hopefully, it has gotten easier to do. So, if you have wanted to comment and tried before and it didn't work, please try again. Thanks, thoughts and prays to all. K.

Make that 7 days

Well as strange as this sounds, my chemotherapy is being held up by paperwork. They went back and forth about his 28 day rule to wait from major surgery to chemo. So, Friday is 28 days. The clinical trial people won't sign my paperwork until the 28 days is up. Then they will run me through the computer, place me in one of the clinical arms and then ship my drugs. So, as it stands, I won't be scheduled until next Wednesday. I'm frustrated, but ok with it.
I was pretty upset when they told me on Monday. I had just had my Mom's appointment and it was not good. She was nauseous during her appointment and just so weak. They are scheduling her for an MRI of the brain to make sure the cancer has not spread there. It's pretty hard watch her go through this.
We are praying for good news from that and maybe she can get past this bad part and recover a little from her current condition.

3 Days to Go

I have 3 days to go before my first chemo treatment. I'm anxious to start. To go through these next 5 months and then move on to radiation. I'm nervous to start. They say it is different for everyone. The unknown is the hardest. The surgeries all happened so quickly, I didn't have time to worry or wonder. The surgeries all went well. I'm hoping the chemo will go good as well.
Our 2nd opinion from Karmanos was a long day there. They scheduled me with the wrong doctor, then we waited to see the right doctor. She confirmed that the treatment plan with St. John's was the right course of action.
My Mom has an oncology appointment today. We will see what they recommend for her. She has been getting worse over the last couple of weeks. It breaks my heart to talk to her and hear how weak she is, and seeing her is also difficult, because she is so sick and weak and it hurts seeing her that way.

Going Well

Things are on schedule. I saw the Medical Oncologist yesterday and if all goes as planned I will start chemo next Thursday. I'm nervous. I know this will be hard. Harder than the surgeries. Mentally and physically hard on my mind and body. But I know this is a means to an end. I will get through it and come out winning this battle.
Being back to work is good. I'm glad to be thinking of something else.
I've recently spoke with several women who are going through or who have just finished their treatment for breast cancer and they are such an inspiration. So many strong women out there who have to deal with this difficult disease. I want to thank them for their words of encouragement and for being so strong and willing to share their insight. I also have a couple of friends who are struggling with sick parents as well. I have all of them in my prayers. All of us have something that we are dealing with, whether it is ourselves or a loved one. Many thoughts are with you during this time.

Long Week

Well, I went back to work this week. I went in for some hours on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Not long days but enough. It felt good to be back and out in the real world that didn't involve doctors, nurses, appointments, surgery, or tests. Everybody was great at work.
I'm looking forward to the weekend and catching up on some stuff here. I'm feeling up to doing stuff around the house.
Next week I have several appointments and I should find out my chemo schedule. I'm looking forward to starting on that phase of this. The sooner I start, the sooner I finish!
My sister Kelly got her results back and unfortunately the genetic testing came back positive for her. We are sad to hear this news. She has already scheduled appointments and will have some tests as she weighs her options. We will support her as she makes her decisions. So, please say an extra prayer for her as you read this.

Healing Again

Well - healing again. I had my medi-port put in yesterday. They put it in below my left shoulder above my chest. I haven't removed the bandage to see it. My neck is sore and I'm tired, but all and all I'm doing ok. This will be my last surgery for a while (I hope). I should start chemo by the end of the month. I have 4 doctor appointments next week. My abdomen is feeling much better from the last surgery. Girls are back to school and all of their activities so we'll be busy.

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be my last surgery for a while (hopefully). I get the medi-port put in tomorrow AM. Surgery is at 7:30AM; I'm to arrive at 5:30AM (pretty early :-)).
I'm healing good now from the last surgery and I am not that sore anymore.
I had a Muga Scan Friday that checked my heart to make sure it is strong enough for chemo. That was not fun since, they had a hard time starting the I.V. (he decided to put it in my wrist which hurt and by the 4th injection, my wrist swelled up with fluid). So, he had injected the radio-isotope in and it didn't make it into my blood stream. So, another person, stuck me a couple more times and shot me with another radio-isotope injection so they could do the scan. They were able to do the scan after the second try. However, I was filled with twice the amount of stuff that would make the scans at the border or the airport go off. They actually give you a slip of paper to give to the border or the airport in case you need to cross or fly letting them know that you were injected with this which is why you are 'lighting up' their equipment. Pretty amazing stuff.
Things around the house are going well. The girls have been great with helping out and Al has been putting away Christmas decorations and cleaning up.

New Year's Day

New Year's Eve was nice. We had a great dinner together. My Mom was able to make it out so it made it extra nice. It was my Mom, Kelly, Kim and Me and our families. It was a great way to ring in the new year.
I kissed my husband at midnight, which made it 17 years in a row for that. It has been 19 years of New Year's Eves that we have celebrated together. We missed the one the year we got married, because he was activated for the Gulf War and left Dec. 22, 1990. That was the only year we missed together. We just celebrated our 18 year wedding anniversary in December. We have had many ups and downs just like most couples, but thankfully we have had many more ups and we have made it through the down times.
My New Year's resolution is to make sure I appreciate all that I have and realize how blessed I have been in my life. I have always lived life to the tune of live hard, love hard, play hard, and work hard. I will continue that mantra in 2009.
Oh, and we had good news this week to celebrate, my sister Kim's test came back negative for the genetic mutation that I have. Kelly's results are still a week or two away, since her test was delayed by paperwork.
Happy New Year to all!!!