HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It is a gorgeous day here with the sun shining and mild temperatures.
I am feeling good! I didn't feel the greatest last night, just felt icky. Food has taken on somewhat of a strange taste in my mouth right now, so I haven't eaten much. Layed on the couch and watched TV all night. This morning I am feeling a little lightheaded but nothing intolerable. I am off the steroids now so that wired feeling should go away.
I am at home catching up on housework, laundry and errands. So far so good! I am waiting for something to hit me. Hopefully it won't.

Once again, thank you for all the emails, phone messages, texts, cards, gifts and FOOD! I am overwhelmed again with everyone's generosity!!

Day After

Guess what? My hair fell out last night, completely bald. hahaha Just kidding.

I am feeling good today so far! I took a Benadryl last night and slept really well. I took my steroid and anti-nausea meds and have my new piece of jewelery on, my anti-nausea wrist band, that my friend Linda got me. Hey, I will try anything that might fight off nausea. I am feeling a little wired from the steroid but today is the last day of that med. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed as the day goes on that I continue to feel good.

On a side note, our dog Sunny has been having some problems with what we thought was her hip. John had taken her hunting last weekend and she is now three-legged. She will not put any weight on her back leg, so another vet visit was necessary. We are pretty sure she has torn her ACL in her knee. She will have an x-ray to see if anything else is going on in the leg and then surgery to follow to repair the tear. The vet was pretty sure that this was the problem. That will be next week Thursday.
She is the sweetest family dog and a great hunting companion. I hate to put her through a surgery but she has to walk, so we really do not have any choice.
Poor baby!!!!

Feel the Fear/Chemo #1

My SIL, Debbie, gave me this "courage" stone shortly after I was diagnosed.
I took the stone along with me to chemo this morning and kept it in my pocket. It will go with me for all my chemo treatments. Yesterday I was feeling pretty nervous about the chemo (who wouldn't be nervous about having toxic drugs pumped into your system) and when I took the box out last night to put the stone in my hospital bag I saw the message written on the box "feel the fear and do it anyway" Well, that pretty much says it all, doesn't it??!!! I left the house this morning ready to go!! Thanks Debbie. It was the perfect gift for the perfect time!



I was at the cancer center bright and early just to catch a nice sunrise coming up over the lake.



I arrived at he cancer center at 7:15 for labs where they drew my blood and then placed on IV line in my wrist. I then had an oncologist meeting at 8:30 with Dr. Charlson and his nurse just to go over what was going to happen and check my labs. He is super doctor and his nurse is really great also. Everyone I encountered today was wonderful. My chemo started pretty much on time and the great news was that it was only going to take 3 hours, not the 5 hours like they had originally said. Premeds included another dose of a steroid, anti nausea (15 minutes total) and then the Taxotere (dripped for one hour) and Cytoxan (dripped for another hour). I sat in a nice lounger and read for most of the time in between a few phone calls and some text messages. It was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing! I left feeling not any different than when I arrived. I stopped at Panera and grabbed some soup and I am home. I will know in about 3 days what side effects will hit me. Both my doc and nurse think I will have no problems with the combination of drugs. One down three to go. Yippeee!!

I would like ask for some prayers for 3 people that I know. (I won't use their names for their privacy) The first person is sort of a distant family member who is having a bilateral mastectomy today for breast cancer. The other is a mom who I ran into this morning at the day hospital that I know personally and has a recurrence of cancer 5 years out. We were both very surprised to see each other there! The third is a good friend of ours who is battling prostate cancer and has gone through some radiation and will require some more shortly. I am finding out more and more every day about people that I know that are having to deal with cancer. It makes me very sad. Please pray for these people as they fight! Thank you!!!

Tuesday

Did you see the snow yesterday? Omggg, twice during the day I saw those dreaded snow flakes falling outside. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead or I would have taken a pic and posted as the first snow of the year. It is wayyyy to early for that nonsense. And after last year, I don't care if the ground is ever covered this entire winter. Wishful thinking isn't it??!!

I did a quick shopping run this morning for some last minute items before "C" day tommorrow. Lipstick (a woman can never have enough lipstick), Biotene mouthwash to use during chemo treatments to prevent mouth sores, soft toothbrushes (chemo does a number on your mouth and gums), stool softeners (chemo plays havoc with your intestines) Halloween candy for the 6 Trick or Treaters we will have, and last but not least hats! I honestly have never bought a hat for myself in my life. I hate wearing things on my head, but I have a feeling a might need a little warmth on my head this winter. My friend Sara said I will want to sleep with something on my head at night because I will be cold. I found the softest hats they had and even bought a crazy cheetah hat. Will I wear it? Who knows? LOLOL I am venturing into uncharted territory.

Here is my schedule for tommorrow: labs at 7:15, oncology appointment 8:30, chemo starts at 9:30. The treatment will last about 5 hours. I should be home mid afternoon. I will post late tommmorrow when the day is over and let you know how the chemo treatment went and how I tolerated my chemo cocktail. Cheers!

PROGRESS FINALLY!

I had an early morning appointment with Dr. John. The bad news is the few remaining stitches are still in (no biggie,they are just ugly) but the great news is that he actually did a fill on that side. It was only 50 cc, but none the less it is progress! I will be seeing him every week for a small fill until we can get the skin stretched out to the size of the other boob. I am not sure how long that will take, but it will be awhile. UGhhhhh!

I am trying to drink a ton of water before chemo starts. I am supposed to drink like a gallon a day! Who the heck can drink that much anyways?? I am not a big water drinker anyways so this is a challenge for me. So far, I am not doing very well today. LOLOL Guess I need to step it up a bit!

Fall