Update

The neuropathy is finally starting to wear off. I can take things out of the freezer and can drink cold drinks. But if I hold something cold too long or take too big a drink I can feel it. I ate some ice cream last night and the cold did weird things to my lips. I've also found that if I stand outside and get chilled my fingers and toes go numb. So I have to be careful with that. I thought all this stuff would wear off by now, but at least at this point it's just a VERY minor discomfort. Nothing at all like I put up with last week.

I have a CT scan Monday morning at 10 am. Woohoo! I know that the doc is going to be amazed at the results. God is so good. I don't know if it is completely gone or not, but I do know that it is no where near as bad as it was. God has touched me and the healing has begun. I will know the results when I see my oncologist on the 10th at noon.

Neuropathy part 2

The neuropathy this chemo round is soooo much worse than the first round. I touched a cold bottle Monday night and could barely use my hand for the next 30 minutes. I can't touch anything that's even a little bit cool. But the worst part is my throat. I have to drink something warm to get my throat warmed up before I can swallow. And my lips and tongue are numb. When I went in today to get my pump removed and my neulasta shot I told Cathy my oncology nurse and she made me go in and see the doctor.

It was decided between the doc I saw today and my oncology doctor (he wasn't in the office, the guy I saw called him), that I should not be taking this drug. The reaction was too severe and it is possible that it would become permanent. Wouldn't that be lovely. Not. Good news is that after this I don't have to go through a week at a time not being able to drink anything cold. YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!

On the down side, the drug they will use instead my give me diaherra, but I'll take that over losing the use of my hands, not being able to swallow or drink anything cold any day! And he said they can give me something to counteract that so it's usually not a problem. So no Lori, I will NOT need depends!

All in all I'm feeling pretty good. Had a great visit with my mom and Aunt Josie, but it's chemo week and now I'm tired. My incredibly awesome hubby is doing laundry and making me dinner right now. I'm spoiled :)

Second Chemo Treatment

My second treatment was today. All went well. Dr. Dunder said that my blood counts were good so that unless there was a problem I didn't need to go in for blood work on the off week. That's awesome. This is a photo of me with my gorgeous oncologist. Mark says next year he'll be old enough to get his driver's license.....

Cathy isn't quite as good looking as Dr. Dunder, but I couldn't get a better oncology nurse. She is awesome. Smart. Sweet. Loving. She is a wonderful woman. I look forward to getting to know her better.

It was nice having Aunt Josie there with me today.

And very nice to have my mom here too!!!

My friend Kristine brought us lunch. She was unable to come to my birthday party last night so she brought my birthday present to the cancer care center and we had a party there. Hey, I have to be here every other Monday, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun while we're there!!!

Prayers and Annointing with Oil

Yesterday in church - Light of Christ United Methodist Church - Pastor Kyle annointed me with oil and had the congregation come up and they all layed hands on me and prayed for healing. Every person in the congregation was standing around me praying. Those that couldn't reach me had their hands on the people in front of them making a chain. The love in that room is so incredible I can't even begin to describe it. God showed me yesterday that this is how His love works. His arms were around all of us praying for my healing, but it was the love from each individual person that made it so strong and powerful. It showed me just how much people love me. And if people love me this much, how much more does Jesus love me.

Then last night was one of the best birthday parties I have ever had. Check it out...
http://millies49thbirthday.blogspot.com/

Wednesday - day whatever

Still relishing this nice cold glass of water I'm drinking like a normal person.  Just don't want this week to go by too fast, because I know that by noon on Monday I'm back to the warm stuff for a week :(  But at least now I'm sure it's only a week.

Monday morning I get my second chemo treatment.  Although I've been at that place so many times already...I'm really lucky to have them for my care.  They are an excellent, warm caring group of people.  Cathy my onc nurse is awesome.  And she is so smart.  My Oncologist talks to me every time I go in.  He was in the hall the other day and stopped and talked with me. Listened to everything I had to say, and never made me feel like I was interrupting him or anything.  At that moment he let me know that I was the only thing important.  That's an awesome feeling to get from your doctor.  So far I would highly recommend this practice to anyone with cancer.  They are great.

CBC

Just thought I'd let you all know I had a CBC (complete blood count) today and my numbers are excellent!  Means everything going the way it should be.  Thank you God!

Sunday - Happy Birthday to me :(

Woke up feeling like I had the flu. After I started moving around a bit I felt a little better. Went to mass, came home and took a nap. Woke up an hour later feeling ok. Then I started to get cold. I had jeans, wool slippers, t-shirt and a sweater on and was still cold. wrapped up in a blanket and just sat there shivering. About an hour later I was running a fever of 101.5 Took some tylenol and layed on the couch. Fever went down about an hour later. Then I was hot. Very hot. At least the tylenol took some of the aches away. Took another little nap. Finally started feeling normal again.

I was told when they gave me my neulasta shot on Wednesday that it was going to make my bones ache and I was going to feel like I had the flu. Although they said 12 - 24 hours, not 4 days later. That was really a sucky way to spend my 49th birthday. Glad we went to the fair and had such a good time on Saturday.

Saturday - Day 6

Felt almost like me today!  With a bit of care I can now drink cold drinks again!  Woohoo!  I challenge you to go just ONE day without being able to drink anything below room temp.  That gets old real fast.  But it's over now.  At least until next Monday and they give me drugs again.

Went to the South Carolina State Fair today in Columbia.  It was a lot of fun.  They just don't do fairs in the south like they do the north.  This fair was about the size of the Lorain County fair with a few more rides and 150 more corn dog stands!  County fairs around here are just sad.  They are no where near as good as Ohio county fairs.  But we had a lot of fun with this one.  Markie had to play with his food.....

He makes me laugh.  One of the things I love most about him. 

They were having a cow show while we were there.  This little boy was smaller than the cow he was leading.  His brother had to help him.

My favorite part of the fair is all the hand crafts.  I love seeing what people make and the ideas they come up with.  Part of the fun is when I see something and think I can do that!   or, I made one of those!  Then there's the intricate detailed things that I know I would NEVER have the patience to make.  The talent is amazing.  This was our favorite painting we saw at the fair:

All the cops at krispy kreme - including the police helicopter!  Isn't it great?????

After the fair we drove through USC and found a chili cookoff they were having.  Yummy!  We tried about 7 different kinds of chili.  By the time we were done I thought my lips were going to fall off from the heat of a couple of them!  It sure was good :) 

Then stopped at Joann Fabric as they don't have such a thing in Charlotte.  But it seems like every time I go it just makes me appreciate Hancock Fabric in Matthews even more.  They have such a better selection, and usually better prices too.  Although I did find felt in Christmas colors ON SALE, that I haven't been able to find at Hancock.  Now I just have to figure out what I want to make with it!  :)

Stopped on the way home to get a steak to make for dinner.  Bought fress brussel sprouts and acorn squash to go with it.  Was one of the best dinners we had in a long time.  Yumm!!! 

All in all was one of the nicest days in a long time.  I felt like a "normal" person again.  Expect for the point at the chili cookoff when Mark bought a metal bottle of Coors and handed it to me.  It took about 30 seconds and all of a sudden massive shocks were going through my fingertips from the cold.  STill have to be careful about that.  But as long as I can drink the cold I can deal with having to be careful when I touch it!

day 5 evening

I was able to sip ice water tonight without pain!!!  WOOHOO!!!!!  Life resembles normal!  I even drank some chilled white wine!  How nice.  Amazing how much little thing boost your spirits :) 

Chemo Day 5

Ok, I really have to quit feeling sorry for myself. So I can't drink anything cold. HAve a feeling there are a whole lot of people out there that can't and don't think it's a big deal. It could be so much worse. I have no nausea from the chemo, the shot to build up my white blood cells didn't make my bones ache, I have the greatest support system in the world, and here I sit whining because I can't drink a glass of iced tea. But for those of you that can, try to go a day without something cold to drink. Do you know how nasty warm diet pepsi is???? And I'm sorry, but I can only drink so many cups of tea. I can deal with not being able to touch things in the freezer. That's easy. Put on a pair of gloves and deal with it. Can't do that for the back of my throat. The good news is people that have been through this says it will go away by the 6th or 7th day so I will have a week of cold drinks before I'm back to warm for the next week.

I also read that Alpha-lipoic Acid should help so I found some at Earth Fare today and will see if that helps at all. I figure I'll take it for a week before my next chemo, so just maybe it won't be so bad with the next round. Can't hurt to try. Right now there is a big study being done to see if this helps with the chemo neuropathy. So I'll just do my own study.

Weekend is almost here. Mark is taking me to the South Carolina State Fair tomorrow. Sunday is my birthday. I think we're going to go out to eat at Firebird's for my birthday Monday night because it's half price wine day. And by then I should be able to drink a bottle of cold white wine! Woohoo!!!

Chemo Day 3

Here we are on day three.  Yesterday was like any other day.  Cleaned house, did the laundry, no big deal.  So far only one little side effect to the chemo.  I can't drink anything cold because when I do it feels like whatever I'm drinking is filled with tiny little shards of glass and they all hit me in the back of my throat.  That is only supposed to last about 5 days though.  I hope so because I would love an ice cold glass of tea right now!  I was also told that if I touched a cold car, or mailbox, or got something out of the freezer I would have to wear gloves.  I found out why last night.  We had bacon to make blts that was partially frozen.  I picked it up and felt like I had touched a live wire.  Little tiny shocks all through my fingertips where I was touching the bacon!  I dropped it really fast!  That was REALLY strange!!!!  But if those are the only side effects I have to live with temporarily I am very blessed indeed!

Sleep much better last night.  And I didn't wake up with my bandage all bloody from pulling on the tubing either.  Will be glad to get rid of this thing today.  I have any appointment at 2:30 for them to take it off and then give me a shot of whatever it is that is going to help raise my blood count.  That shot may give me bone pain, we'll see how it goes. 

Day 2 update

Went to the doctor this morning. The nurse said it looked like I pulled on the tube during the 5 minutes I actually slept last night. They replaced it and all is well now. Feel like myself this morning. No nausea or pain. Just a bit tired but that could be because I only slept for 5 minutes.

Chemo Day 2

Felt fine last night. Didn't feel much different at all until about 8:30. Then my feet and legs just felt really sensitive. Around 9 I started feeling a bit nauseated so I took one of my $48 anti-nausea pills. Didn't really seem to do too much. Took my ambien and went to bed around 9:15. by 10:30 I still wasn't asleep. What's up with that? THought this stuff was supposed to make you tired!!! By 11:30 I was feeling even more nauseated and I had Mark go downstairs and get me a second nausea pill - the cheap 33 cent kind and took one of those. 15 minutes later I was asleep. Didn't last long. Really didn't get too much sleep last night at all.

I was afraid the fanny pack was going to make me crazy, but suprisingly it didn't. I chose to wear it around my waist on my back. Figured if I set it on the nightstand I'd get up in the middle of the night to go potty and would forget to pick it up! It was loose so when I turned over it just slid back down to rest on the bed. The bad news was when I got up this morning my shirt was all bloody and there was blood all around inside my bandage. Mark took the bandage off and cleaned up the blood. It looks like it was coming out of the scar above the port. I'll call my surgeon when the office opens this morning and see if that's normal. It doesn't appear to be bleeding any more.

Feeling ok so far this morning. Started the laundry. We'll see how much of it I actually get done.

Chemo Day 1 - 10/6/08

Here I am about 10 this morning tied up to my chemo chair. Boy did I get tired of sitting there all day! So far so good. No filling sick or anything.

These are the slippers my wonderful Aunt Josie sent me. The green pair is a nice fall weight, and the light blues was are very warm for when I'm really feeling cold. They both feel really good on my feet.

The beautiful flowers are from Mark's bosses. They smell sooooo good.

This is the fun pouch I get to wear until Wednesday afternoon.

Don't know how I'll sleep but hey, it's only 2 days.

chemo

Well, this day is finally here. I have my bag packed and have to be at the oncologist's office at 9:45. Went to the outlet mall and found a pretty pillow and lightweight fleece blanket to take with me. Paid all of $5 for the pillow and $4 for the blanket! I did splurge and bought a bed table for $11 so that I have something to do my cross stitch on while I'm tied to a chair for 5 hours. If at all possible I will update you all later today and let you know how I'm feeling.

This is my new pillow and blanket for chemo.This is my doggie Sassy - otherwise known as psycho dog guarding them!

Chemo date

Just found out I will be starting chemo Monday morning at 9:45.  She said it would take about 5 hours.  Told me to bring my pillow and blanket and something for lunch as I would be there most of the day.  Doesn't that sound like fun.  Not. 

I'll let you all know how it goes....

Check-up

Went to see Dr. Dobson yesterday to have my porta cath checked. Everything looks good. It has healed nicely and he says it's ready to use. He told me they should use lidocane or something like it to numb the skin before they access the port. Someone had told me to ask about a cold spray to numb it but he didn't think that was a good idea. He brought some in and sprayed my hand and that had to sting worse than any needle prick would have! I'm glad he sprayed it on my hand and not my chest. That would not have been fun!