Chemo round 6 12/29/08

Last chemo of the year. Did not want to go. But as my Dear Hubby said it's going to make me better. Was pretty nauseated last night. that was fun. ginger ale and nausea pills helped.

I have also discovered that my hair has not grown at all since before Thanksgiving. I dyed my hair the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I still do not have any roots growing out. But on the other hand it's not falling out any more either. yet. The good news is I shaved my legs a week ago and they are as smooth as ever. There are some good sides to this :)

Had a wonderful Christmas in Tampa, FL. with my sister and family. Now we're talking about going to the great white north (Cleveland, OH) for new years. Brrrrr. Was 82 in Tampa. Don't even want to think about what it's going to be like in cleve.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and may your New Year be all that you want it to be.

Dr. visit 12-8-08

Seems like my hair loss has slowed down considerably. For the moment at least. Probably just until my next treatment. That's ok :)

Went to see my oncologist yesterday. My CEA has dropped from 99 down to 35! woohoo! (Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a protein found in many types of cells but associated with tumors) For a "normal person" should be less then 3. Mine is 35. But it's dropped considerably. That means the treatment is working.

Also, they still don't have the luecovorin for my next treatment on Monday, but they do have it in pill form. So before I go to chemo I have to take 8 pills. I'll get them tomorrow and find out then how big they are.

I also have a cold. yuck :( Dr. Dunder put me on antibiotics just as a precaution because if I get strep throat or a bacterial infection he said with the poisons I have running through my body I could get very sick very fast. I'll pass on that one. Sneezing 24 hours a day is bad enough.

Other than that I am feeling really good. looking forward to my open house this Saturday night! Woohoo! Our 4th annual Christmas Open House! Hope to see all of you there!

Can't believe how much hair I lost in the shower today. At this rate I won't have any hair left by this time next week. The surprising part is it hurts to touch my head. I can't believe how sensitive it is. But is sure beats not being able to drink anything cold, or touch anything cold, and the pain in my throat. I'll take the hair loss over neuropathy any day. It's still a weird feeling to know that my hair is all falling out....someone is going to have to show me how to tie a scarf over my head! I'll have to find a pretty Christmas scarf to wear to the Christmas party next week. At this point expect for his bosses, no one Mark works with knows I have cancer. I think they'll figure it out next Thursday when I don't have any hair.....

But maybe it won't all fall out. Maybe it'll stop. and Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow 50 lbs thinner...I think not :)

I'll keep you posted....

Haircut

Here's the new haircut. In the last couple of days it's been coming out and I decided it wouldn't be as traumatic if it was short.

Never a dull moment.

Walked into my kitchen this morning and my shirt looked wet and when I looked down it was covered in blood. Wasn't that fun. I pulled up my shirt and blood started dripping all over my kitchen floor. Somehow the connection between my chemo pump and my porta cath came undone. I paniced for about 2 seconds before it occurred to me that I need to put the clamp on so I would quit bleeding.

The white part is what came unscrewed. The yellow thing is the clamp to stop the blood from coming out.

Thanksgiving

My neice Lauren. My awesome hubby Mark in the background.

This is Lily.

It was a great Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed having my family here.

chemo round 4 day 2 12/3/08

Not feeling too bad this morning. Was really queasy last night. Took a mild nausea pill, that just made me queasier. So I took one of my heavy duty nausea pill and got really nauseaus. What's up with that? So I took a sleeping pill...that didn't help my stomach any either. But it did put me to sleep. Didn't sleep very well. Good thing I had ambien to help me sleep or I probably wouldn't have slept at all. Good news is I woke up feeling much better this morning.

The other wonderful news is my hair is starting to fall out. Not in clumps, just thinning. If I run my hands through my hair I get many many strands come out. So I'm going today and getting it cut short so at least I have little strands of hair everywhere, not big long ones. I'll try to remember to post a picture later after it's done.

And to all my friends that I love at Love, INC - I'm hoping to come in and work with you all one day next week if you need some help!

I love you all. Thank you for your continuted prayers. And please pray for my husband Mark. I'm sure that this is a lot harder on him than he lets on.

chemo 4 - different again

found out that the chemo drug Leucovorin they give me that is supposed to make the 5fu (the main chemo drug) work better is on national back order.  So they were going to try to get another newer drug in place of it.  Come to find out that is on back order too.  My onc said he wanted me to have chemo anyway....better to have the 5fu, Camptosar and Avastin than nothing.  So I go at noon today for my 4th treatment. 

Sitting here last night and playing with my hair I suddenly realized that there were an awful lot of strands in my fingers.  sigh.  So it's starting.  Who knows how much of it will go.  So I've decided that either today or tomorrow I am going to go get it cut short.  sigh.  Wonder if it will grow as fast after this is all over as it does now?  Have to wait and see I guess.  Hair is such a minor thing compared to death. 

I'll keep you all posted on how I'm feeling this week.

Hugs,
Millie