Chemo #6, The last of the hard ones!

After the most amazing family vacation I came home to have my last and final hard chemo! I'm so grateful to have had a vacation! We spent a week up in Jackson Hole hiking, playing in Jenny Lake, String Lake, going to a rodeo, riding Grandpa's motorcycle, canoeing at Colter Bay and canoeing from the Jackson Lake dam down to Cattleman's Bridge. The food we had was so yummy! The cousin and family time was wonderful! This was a much needed get away from reality and I'm so happy for the memories that were created!

Today amazing husband took the day off to be with me and drive me to chemo! I'm love having him with me! He is my ROCK!
My appointment was at 9am. I was taken back to have my port accessed pretty quick. I had a nurse I'd never seen do the access and it didn't go to well. It as pretty uncomfortable and then the blood wouldn't flow. She tried flushing it with saline and heparin, but it didn't work. She ended up having me lay on my back with my right arm behind my head. I made coughing sound while she flicked a syringe trying to unplug my port. I eventually started laughing because I sounded so silly fake coughing and that got my blood to flow. And to top it off my access needle was placed crooked. :(

My chemo buddies today were two of my great friends. My husband stayed for a while and then went home to get my 3 youngest kids so they could be there for the bell ringing! Ringing the bell was everything I hoped it would be! It was quite an emotional experience! I cried! I know I'm not done, but to be done with this part of chemo is so exciting! I'm ready to move on!

My MRI was scheduled for August 8th at 4:30pm. I'm going to call my family Dr. to get a prescription to 'chill' me out for this appointment. This is the test I live the VERY LEAST!! They will do a contrast IV and I will get to lay on my face for 45 minutes. Anyone want to take my place and do this for me?!

My herceptin chemo is August 15th and we will be discussing my MRI results. The herceptin treatment will much faster than the chemo I've been receiving. With the port access, visit with the Dr. and the drug administration it should only be an hour to hour and a half. Bradley will be my buddy at this appointment. He loves the cancer center! :)

After meeting with the surgeon and plastic surgeon earlier this month we set a tentative date for surgery of Sept 4th. This could be a one night stay in the hospital, but depending on my pain level it could be a two night stay. I am currently leaning towards a double mastectomy, but I'm waiting for the peace of mind that this is the right decision.

I can't say enough how much your love and support mean to me and my family! We couldn't do this without your love, service and prayers! It's true what they say, you don't know how many friends you have until you go through something hard! I hope that I am able to give something back to you as you watch me travel this path. And I look forward to the day I can pay it forward to someone else in need!

July 7, 2014

I made an appointment to meet with my surgeon. My husband and I will meet with her this Wednesday to go over my options and choices. I'm really looking forward to this meeting as I'm hoping to gain some peace of mind as well as become more educated so I can understand what's going to take place. I most likely will have to meet with her again after the MRI to go over it's results and confirm the plan of action, but I'm ok with that.

I am meeting with a fellow breast cancer survivor this week who has experienced surgery and just started radiation. I hope to gain from her experience some insight as to what I may experience as well. Strange as it may sound I'm looking forward to this meeting and our conversation.

Thank you for continuing to pray for me and my family! Thank you for loving and serving us! There is not a night that goes by that we don't pray for those people who are blessing our family! We are so grateful! There are times that I feel your love so strongly that I get emotional and cry. Your service strengthens my spirit and gives me strength to fight on!

Chemo #5

A big thank you to my sister-in-law for driving me to my chemo appointment!
Today’s appointment was pretty smooth. I was in and out by 2:30pm. My port access was done by a student, and was not too painful, but didn’t feel so great either. I’ve done my good deed for the year now. A students gotta learn somehow…
Today was the last time I will see my current Dr. He’s retiring at the end of the month. I am so happy to have had him as my Dr. What an amazing doctor he is! I met my new Dr., however I will only see him after I have my next echo cardiogram in 3 months. For my next nadir and chemo I will see the P.A. I’ve seen him for most of my nadir appointments and have really liked him. The reason I’ll being seeing the P.A. and not my doctor has to do with the volume of patients my doctor retiring had, there were so many they had to share patients around. For the ‘important’ stuff I’ll see the new Dr. and for the stuff the P.A.  can do he’ll do. I’m cool with that. 

*After my next, and LAST hard chemo I will make an appointment for a consultation with the radiologist. This is just an appointment to talk about radiation and what they are going to do and what I can expect. Within 2 weeks of my LAST and FINAL hard chemo I need to have an MRI done to see what’s going on in my breasts, and then within a  few days of the MRI I need to see my surgeon and discuss surgery. My oncologist thinks I’m a candidate for a lumpectomy because I’ve had such good response to chemo. He said to talk to the surgeon and get her feelings, this cancer was quite involved and big and she may not be comfortable doing a lumpectomy. To be honest I’m nervous doing a lumpectomy. I have a 12% change of getting breast cancer again whether I do a single or double mastectomy. Interesting that the percentage doesn’t change by doing a double mastectomy.
 *The plan is still to do the herceptin treatment 3 weeks after my 6th chemo and do surgery the following week. BUT, I need to see when the surgeon is available, so that’s just my tentative schedule. For my Herceptin treatments I will not need to see the doctor, but I will need to have a blood draw. I will also not have a nadir appointment. After my 9th treatment (My 3rd only Herceptin treatment) I will do another echo cardiogram and at my next herceptin treatment I’ll see my Dr.
*After surgery I will be given 3-4 weeks of healing time before radiation begins. They will be radiating the whole breast and it will be penetrating deep enough to get my rib wall and everything in between. The side effects of radiation begin to be uncomfortable around the 3rd or 4th week.

 My chemo buddies today were: My sister in law , my good friend,  and 3 of my kids. 2 of my kids only came to see the therapy dog Trent. Turns out my youngest daughter is quite the dog whisperer! Trent loved her and plopped himself on the floor for her to rub his belly, this lasted for quite a while. It was fun playing games and visiting. My husband joined us at lunch time and brought me the best Jimmy Johns sandwich! Thanks honey!! My good friend brought me a yummy chocolate raspberry cupcake which I ate after chemo. It was delicious!  

One of the highlights from today’s chemo was watching my friend Merna ring the bell! It seriously made me emotional! Before she rang the bell she could see I was almost done with my chemo so she waited. She came and held my hand while I received my nuelasta shot, which I think is the most painful part of chemo!! 

Thank you to those who have surprised me with flowers! To say thank you doesn’t feel like enough! I love the support, the encouragement,and your generosity! I love the text messages, the emails and phone calls! You are all the medicine I need to get through this! Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I love you all!

Chemo #4

These chemo appointments don't get easier! Knowing what to expect is nice, but oh boy do I get nervous!! Today's appointment was no exception. I'm so thankful for the text messages and emails of encouragement I received this morning! They were just what I needed!
Today my chemo buddies were: my Dad and my oldest daughter.
My port access was not painful at all! Happy, happy, happy!
I had my daughter come with me in the exam room so she could meet my Dr. and hear the Dr. discuss all my MANY questions. She said she liked him a lot! I'll see him one more time on the 26th and then he retires on the 27th. At my next appointment I'll find out who my new Dr. is and meet him if he's in the office.
Now for a run down of my questions and the Dr.'s answers:
Me: How long will I have my port?
Dr.: I see no need for you to keep it once your don't with the Herceptin chemo next year in March. So plan on it being removed once I'm done with that. (I like this answer!)
Me: Will I have the drug Emend as part of my chemo today?
Dr.: Yes. He was happy to hear my nausea wasn't as severe this last time.
Me: Are my odds increased to have cancer again because I've had cancer before.
Dr.: There is always that risk. Any new cancer, wherever it is in my body will be classified as Breast cancer because I had that type to begin with and any new cancer if most likely cells left behind that have metastasized. (I don't like this answer. I'd like to think I'm done with cancer for the REST of MY LIFE!)
Me: Who is my new Dr. and when will I meet him/her?
Dr.: I will see my current Dr. one last time on the 26th and he'll tell me then who the new Dr. is and if he's in the office I'll meet him.
Me: When do I need to call my Surgeon to discuss my surgery?
Dr.: Following the last appointment is soon enough. (My Dr. mentioned that because my tumor is gone I may be a candidate for just a lumpectomy. My surgeon is an advocate for complete mastectomies though. Doing a lumpectomy AND radiotion will achieve the same success rate at doing a mastectomy)(This leaves me feeling like I'm not sure what I'm going to do. My fear of having cancer again is HUGE!)
I'd love your prayers specifically on this matter to help me make this decision. It's a big one and one there scares me a lot!!

Anticipating Chemo...

Today I've had a lot of nervous energy in anticipation for my next chemo. It's hard to know what to expect when the side effects have been different after each chemo. I'd like to think it'll not be as hard as my first chemo. It's hard not knowing. This nervous energy is a lot like nesting when your pregnant, I'll be doing lots of cleaning and errand running :)

Hope you are all having a great Monday!

Chemo #3

I'm half way done! Hurray!
Had a great appointment with the Dr. He is retiring in June so the next chemo will be my last appointment with him.
Here's what was discussed today:
-The lump is still gone. There is NO sign of it at all! The chemo is still working. With that being said the Dr. sees no need to do an MRI. The fact that he can't find it means the chemo is doing its job. If there is any cancer lurking it'll continue to be killed by chemo and then removed at surgery. No MRI makes me uber happy! I hate MRI's.
-A new drug will be added to me chemo today. It's called emend, and will help with nausea. I was only told it stays in my body for 72 hours. We'll see how well it works.
-My blood count shows my platelets went up from 119 to 135, but are still lower than the low point they want me at. My red blood count, hgb and hematocrit are all still low too. My white blood count is still within normal.
-Before my 5th treatment (June 26th) I need to have an echo cardiogram to make sure my heart is still strong and not too stressed out. I'll schedule that for the beginning of the week to make sure the results are back in time for chemo.
-I need to keep up on moisturizing my nose after chemo to help with nose bleeds. I seem to only get them for about 10-12 days after chemo. The worry is that my platelets are low and they don't want me to not be able to control the bleeding. If it were to get bad enough they'd send me to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. I'd like to avoid that so I'll be diligent in vaselining my nose and using my humidifier.
-At my last chemo (July 25th), after I ring the chemo bell my doctor will walk me over to radiology to set me up as a patient. Radiation will begin about 3 weeks after surgery.
-Surgery will happen about 2-3 weeks after my last chemo, but my doctor wants to make sure I receive my hormone chemo before I have surgery so I won't have to come into chemo a few days post surgery with a hurting boob. With that being said I'll most like have my hormone chemo 3 weeks after my July chemo and have surgery the following week.


My chemo buddies today were, my dad (which reads- MY HERO!), one of my Mom's caregivers, my Aunt and my oldest son. Our time was spent playing games, eating suck on candies, visiting, and having my son get us free snacks from the kitchen area in the chemo room. My son loved meeting Trent the Therapy Dog! He loved being there and said it was fun. Fun must be relative to him. I don't view chemo as fun, but having good company makes it more fun!

Today I began paying off all the medical bills. I've hit my out of pocket maximum, which was reached quickly. Thank goodness for insurance!!

And because I haven't said anything, not because I've forgotten! I want to thank all those who came and supported me at the Race for the Cure! I had a total of 37 team member. 36 of them came out and walked! It was a day I'll never forget! And it's something I'll be doing again next year!

And last, I have to remind all of you of how much I love you! You are all so great at reminding me I'm loved and now it's my turn to tell you! I am blessed by your prayers, your thoughts and your outreaching on my families behalf! I pray that you will be blessed for your love and service!

Chemo #2

I was able to use my numbing jelly this morning. It seemed to help as this port access was the least painful.
Before chemo I saw the Dr. He did a breast exam and couldn't even find a lump. AT ALL!! That means this chemo garbage is doing its job! We talked about menopause, and it looks like having sporadic periods or none at all is normal. We discussed management for nausea this go around. I'm going to take my pill the in the morning before I start having symptoms to see if that helps me get through the day a little better. I still need to exersize each day despite my not feeling good. This can be really hard when I'm feeling my worst, but I see its advantages so I'll make myself do it! I gave a urine sample and it came back negative for a bladder infection, which means I was most likely passing a kidney stone last night. This morning I was already over it. They are going to culture out the urine just to be safe, but most likely it'll be negative still.
My friend  joined me for my treatment today to photograph all the fun, and not so fun. We waited for almost 30 minutes before I was called back into the chemo room. By then there were quite a few people in the room. It has about 18 chairs and I'd say they were a little more than half in use. My sister-in-law joined us as well and brought with her the most amazing treat! Homemade kettle corn! We played a game and gobbled down our delicious popcorn. My treatment began around 11:20 and I was done by 2:30.My friend from my 1st treatment was there and it was fun to see her and give her a big hug. Up to this point I still had no idea what her name was or what cancer she was battling. All I know is we connected the first time we met. She's one chemo ahead of me so it's nice to hear how she's handling it so I know what to expect. She is probably in her late 60's, early 70's, so her experience and mine may vary a little because I've got youth and great health on my side. I'm not exactly sure what drew her to me, but she's just one of those people I can tell is someone special. I hope to get know her better. I did learn today that her cancer is lymphoma, inoperable, and she only has to have 6 chemo treatments, and will have a 90% success rate. That's great news!
Tonight my husbnad and I were able to take the boys to their Literacy Night. It made me so happy being back in the Elementary school! I truly miss volunteering in the classroom and the teachers I worked with. Seeing other Mom's and people I know was great too!
My plan? I planning on feeling good tomorrow. I'll do whatever comes to mind, and have no set chores. If all goes like it did last time I'll start feeling crumby tomorrow night around bedtime. However I've heard the 2nd treatment isn't as hard. Let's hope.
As for updates? Once the yucky part hits the updates will be given by my other co-authors.
I do have a great setup for next week with people coming in to help feed me during the day while my hubby and kids are at work and school. I'm excited to see if that's helpful. I know so many of you want to do 'something', so this should give people that opportunity.
Feel free to send me a text. Talking on the phone is too hard when I'm battling the worst of it, so don't be offended if you call and I don't answer.
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it! Thank you for your love and support! I could not do this without it! Your prayers and concern are felt! I continue to be amazed by how many people have reached out to me. I am truly humbled and grateful! Thank you!