Day 76 & 77 - Still isn't easy

I thought this was going to be the easier of the chemos. Hahahaha!

It's Saturday or Day 77 and I am sitting in bed and feeling achy all over. I feel like I have the flu without the nasty symptoms except for extreme body aches. And then this afternoon, what happens??? I'm puking in the toilet again. So much for the nausea and vomiting going away. I am so done with this. Also my taste is gone. Nothing tastes like it should. I don't have the "metallic" taste, it's just nothing has any taste or seasoning. So as for the nausea and vomiting, I am back taking compazine. Hopefully that will keep everything down. I do have to say that the nausea and vomiting is nothing like the previous two rounds. I just wish it hadn't come around at all.

Taxol is taxing on the body. While I don't have the "tingling" feeling, my finger tips are achy. My scalp aches. Basically everything aches. This does not bode well because tomorrow is when my body really aches from the neulasta shot. So I guess we will see.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty good. I was up and around. I was just tired from the day before that's activities, but I managed through it pretty well. I'm just not looking forward to what tomorrow brings. More nausea? More aches and pains? At least I only have three more rounds of this crap and then I am done, done, DONE!

Day 75 - Round 5: New Chemo drug Taxol

Here I am... drip, drip, drip. I have about less than hour for my Taxol drip. Three hours is really long, but not as long for Brad. Sitting in that hard visitors chair... while I have a comfy cushy one that reclines. However, I would not like to have to sit in this chair at all.

*** *** ***

Updated, I am now home. I got into a nice conversation with the couple sitting next time in my last hour of the the drip, drip, drip. We started talking about laptops. They are in the market for one and asked how much I spent on mine and what I had. They said that someone told them to get a HP. Brad and I kind of laughed at that because Brad's brother and dad had an HP that crapped out on them. I told them that they can get a Dell like mine for 549.99. They were shocked. I told them that I have 4GB of memory and it does all the stuff I like. She does more word processing and I said that it might be best to upgrade to something like Microsoft Office. I don't have it on the computer... I have what's installed. In addition, they want to Skype. I told them that I have a built in camera and it does the trick. I even showed them the pictures that I took with it and they were surprised as to how clear it is. I think I've got them hooked on a Dell. After that we started to talk about Chemo and why were were there. She first had breast cancer about 20 years ago and has recurrences since then. Makes me nervous. But she's a very upbeat woman and she's living with it. She is also dealing with lymphedema. Her whole left arm was swollen. She said back in 1992 she had a mastectomy and they took out 17 lymph nodes! 17! But that was the standard operating procedure back then. So she doesn't have any nodes to push on or get the lymphatic system going. Eva is her name. I think her husband's name is Rick. In any case, I think that with me they are going to take out half a dozen. I think that's better odds if I get lymphodema it won't be as bad as hers. Her cancer I believe has spread to between the two breasts. It was a beautiful conversation. I liked them a lot.

So back to my treatment.

I got there at 8:45a. At 9, I had my blood drawn. Then it was wait until 9:30. I got to go back into a room shortly around 9:30. Wow! On time. I got several texts... but one of them I was desperately waiting for... a text from Shellie, as she was meeting us in the infusion room. I got that text and she went and picked up some food for us... Subway... cuz I was hungry for a meatball sub. Just as I was placing my order, the Nurse Practioner came in, Sandra. We first talked about side effects from the new medication because this is the first time I was taking the taxol. Side effects include muscle and joint pain, kind of like having the flu, my hair may grow back (wowsers, cool. I have heard about this), neuropathy (where I get tingling in my extremities... this can happen at any time, but she says it normally happens with the 4th dose), finger and toe nails will be discolored (that's happening already) and skin as well (happening already). She said that my nausea should go away and I won't have it. Next on my list was post medications... she said that if I do get nausea, I could take any of my anti-nausea meds as needed. So that's all I have to do. She did say that I will be taking the dexamethasone (steroid) the night before I have taxol treatment from here on out. Sweet! Then I would get my neulasta shot 24 hours after my treatment. Okay, this is doable. Sandra said most women ask why they do the AC first... they say the taxol should be first. I laughed and said that is so wrong, it should be exactly the way it is because then one can look forward to having a good back half of chemo. She agreed. I like her.

I got out of that appointment at 10:04. I had to wait about 15 minutes to get into the infusion room. So they were running behind. I got my favorite nurse, Nicole. I like her a lot. My first order... saline drip. Then the next thing I got... 20mg of dexamethasone, 8mg of Zofran and then a 15 minute drip of pepcid. After that I got a 50mg drip of Benadryl. Ugh. Right at the beginning, Shellie came to visit us baring gifts of food (thanks Shellie!). That was awesome since I was soooo hungry. We talked about work, treatment and kids. Shellie said I looked great for just going through AC and chemo in general. Brad got a picture of us (will post later). I also got a picture of me and Jon which is a guy who is awesome and works there too. I told him earlier that I had a surprise for him... which was Shellie. They talked for awhile. It was nice because there were several people who came up to her and remembered. :) Reminder it's been nearly 4 years since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Our visit was short, but well worth it. By the time she left, I was getting dizzy and tired from the Benadryl. So I took a half hour nap while I had to wait for taxol. When I woke up, it was time for taxol. They started the drip... I waited up for about 15 minutes, felt no change and went back to sleep. I was tired from the benadryl. When I woke up, I had about an hour and a half left. I went pee and that's when I got a new chemo neighbor. (see above for that) Chemo was finally done shortly before 3p. I was so happy to get out of there. That was a long day. My neulasta shot is tomorrow at 4p. Sweet night.

Got home and mom had dinner cooking in the crockpot. It is so nice not having to worry about dinner. Chicken and artichokes. It was yummy. After dinner, we all did our job with getting the kids in the bath and ready for bed. Now it's quiet and I am able to update the blog.

Brad is now running out to auto repair shop, because my car was starting to shake and shimmy on the way to our appointment. After a call to Chris, they think it has something to do with fuel in my gas take. This stuff that Brad is getting is supposed to dry up the water in the tank. If it's not that, it could be the fuel injector. We shall see.

Tomorrow, I will be going to work. That's something Eva and I talked about. She said that work helps her move on with her life. I said that is the same thing I feel. I don't sit at home and wallow to the fact I am sick. We also discussed in brief about our mortality. It was nice to talk to another person about breast cancer and other stuff. They were very sensitive and knew exactly what to say.

I'll keep you posted with what sort of side effects I have this weekend. Pray and keep your fingers crossed that I won't have the nasties. Oh yes, I forgot, Sandra said that the benadryl medication... they can decrease that dosage if they find I am not having an allergic reaction. That would be good. Less time in the infusion room!

I'm tired now and want to go to bed. Till tomorrow...

and I'll post pictures when I get them uploaded.

Day 74 - Round 5: Taxol chemo prep...

Nothing much new on day 72 and 73, hence no post.

Definitely at the halfway mark for my chemo treatment. Tonight is the eve of the new stuff. Tomorrow I go in to get my dose of taxol. It should be an interesting day. Tonight I have to take a dose of dexamethasone. My nurse called me to remind me. So I asked her why I needed to take the dex. Angie said that it's a rare occurence of people getting an allergic reaction but along with the dex and a dose of benadryl, it will ward off any allergic reaction. Interesting. Then I asked her what will happen tomorrow. She said that I will get my dose of zofran, dexamethasone, zantac and benadryl. The zofran and the dex are for anti-nausea and the zantac and benadryl are for allergic reaction. I won't get emend for anti-nausea! Hooray, I guess they are fairly confident that I won't be nauseous. So tomorrow I will be tired during treatment. I find that benadryl makes me loopy. This should be an interesting day. She guesstimates that if all goes according to plan I will be in the infusion room for about 3 1/2 hours. That's not too bad. Now I know that there's no guarantees because there are always delays. But hopefully all will go according to plan. I won't be seeing Dr. Luoh tomorrow. Instead I will be seeing Sandra who is Dr. Luoh's counterpart. Along with being one of the first people in the building, maybe there won't be such a delay. One can only hope. Angie said I'll most likely be out of the building at 2:30p! Yay, before rush hour commute.

My friend Shellie also will be stopping by. She wanted to see me and I told her that I will most likely be there all day long. She offered to bring lunch. Nice. Maybe I can con her into getting Subway because I am jonesing for a meatball sub with lettuce, tomato and bell peppers. It will nice to have visitors.

My mom is in town now. Picked her up at the airport last night and she'll be here for the next week. She is here to watch the girls. Becky is on spring break and was planning to be out of town and it was a great excuse for her to come out. So far the girls are loving having her here. :-)

Hats off, literally, to Monty a.k.a. Jen! I got a beautiful hat in the mail from her today. It's gorgeous and it fits perfectly. Thanks for spoiling me. It was funny because I was just thinking that I needed some new hats. And my wish came true.

Day 71 - Think Pink!

Phew! My dawgs are tired. It's been a busy busy busy - did I mention busy - day.

Brad went to work and of course as soon as he left I was up. Since the kids were sleeping I opened up my work laptop and worked a little from home. Got a little caught up. There wasn't much to catch up on... but I figured I would do a little work. Then I even got a shower in before the kids woke up. By the time I was done with my shower, both kids were up.

Next on the agenda - breakfast. I decided I would make pancakes since my mom is coming into town for the week. It would give her and the kids something else to eat while we were at work or not at home. I made Mickey Mouse pancakes! The rest of the flap jacks were normal dollar sized ones. The fresh ones were the MM sized. I've now got a dozen pancakes sitting in the freezer ready to be reheated in the microwave! And no, Brad, you have not become obsolete. Your pancakes are WAY better than mine.

By this time it was around 10a and I had the notion of cooking for more than just us. I threw some chicken in the crockpot and poured some homemade enchilada sauce on it and set it for several hours. Then I called Jack and Nancy to see if they would like to join me and the girls for dinner of chicken enchiladas. They said yes! Following that it was off to the grocery store because I needed to pick up a few things for the enchiladas. But before heading out... it was get the girls ready for the day.

Got back from the store and my friend Christine came over with her two boys, Andrew and Jeremy. Christine, if you remember was the one who cut all my hair off. She came to shave my head. It was so nice to be "pampered". Andrew and Jeremy came and showed off their pink ribbon socks... and Jeremy showed me his awesome pink ribbon Nike high top shoes for basketball. That was sooo ridiculously cool. The boys watched the girls while I got my head done. Elaina wasn't too sure about Christine with the razor. She came over to watch her. Then she wanted up on my lap. She watched Christine like a hawk. It was too cute.

As soon as they left... it was time for lunch. Grilled cheese for Amelia and me... peanut butter sandwich for Elaina. Elaina nearly fell asleep in her high chair. About 45 minutes later I put Amelia down. All through the day I was cleaning the house - dusting here, dusting there and straightening up the bathrooms for mom's upcoming visit as well as doing the laundry and changing our sheets on the bed. Finally Amelia was down and I got to sit down and go through a box of clothes that I got for Amelia. I got a little "online" time before Elaina woke up from her nap.



By now it was 3p and it was time for me to start making the dinner. I shredded the chicken, added the chopped onion, cheese and jalepenos. Then I rolled the enchiladas and set them for later. The next thing I knew it was time for Jack and Nancy to be here! They brought a salad and I added to the enchiladas rice and refried beans. We had the trimmings of guacamole and sour cream. Dinner was so good. It was nice to have company. Jack and Nancy left at 6:30p and then it was time to get the girls ready for bed. Brad got home and then it was putting them to bed. I finally got done and put my feet up on the coffee table at 8:15p.

Did I mention that I did 6 loads of laundry today too? I folded the clothes... even Brad's. So I think I am going to hit the hay now. Today was a great day. Feeling good and full of energy. Now it's another work week. I wonder what Thursday is going to hold for me....

Day 70

I love these weekends when I am not sick. I get so much done.

This morning after breakfast, the family and I went to Costco. Got a few boxes of diapers, some chicken, ground beef without "pink slime" and some other things. After we went to the grocery store because we figured we didn't have enough food afterall. Actually we got some of the items that are not in Costco. Next it was home. We put away all the groceries and put the girls to sleep for their naps. After a little lunch and some TV watching and a bit of cleaning, I fell asleep in the big over sized chair. Ahh, such is life.

We had an early dinner and decided to take the girls out. There was a spring break carnival going on at the local high school. We took them to ride the rides. I can't believe how much it is for rides. One ticket cost $3.50 or if you buy 10, it's $30. I bought 10 tickets. Thank goodness all the rides took just one ticket. Our first ride was the Berry-go-round. Think tea cups at Disneyland but in big strawberries. Elaina loved it... but it took Amelia nearly the whole ride to get into it. Next on the list, the merry-go-round. Elaina and Brad went on that ride together. She had a great time on it. Then Amelia wanted to go in the Fun house. She loved the mirrors on the second floor. Our last ride was the Ferris Wheel. Ewww, I don't like that as I don't like the heights. But again, Elaina loved that one. It was so nice to take advantage of the wonderful weather and the fact that I am feeling well enough to get out of the house and do things.

When I got home, I got the mail. I wish I hadn't. I got two more bills from OHSU. They are totalling close to $1000. However, I did get a refund check in the mail from OHSU anesthesiologst. I overpaid by $45! Nice.

When we got home, I got to put Amelia to bed. Following the story, she asked me if I was feeling better. I told her that I am feeling better, but Mommy is still sick. I told her that the medicine I'm getting is making her sickness and disease go away. I said that soon I will be going to the doctor and they will take all the nasty disease away (meaning surgery). She wanted to go and see the disease. I had to laugh. I told her that I wouldn't even be able to see it. Mommy would be asleep when they take all the disease away. I told her she could visit me at the hospital. She seemed satisfied. God bless her! I try to answer her questions in the best and most simple way.

Now I am sitting here watching Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. Interesting is all I can say so far.

Day 69 - A nice day to play

Friday at last!

Today was a great day. Well, a great day for the sake of feeling good. It was a lame day at work. I have been eating well, been sleeping well and have been overall really good.

I went to work at 4a. Worked hard for my $$. I got out of work at 1.30p and came home. When I got home the kids were asleep so I got some me time to relax and do nothing. Then the kids were up and it was back at it.

The weather was nice. So we took the kids outside to play. We spent about an hour and a half playing with chalk, blowing bubbles, riding in a wagon, riding the trike, pushing the lawn mower around on the driveway and just running around. The girls had a great time. The neighbors were out. Got to talk with our neighbor Linda. I found out that she had breast cancer as well. We discussed that cancer is more prevalent because of environmental reasons. She believes it could be because of processed foods. I don't know. It could be a good hypothesis. It could be that we are getting better at looking for symptoms and signs. There are better tests out there that can predict these things. Who knows.

I was a might tired so I fell asleep on the couch at around 8p.

I hope that I can get more of these days with the new chemo coming. I do know that fatigue is more a side effect. LIke I have told people, I can deal with fatigue better than I can deal with the nausea and vomiting.

Day 68 - Snow!

I woke up to SNOW! It's spring and it's nearly April and it's still snowing. This morning there was almost an inch on the ground. And there were big giant flakes. I'm not complaining. It was nice to see it.

Today was a much better day. I didn't take any medication and I didn't throw up. I also started drinking water again without feeling nauseous. I'm feeling better now. I worked a full day, ate well and don't have any complaints today. After work Brad and I did get our taxes done. We don't have to owe... or what we do owe is far less than what we're getting back. So it was a good day. :)

We went out shopping for Easter stuff for the girls.

Not really much to say. So, I will just conclude today's entry. Until next time!