Moms are the BEST!!

My mom left on Sunday and it just hasn't been the same around here. She took care of everything while she was here. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry and just took great care of me. I wish we lived closer together. Mike was able to go on a backpack trip which he enjoyed even if he did come home with monster blisters. Here's a picture from his trip.



Chemo round #4 went well. I wasn't sick and didn't have the heartburn issue I had the time before. I am 1/3 of the way through treatments although at times I feel like this will never end. Just last night Mike came home from work and I told him I was fragile and then I had a little meltdown. He did his best to comfort me and just give me a little extra love. I am always on the go and so not feeling well is getting old and I hate feeling this way. At the doctor's office they have pins that say "Cancer Sucks!!" I feel like that most days. I know that I have to go through this and that I will get through it but some days it just seems like too much to deal with. At least I'm starting to feel better and I'll have a good week before it starts again. My sister Alison is coming for the next treatment since Mike will be on a business trip. It will be great to have her here even if we will just be hanging around at home.

I'm still here

All I have to say is this is going to be a LONG process. 3 down, 9 to go. Last Tuesday I met with the doctor and it just confirmed all my feelings that I am in good hands. So as for the nausea, he gave me the rundown on what I am getting. When I go to chemo they give me some anti-nausea medicine through the IV. He told me that this is like Super-Zofran and lasts about 4-5 days. So instead of giving me more Zofran, he gave me a drug called Emend which is 3 pills and works like a charm. It is about $100 a pill which luckily our insurance covers. I didn't have any nausea this time at all. In fact I felt pretty good up until Thursday night when I crashed at about 8 p.m. The fatigue is pretty intense and is starting to get worse which is expected. Friday and Saturday I didn't have any energy to do anything. Sunday was a little better and today I am still not bouncing back as quickly as I have before. All I can say is that I can handle the fatigue a lot better than the nausea.

I have all kinds of new little symptoms now to ask the doctor about next time. I get serious heartburn 3-6 days after chemo that wakes me up at night. I've been downing Tums, Maalox, warm milk...anyone have any other ideas? My glands in my neck have also been sore and I'm not sure what that is about. Maybe my lymph nodes are working double time to replace the white blood cells and that is why they are sore. So just some new things to ask at the next treatment.

My mom will be here in a week and it will be nice to have her here. Poor Mike has lost 10 pounds since this started because I just don't cook like I used to. He forgets to eat and so I'm sure he'll be glad to have my mom here although with his picky eating, she gets a little stressed about what to make him.

Thanks to all for your continued love, support and prayers. I feel it every day and am so greatful to have such an awesome support system.

Back to Life

Well, the 2nd round of chemo did not go as well.

It all started on Sunday when I had to fly out to San Francisco for a meeting on Monday morning. I went to my meeting on Monday and my flight home was "supposed" to leave at 8:30 p.m. The plane was at the gate but the flight crew was stuck in Las Vegas so we didn't leave SF till 11 p.m. PT. I got home and in bed at 3 a.m. I then had to get up early to go to chemo in the morning. Not a good way to start things off. I was pretty much sick (nausea) from Tuesday to Saturday.

I think I got a little dehydrated too which didn't make me feel any better. I can't drink anything cold because it feels like razor blades in my throat. There's only so much luke warm water a person can take. I did go buy some Propel for this next round and will just keep it at room temperature. I kept telling Mike, "I am done". I just don't see how I'm going to get through 10 more rounds of this. I have a new appreciation for all of you who have gone through morning sickness. I only had to endure it for a week, I can't imagine many weeks in a row.

I will get to meet with my oncologist this next chemo round. (I haven't seen him since my initial consultation.) I'm hoping that perhaps he can prescribe some other anti-nausea medicine that doesn't wipe me out and really works. I've heard from a number of people that Zofran is the wonder drug for nausea.

I am just looking forward to a great week of feeling good and to help me forget how bad it was last week.