Amy's Boobie Blog ..............MY Cancer Story

HALF WAY THROUGH CHEMO !!!! I mentioned in my last post I was half way through my chemo treatments and for that I would celebrate. It was hard to celebrate when I felt like poo, but I've broken through now!!!  It took a whole week this time to have a full feel-good day, but today it happened.  Thank you Lord! In my next round I'll be on a schedule of every third week rather than every other.  I will also move on to a different medication.  I hope that gives me some more "me" time.  My sister-in-law Lisa still had a tough time with it but the doctor tells me that is not what the majority of people experience.  Please Please Please let him be right. Tomorrow I'm spending the day with my brothers and all our kids.  We're going to do some geocaching!  I haven't seen these guys much since the first of the year so I'm really looking forward to it.  My siblings and I are pretty close but my brothers are having a hard time knowing what to say or do aroun

STARTING TO GET OLD  :-( It took longer to pull out of the fog last time.  The headaches and the foot problems cast a shadow over what were supposed to be my good days.  I managed though. The doctor confirmed my self-diagnosis on my feet.  It was in fact caused by pooling chemo meds that caused internal tissue damage.  I really DID have blisters on the INSIDE of my feet!  Dr. Browning felt bad that he couldn't understand enough to diagnosis it himself over the phone.  He told me to just head out the front door home and he would take care of my check-out.  There would be no charge. :-)  It is an uncommon problem because not many people have such a loving husband. :-)  The pooling was caused by foot massages just after my chemo treatment.  Jeff was just trying to make me feel better but it was drawing the meds to the bottoms of my feet.  He felt terrible about it.  I stayed off my feet, kept them out of hot water or shoes, and felt remarkably better by Monday. On the way home

CHEMO #3 DAY BY DAY - 5 Monday (Day 5) through Thursday (Day 8) Monday and Tuesday I battled headaches but they seem to be lifting.  Yesterday it occurred to me that they are worse early in my chemo recovery, when I'm not eating out and drinking sodas and when I'm not in the office drinking coffee!  Duh!! I don't think it is 100% caffeine related, but I'm sure it has to do with it some.  I also don't know who this chick in in this picture, but she represents how I feel about my coffee pretty well so I decided to include her.  ha ha ha  It's been a beautiful week.  On Monday evening I had some feel-good time so Jeff and I went for a motorcycle ride and stopped by to see my friend Jill.  We got the motorcycle in November and except for the day after I haven't been able to go for a ride.  I'm so grateful the kids can stay alone for short periods.  We reminded them there were a lot of leftovers in the fridge and they knew how to use the microwave.  

CHEMO #3 DAY BY DAY - 4 Sunday --  Day 4 Early morning Up until this point my chemo sickness had been limited to fatigue, aches, and mild nausea.  This morning it was more.  Even after an anti-nausea pill I found myself kneeling in front of the toilet.  I was mad and felt defeated.   REALITY CHECK :  No matter how strong I am mentally, my body may still give out on me.  This is a defining moment.  Will I give up and feel sorry for myself, or will I choose to fight it?   It's easy to say now..fight..but it wasn't earlier today.  I've really been down about it. All day I slept through church again and all the day's sunshine.  I did managed to eat a little lunch but then went back to sleep until 5:30pm when I got up to shower.  My head hurt so bad I took a Lortab and even then it took longer than I liked to knock it out.  I've had a lot of headaches since chemo started. 6:00 Again we were blessed with dinner from friends.  This time it was the Toy family.

CHEMO #3 DAY BY DAY - 3 Saturday --  Day 3 12:00pm I slept until noon today but felt pretty good when I awoke.  Good enough to go out to Moe's for lunch with the family.  While we were there I saw an old friend from church but only waved.  I didn't have the energy to talk.  I hope he wasn't offended. It was taking everything out of me to just be out of bed.  I don't want to look like a sick cancer patient and I'm afraid that is what happens when I leave the house on chemo weekends. As soon as I got home I put my PJs back on and headed for bed.  Jeff gave me my Neulasta shot and my computer so I could update my blog.  It's almost 3:00 now and I'm ready to sleep again.  It's so pretty outside. I hate this. 6:00pm Our good friends, AmyLu and Richard Riley brought us dinner.  Based on the amount of food they brought, I'm pretty sure they think we have an extra family or two hiding somewhere in this house! LOL I was still feeling pretty bad and

CHEMO #3 DAY BY DAY - 2 Friday --  Day 2 3:30am I awoke to find that my eyes wouldn't open.  Chemo drys up mucus in your eyes, nose, and mouth.  This is the first time I really felt it in my eyes.  My eye lids were stuck to my eyeballs.  I thought I would have to wet my face but managed to open them.  Then I just kept blinking them a lot to get some moisture.  I told Jeff in the morning and he cranked up the bedroom humidifier. 10:00am Mom came over so I moved from the bedroom to the couch.  She stayed until 12:30 and made lunch.   1:00 I went back upstairs and took a 5 hour nap until Jeff came home with dinner and some artificial tears to help with my eye dryness. 6:00 I took a shower and gave in on shaving my legs. I swore after my hair started falling out I wouldn't shave again.  There had to be an upside to this, right?  Well apparently leg hair and head hair are not in sync. 8:00pm I remembered we didn't give my Neulasta shot and it is due 24 hours aft

CHEMO #3 DAY BY DAY - 1 Thursday --  Day 1 9:45am I rushed to send out a promised work email when my mother-in-law arrived to drive me. I ran downstairs and applied the wonderful numbing cream to my port and covered it with press-and-seal to allow it time to soak in before they stuck me. 10:40am I was called back for my pre-check.  They draw blood and weigh you.  I lost a couple pounds!  WooHoo!! The nurse had some issues and it was not comfortable.  I hope I get my old nurse next time. 11:00am I met with the doctor.  He said my white blood cell count was wonderful, even on the high side.  This is good news as any infection during chemo could be serious. I asked about my fatigue being more than I expected.  He confirmed that it is because I have chosen to not take steroids.  I didn't want the weight gain or insomnia, so it is a reasonable trade. 11:30am I found my seat and settled in.  Since I forgot both my phone and Kindle in the rush, I needed some reading mater

BIRTHDAY PARTY & BUSINESS TRIP The Party: This past weekend we celebrated Abby and Grace's 11th birthday with a sleepover.  I can't believe I was up to it but God gave me all the strength I needed.  It was a big success.  They played Wii and karaoke and Jeff and I even led an art class in the garage where everyone tie dyed a t-shirt! After tie dye I let Jeff escape to meet up with a friend at the local cigar lounge.  He earned it.  I stayed up until 11pm even though the last of our guests didn't fall asleep until 5am.  Sunday I squeezed in a nap and I was ready to go on Monday.  Unbelievable! Before the party I had my wig trimmed up so I could wear it and hopefully prevent the kids from being uncomfortable around their friends.  At the end of the night however, Grace pulled me aside and said, "Mom, they all know you are wearing a wig.  One girl even got close and touched it.  She said it feels different." So, in my effort to not make an issue I made

HAIR WEEK It's been a week since my last blog update.  I've been waiting around for an "event" to write about and realized that I am living the event!  It's not about a certain thing but how I manage through this and my everyday life.  So here it goes... This week my life has been about my hair. I surprised myself and have to swallow some pride.  For two months I walked around telling everyone I didn't care, and to be honest I didn't think I did.  But when it came down to it, it was much harder than I thought it would be, physically and mentally. Last Sunday I wasn't sure I was ready to be seen in the buzz cut, but then my neighbor Mary Lou, who also happens to be a salon owner, came to visit with her clippers and scissors.  She shaped it nice and made me feel a lot better about myself. I worked from the office on Tuesday and took a little time to walk around and say hello to some people I hadn't seen in a while.  It was nice catching up