…so is my life these days.  It’s been an eventful few days.  I went to the doctor yesterday for my routine weekly appointment.  This is when they will check my white blood cell count and go over any issues.  I had my blood drawn and then discussed all the throwing up issues with my wonderful doc, Dr. Rinn.  She said throwing up was NOT acceptable and they’d get me all fixed up.  But before that we discovered I had my first mouth sore (ewwww – really it’s just a canker sore) and thrush – which is another gross thing that happens on your tongue.  Cancer is gross.  Oh, and unfortunately my white blood cell count was at 1.2.  that’s low, real low.

Dr. Rinn decided to hook me up to an IV with anti-nausea meds and a saline drip (I was dehydrated too).  Unfortunately the chemo area was all filled up  with people trying to jam their treatments in before the 3 day weekend.  So that meant I had to go over to the hospital to get the IV drip.  Long story short…my doctor appointment was at 3pm and I was finally getting my IV drip at 7:45pm.  Uh, yeah. But the BEST part…and what made all that waiting totally fine is my doc gave me a prescription for Marinol.  Now for you conservatives out there (yeah, that’s you Mom & Dad) – cover your eyes.  Marinol is marijuana in pill form.  And it’s a LIFESAVER for when you’re nauseated.  I took one of those lovely little pills and was not nauseated for the first time in 4 days. Not surprisingly, in my liberal ways, I’m all for legalizing marijuana and this just gives it more meaning for me.

Okay, so I’ll climb off my soap box now to say today is a totally different day.  I feel like myself again.  It’s heaven.  My stomach is still a little weak, I won’t be scarfing down a burger or anything, but it’s SO much better than it’s been.  So we have a new plan for treatment.  I’ll get chemo on Thursday, and then on the following Tuesday I’ll go in for a saline/meds drip.  That should take me through to my next chemo treatment without another week like this one.

And for the spa part…I finally used the gift certificate my wonderful mom-in-law got me and got an 1.5 hour massage at Habitude this morning.  HEAVEN! So right now I’m relaxed and not queasy (and no, I haven’t even had a marinol today).  “Everything’s coming up rooooooooses!!”

Have a wonderful, fun, relaxing 4th weekend and hug your friends and family a whole bunch.  xoxo

I was trying to think of all the funny words for vomiting, which unfortunately is what I spent last night doing. I was so sure I would get to skip barfing due to the awesome anti-nausea pills they have now. But I must be doing something wrong because, oh Lordy, I have been sick the past two days. Im SURE I’ll feel better by tomorrow. Luckily I’ve been able to just relax yesterday and today. And Colleen is picking up Desmond, so that’s a huge help. But you know what…I’m pissed I feel so sick. Damn cancer. I have a doc appt tomorrow so I’ll ask for advice.

Sorry for the dry post…but figured I have to keep this blog current with the good as well as the shitty. Love to all!

My lunch today…pasta and this delicious salad of mango, cukes, kiwi and bell peps. Take that, cancer cells!!

Okay, okay…I surrender. I MAY have been overdoing it just a tad in the past few days. Most of you know that it is very hard for me to truly sit back and take it easy. I’ve always been proud of how quickly I can recover from surgeries, so I think I let myself get a tad cocky about this chemo business. And now a little sickness has sneaked in to put me in my place. Nothing major, just a cold. But when your immune system is compromised with low white blood cell counts, you have to take it a little bit more seriously. So I am laying LOW today. Truly. I’m going to have a fabulous couch surfing day full of magazines, reality TV, movies and naps.

I just finished watching Million Dollar Decorators on Bravo. Love it! It’s ridiculously over the top and perfect for a “sick” day. I’m stocking up on a bunch of other Bravo reality shows. I may do some retail therapy too – thanks to a new gift cert from Anthropology (thank you Kim McC!). So a reminder that I’m not invincible, but luckily today lends itself to a ton of relaxing.

Okay, back to the TV. As always, thank you for reading along and sharing the journey. xo

Well, the effects of the chemo are settling in. I’m feeling pretty exhausted and my back is aching something fierce (that’s from the nulestra shot).  But I’ve been getting in some awesome power naps that help tremendously and slept 10 hours last night.  So all in all, it’s not too bad.

I’ve received some incredible treats in the last few days from friends and family.  Joseph, my chef friend in Boston, handmade some pasta and sauces and shipped them to me. That will be my delectable dinner tonight.  Holly R. brought over the mother of gift bags….homemade chicken noodle soup, mango salad, sorbet, bread, pancakes, candle, robe, toys for Desmond. Wow!  and Holly G. sent me cupcakes, flowers and wine last night via amazon fresh. Yeah!

My Aunt Bonnie from South Carolina (who is a breast cancer survivor) and my Uncle Leo, my cousin Shea and a nice neighbor of theirs sent me a box of presents that I was supposed to open one day at a time.  But I cheated and opened most of them today. 😉  There were great cancer survival things such as a warm hat for my soon-to-be bald hat, hush puppy mix to bring back my Southern routes, a crystal angel, candles and more.  It was a nice hug from “home”.

As always, I so appreciate all your kind emails and FB posts, etc.  It means the world to me.  And we’re one day closer to the last chemo treatment! xo

Okay folks, the anticipation is over.  I have one chemo treatment under my belt.  And it wasn’t bad at all!! Of course the full effects take a few days to kick in, so I guess I shouldn’t be doing cartwheels yet (ha – like I can do cartwheels at my old age).

For those of you that want all the details – read on.  If you don’t – just know I so appreciate all the calls, emails, texts and general good vibes sent my way.  It makes me so STRONG!!

So the treatment started with a blood test to check all my blood levels.  The most important thing we’ll check every week is my white blood cell count.  Everything is normal and within range as of today…we’ll see how it is next Thursday.  They took blood and hooked up the IV line at the same time (see pic below) by accessing my “port”.  That was surgically placed under my skin and is where I’ll always have chemo and any other drugs administered.  It’s nice because that way they don’t have to go through my veins – and it doesn’t hurt at all.

Then I met my nurse, Andrea.  Who was amazing!  She’s half Filipino with the most gorgeous long, curly hair.  She’s due with a baby boy in September, so we talked about babies a lot (wheeeee!). Anyway, she gave me a tour of the treatment center – which includes a kitchen with all sorts of snacks and lunch for patients.  Nice touch!  Then she got me settled into my sweet, reclining chair to start the process. Oh, and Brian, of course, was sitting next to me the whole time. Good hubby.

So then Andrea started the pre-treatment drugs (all these were given through my IV line).  She first started a saline drip.  Then she gave me a dose of nausea medication.  That should stay in my system for about 3 days.  Next came the steroid – which helps with other side effects (er, I can’t remember what that helps) and then Aloxi which is another anti-nausea medicine.  Then (we were about an hour in at this point) we started chemo.  First Andrea inserted the Adriamycin by a huge syringe. She has to watch it go in to make sure it stays in the IV line and doesn’t get out.  It can do serious tissue damage if it goes beyond my IV line.  The “A” is BRIGHT orangish red – kind of like kool aid.  It is secreted really quickly out of your body – so yep, my pee was also bright orange after treatment.  More wheeeee!

Then we did a drip of the Cytoxan for 45 minutes.  Once that was done they flushed out my line and for the best part – gave me a shot in the stomach!  The shot is Neulasta and helps to grow white blood cells.  Actually the shot didn’t hurt at all, but the side effects of Neulasta are achy back, hips or chest.  For some totally unknown reason the best way to counteract that pain is to take Claritin.  Go figure!

So now I’m home with my sleeping baby and wonderful husband. I have FIVE prescriptions for various things.  I just took the nausea/sedative medication to help me sleep (the steroid can make sleeping hard first night). I have a little headache and my neck is really achy, but I think that’s from tension more than anything.  It is SO nice to have the first treatment under my belt and know what to expect.  Yay!

As always, thanks for being on this journey with me.  Much love to you all!

Well my first injection of super powers is starting tomorrow.  I’m a little nervous, but not expecting it to be that bad.  I honestly expect it to be a lot like my first trimester when I was pregnant with Desmond (pregnancy was NOT a joy for this mama). I guess I’m about to find out!  The one thing I know for sure is chemo is “cumulative” – so basically you feel more and more tired as the weeks/months go by.  But I plan on keeping active (at least one walk a day) and soon enough I’ll be rocking my new wigs.

We had a great trip to Monterrey and Carmel last weekend.  Lots of sunshine, relaxation and good meals we also stopped at the casino to play some games, although I prefer to play online in the pokiesparlour site. The good meals are continuing this week thanks to Jenny W and Anni.  Today I’m finally catching up on the music and books I want to check out (I’ve been stock piling lists).  Here are some of my new purchases (thanks to all of my friends that gave me amazon gift cert!):

Books; Robopocalypse (Speilberg is making into movie), Beauty Queens (Miss America meets Lord of the Flies!), The Year We Left Home, Divergent (the next Hunger Game?)

Music: Death Cab for Cutie, The Civil Wars, Holy Ghost!, Gillian Welch

I’ll update you all after my first treatment tomorrow! xo

SUCH a good day!!  Had a heart screening this morning to make sure my heart is strong enough to withstand the chemo.  All looked well.  Then had a physical therapy session and the cording snapped in my arm!!  It didn’t hurt at all and I now have full range of my arm.  YAY!!  And then I had a fantastic, fun, wild, hilarious wig shopping trip with Colleen & Kim.  Check out the photos below and comments on your faves.  I’ll tell you which ones I picked (I got THREE!) after the weekend.   We’re off to Monterrey tomorrow – can’t wait!! xoxo

I’m feeling unbelievably grateful and humbled by all my friends generosity.  Whether it’s delicious meals (the latest coming from Holly R., Amy & Carrie and Andrea B), to thoughtful and generous gifts (the latest: t-shirts from Andrea B, cookbook from Jen, Kindle gift cert from Shelly in CT, and very generous Visa gift cert from my work team), to visits/company/help (latest from Laura V, Holly H, and as always Colleen & Kim).  It certainly deepens my belief in karma.  And I just hope I have the chance to give back to each and every one of you.

I had a fantastic experience at Nordstrom this weekend.  I got my prosthesis (see below for pics!) and was taken care of by the wonderful Aubry in the lingerie department.  Not only did she help make me feel like a normal person again (boy oh boy do I love my new fake boobie), but she rushed alterations so I could go home with a “normal” bra (alterations just adds a pocket to the bra for the prosthesis) AND she picked out a super cute bathing suit and is going to have that altered (add a pocket) by Wednesday.  Just in time for our trip to Monterrey!!

Yep, Brian is taking me down to Cali for a pre-chemo vacation on Thursday. We’re bringing Desmond and my mom-in-law (the lovely Norine), so we’ll have the best of both worlds. We’re staying at a gorgeous resort in Carmel for 4 days (www.carmelvalleyranch.com if you want to check it out).  We’ll take Desmond to the Monterrey aquarium, play on the beach at Big Sur, and I plan on getting multiple spa treatments.  I figure I’ll go into chemo next week a relaxed and happy lady.  That can’t hurt, right?

Anyway, here are some pics of my new “look”.  I’m going wig shopping tomorrow, so look for some REALLY good pictures of that extravaganza soon.  Love, M

Before

I’ve perfected the art of retail therapy while I recover from surgery.  It’s fun to get packages delivered every week with a new goody or two.  I’m sure Brian is looking forward to me returning to work so I don’t have as much time to shop online. 🙂  My latest purchase is this great chair I got today.  It helps pull together the mid-century vibe I’m going for in the living room (click on the photo to see larger).  What do you think?