Christmas Update

We just had a fabulous Christmas. First of all I have been feeling really good this time. YEAH!!!

Ross, Valerie and JR came over Christmas Eve for gift unwrapping and dinner. We decided to have take Chinese so I'd ordered it online that morning. We unwrapped gifts prior to dinner. The kids got us each a couple of really good books. (We've actually spent the rest of the weekend reading and I'm almost 1/2 through the first one and can't hardly put it down (The Help by Kathryn Stockett). Steve is reading The River of Doubt; about Teddy Roosevelt's trip down the Amazon.

The dinner was to be ready for pick at 6:00. Steve still wasn't home at 6:30 so I called and he said the place was a ZOO. We ended up eating at 7:15 but had to feed JR eggs and applesauce in the interim. Food was great once it got here. Steve made an apple caramel pie for dessert.

Christmas morning we had a slow start, enjoying the homemade cinnamon rolls that I had made. We went to Ross and Val's for brunch at 11:00 with her family. Ross made a great spread of quiche, bacon, apples with walnut maple stuffing, homemade cinnamon rolls and french toast. It was all so yummy. He spent all morning cooking but to all of us who ate it, it was well worth it. We got back home around 2:00 and opened our gifts to each other. Steve got clothes and I wanted new pots and pans. Steve went to visit his Dad and I stayed home to read. The rest of the day we parked it on the couches and read. What a glorious day!!!

Day after Christmas: What else it there to do but GO TO THE MALL. We headed out to Short Pump at around 10:30. Got a parking space no problem and decided it wasn't bad at all. Went to Red Robin for lunch and had a yummy fish sandwich. While eating we noticed that the mall parking lot was full and lots of cars were driving around looking for spots so I guess we got there before the huge crowd. We ended up stopping at Trader Joes and REI (bought Steve a new down vest) before going home to get back on the couch to pick up the books again.

We've been eating Chinese leftovers for the past two dinners. It's actually pretty good if warmed up in the oven. BUT now tomorrow I have to come up with something else to eat cause we're out of Chinese.

Don't know what we have planned for the rest of the week (Steve is off). But I'm sure we'll either come up with something or spend the time vegging on the couch with the new books that we have.

Hope your holiday was FABULOUS!!!

Wednesday Dec. 23

Been kinda lazy for the last couple of days. It's hard to get motivated to go outside when everything is covered in white and it LOOKS FREEZING.

Steve has been off all week still doing the cleaning and the ironing as well as reading lots of books.

I had to go get lab work done today. Red cells and hemoglobin are all good but those white cells are in the toilet again (2). I was actually surprised that it was even 2 since it was only 2.9 on the day of treatment. Means staying away from people who are sick, large crowds, no hugging etc. AGAIN. So I'm going to take precautions and my bottle of Purell and enjoy the holiday.

I stopped at the mall on the way home from lab work and picked up a couple of small things for stocking stuffers. Steve was also out so I called him and he happened to be in the same mall so we met for lunch. I had a great cheeseburger and fries. Brought 1/2 home for lunch tomorrow.

Took Paxton on a couple of walks today. The sun was out and not too cold (45).

Mixed up a batch of yeast rolls that I'll turn into cinnamon rolls tomorrow. YUM!!! We have a tradition of having homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Ross is also making them for a brunch he is having on Christmas day. I'll let you know how he did. :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

It started to snow last night at around dinner time and went all through the night. Looks like we have 9-12 inches now but as I look out the window we it looks like we are getting the second wave that they kept talking about this morning.

Steve has been gracious enough to take Paxton out for his two walks today. This morning Steve drove around the neighborhood in the car to make tracks so he and Paxton would have somewhere to walk and of coarse do the most important business of the day. The roads were plowed this afternoon so we won't have to melt so many frozen snow balls off of Paxton when he comes in.

Doing pretty well today for the Saturday after. Been on the couch but have only had one nap so far. (Didn't really sleep very well last night). I've done some reading, knitting and now I'm working on a batch of cookies (coconut, chocolate chunk).

I have the worse bruise yet on my wrist from the I.V. It was in my right hand, pretty close to my wrist. I knitted the whole time I was there so I probably really irritated it. Doesn't hurt but looks pretty ugly.

Appetite is kinda funky today. I've tried every kind of liquid beverage and nothing is tasting too good but I just keep plugging along. Ate a good breakfast and lunch so food really isn't an issue.

Good day to take it easy, sit in front of the fireplace and listen to Christmas music.

Thursday one day after

Still feeling good today. Steve was off so we decided to get out of the house. Ross's company moved to a new office building so we went to visit them and see the new office. What a great place. They are in a building named the Stonewall Jackson building. Apparently it used to be a school back in the day so it has old hardwood floors and VERY tall ceilings. They have much more room for everyone. They actually need desks for 6 people. They also have a conference room with a little kitchen area. VERY NICE. We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then stopped at a couple of places to pick up some stocking stuffers.

We were actually home by about 1:00 so we decided to bake some cookies. Steve made the almond macaroons that they serve at the Dupont Hotel in Wilmington. Only three ingredients but more work than I would have patience for. They taste exactly the same but don't look quite right. I made peanut butter with some peanut butter pieces and chocolate chips. Again, another one of Steve's favorites. We have a couple of more that we'd like to try but that will have to wait for another day.

The rest of the day was spent vegging out and taking a whirlpool bath prior to watching survivor.

News is we have another Noreaster coming so expecting quite a bit of snow, for here. I'll let you know. Says should start Friday eve and go until Sat. eve.

4 Down and Only 2 to Go

Had my appointment this morning at 8:30 BUT didn't get home until 4:00. What a long day. Don't know why it took so long but I asked them about it at the end of the day and I should have been out of there at 1:30 or 2:00. Paxton was about ready to go crazy by the time I got home.

White blood cells came in at just the lowest point they could be in order to get the treatment. I't will be interesting to see what happens next week. I've been reassured that there will never be a point where I have none of them and as the Doc said "the number will go up again." He told me not to let it ruin my Christmas. I need to not hug anyone or get in their personal space. Take some minor precautions and enjoy the holiday. That's my plan.

Had a good check up with Dr. again. He says I'm doing great. I finally starting hearing about the C125 blood test. Apparently they don't give it to all women to check for Ovarian cancer because it has an 80% false positive. They start using it after a diagnosis to tract the effectiveness of the chemo. Apparently I had my first test on Nov. 4th - C125=126, Dec 2nd was 52. They took it again today. It needs to be below 35. So I asked him if that means I have some loose cancer cell floating around and his quick response was no. He basically reiterated that they use it as a tracking tool only. So on the way down is good. I also told him that it gets really difficult in the chemo room at times listening to other ladies getting treatments. I told him I have to remind myself that I have Stage 1 and they are dealing with Stage 3 and there is a difference. He looked me right in the eye and said "There is a Huge difference." Also told him I'm still having intermittent aches in a small section of my abdominal muscle. Question: do I baby it, exercise it or stretch it. Answer: Baby it. So another 3 weeks of not doing much. This inactivity caused my to gain 4 pounds. ACH!!! But my husband and bff both said you're still looking pretty skinny. Thinking the nightly ice cream may have to go????

I happened to meet a lady in the office today that had Stage 1 O.C. that she found on her own. VERY RARE. She had the 6 treatments, has regular visits back to the Dr. and is doing great. She was diagnosed 4 years ago. It was REALLY nice finally having a conversation with someone in a similar situation.

So I'm feeling pretty good this evening. My mouth is very dry, due to the Benadryl they gave me today but I'll be asleep soon and the water bottle is right here next to the bed.

Night all.

Monday - 2 days prior to #4

FINALLY today I'm feeling like my old self again. Of coarse this always happens about this time. Just when I recuperate it's time for me to go through the whole thing again. Oh well, counting down to just 2 more after this. YEAH!!!.

Success on the H1N1 vaccine front. Got a call from my primary care physician saying they had received some more doses. I call Dr. West's office and ask when is the best time in my treatment schedule to get the shot. Answer: 2 days prior to the treatment. Vwala - that would be today. So I got an appointment for this afternoon. So check this off of the to do list.

I had much energy today so I finished mopping the hardwood floors and cleaned the utility room; including the cabinets. Also got our bedroom and bathroom floors cleaned. Tomorrow I have plans to dust and clean the bathrooms. I just figure I need to get some of this stuff done when I'm feeling good.

Since I didn't get much knitting done today, that is the plan for tonight (in front of the t.v.)

Thank goodness for antibiotics

I'm feeling much better since I've been on the antibiotics for a sinus infection. I actually started feeling better in about 36 hours. At least I didn't feel like I'd been hit by a truck any longer. I pretty much took it easy on Thursday and Friday working on a couple of, you guessed it, knitting projects.

Saturday I was feeling pretty chipper so we decided to get some Christmas shopping done. We went to one of the outdoor malls and it was kinda chilly. Although when you don't have much hair I'm sure it feels colder than it would normally. I don't know how these bald guys do it.

I watched a couple of movies while Steve slept the evening away. I think he ended up sleeping for 12 hours. He said he only slept about 4 hours on Friday, so he must have needed to catch up.

Today (Sunday) we didn't do much of anything. It was AGAIN a lousy rainy day. It rained and poured all day. Very dreary. I did get the kitchen floor mopped. It was really needing it, so I'm glad that is done. It's the first time I've done anything that uses the core muscles. Sadly to say, I'm feeling it this evening. Going to be a question I ask the Dr. again this week. I would have thought this would have been heeled (and me not feeling anything) by now. It's only in one spot but it drive me nuts.

Going to watch Oprah and the First Family this evening IF I can stay awake.

Cold Update

As usual I can NEVER get a cold without it turning into something else. I now have a sinus infection. Steve convinced me to call the Drs. office just to see if they could give me any "hints" on what I should be doing. Kelly was very nice. After some conversing it was decided that I indeed have a sinus infection and am now on the Z-pack. Surely will feel better in a day or so. I'm still hoping this doesn't interfere with my treatment schedule. Kelly assured me that as long as I don't have a fever and my labs come back okay we will be good to go. My labs were not good the last time so I'm hoping things have improved enough even with this setback that I'll still be good to go on Wednesday. Cross your fingers.

Had a horrible/gross experience when walking Paxton yesterday afternoon. We were just walking along like normal going down to the pond when all a sudden he made a mad dash to this pile of leaves and did not want to leave. Once I got him pulled away I noticed he was really chowing down on something. THEN he started yapping like he was hurt. I noticed his ears was in his mouth and he was chewing his ear (we don't have the most intelligent dog on the planet) so I reached down to get his ear out of his mouth and THERE matted in his ear AND NOW on my HAND was POOP!!!!!! ACH!!!! It was so gross. We then had to head back home where I put him in the sink and and to wash out the mess. When Steve came home I asked him if he would give him a bath. I couldn't tell if I still had the smell in my nose or I didn't get him clean. So anyway....he was given a bath and things were back to normal. Today there was no way we were going anywhere near that pile of leaves. DOGS.

Tuesday - Dec. 8

Yesterday I was feeling a bit slow again. Late yesterday afternoon I started sneezing and having a runny nose. CRAP!!! I now have a cold. It will be interesting to see what happens with this. Hope it just stays a cold and doesn't go into something worse. I've decided that today I'll just sit on the couch knit, read and rest. Taking my temperature constantly, hoping it says normal; so far so good. Been drinking hot tea and water and took some Airborne. Maybe I can get this thing flushed out. WISH ME LUCK> Would really hate to miss my treatment next week so hope this ole bod can fight this off.

Saturday Dec. 5

FIRST - Happy Birthday Ross!!!! Didn't get to see him today but we did talk on the phone for quite awhile. That was good enough for me.

Feeling mighty good today. Definitely on the upswing. May talk Steve into going to Target early in the morning before the crowd arrives.

Did a lot of knitting today, making a lap blanket for Steve's Dad. Hope this works, it's lookin kinda sketchy.

The weather was just crap; we both took Paxton for a walk this morning in the cold rain. It just kept raining all day long, until around 4:00 and it turned into snow. Steve decided it would be fun to take Paxton for a walk in the snow so I stayed home (no desire to get out in that mess) and made lasagna. The snow didn't stick to anything, just fell from the sky. UGH!!

FINALLY finished the lasagna at 6:00, now I remember why I always refuse to make it. It was really good but we will be eating it for a LONG time.

Watching UR football tonight and hopefully will finish the current project.

Friday December 4

Today was a better day.

Steve was off and it's always nice to have his company. He did his housework duties of ironing and vacuuming. I cleaned the bathrooms.

I finished my latest book: Twilight. I had decided about 1/2 way through that I wasn't going to read anymore of them BUT now that I'm done with book one I'm embarrassed to say that I'm going to have to go on to New Moon. UGH, can't believe it.

Really didn't do much else. Convinced Steve that I needed to eat more iron so we ordered out and I had fried chicken livers for dinner. They gave me enough to feed about 10 people. I wanted to count them to see how many chickens they had come from but something told me I really didn't want to know. I don't know if leftover livers are any good. Any thoughts?

Will stay in and watch another movie tonight.

Tribute to my Aunt Esther

So I got the dreaded call this morning that my Aunt Esther had passed away during the evening. She had been having some health issues on and off but had always managed to pull through. Guess it was time that her body finally gave out.

Due to my issue with germs and infection I'm going to be unable to attend the service, so here are my thoughts and remembrances of my God Mother and FAVORITE Aunt (sorry other Aunties).

Aunt Esther:

1. Was a farmer - driving tractors, planting crops, bailing hay, hauling corn

2. Was a harness racer - we used to go to county fairs and watch her race horses on those cute little carts. She looked pretty cool in those racing jerseys.

3. Was a horsewoman - feeding, cleaning stalls, brushing, exercising. She would take us out to the farm when she had to do chores. She would make some kind of "calling" noise at the gate near the trough of water and the horses would always come. I was very impressed at the time.

4. Taught me how to use the hay in the stall as a potty when I really had to go. BUT I must say, I always did something wrong as I walked around with wet pants afterwards. Nary a word from her.

5. Built model airplanes and hung them from her bedroom ceiling.

6. Made toys out of soda pop cans or anything else she had lying around. The helicopter she made with Ross when he was young even had wheels. Ross is still very impressed with that to this day.

7. Always drove a really cool Ford Thunderbird.

8.Had a couple of Pekinese pups. I always thought they were very cute, but I'm not sure Grandma Boyd thought to much of them.

9.Was a very hard worker. It seemed to me she could do almost anything. She was always busy putzing with something.

10. Was the decorator for Christmas (I think). When we were kids, their living room was decorated to the hilt with lites etc. The tables were always very festive but I ALWAYS had to sit at the kids table.

11.At 70 she decided she was too old to drive so she totally gave it up and started tooling around in a golf cart and riding her bicycle.

12. Moved to "the city" and learned how to take the city bus to wherever she wanted to go. How many people do you know that would do that in their 70's?

13. Went to Kaths after having heart surgery to plant annuals at her house. Kath had to practically force her to sit and rest.

14. Never forgot a birthday and always sent a card.

15. Made good morning coffee and always added great conversation.

She was little, she was short but she was strong!!! I will miss her.

Thursday -

We're watching Wizard of Oz on DVD!! Who would have thought. It is my favorite movie.

Woke up still feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Had eggs AND peanut butter toast for breakfast. Making a valiant effort to up the protein and the iron.

It was a gorgeous day today so I took Paxton out for lots of sunshine and fresh air. Steve had a Dr. appointment today (he actually has bursitis in his hip. They gave him a steroid shot and he's supposed to take Aleve a couple of times a day).

We went for lunch (Chicken cheesesteaks, which we ate in the car) and then went on to Walmart so that he could do the grocery shopping. I stayed in the car and read between all of the phone calls from above said person who was confused in the store. Everything worked out and we got everything we needed.

Made meatloaf for dinner (I ground the sirloin myself), mashed potatoes and spinach. Beginning to feel a bit better this evening. Think I may be on the upswing. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Crappy Blood

Well, well, well. Had the infamous blood work today. Not good. White Blood - 1.7 so I have to really watch and be careful of the germs for the next week or so. UGH! There goes my Christmas shopping AND Ross's Birthday. Also, platelets and hemoglobin were low but just barely. Now it makes sense why I feel like it has taken me longer to shake the worn out feeling. I thought maybe it was all in my head and I was just getting "tired" of this whole thing but actually there is a reason. So-----I dug out the spinach and lots of protein for dinner. Hopefully, I'll get back on track soon.

Steve has the next two days off so I guess he'll be going to do the shopping etc. on his own again. I put up the aluminum tree in the dining room today and had decided to decorate with all gold balls. I didn't have enough and was planning to get some tomorrow but Steve has generously agreed to take care of it for me.

Plan for this evening is to pick out some "nutritious" food to have this weekend and hopefully get to some knitting. (I am addicted)

Monday

Starting to feel better. Still not 100% energy level but I did get off of the couch this morning to get some things done. I got the mantel decorated and also worked a bit more on the tree. Got back in the swing of taking Paxton for 2 walks today. Made stir fried rice for dinner with egg and turkey. Was pretty good.

But...spent most of the day knitting.

Plumbers came and moved some t.p. off of the float of the ejector pump so now everything works fine. $126.00 later.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thursday - Turkey Day - Feelin' good. Went to friends for meal. It was wonderful. I baked homemade cinnamon rolls in the morning. Took it easy for the rest of the day. Overall, a very good day.

Friday - Still feeling good so we decided to go out Black Friday shopping. Of coarse all of the

"great" deals that we were searching for were gone by the time we got there. We stopped at Kohls, Target, Toys R Us, Home Depot and B.J.'s. We had a great hotdog for lunch before we left BJ's. Started to get a bit tired by Friday afternoon evening. Fell asleep early.

Saturday - Pretty much a washout. Slept almost the whole day. Was one of those; don't feel like eating but must days. Ordered pizza for dinner. Actually was pretty good. Watch VT beat their rivals UVA AGAIN. Slept like a log all night long.

Sunday - Woke up feeling a bit tired still. Rested on the couch this morning while knitting. The weather and temperature was great today, probably close to 70, so Steve insisted that I go for a walk with him and Paxton. I came home and put the lights on two small trees outside. Watched a "bad" movie in the afternoon and continued to knit. Maybe this current project will get done soon. Having leftover pizza (yum) for dinner. Tomorrow will be a more energetic day if all goes as has in the past.

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was relaxing, delicious and time well spent with family and friends.

Chemo Treatment #3

HALF WAY THERE!!! Things went well today for me. Blood work was good. Only ONE stick today with the needle. YEAH!! New rule: Visitors are not allowed to stay and keep patients company anymore. The sign on the door says that they are concerned about the H1N2 virus which is probably good reasoning but I think things were kinda getting out of hand. When I went in to have blood work after the #2 treatment the room was packed and some lady had brought her new puppy in (in a carrying case) and her Mother had also brought her dog. I'm sure it was a confusing, complicated working environment for the nursing staff on that day. The sign went up the following week. Non-patients will now have to wait in the waiting room. Bummer. Kathy was going to stop by and visit with me today but I had to tell her that she couldn't.

So because of the new rule time went REALLY SLOWLY today. There were only 2 or 3 of us at a time so the other ladies really wanted to converse. I wasn't really interested but I also didn't want to be rude so I halfway listened. They both wanted to discuss their cancer woes and one of them really wanted to get into the depression stuff and I just didn't want to go there so I got her to change the subject. She was from India so I just starting asking questions like: How did you end up in Richmond, What is an Indian wedding like? She talked about the issue with China and Tibet. She talked for about an hour. Once she got going she didn't want to quit. Yeh for me for getting her to talk about something much more interesting.

We got started with all of the bags at 8:30 so I thought I was going to finish earlier today. At 9:15 the nurse tells me that the chemo meds have not arrived. "They normally arrive around 9:30." I finally got hook up with it at about 10:30 so my day finally ended at 2:30 again. No problems, except that with all of the liquid that went into me and all of the water I drank I was visiting the little girls room 4 times. Once I get the IV moved into the room, I had to try to disrobe with only my left hand (I have right hand dominate) because I was "connected" with my right. I certainly didn't want to rip my vein, which I found out last time is possible.

Steve picked me up and we ran a couple of errands and then came home and took Paxton for his afternoon walk. We then went out to dinner and are now perched in front of the TV.

So far so good, for the next couple of days.

Happy Eating tomorrow.

Tuesday One day until treatment #3

Starting to get a bit sore from the workout yesterday. Giving the body a day off today.

Had a pedicure at "flood central" this morning, minus the flood today. Although Doris mentioned the fact that she has a tendency to flood the place about once a month. I reminded her that I was there the last time. We had quite a laugh.

Went to the knitting shop to get a winter project since all I have at home is summer yarn that I bought on sale. I had a 15% off coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket.

Took a couple of walks with the dog and basically took it easy today starting a new project.

Put together the "new" Christmas tree and couldn't get some of the lights to light so I packed it back in the box to return. Steve decided we (he) should look at again just to make sure it was plugged in correctly. After much plugging and unplugging we finally got everything to work so we'll be keeping it after all. We'll leave it undecorated for a couple of days just to adjust the branches and get them just right. We're not anal or anything around here.

I have the DVR ready to go so that I can have plenty of TV to watch until midnight tonight when I have to pop those 5 pills. A short night sleep until 6:00 and another 5 pills then its off to treatment. Steve has the day off so he will be dropping me off at 8:15. Just planning to knit and maybe read. Wish me good luck with the blood work so that I can keep on schedule.

Monday before Thanksgiving

Made it through the exercise routine this morning. Went up level on the elliptical machine and added 10 sit ups.

Had a Drs. appointment. Normally would see him on treatment day but he is off to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. He said I'm doing great! Said I could take one of my anti-nausea meds everyday if I wanted so I will be adding a few days on this next time to see if that will make a difference. He asked me how I felt I was doing and I said "it has not been as bad as I thought". So on Wed. I will be 1/2 way done.

One kinda weird thing happened. I've been reading Twilight so I had the book with me. I told him and the nurse not to make fun of my reading material. I just wanted to see what all of the hoopla is about. THEN: The Doc said that his wife (who is an OB/GYN) had just gone to see the movie with some friends and then their kids said they wanted to go so she went with them again. Dr. West said that his daughter came home and said that the guy in the movie was "hot". Then he proceeds to tell me that the daughter is 5 years old. The nurse saw the first movie and loved it. Here I thought I was embarrassing myself with this reading material but apparently not.

I finally got my sweater finished after I picked up the buttons. Hope it fits. Haven't tried it on yet.

To Adam Lambert I say "WAY over the top!"

Weekend of Nov. 20th

Having some really good days.

Friday

Accomplish exercise routine again this morning. Ran some errands and went to a couple of shops that I've been wanting to check out for some time. Didn't buy anything. Spent the afternoon cleaning and dusting as well as trying to finish this sweater that I've been working on. Went out to dinner with friends and home to watch White Collar on DVD. All of us fell asleep really early. I woke up at 1:00 am thinking it was surely about time to get up. NOT!!

Saturday

Went to the West End to the opening of the new REI store. Bought a couple of pair of socks. YEAH!! Done buying them. I should have enough to last the winter. Also did some grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Had lunch out; hamburger and fries. Was pretty yummy again. We were home by 1:30 and spent the afternoon reading. I'm trying to figure out what all of the hoopla is about surrounding the Twilight series. So---- I'm about 1/2 through the first book.

Steve went to visit his Dad and then we headed to the Morgans for dinner. Had a great time and good food. Played Mexican Train after dinner. Steve won ( as usual) after much whining about not having a very good train. HUH!!!

Sunday

We both did some cleaning of the house this morning, vacuuming and dusting. Decided to go see Blindspot this morning. We both really enjoyed the movie. If you want to see a really good feel good true story, this is the movie for you. Stopped at Wally World on the way home and dropped off some stuff at the Goodwill. Worked on the SAME sweater this afternoon and ended up ripping out everything that I did. I'm REALLY too much of a perfectionist. I spend way to much time redoing things that most people would just leave alone.

Guess I'll go back and tackle that sweater again. Seems like I'm having more issue with these easy sweaters than I do with the more difficult ones. Maybe it's boredom. Beginning to think so.

Wed. Nov 19

Today:

First thing - took Paxton to the groomer

Home to exercise - made it through "regular" workout again

Picked up Paxton - he looked so handsome and smelled SO Good

Went to Lunch with bff Kathy- PF Changs ALWAYS delicious-brought home lunch for tomorrow

A bit of shopping - most exciting purchase - Smart wool socks

Home to take dog for a walk and begin to clean kitchen cabinets - more of that tomorrow

Worked a bit on current sweater (knitting) project

No complaints about today: Feeling pretty normal. Will enjoy the next few days and take advantage of feeling good prior to treatment #3 next week.

Nov. 17th-JR's 1st Birthday

What a great day today. I can hardly believe that JR is a year old today. My does time fly. Ross, Valerie and JR came over this evening for a little dinner, "opening" of birthday presents and of course the traditional cake and ice cream. Papaw made a birthday cake that JR was hesitant about eating until Mom put some cake on the tray. Once he started eating there was no stopping him. The ice cream was also a big hit. The evening was SO entertaining. He is such a happy child. An observation: JR either "talks" or makes noises the ENTIRE time he is eating. Once he starts to really talk, we are all going to be in big trouble.

The day for me was very good. Day 2 of exercising. Upper abs a bit sore today but still managed the sit ups. No trouble with the elliptical. Really enjoying getting back to moving this ole bod.

This morning I went shopping for balloons and birthday decorations and then came home and jazzed up JR's high chair. Steve took 1/2 day off today so that he could bake the cake. It was a good thing he took off because it took most of the afternoon. I tried out a couple of new recipes. They were okay. The salad tasted unusually good. It's been quite awhile since I've had salad. YUM. The cake was also pretty yummy. I did eat too much though.

Figured out today that if I stay on schedule for all of my treatments, I will be finished at the end of January. Hope everything stays on schedule.

Another good day!!!

Monday again

Feeling really great. I FINALLY decided to tackle the exercise this morning. I spent 3o minutes on the elliptical and did 150 sit ups. I could tell that it's been awhile since I've done anything aerobic. I was surprised that the sit ups weren't more difficult. My abdominal muscles seem to have weathered the surgery pretty well. When Steve got home, after dinner we both did weight training on the bowflex. Granted I didn't use much weight but added reps. We'll see how all of the feels tomorrow or more likely the day after tomorrow.

I ran a couple of errands this morning. It was another beautiful day(70 degrees) so I wanted to go out, enjoy the sunshine and get a couple of things done while I'm feeling good.

Over the weekend Steve and I picked out tile for the kitchen backsplash so I took it down to Kathy today to get her opinion. Looks like it is a go. Steve will have a project to keep him busy over the holidays.

Looking forward to tomorrow. :)

The Weekend

Had a really good weekend. Steve took 1/2 off on Friday so that he could go visit his Dad. We decided to go out to dinner on Friday evening since it has been, it seems like, forever since we've been out.

Saturday we spent about 1/2 of the day running errands; grocery shopping, jean shopping for Steve (he is currently swimming in all of them), lunch, etc. etc. I came home and made a beefy vegetable soup for dinner. BUT-Steve decided he wanted leftover pizza so I ate leftover Thai food. The soup had to wait until Sunday.

Sunday I got up and fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast. I then decided to rearrange the family room. With all of the cleaning that had to be done (one thing led to another) it took me most of the morning. Steve was kind enough to do the laundry and the ironing. After lunch we took off to Wally World to pick up a few things that we discovered we needed after we rearranged. All of us took an afternoon nap and then walked the dog. Was a pretty restful rest of the day.

Beefy vegetable soup was pretty good.

I've been feeling really great of late. I just keep telling everyone that I'm on the upswing again. I'm debating on whether to start exercising this week. Funny, I keep thinking about it, but it hasn't happened yet. Need to get busy because heavy breathing going upstairs is getting a bit old.

Since this Wednesday will be day 14 after treatment #2, I'm waiting to see if more of my hair will fall out. So far still have eyebrows and eyelashes. YEAH!! Getting used to wearing scarves and had lots of positive comments about how well "I pull it off".. Someone last week told me "You look like Karen". Don't think a better comment could have been made.

Enough Already-Plus blood work day

Okay, it rained (not just a sprinkle but poured) all day yesterday, ALL DAY today and is going to keep raining until tomorrow afternoon. ENOUGH!!! I guess this rainy nor'easter is better than if it would have been snow. But, the dog and I are tired of walking and standing in the wind and rain. Please pray for sun!!!!!

Yesterday wasn't the best day for me. Kinda late in the week for feeling crummy but I guess I just have to go with the flow. I woke up feeling pretty queasy, thinking ALL morning that it would pass if I just ate something. So I did. But it didn't work. I fixed baked potato for lunch and couldn't eat much of anything so I broke down and took "the power pill". I was feeling better within the hour. Kathy called and suggested since it was such a crappy day why didn't I go take a hot bath. AHA!!! She is full of such great ideas. So at 2:00 I filled the Jacuzzi. took my potato chip and cheese snack, and my book and soaked for an hour.

Had brunswick stew for dinner that Joan made. Was really good. At least I felt like eating dinner.

I woke up this morning feeling like a new person. No ill feelings at all, but still raining!!! I spent the morning doing some things around the house. I started knitting a new sweater using some leftover yarn. Right now working on 2 at the same time. Got bored with the first one.

Had the "week after" blood work appointment today. Boy the place was busy, but they took care of me right away. Got GREAT results today. WBC's were at 4 today. Sure beats the 1.6 following the first treatment. I didn't ask about anything else and they didn't mention any problems. Now I don't have to be quite as paranoid this time. I was thrilled. Weird thing I don't feel any different this time than the last. Oh well, guess that's how it goes.

All in all, a good day health wise, a shitty day weather wise. Leave Ida, LEAVE.

Tuesday November10

Today was a good day. I woke up feeling much better. My blood work this week is on Thursday and since I'm a bit concerned the WBC will be down again, I thought I should get some of my running around done today before I get stuck at home in quarantine.

I picked up some pansies and got them planted in my planter boxes. I returned the pair of earrings Steve got me for my birthday and picked up 2 other pairs. Steve said he liked these new ones better than the one he had originally chosen. YEAH!! I stopped at the knitting shop and picked up some yarn for another quick and easy project. I also got the house dusted and the laundry done. This afternoon I took it easy and rested.

I did a lot of grazing and munching all day today. Seems like I need to keep food in my stomach. Not terribly uncomfortable but a bit annoying. Carbs seem to hit the spot but it's not the protein that I'm supposed to be concentrating on. Peanut butter is getting to be quite old. It's a good thing that I really like it. This should pass in another few days.

Oh, hair update: I cut all of the long strands of hair off this morning. Couldn't stand it any longer. So now all of the hair, that I could reach, is about 1/2 inch long. I still need to get someone to trim the back. It's much more comfortable under scarves but my head was pretty cold in the shower this morning. I was surprised at the difference. Should be interesting in the middle of winter.

Monday November 9

On the upswing again. Feeling better today than the weekend. I actually got some things done today.

The furnace guy was here to do the 6 month check up.

Over the weekend the ice maker in the basement quit working. I was supposed to call the repairman but I thought I'd try to clean it first. It was totally frozen over and it was a GROSS mess. I hadn't planned on doing a thorough cleaning of the thing. Was just going to add the chemical and let it do it's thing. Needless to say it took awhile to clean all of the mildew (Yes, mildew) off. It's a wonder we haven't been sick from eating the ice out of that thing. YUCK!! But it's clean now AND making ice.

If must have been the day for gross jobs because I also ended up cleaning the kitchen garbage can and the cabinet that it sits in. I must have had the "eagle eye" for gross things that needed to be cleaned.

Had chili and cornbread for dinner. Trouble is I ate 2 pieces of cornbread WITH butter and now my stomach feels like it has a concrete block sitting on it. Wonder if I will be hungry by breakfast.

It was a beautiful day so Paxton and I spent a large part of the day sitting on the deck in the sun. He was sleeping, I was knitting. We also went for 3 long walks today. Need to take advantage of the good weather while it is here.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my birthday AND the Saturday after treatment #2. Saturday's not a great day as was discovered after Treatment #1. I actually ended up sleeping pretty much the entire day away. Ross called in the morning and a couple of friends stopped over in the afternoon. It was nice to take a break from the sleeping to visit with them. Steve baked a great apple pie although I was only able to eat a bite. He got me a pair of earrings, a Roku to stream Netflix to the TV, and a snowman for my collection. I ended the day by trying to watch a DVD but immediately fell asleep and slept until 7:00 this morning.

Sunday

It is a gloriously, warm day today. I have been spending most of it out on the deck reading or knitting. Steve has been working all morning to try to get the Roku to work. I think he gave up trying to do it wirelessly and has now gone to Lowes to get some wire to hardwire it. Nothing is ever easy around here. I'm feeling a bit better today, not quite as tired. Still difficult to eat. Food doesn't look good or taste too great. I just keep making myself eat something and am trying to drink all day long (that is not too pleasant either.) But, I do know that this will pass and with each passing day it will improve. I did take, what I call, a power pill (anti-nausea) this morning just so I could make it through lunch. Downside is that they put me to sleep. So far I'm doing okay, might be the fresh outside air.

Kathy stopped by this afternoon with a birthday present. She ordered me a beau beau head scarf. It is so easy to wear. NO TYING. Just put it on and go. Looks great, feels great and a piece of cake.

Steve made hotdogs and tator tots for dinner. They actually tasted pretty good so I ate the whole thing. We had birthday pie for dinner which I just tasted. Sugar is not my thing anymore. Such a shame, can't hardly believe it.

The Chemicals

A couple of folks have asked me what they are pumping into my veins. I finally got the energy to go drag out the literature with the facts. So here goes:

#1. Taxotere - Classified as a "plant alkaloid" and an "anitmicrotubule agent". It is made from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree. Plant alkaloids are cell cycle specific. That is, they attack the cells during various phases of division. It is given through a vein. There is no pill form. Premedication with a corticosteroid pill starting a day prior to infusion for 3 days is given to reduce the severity of fluid retention and allergic reactions. (I am taking something the day prior, could be to counteract this, not sure). The amount received depends on many factors including height and weight, general health or other health problems and the type of condition being treated.

#1. Carboplatin - Classified as an "alkylating agent". Usually given by infusion into the vein. These are most active in the resting phase of the cell. They are cell-cycle non-specific. This is a Metal Salts.

There you go, for all of you who are interested.

Friday November 6

Well the lack of sleep on Wednesday night finally caught up with me last night. I fell asleep at 8:00 and slept until 6:30 this morning. Best I've slept in awhile. I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. Steve had the day off and we needed to go to the grocery store so I decided that I would go with. We went to Kroger, Walmart and to lunch at Five Guys. We've decided the grilled cheese with grilled shrooms and onions is pretty good.

Steve went out shopping for my birthday present and I stayed at home and got a bit of knitting done. We tried to get caught up on some of our DVR shows but AGAIN I immediately went to sleep and didn't see any of it. Guess the chemo treatment was hitting me again this afternoon.

I made chili and cornbread for dinner. I ate some but didn't have a great appetite. Plus, the chili really needs to cook longer tomorrow.

Hoping to not have to spend my birthday tomorrow in bed as I did on the Saturday after my first treatment. We'll see how it goes.

Day 1 after Chemo

Today was a really good day. No side effects at all.

My biggest concern during this whole thing has been the probability of losing my eyebrows. I haven't really had a concern about the hair because there is always something to put on your head BUT the eyebrows are a different story. I also decided it would be smart for me to do this before they are gone so I at least could get something that is closest to the original color. So I headed out to the mall to the make up counter. They taught me how to measure where they should be on my face and how to draw them on. I also wanted lipstick so I got that also. They applied eye shadow as eyeliner (at the base of my eye lashes instead of trying to draw that straight line on the top of the lashes). They also convinced me that if I lost my eye lashes but used eye liner no one would even know I didn't have lashes. It looked pretty good so I left with that product also. Hopefully, I'll be able to do all of this. Guess I'll start practicing tomorrow.

Also ran errands at Crate and Barrel, DSW shoes, and Fresh Market.

I picked up some roses for a neighbor friend who underwent a surgical procedure yesterday. I stopped by to see her this afternoon. Good news is the surgery was a success and she was on the mend.

Paxton and I spent some time out on the deck in the sun today. It was nice until the wind kicked up and a cold front started to move in.

Didn't get to sleep last night until 12:30 and was awake at 5:00. I did take a short nap this afternoon.

Chemo Treatment #2

I was a big concerned about the WBC count today but according to the nurse, my blood work was "Fabulous". My WBC was 7 which is very normal, actually higher than it was when I went to the Emergency room. I was stoked.

Next activity was putting the needle in my arm. That was not easy! Two people tried 7 different places, and lots of different sizes of needles. We finally decided to try the right hand since the left was used the last time and also at the hospital. Apparently, the skin and veins were pretty tough. The eight time it finally worked and we were on the way.

I had an appointment with the Dr. today. He said that some people (me as usual) develop very sensitive places on the skin and that it would disappear with time. The only suggestion was to take Motrin and if that doesn't work to take some of the more powerful pain killers that he prescribed. I also told him that I had a knot at one place. I said, What is this knot?" His response, "It's a knot". DUH! What he meant was that it really is a knot. He said, 'You know all of that sewing up I had to do underneath there had to be tied off somewhere, so that is the knot". "Oh, I get it". It will dissolve, with time. He also said that I seem to be tolerating chemo pretty well. He told me I was being to strict with the confinement. Maybe we'll make some changes this go round.

This morning when I walked in with my hat on the nurse and I talked about the hair loss. Her first question was "Did your hair hurt?" "Whoa, yes, why didn't you all tell me about that.?" "Everyone tolerates this process differently. This doesn't happen to everyone. (me again) I guess they don't want to have people obsessing over something that may not happen. Understandable, but it would have been nice to know that it might happen.

Kathy stayed with me all day today. It's so great to have company. I can't thank her enough for spending her day off with me. Such a great friend. We spent the day knitting and visiting. The day was long 8:15 - 2:30. Afterwords Kathy wanted to go buy a couple of gifts so we went to TJ Max and I picked up a couple of more hats, and a jogging suit (which I haven't tried on yet.)

Poor Paxton was in his crate a long time today. He was SO happy to see me. Lots of jumping and puppy kisses. We took a long walk and visited with some neighbors.

One of the neighbors brought us dinner tonight. I tell you, I don't think we could have picked a better neighborhood to live. The people here have just been fantastic.

I'm hoping, I'll feel okay to do a couple of quick errands tomorrow. If things go like they did the last time my most tired days will be Friday afternoon and Saturday. We'll see.

A Wig in the Shower

Today I had just had about enough of the shedding. While in the shower this morning, I decided to get rid of as much of the hair as I could. All it really took was running my hands through my hair and using a hairbrush. The shower floor ended up with just about enough hair to make a wig, quite a large amount. There is still some remaining on my head, BUT it is really nasty looking. There is no way I could show up in public without something covering my head. I decided to start off with a knitted cap. I really felt like it looked pretty cute. I went to the knitting shop and did get a compliment on the hat. Maybe they were being nice? By the time I finished running around this morning it was noonish and the day had warmed up. The knit hat was hot so I came home, found a large scarf and tied it on. Not too bad. I was afraid of what Steve was going to say when he got home because he's never been sold on the hat/scarf idea. He actually thought the scarf looked nice, especially when I showed him what was underneath. He realized that it is time for some head gear and it doesn't look as bad as he had anticipated.

I bought a new hat today when I was out and it looks great with a scarf also. I also bought 3 pairs of large earrings. Trying to jazz up the hats and scarves. I'm looking forward to some fashion accessorizing.

Hoping that the WBC's are up tomorrow so that I can get Treatment #2 out of the way.

Monday November 2

Steve had the day off today. Always enjoy having him around. We both took Paxton for his morning walk. Was nice to do it NOT in the rain. Steve worked out, I took and shower and did a couple of odd jobs around the house. Same ole, same ole with the hair in the shower this morning. About the same out, obviously nothing new in.

We decided to get out of the house since it has been almost 2 weeks since my white cell count was low. Guess we are both thinking/hoping that it has gone up by now. We put gas in my car, stopped at Joann Fabrics to get 7 buttons for a bomber jacket sweater that I just finished. No luck, the most they had of any one button was 6. UGH. We then went to the west end to Whole Foods, stopped at Home Goods which just opened a couple of weeks ago, went to Costco and then stopped for lunch at Bogarts.

About 6 months ago, we purchased 6 LED light bulbs at Costco that were supposed to last basically forever. We gave them to Ross and Valerie for their kitchen but Ross told us we could have them back because "they made them look like vampires". We picked them up and put them downstairs in the weight room. "They were horrible!!' But, we were willing to put up with them because they were so expensive. WELL..... Saturday, we got a letter from Costco that said that the lifetime information that was printed on the packaging was incorrect and if for any reason we were not happy with the product we could return it for a refund. Off we went with our bag of 6 light bulbs. We ended up getting a refund of about $70.00. MADE OUR DAY and we got rid of the crappy light bulbs.

Treatment 2 just around the corner.

Saturday & Sunday

The thinning continues. Saturday morning shower generated about 1/4 cup volume of "lost" hair. Just a matter of cleaning the drain. The brush then collected an additional amount. Now I'm beginning to find hair EVERYWHERE. It falls in the sink when I brush my teeth. It falls out onto my clothes and Steve is picks it off. It comes out on my pillow which requires a good shake out prior to the next nights sleep. Ross and Valerie brought the hair clippers over, but Steve says "NO" to the shaving. "After all, how do you know that it won't all fall out?" I must admit that I'm a bit intrigued by this whole process. I keep waiting for the morning when I'll come out of the shower with no hair at all. But, who knows, maybe it will just get thinner. We'll never know if we don't keep waiting it out. Oh, by the way, there is no pain involved in this at all. It comes out just as easy as can be.

Ross, Valerie and JR came over on Saturday and brought us lunch. Chicken cheese steak! YUM! We had a nice visit, which was topped by seeing JR in his mighty lion costume. Talk about a cutie pie. We decided not to participate in the traditional Halloween custom of handing out candy. We actually only had the doorbell rang twice, so it was a good decision not to purchase a bunch of candy that we would only end up eating.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat of the hair loss story of Saturday. About the same amount came out. I've pretty much lost all of the body/lift that my hair style previously had. In other words it's pretty flat but still looks like a full head of hair, I think. I decided to wear a knit hat to bed tonight. Last night I turned over on my pillow and hair would get in my nose and tickle my face. Drove me nuts all night. I'm hoping the hat helps in that regard.

Didn't do much of anything today. It was such a rainy, dreary day. I'm reading one of Steve's books that is about ready to bore me to death but I will finish just to see how it ends. Also, am working on a linen summer sweater. I made some no bake cookies today that turned out pretty good; cocoa, oats, peanut butter, butter, sugar. Steve even likes them. It was a good day today.

Today was a pain

I will be so glad to see the Dr. on Wed at my chemo appointment. There is a spot about the size of a half dollar near the incision that is so sore to the touch and anything that comes in contact with it. Can't wear jeans and the only thing that is better is if I wear a camisole that covers it so that nothing can rub against it. I thought maybe it was infected but I've been taking my temperature everyday and I'm a steady 79.5 to 79.8 so can't be that. Also, my hair is hurting. Although Steve has corrected me that it is my hair follicles not my hair. Yesterday I wore a headband to keep the hair out of my face so that I wouldn't keep running my hands through it. By the end of the day the prickly things on the headband felt like they were bruising my head. So.... today a used a twisted up bandana. Didn't look so cute but kept the hair out of my face and my hands out of it as well. Didn't help with the hurting follicles though. No one told me about this. Home for the evening watching Flash Forward on DVR and a movie from Netflix.

Thinning Out

WELL, last night I was sitting in bed thinking that my head was "tender". It felt like when you get a new hair style or part your hair on the other side. So in the process of trying to figure out what was going on, I ran my hand through my hair and low and behold my hair has started to come out. It is pretty weird; no feeling at all just hairs in the hand. I told Steve "Well, my hair has started to fall out. He said "It was expected, right?" "YEP". I was just waiting to see when and how it was going to happen. So far no big gobs, just a few at a time. The nurse told me not to shave it because it may just get thinner, so I'm going to heed her advice and just take the wait and see attitude. If it starts to look mangy or big hunks come out I'll be calling Ross and Valerie to bring over the hair clippers. One of my neighbors had breast cancer and also had chemo so she had a stack of hats that she brought over for me. I also purchased a couple of stocking hats and picked up a couple of free ones at the cancer resource center. So I am a bit prepared. At least my head won't freeze. One of my neighbors called today and asked me to go grab a sandwich for lunch. She needed to get out of the house and thought I might enjoy a ride and we'd bring the lunch back. Once we got to the place, no one was inside so we decided to eat there. It was nice to get out and the sandwich was good. Took a long walk with the dog walking crew this afternoon and spent part of the day knitting. I also got something productive done with our email accounts/passwords, etc. I spent a couple of hours logging into everything and checking user names and passwords. Some were so old I didn't even know what they were anymore. Just got a couple of things to finalize with that and then we are all up to date. Steve is working at home tomorrow. I won't see him all day but it will be nice to know that someone else is here. Looking forward to the weekend. Supposed to be 80 degrees here on Saturday.

Tuesday Oct. 27

I finally got out and went somewhere today!! YEAH!! First thing, I had to take Paxton to the vet. He had diarrhea when he went to boarding 2 weeks ago and has been doing his "business" in the house every once in awhile. This morning was the last straw for me. He ate his food and then walked no further than 10 feet and pooped on the floor. I decided to get him checked out just to make sure. They had no appointments but told me I could just drop him off and they would work him in between appointments. Actually this worked out even better for me, especially since I then didn't have to sit in the waiting room with a bunch of strangers and possibly their germs. Bottom line with him, he is fine and the vet thinks he may have some anxiety with everything that has been going on here. Apparently, dogs are very sensitive about changes etc. So we are back to house training 101 AGAIN, UGH. Today was the day I had been looking forward to for a week. I went to have a pedicure at a Foot and Hand Spa that does medical services in a spa setting. It was great. Everything was so sanitary. All of the tools were individually wrapped in hermetically sealed packages. They sent me home with all of the files that they used. And then it happened! I was sitting in the chair with the warm electric heating pad booties on my feet with my head back, totally relaxing and almost asleep when I hear," FLOOD". The gal who was doing my pedicure had put the sanitation tablet in the bowl with the water running and then gone to the phone to return phone calls (they are not allowed to answer the phone when they are working on someone). The water just kept running and I was oblivious. There ended up being about an inch of water covering 1/3 of the floor. The other manicurist came running over, ripped the electric booties off of my feet and turned the water off. My gal then had to spend about 15 minutes wiping up the floor. I really wanted to laugh but I didn't think it would be appreciated. Anyway, I enjoyed my morning and I now have brown toenails. Needless to say Steve's response was "They are brown!". I decided it was time to get out of the pink/red box and do something different.

Monday October 26

Steve had the day off today which was great. I love having someone besides the dog to talk to. Actually didn't do much of anything; swiffered the hardwood floor, finished my closet, took the dog for 3 walks, knitted on the scarf I am making, got our health care spending account figured out as well as some of the insurance bills we've been receiving. I found an orchid sitting on my front porch this afternoon with no card or other identification. I was ready to start sending out emails when one of my neighbors called and said she'd been to a breast cancer luncheon and they gave the centerpieces away so she picked on up for me. Wasn't that nice? As of today, I know NOTHING about how to keep this alive. Must do some internet reading so that I can keep it alive. Everyone I know that has them says it is easy. We'll see. Keep you posted.

The Weekend

Things have been going so well that there is not much to write. Since my white cell count is low I've been STUCK in this house for way to long. We needed to visit the grocery store so I made a comprehensive list for Steve and I rode along and stayed in the car (reading) while he shopped. I must say he did a great job, except that he bought store brand chocolate syrup instead of Hersheys. EVEN THOUGH the comprehensive list said Hersheys. He said we had a communication issue. Haven't tried it yet, so maybe I'll be surprised, and he will be right. We were invited to one of our neighbor friends for a steak dinner on Saturday evening. "I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing". My appetite is definitely back but I do get full pretty quickly. Sunday (today) we've just been doing some small jobs around the house. I've almost completed the switch out of my closet. Should be done tomorrow. Steve went to visit his Dad this afternoon and I stayed home and knitted. I am working on a reversible scarf using some to my leftover yarn. We are trying a new recipe out of the "cancer cookbook" this evening; chicken pot pie. If it's as good as it looks, it should be a keeper. Going to watch the Illinois family on "Move That Bus" and Amazing Race. Steve has off tomorrow, so I'll have some company. Maybe we'll get a few more odd jobs done.

October 22

Felt really good today. I actually started taking the summer clothes from my closet and bringing the winter ones down from the upstairs closet. I had to take numerous trips so that I wouldn't be carrying too much weight. I almost got the clothes done but I still have shoes to do. I also decided to try a bike ride today. I rode around the neighborhood on a VERY low gear for 15 minutes. Felt really good and so far no ill effects. We'll see if I get sore tomorrow. The ride was a bit boring, going around and around but it was nice to see that I could do it. I also took Paxton on 3 walks today so I got my fill of exercise for one day. I spent some time knitting on the back deck but it was overcast for most of the day and wasn't as enjoyable as if the sun were out. I'm a bit sleepy this evening. Didn't get much of a nap this afternoon. Will probably turn in pretty early.

October 21

Yesterday was 3 weeks since my surgery and today is 1 week since first chemo treatment. My how time flies, HA!. Today was a pretty busy day for me. I took Paxton to the groomers first thing this morning. After I picked him up at 11:00, Kathy came over and we went to lunch. It was such a great day that we enjoyed our lunch outside. We went over to the gift shop at the cancer center and looked at hats, but there wasn't much of a selection. We also found a resource room with lots of materials, free hats and free wigs. So Kathy being the fun loving person that she is, had me trying on all kinds of wigs, from a red/purple Farah Faucet style to a grey 0ld lady wig. Needless to say, we left there with no free wig, but I did pick up a couple of knitted/crocheted hats that are pretty cute. I had heard of a place that does pedicures for cancer patients (following the hospital sanitation guidelines) so we found it and I made an appointment for next week. The main objective of our day out today was to go get my blood work done. The results are: everything but white blood cell count looked good. Apparently, it is not abnormal for this to happen during chemo but now I have to be super careful about who I am around. No going out to the grocery store or the mall or around large groups of people and no letting anyone who is sick come anywhere near me. UGH!!! Steve and I have decided that the only thing we really have to worry about is what he could possible bring home from work. My neighbor, the pharmacist, said that if Steve is sick we basically have to set up a quarantine. So looks like I am really married to my house for awhile. Guess I'm going to be getting a lot of knitting done. I just hope the numbers are up by the time of the next treatment so this process doesn't get drawn out. So.... I did feel really good today. Ate little bits all day long so I may have conquered the queasy stomach. One of my neighbors also brought over a big pitcher of ginger water this evening and it is really good, so I think that will help also. They basically said at the Drs. office "just eat". Do that's what I will do. Another neighbor brought soup, salad, bread and cookie for dinner. Was really good. Post surgery is going well. Scar is starting to look a bit better but there are some bumps and lumps in places that weren't there before. It will be interesting to see how all of that ends of looking. Although at this point, I don't think it will matter cause bikinis are definitely not in my future.

October 20

Today was a really good day. I ate breakfast without any "stomach" issues. Took Paxton for a 20 minutes walk then had a shower. I decided to bite the bullet with the "jinxed" sweater and go down to Lettuce Knit to see how to get it fixed. I stopped at the Hallmark first and picked up a card. I spent about 1 1/2 hours at the knitting shop and now I know I should have taken a snack with me. Once I got home I took the nausea medicine again and then ate lunch. I probably should have just eaten first. So.... I ended up AGAIN taking a 2 hour nap (due to meds). Paxton just curled up with me on the couch and stayed until I woke up. He's such a good pup. I spent a few hours outside knitting in the sunshine. I was a beautiful day today. I think I have figured out that I need to eat small protein based snacks about every 2 hours to keep something in my stomach. From now on when I go out I will be prepared with peanut butter and crackers. I also discovered that I really enjoy pinto beans straight out of the can. They tasted good and seemed to work great as a snack. Steve is pretty grossed out by it (beans are not on his most favorite list) but I'm happy that they taste sooooo good to me. Took Paxton for another walk this afternoon with a neighbor. Another neighbor brought chicken piccata for dinner tonight. It was all good. I actually ate the entire meal but was really full afterwords. Things are going well, I think. If I can get this minor episodes of nausea figured out things will be great.

October 19

Today was kinda a tough day. Had a hard time wanting to eat anything today. Really had to work hard to eat a piece of banana bread with peanut butter for breakfast. I finally decided at 11:30 to take a Phenegran (for nausea). It did the trick and I was able to enjoy my lunch. However, it has a tendency to induce sleep so I took a good, hard 2 hour nap this afternoon. Thank goodness Paxton also likes to nap in his crate. I did get in a good 20 minute walk with him this morning and also again in the afternoon. For the most part things are going well, just a few bumps in the road every once in awhile. I didn't get to the dog class today. Hopefully, things will be better next week. Overall, I'd say things are going pretty well.

October 18

Much better day today. Woke up feeling better than all day yesterday. Decided to get out of the house so Steve and I went to BJ's, Walmart and out to lunch. Since I'm becoming a fanatic about germs, I kept my hands in my pockets the entire time and didn't touch anything. We bought antiseptic gel and used prior to lunch (mine was at home in my pocketbook). Really didn't do much the rest of the afternoon. Started a book, which is more appropriate for Steve. Guess I'm going to give a bit more of a chance. Sewed my sweater together again for the 2nd time and now the front pieces are 2 inches longer than the back. UGH!!! Not sure I'll ever get this thing right. It was a no brainer to knit but obviously I wasn't paying much attention at some very critical times. Looks like tomorrow I'll be ripping it out AGAIN. Another neighbor brought over dinner tonight which. as usual, was delicious. A week ago I had intentions of taking Paxton to Obedience Class tomorrow. I'm going to just wait to see how things go. Wish me luck, I know "the little bud" would like to see his friends. We'll see.

October 17

Well, today was pretty much a waste, energy wise for me. Didn't even REALLY want to get out of the bed this morning. I finally got up around 8:00 and had breakfast. Was in the shower around 10:00. I had one goal today and that was to clean three bathroom sinks. YEAH!! Goal met. We had some friends stop by and bring us some homemade goodies and visited for a bit. I've spent the entire afternoon watching college football from the bed. Did work on my sweater. Still not happy with the way it is looking. Going to put the sleeves in tomorrow and if it still doesn't look right I'll take it to the knitting shop next week and let them tell me how to fix it. Been fighting a headache all day. Hopefully, it will disappear during the evening. Also, just took some Motrin. Hope that helps. Hoping for a more energetic day tomorrow.

October 16

Today was a very lazy day. The weather is cold and rainy. No sun in site for the weekend. I got a few things done today; dusting, cleaning glass and writing some thank you notes. I basically felt tired all day today. I took a nap before lunch and another 2 hour nap late this afternoon. Guess I need to learn to just listen to my body and do what it wants me to. Be interesting to see what the next couple of days bring. So far, not too bad.

October 15

Today was another good day. So far no ill effects of the treatment yesterday. I am waiting for the brick to hit me when I'll be spending 2 days in bed. But for now, I'm just going about my business as normal. It was a cold, rainy, dreary day. Paxton and I went for a long walk this morning. And, I bundled up like crazy and took the umbrella. I went out to Lettuce Knit today to get a small sweater issue resolved. It was good to see my friends at the shop. I let Paxton out to have run of the house while I was gone. When I left he was curled up on the ottoman and when I returned he was in the exact same spot. Don't think he moved the entire time I was gone. Spent today trying to get as much protein as I could with each meal and snacks; peanut butter, yogurt, walnuts, Special K crackers, cheese stick, protein milk shake, salmon. Don't really know how much I should be eating but I feel like I ate enough today. Hoping for another good day tomorrow.

October 14 - First Chemo Treatment

My bff Kathy came to pick me and spend my first day of chemo treatment with me. What a blessing. It took about 45 minutes for them to get started due to lack of blood work results from the hospital. You'd think they would have started getting it yesterday. I was pleased that I wasn't going to have to go through it again, though. So, at 10:15 they put the needled in my vein. There was some discussion about getting a "port" put in just below my clavicle bone so they wouldn't have to mess with the vein. But both the Dr. and nurses said I have great veins so we went that route. I'm getting very used to being stuck with needles so it doesn't bother me at all. I ALWAYS watch what they are doing. Don't know what I'm going to do if I don't like what I see, though. Then the plastic bags of liquids started to flow. First there were a couple of bags of saline solution, a bag of Zantac, a bad of Benedryl (loves to put me to sleep) another bag of saline and then 1 LARGE bag of chemical #1 and then 1 LARGE bag of Chemical #2. All this came with warnings of you really shouldn't feel much different but if you have any shortness of breath, tingling, etc. etc. please let us know. Everything was fine. There was much visiting with all of the other ladies getting their treatments. Some wanted to give all of their details others just wanted to talk about our knitting projects, etc. It made passing the time much easier. Kathy stayed with me until after lunch and then went to run some errands. I took a couple of SHORT cat naps. The liquid finally finished flowing at 2:15. I had to come home and take another nausea pill - Zorfran and some Miralax to prevent constipation. Yes, I said it, sorry! One of our neighbors brought chicken, rice, jello salad and lemon pie for dinner. I tried to concentrate on the protein, as per instruction, BUT I REALLY WANTED TO EAT ALL OF THAT RICE!!! More leftovers for tomorrow. So far I'm feeling pretty good. I took a nap this afternoon. I'm feeling a bit draggy but I decided take a long walk with Steve and Paxton prior to dinner. It was great to get some fresh air and move around after sitting all day. Kathy went out shopping and I asked her to pick up a Magic Bullet for me so that I can make protein smoothies and shakes. It seems like a great gadget, even grinds meat. I'll see once I give it a try. So conclusion is, the process of getting the treatment is long but non-eventful. Now we'll see how the aftermath goes.

Monday & Tuesday

Not much but the ordinary. Monday I increased my walk to twice around the neighborhood, 2 times. I worked on my knitting projects for most of the day, taking it pretty easy, AGAIN. Today, Tuesday is 2 weeks since my surgery. I've quit taking the pain medication and haven't taken any Motrin today. So far so good. Not pain free, but livable. I was told I could drive at 2 weeks so I went to Target this morning. I needed to get some vitamins and I found a cute hat that I liked. We'll see how cute it looks with no hair (which apparently will start to happen 3 weeks from my first treatment.) Ross, Valerie and Jr stopped over this evening. Always good to see them. That JR always put a smile on my face. Dinner was dropped off this evening again. Was yummy. Chemo tomorrow.

Sunday October 11

Had a good few hours of running errands today. Just felt like I needed to get out of the house. The incision is still sore but is getting to be less and less of a problem. We went to BJ's, Walmart and then out to lunch. I came home and rested for most of the afternoon. We went to our neighbors for dinner. They were scheduled to bring food over but wanted to know if we felt like going over there. I was nice again to have a change. Got home at about 8:30 and then hit the bed for an evening of reality tv.

Saturday Oct. 10

Decided it was time to go out so I went with Steve to Kroger and to pick up the prescriptions. I picked up some yogurt with lots of protein and some protein crackers for lunch during chemo. Steve picked up things like chips and soda. I spent the afternoon watching Virginia Tech overpower Boston College. We had a progressive dinner party at 6:30. Everything went really well. I do pretty well as long as I can sit in a soft chair. We had a great time, and it was good to get out of the house and talk to different people. Steve backed a caramel apple pie for dessert that was out of this world. It moved up to #1 apple pie with me. We stayed the entire evening and got home at 11:00. We had taken Paxton out at 6:oo before we left the house. Steve always feels about about leaving him in his crate so always wants to have him sleep with us on evenings that we go out. So--he put him in the bed and then all of a sudden Paxton jumps off the bed and starts doing what we call the doggie dash in the pitch dark. Steve got out of bed to get him, but all he wanted to do was play so he took off the other way. He ended up going in the crate for the evening. THEN----at 4:00 a.m. he starts with the non stop barking. (He NEVER barks in his crate). I told Steve that is must need to go outside because we didn't take him out when we got home. So Steve schlep himself out of bed and took him out. After, we had a quite rest of the evening.

2nd Weekend Home

October 9 - Had a post op Dr. appointment. He basically just wanted to look at my incision. He removed some of the tape and was very proud of the way that it looked. He also asked if we had heard the news about the results and said he was very excited and pleased. He said he just doesn't see Stage 1 and with the negative results we should feel very good. We definitely agree. We met with the chemo nurse to get a handful of prescriptions for anti-nausea medication and set up the first treatment (next Wed.). I got a mini lecture on how this is not the time to worry about dieting. I need to eat whatever I want or feel like but to get plenty of protein. If I can't eat I'm to drink so that I won't get dehydrated. Apparently they will test my electrolytes etc, prior to the following treatment and if they are "not right" I won't be able to get the treatment. I certainly do want to drag this out any longer than I have to if I can do something to prevent it. We left the office and went to Quiznos for a salad for lunch and also dropped of the prescriptions. After lunch we picked up Paxton. He was VERY happy to see us. As soon as we got home Steve gave him a bath. He had such a good time playing in the dirt with his friends for a week. Next hurdle is chemo.

At Home

Steve went back to work on Monday but was nice enough to come home daily at 1:00 ish and finish his work in the office here. I was nice to have some company. I certainly am not used to being at home all day every day AND not being able to do anything. Dr's. orders were that I could walk and that was about it. No doing anything or lifting anything over 5 lbs. Honestly, I didn't feel like doing much more than that anyway. I was told to call the Dr. office for the pathology results. The computer system that "brings" the results was down so the nurse said she would call me on Tuesday.

Tuesday - I was just getting in the shower when the nurse called. She said "All of the results came back NEGATIVE". "You just made my day", said I. Honestly, I did feel a sense of relief. Probably not a much as Steve did though. He was so happy, his face/smile looked like a 4 year old on Christmas morning. That was definitely the best news we could have received at this point.

I only had one teary moment on Saturday after I got home when Steve gave me a big hug. I wasn't expecting it and it didn't last for long. "We'll get through this," he said to me. I knew he was right.

The rest of the week I spent watching TV in bed walking 2 or three times a day trying to go a bit further each time and drinking lots of fluid. My appetite has been good but I'm only able to eat small portions, much to my chagrin.

Steve has been unbelievable. He has kept the house clean, done the laundry AND the ironing and the grocery shopping. He won't even let things pile up so I've seen the ironing board more in the last 2 weeks than I thought was possible. He even is ironing his long sleeved dress shirts. He has decided that he kinda enjoys it and says it is quite therapeutic. "Good", I say. Maybe I just "lost" one of my "jobs", DARN.

First Weekend Home

Came home to a pup that was very happy to see me. Trouble is: he's short, energetic and loves to give kisses. All of the above really hard for me when I can't bend over. He came to say hello to me once I made it to the bed but I was really nervous about the incision. Things went okay, but I was kinda concerned. I spent Friday mostly in bed but Steve and I did go outside twice that day for very short walks just up the street. While I was in the hospital I decided that I would like to spend my recuperation time wearing scrubs as I thought they'd be comfortable and more attractive than old gray sweats. So, Steve set off on Friday afternoon to go to Walmart. He came back with 3 outfits that were colorful and cute and they actually fit. So it's scrubs for me. I don't have to change my clothes when I go outside and I can lay in the bed with them. I'd highly recommend them to anyone who wants to be comfortable. Plus, at Walmart they are pretty cheap. I convinced Steve that we needed to send Paxton to boarding for the next week. I didn't know how much time Steve would be at home plus I just didn't want to have to worry about the pup. Steve really did not want to do it, but he did drop Paxton off on Saturday morning. For me, it was a good decision, it allowed me to concentrate on my recuperation without having to worry about what was going on with the dog. Kathy and Charlies came over on Sunday and brought us Buzz and Neds barbecue for lunch. It was really good, but I've discovered that I can't eat nearly as much as I get full really quickly. Leftovers for the freezer.

Hospital Stay

After surgery. I had the pressure cuffs on my legs to prevent blood clots and also a catheter. They removed both of them on Wednesday morning. I had another lovely lunch of soup, tomato this time and all of the normal clear foods, YUK. The Dr. and RA came in that morning and went over the results with us again, telling us it looked like Stage one, which is the best news we could get at this point. He said he'd let us know when pathology came back. I asked if I could walk and they said yes. So after lunch Steve and I headed down the hall (less than 24 hours after surgery) on our first walk. It was not easy but I was still on a morphine pump so I just pushed the button and off we went. We happened to meet the RA in the hall way and he said "WOW, I've never seen anyone up out of bed this early after that kind of surgery before". "You told me I could walk so that's what I'm doing". I took a walk 3 times per day after that. All other vital signs were doing well also. Steve decided to stay Wednesday night also. He slept like a rock all night long as again the nurses were in and out (turning on the light) checking vitals again. Thursday was more of the same. I kept being asked if I was passing gas yet. Apparently I was to be on clear liquids until that time. UGH!!! Well, I was meeting expectation on Thursday afternoon. Steve spent the night at home on Thursday and went to pick up Paxton. He stayed at home in his crate on Friday but Barbara picked him up for his daily walks. Friday was check out day. The RA came in first and gave me a lecture on not overdoing. He said he never has to tell people to make a conscious decision to take it easy and not overdo. He said he thinks I may have an issue with doing too much too soon. "Just a guess," he said. HUH? I'd say he was pretty correct. The doc came in later and talked a bit about the chemotherapy treatment and that we would probably start in 2 weeks. No pathology results yet. I was still in the same frame of mind that I was going to refuse to worry until someone really gave me something to worry about. He suggested I call the office on Monday for the results. Steve filled the pain medication prescriptions, got his flu shot and we left the hospital at around 12:00.

September 29-Surgery Day

Steve worked from home this morning. We needed to arrive at the surgery center at noon, which we did. It wasn't long before they had me in a little room and started going through all of the questions and hooking me up to an IV. They had to take a typing blood sample again just to make sure there was no mistake, incase I needed a transfusion. Steve was allowed in once I was all hooked up and all blood was drawn. We waited a LONG time. The anesthesiologist came in and discussed what would happen. I was going to be getting Propofal (the Michael Jackson drug). We also had the nausea discussion again and he ordered a pill for me and an ear patch that would last 2 days. I was determined not to let my stomach get the best of me. The Dr. came in around 2:30 and said we would be starting soon. Since it was around 3:00 I think we got stuck waiting for shift change. Not sure exactly when I was wheeled away. I remember going down the hall and arriving to the surgery room. It seemed like there was alot of stuff in there like a storage room and it was very noisy. Seemed like there was quite a few people being very busy. That's it for me. Next thing I remember was Steve, Ross and Valerie standing beside my bed telling me that it was malignant and they had to do the biopsies. Steve was upset. I heard what he said but I remember still not thinking the worst at this point. I'm sure it had much to do with the drugged state I was in. I don't remember going to my room but I do remember Steve being there and deciding to spend the night with me. I was really grateful, I didn't want to be there by myself and he didn't want to go home by himself. Nurses came in all night checking my temperature and blood pressure. Steve got up at 7:00 ish and went home to take a shower. I had a lovely breakfast of beef broth, jello, italian ice, coffee. The salty stuff tasted super salty to me and sweet stuff tasted super sweet. YUK> I must say the hospital was really nice. All of the nurses were very friendly and super helpful. Everyone on the floor had private rooms. I was in the corner so I had 3 big window that looked out at the tree tops so it was very nice. I really had no complaints about the hospital.

The rest of the week prior to the surgery

The next few days were spent just trying to get through the days and patiently waiting for Tuesday to arrive. My neighbors were still taking care of Paxton during the week. Steve had his hands full on the weekend. I had to start eating a light diet on Sunday and only clear fluids on Monday. My surgery was scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00 so I was going along time, for me, on not much food. I had to do a colon cleansing on Monday, just in case they had to do biopsies. I ended up that this was the best thing ever. I don't know if it opened up more space in my abdominal cavity or not but on Tuesday I was feeling better than I had felt for the past 10 days. It was really nice to get some relief from the pain. Not a great way to get relief but at that point I was pretty happy about it. We worked out with Barbara that Paxton would stay at her house temporarily until we could figure out what we were going to do. She has a miniture Schnauzer, Bogart, who is Paxton's best bud so we knew Paxton would be okay and probably pretty happy to spend time with his friend. Surgery tomorrow.

September 25

Yesterday and today were spent on the couch trying to get through the pain. Was taking the meds but they really weren't doing much of anything. My neighbor, Barbara, came down twice a day and was kind enough to take Paxton for his daily walks as there was no way I could. Things got so bad that I called the Drs. office and they said that if my pain was that bad that I needed to go to the emergency room. I called Steve at 4:00 and asked him to come home because we were going to have to go to the hospital. We headed off at around 5:00. When I arrived at the hospital I told them that there was no way I could sit in the waiting room and that I needed a place to lie down. They pointed me toward a couch and a nurse came in and said she would be with me soon. I did actually get through the check in pretty quickly and was very happy to get to a bed. They decided to do a CT scan just to make sure there was nothing else besides the cyst going on. I had to drink 32 ounces of stuff and then wait an hour. At the same time I was taking pain medication. I did have an issue with my stomach and they then had to give me anti nausea meds. I went for the test and while I was there they also injected die into my IV. Results were that there was nothing else going on, YEAH and they changed my pain medication to percocet. They also gave me some anti nausea stuff to take with the percocet. I spent the next couple of days just wanting Tuesday to come so that I could get to surgery.

September 23

Today was the day of pre-op surgery appointment. Went to the hospital first thing in the morning and completed all of the necessary paperwork. I was then run through a bunch of tests: blood pressure, oxygen levels, ekg, lots of bloodwork, urinalysis and chest xray. Guess everything was okay because I never heard anything. They did keep saying things like, "you are in such great shape, your oxygen is 100%, can't get much better than that, etc. I went home and spent the majority of the day on the couch in pain. I called the Drs. office as soon as I got home and FINALLY got a return call at 5:oo p.m. They were calling a prescription to my pharmacy. I waited until 6:00 (Steve was out at a dinner meeting) and went to pick it up. I arrived and found that the prescription had not been called in. I didn't know if it just wasn't called or maybe they had called a different location, so.... I went home and called the service for the DR. Within the 1/2 the DR. himself called and said he had talked to the nurse and she had phoned a different pharmacy. I got in my car again and took off on the drug quest. I pulled up at the second pharmacy drive through and they said they didn't have it. Well, during the conversation we realized that I was sitting at a CVS pharmacy and my meds were across the street at the Rite Aid. I just assumed I was at the Rite Aid, DUH!!! So long story short, I finally got them and returned home at about 7:00 p.m. Thank goodness. When Steve came home he got an earful of the play by play.

September 21

From Friday through the weekend I had bouts of pain and some relief. Didn't feel really great but was able to function. (I have been know to have a very high pain tolerance). Monday Steve and I headed to the appointment with Dr. West. We met with him in his office and got a run down on what the report said. To our and especially my surprise the cyst was 14cm (5.5 inches). "How on earth could something that big be inside of me and I have no clue?" Apparently there is plenty of extra room in there for things like this. Who knew? Here is what I remember from that visit: "Most of the time these large cysts are benign. There is nothing that I can say (after the exam) that would make me think that this is cancer, BUT there is no way I can tell you that until we get in there." Oh, yes we are going to have to remove it and you will have an incision."Okay, I think. Still no reason, YET, to board the worry train. Just decided and convinced myself that I was not going to worry about the unknown. When/if someone gives me something to worry about I would deal with it when the time comes. Right now, it seemed like a waste of good energy. He explained that there would be a frozen section of the cyst sent to the lab while I was still "out". If things were okay, they would stitch me up and I'd be on my way. If it came back positive he would be removing my appendix, lymph nodes and omen-tum. There would also be "staging" biopsies taken in numerous places. Oh by the way, this guy looked and reminded me of Steve Martin. Same kind of hair and a pretty good sense of humor. I really liked him. He was kind but didn't mince any words. We left there and went to Burger King for lunch. So much for the healthy diet, what the hell, lets just have a burger and fries.

September 12 - VACATION

Finally, vacation! We were all looking forward to this for so long. The five of us, plus Paxton piled into 2 cars and headed out for a 5 hour or so drive to South Carolina. We were staying in a house 1 block off of the beach with a private pool. Our plan was to basically do nothing but lay around eat, read, knit, sleep, walk on the beach and sit at the pool. That's pretty much what we did. Ross and I decided to alternate cooking in the evenings. We had some really great food, I must say. Also, must say the Ross is a much better cook than I will ever be. JR spent the week learning to pull up on anything he could find and cruise around the couches and tables. So much for all of the toys we packed. He also spent a few mornings on the beach in the sand. Messy but cute. Paxton loved the beach. Chased the birds and the waves. He was a sandy mess but it was worth seeing him have so much fun. Steve road his bike every morning, like the good boy that he is. I took a ride with him on Thursday. I ended up getting a sore throat on the evening that we arrived and it went into a head cold so I fought that off all week. We watched JR one day so that the kids could have a break and go "exploring" and they did the same for us (with Paxton). Steve did have his first "hot" Kripsy Creme donut. He was impressed! We took Paxton for a walk every morning and late afternoon. On Friday morning we were walking and I started to get a "stitch" in my side. By the time we got home I was in so much pain I could hardly stand up. I spent the rest of the day on the couch trying to act like it was no big deal. Everyone went to a "southern" lunch buffet and I stayed at home. I do believe the take home meal they brought me weighed a minimum of 15 lbs. I didn't make even a small dent. The pain never really went away but I did the best I could to do what needed to be done, as we were leaving the next morning for home. Ross and I wanted to get home to see the VT football game at 3:00.