I'm catching up!
On Friday July 23, 2010 I had three appointments 1) Bloodwork at 12:45 pm, 2) Patient Review with the Medical Oncology team at 1:45 pm and 3) Radiation at 4:20pm.
I was in for a long day of waiting around....and all by myself too! Paul opted to work this day in order to catch up on missed work from golfing in our tournament on the Monday. I didn't mind being alone, it meant that I had some time to read.
It was a busy day in the Bloodwork clinic because I actually had to take a number when I got there! It took about 25 minutes to wait and 5 minutes in the chair. That was okay because by the time I got out of there I shouldn't have had long to wait for my next appointment. Wrong! I didn't get in to my next appointment until around 2:30pm.
As usual the Primary Nurse took me to an exam room and asked me all the necessary questions and took my vitals. I told her all about the events of the day before at the Golf Tournament and she wrote in my file that C'ND would be donating $10.500.00 to the clinic! She was very excited about it, as was I. She left me to change in to the gown and wait for the next person to see me.
So, I changed and waited....and waited...and read my book for a while. Finally another Doctor on my team came in to chat with me. I've only ever met this Doctor once at the very beginning of my treatment and it was only for a few seconds which was hardly enough time for me to form any kind of opinion of him.
Well...I now have an opinion! It was a weird check up....not as weird as the "hand up the shirt" docotor but still weird! He looked at my chart and fumbled around with the computer looking at my blood counts (which are good as always!) and asked me more questions about what I do for a living and about C'ND than anything else! I was beginning to think I should try selling him some oil! (for those of you who don't know....C'ND sells bulk & package lubricants, automotive & industrial...among other things) He didn't even examine me, I had to change in to the gwon for no reason....which by this time I was okay with, especially since Paul was not with me. He just sent me on my way!
So off to my radiation appointment I went....it was originally scheduled for 4:40 (and on a Friday!!) but was changed to 4:20 then 4:10. I went straight there and was walking out the door at 4:12pm!
After a long afternoon of waiting around I went straight home to pack up the car and it was off to the lake for the weekend!
When we arrived we visited with friends for a little while....then I thought maybe I should rest my eyes for about 20 minutes before we spent time around the camp fire, so I layed down on the bed. Three hours later I awoke, changed into my pj's and didn't open my eyes again for another 11 hours! I guess I was tired!....EXHAUSTED more like it. Oh well! I was very rested for Saturday! I spent it cleaning the inside of the trailer while Paul took care of the outside.
We took our time getting home on Sunday...I hate leaving there.
Monday I worked a full day...and almost missed my radiation appointment! Correction - I did miss it! I was busy working on something very important and didn't realize the time. I called the hospital immediately and they said they'd fit me in so I rushed over. Phew!! I'd hate for them to think I wasn't taking my treatment seriously!
Tuesday July 27, 2010 was another Chemo day! My daily radiation appointment was scheduled for 9:20...and I made it on time! With chemo scheduled for 10:15 am. Wtih a 9:20 appointment and no plans to go the office that day I took advantage of the extra time and slept in! Oh, so nice!
My Mom came to pick me up at 8:45 and we headed to the hospital. Radiation was done quickly and we went upstairs to wait for my Chemo appointment. We got settled in to our seats and were prepared to wait. A very nice woman named Carol stopped by to say hello and to ask me about my hat. On these treatment days I wear my pink C'ND hat with the ribbon on it...it's my favourite. I told her that they were made because of me and about our tournament. I told her that I would be bringing a sleeve of the hats up to the clinic when I brought our donation cheque and that she could have one. She was very happy to hear all about it! Carol told me that this was her 3rd bought of cancer...breast cancer 20 years ago when they removed her breast and she opted not to have it reconstructed because back then you came out looking worse than when you went in. Next she had ovarian cancer and now she is battling breast cancer again! She was great...so happy to be alive! I really enjoyed talking to her. I gave her my business card and told her that if she didn't get one of the hats that I brought up I would get one too her. Suddenly my pager went off and they were calling me in! Right at my appointment time!!
My Nurse, Anna, got me in to a chair and started warming my arm for the "vein hunt"! She tried first in my right arm because the last three treatments I've had were in my left and they don't want to wear them all out. She was unlucky in two spots in my right arm and so she asked another nurse, Dayna, to try my left arm. Apparently the rule of thumb is to try twice then ask for help! They found a suitable vein in my left arm but as soon as she stuck me the vein deflated!! It was at this time I asked God to help them...."please help them find a vein quickly...you know how I hate to be poked!"...he was listening! As Dayna was about to pull the needle out of it's location it started to draw blood up! However, she pulled too far...all the way out and I started bleeding and it was running down my arm on to the pillow! She quickly restuck me and we were off to the races!! They required two samples from me and those little vials filled very quickly. After a clean up Anna plugged in the drugs, got my frozen mitts and slippers and I was good to go for the hour it would take for the drug to empty in to me. Mom and I chatted about all sorts of things while we waited and it was over before we knew it.
Once we were out of the clinic we headed over to East Side Marios for lunch!
I've been having taste aversions with this phase...which I have to say, really sucks!! Some of the foods that I love now taste very bland or even like card board!! Sometimes I do come across something that is very tasty and I get all excited about it! I try to remember that this is only temporary but it is very frustruating! I love food!....it's not loving me right now.....
Well....that's it! I'm all caught up!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
It's growing back!!
Over the last few weeks I've noticed some hair growth...I didn't want to mention anything too soon because it was possible that it would fall out again with the phase 2 drug. But, I've now had 4 treatments in phase 2 and there are no signs that it will fall out again!!
Here you can see the growth. Up close you can see that it is a full head of hair, but most of it is baby fine and white. The dark is sparse but the white hairs will eventually turn dark and fill in the rest of my head.
I've seen lots of women at the clinic who's hair is growing back and they just let it grow and it ends up looking bad....very thin and sparse. I intend to keep mine trimmed up short until I have a full head of dark hair and will continue to wear the wig when I need to. I really like my buzz cut and can't wait to have it back!
Here you can see the growth. Up close you can see that it is a full head of hair, but most of it is baby fine and white. The dark is sparse but the white hairs will eventually turn dark and fill in the rest of my head.I've seen lots of women at the clinic who's hair is growing back and they just let it grow and it ends up looking bad....very thin and sparse. I intend to keep mine trimmed up short until I have a full head of dark hair and will continue to wear the wig when I need to. I really like my buzz cut and can't wait to have it back!
Monday, July 26, 2010
CASE 'N DRUM OIL 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament
On Monday July 19, 2010 C'ND hosted our 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament and for the first time we had absolutely no rain!!
We had 71 golfers who participated in a day of golf, games, draws and a fantistic silent auction!
The charities that we support are the London Health Sciences Foundation London Regional Cancer Progam and the Children's Health Foundation supporting the Children's Hospital of London. The reason that we have chosen these charities is because many of our own staff and their families have required the services of both Foundations! In fact,since I began working at C'ND I am the 5th person related to the company (3 employees 2 family of employees) who have been diagnosed with Cancer and have required the services of the London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP). That's one person per year as I've only been there 5 years!!! AND one very special little girl of a co-worker has seen a lot of the Children's Hospital....and I'm sure that many other of our staff have used the services of the CH as well! We as Londoners are very lucky to have both of these facilities right in our backyard! I know that I feel blessed to live in this city!!
Okay....back to the tournament! For our charities we were able to raise $17,000.00!! This total will be split evenly between the two. On top of the $8,500.00 that the Cancer Clinic will receive our parent company, UPI Energy, donated another $2,000.00 (raised through their golf tournament in May of this year) in my name. How humbling it is...it makes me very proud to work for such an awesome company!
About a month before the tournament two of our salesmen...one being my husband and the other our friend...made a pack. The vowed to dye thier hair pink and collect donations that would go toward our donation to the LRCP. Both of them had a personal goal they wanted to reach, Ben wanted to raise at least $1000.00 and Paul wanted to raise at least $2,500.00. I created each of them a pin to wear that read "Ask me about my Pink Hair" and a Pledge Form to recored their pledges. From the first time they wore the pins it was evident that this was going to be a wildly successful fund raiser! Within the first few days Ben had recieved over $100.00 in pledges and Paul (who started a few days later) raised $200.00 within his first few days! We were all very excited about this progress.....and they hadn't even dyed their hair pink yet, they were just wearing the pin!! On the Friday afternoon before the tournament Paul headed down to Moda Fina to see the only person he trusts with his hair, Miranda Cooke, to have it dyed pink. Ben headed to his favourite salon to do the same on the Saturday. What a pair they made at the tournament on Monday!!!
Here they are sitting on the hole-in-one prize custom golf cart....
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Don't they look hot!
During the banquet portion of the evening (with Ben as MC...pretty in pink!) it was revealed that they together had raised $5,000.00!! Ben surpassed his goal of $1,000.00 to raise $2,000.00 and Paul surpassed his goal of $2,500.00 to raise $3,000.00!! What a great team they make and all because they love me!! Thanks guys!! And the LRCP thanks you too!
As the evening wound down and everyone was paying for their silent auction items and saying their good byes Paul had his pretty pink hair shaved off by, of course the only one he trusts, Miranda who graciously offered to come and take care of for him. She shaved it in to a Mohawk first (he was totally jealous of mine!) and then I got to shave off the rest! I guess if it's just coming off anyway he trusted me to do it! Ben had received a sizeable donation from a customer who wanted to see the pink hair, however this customer was unable to come to tournament and told Ben he'd have to keep it until he was able to get out to see him again....in a month! So, Ben gets to keep his until that time. It certainly took some getting used to when I saw it in the office for the first time, but once you get used to it, it starts to look normal!
Head shaving pics!
Mohawk!
Cool dude!
This was fun for me! Was it for you Paul?
All done! This is Miranda, she's the one who keeps him looking good!
Our first bald pic when we got home!
We had 71 golfers who participated in a day of golf, games, draws and a fantistic silent auction!
The charities that we support are the London Health Sciences Foundation London Regional Cancer Progam and the Children's Health Foundation supporting the Children's Hospital of London. The reason that we have chosen these charities is because many of our own staff and their families have required the services of both Foundations! In fact,since I began working at C'ND I am the 5th person related to the company (3 employees 2 family of employees) who have been diagnosed with Cancer and have required the services of the London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP). That's one person per year as I've only been there 5 years!!! AND one very special little girl of a co-worker has seen a lot of the Children's Hospital....and I'm sure that many other of our staff have used the services of the CH as well! We as Londoners are very lucky to have both of these facilities right in our backyard! I know that I feel blessed to live in this city!!
Okay....back to the tournament! For our charities we were able to raise $17,000.00!! This total will be split evenly between the two. On top of the $8,500.00 that the Cancer Clinic will receive our parent company, UPI Energy, donated another $2,000.00 (raised through their golf tournament in May of this year) in my name. How humbling it is...it makes me very proud to work for such an awesome company!
About a month before the tournament two of our salesmen...one being my husband and the other our friend...made a pack. The vowed to dye thier hair pink and collect donations that would go toward our donation to the LRCP. Both of them had a personal goal they wanted to reach, Ben wanted to raise at least $1000.00 and Paul wanted to raise at least $2,500.00. I created each of them a pin to wear that read "Ask me about my Pink Hair" and a Pledge Form to recored their pledges. From the first time they wore the pins it was evident that this was going to be a wildly successful fund raiser! Within the first few days Ben had recieved over $100.00 in pledges and Paul (who started a few days later) raised $200.00 within his first few days! We were all very excited about this progress.....and they hadn't even dyed their hair pink yet, they were just wearing the pin!! On the Friday afternoon before the tournament Paul headed down to Moda Fina to see the only person he trusts with his hair, Miranda Cooke, to have it dyed pink. Ben headed to his favourite salon to do the same on the Saturday. What a pair they made at the tournament on Monday!!!
Here they are sitting on the hole-in-one prize custom golf cart....
.jpg)
Don't they look hot!During the banquet portion of the evening (with Ben as MC...pretty in pink!) it was revealed that they together had raised $5,000.00!! Ben surpassed his goal of $1,000.00 to raise $2,000.00 and Paul surpassed his goal of $2,500.00 to raise $3,000.00!! What a great team they make and all because they love me!! Thanks guys!! And the LRCP thanks you too!
As the evening wound down and everyone was paying for their silent auction items and saying their good byes Paul had his pretty pink hair shaved off by, of course the only one he trusts, Miranda who graciously offered to come and take care of for him. She shaved it in to a Mohawk first (he was totally jealous of mine!) and then I got to shave off the rest! I guess if it's just coming off anyway he trusted me to do it! Ben had received a sizeable donation from a customer who wanted to see the pink hair, however this customer was unable to come to tournament and told Ben he'd have to keep it until he was able to get out to see him again....in a month! So, Ben gets to keep his until that time. It certainly took some getting used to when I saw it in the office for the first time, but once you get used to it, it starts to look normal!
This years planning committee and volunteers were all awesome! All of you made this very easy and I can't wait to work with you again next year!!!
So that's it! We raised a lot of money and had a great time doing it!!
Head shaving pics!
Mohawk!
Cool dude!
This was fun for me! Was it for you Paul?
All done! This is Miranda, she's the one who keeps him looking good!
Our first bald pic when we got home!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sorry for the delay....
Okay....so where did I leave off? Right, July 12....that was my 2nd treatment of Docetaxel. That day I had my daily dose of radiation at 8:50 then we rushed over to the Chemo clinic for my 9:15 appointment. We had to wait....and wait....and wait some more! Sometimes they do run late and we understand that but by 9:50 am I was getting a little concerned so I marched up to the receptionist and asked when they would be taking me in. She made a quick phone call to find out that my drugs hadn't arrived yet but they should be there soon. By 10:15 am I was in the chair waiting for my ritual stabbing!
It took at least 2 pokes before the IV was inserted proplery and then we were good to go. Again I had to wear the frozen mittens and slippers but because the IV was inserted in my wrist I got one mitten and one ice pack. I prefered the ice pack because the rest of my hand didn't freeze.
An hour and a half later I was done and we were on the road again! Future treatments will only take an hour. The first two treatments they had to take my vitals every 15 minutes to make sure I was reacting to the drug well. I handled it perfectly so they won't monitor my vitals during treatment any more unless they feel they need to.
That was Monday....the rest of the week I spent at work tying up loose ends for the 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament on the following Monday and slipping out to the hospital for radiation each day for about an hour. By Thursday afternoon everything was ready and the van was loaded on Friday after I returned from my usual 3 appointments at the clinc.
Friday July 16, 2010 - Paul and I arrived at 11:00am to have my blood taken. This time they only took one vile...I questioned that, as they usually take two, but I was told that "No, we only need one today!" (I learned later - Tues July 20 - that I was right, there should have been two!)
Bloodwork done, it was time to sit and wait to meet with the Doctor! I say that we were to meet with the Doctor but we haven't actually seen her since the initial visit...we've always just seen the Primary Nurse (PN) and the Nurse Practitioner (NP), oh and that weird Resident that I'll never let go up my shirt again! We are very confident in the team the Doctor has assembled (except for that Resident) so we are happy to meet with the PN and the NP each week. They report back to Dr. Potvin all my good news.
So we were waiting....for about 45 minutes past my 11:45am appointment time. 12:30 rolls around and we are finally called in. The clinic was so busy that we didn't get to see the Primary Nurse we got to see a woman who is part of the study team. She took my vitals and asked me all the questions....she clearly doesn't do that very often because it took forever! I informed her at 12:55 that I had a radiation appointment at 1:05 so I'd either have to leave and come back or the NP should hurry! I was instructed to leave and come back.
I got in to my 1:05 pm radiation appointment and was back upstairs in the waiting room by 1:20 pm. By 1:30 we were back in the exam room waiting for the NP. She arrived to examine me.
I never get tired of seeing the very excited expression on her face! She found it very difficult to get any kind of measurement as she couldn't really find the edge! She wrote 3 cm by 3 cm in her notes as an external measurement but said that "wouldn't hold up on court!" The 3x3cm area is no longer one tumour as I've mentioned in previous posts, it is a little "mine field" of little tumour bits. If I were to stop treatment now these little bits would continue to grow back to full sized tumours. The aim of the study is to get the size down to 5 millimeters before surgery. Well I think I'm on track to get there! Fingers crossed, knock on wood...rub my bald head for luck...whatever works! God will see me through!
I also learned from the NP that I would only have 4 more weeks of radiation not 7! I guess I either missunderstood or didn't read it correctly but I thought that I'd have radiation for the same duration as the Docetaxel. That is not the case! So my last 3 weeks of treatment will not include a round trip from the office to the hospital and back each day! Sweet!!!
As usual we discussed any side effects I was experiencing and I told her that I've not had any since starting the Docetaxel. She said that this was because I am getting smaller more frequent doses of the drug which is a more "humane" way of administering it. Some of the stories I've heard from other women getting the standard treatment (full dose at 3 week intervals) are very scary! My friend Michelle told me of the terrible pain she would get a few days after treatment that stayed with her for over a week and they got worse with each dose. The smartest thing I did was to get myself in to this test study!
Armed with all my good news I returned to the office and we loaded the van with all our "stuff" for Monday!
The van was loaded, everything ready to go....it was off to the lake for the night!
That Friday afternoon when I returned to work, Paul went to his hairdresser to fulfill his obligation that he and our friend and co-worker Ben had committed themselves to for raising money for our charitable donation to the London Regional Cancer Clinic by having his hair dyed PINK!! For the last month both Ben and Paul have been wearing pins that say "Ask me about my Pink Hair!" When someone asks about it (because until this past weekend they did not have pink hair) they would then explain what they were doing, present their "Pledge Form" and kindly take any denomiation of funds that were offered. This was a wildly successful fund raiser! And I will explain more in a post dedicated to our golf tournament.
As I said, it was off to the lake! Pink haired Paul and me....we had originally thought that we would not go to the lake this weekend due to a couple of parties back in the city we wanted to attend but figured that we should at least make an appearance since many of our friends there had made donations. Everyone needed to bask in the glory that was Paul's pink hair! Truth be told I thought it looked good on him! And it made the "Ask me" pin make sense. So much so that he was able to raise at least another $500.00 in last minute pledges!
Saturday evening we attended a friends surprise 30th birthday party and Sunday a wedding shower for our dear friends Shawn & Lindsay's upcoming wedding! We had a good time at both!
Sunday evening....it was time to put the finishing touches on my dreaded "Thank you" speach for Monday. Once that was written, proofed and "rehearsed" I headed to bed and hoped that I got a good nights sleep!
Monday was the tournament....more on that later!
Because the tournament was on Monday and my Chemo treatments are usually scheduled for Monday's I requested that this week's treatment be pushed to the Tuesday so that I didn't have to leave the tournament for any longer than I had to. I had also scheduled my radiation treatment for 12:40 which was during the game so I could slip in to London have my treatment and get back to the golf course.
That leads us to today! Tuesday July 20, 2010 - Because it was a treatment day I did not go to work. AND because my first treatment of the day (radiation) was not scheduled until noonish I slept in! Oh, it was so nice!!
My BFF Jennifer made arrangements to come to my chemo treatment with me but was only going to be able to get there shortly before 1:00pm so I asked Paul if he could take a quick break from work to drop me off at the hospital and Jennifer would bring me home. Of course he agreed as he wanted to run up to the chemo clinic anyway to show off his newly shaved head!! All the nurses in the Chemo clinic knew about the pink hair/shaved head plan and he promised he would show them as soon as he could. So he dropped me off, did his show and tell and then left me in Jennifer's capable hands.
My appointment was scheduled for 1:00pm....at 1:00pm my pager buzzed!! This is so unusual for the chemo clinic, they are quite often running behind! I was met at the door by the receptionist who informed me that I needed to go for more bloodwork because "they didn't take enough on friday!" I KNEW IT!!! Remember that I questioned them! And they told me "no"! So, off to the bloodwork clinic we went. A full hour after my scheduled appointment I was finally in the chair with my arm wrapped in heat so they could find a vein.
I had to make a confession to my nurse Sharon...I had totally forgotten to take the two perscribed steriod pills the night before! I felt so bad, I had one job to do and I blew it! Normally I set a reminder for myself in my Blackberry calendar but did not this time. I have now set all reminders for my next 6 treatments! I won't forget again! It turned out to be okay, I just had to take it via IV before the Docetaxel.
For this round and all future rounds of Docetaxel I will only be in the chair for one hour since they will not be taking my vitals each hour. Yay!!
Once a suitable vein was found Jen and I settled in for an hours worth of chatting and laughing at each others stories and rehashing a few from our "Girls Weekend" at the lake a few weeks ago. We noticed (as Paul & I have noticed as well) that we were the only ones having an "enjoyable" time. We felt bad, but it is a rare visit that Jen and I are not in hysterics over something! So we continued on with our conversation and hoped that maybe people might find some cheer in hearing our laughter....one can hope!
Finally, when the clinic was closing for the day we were cleared to leave! Jennifer drove me home, stopped in for a visit with Paul and then headed home to take her daughter Camryn to the movies. Today is Camryn 3rd birthday! She's such a sweet little girl and very lucky to have Jennifer for a Mommy! And I am very lucky that Camryn let me steal her Mommy away on her day off to sit with me at Chemo! What kind of friend does that?!? The BEST kind! That's what kind! Thank you Jenny! I love you!
Stay tuned for the results of our 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament! Complete with pictures of Paul's pink/shaved head!
It took at least 2 pokes before the IV was inserted proplery and then we were good to go. Again I had to wear the frozen mittens and slippers but because the IV was inserted in my wrist I got one mitten and one ice pack. I prefered the ice pack because the rest of my hand didn't freeze.
An hour and a half later I was done and we were on the road again! Future treatments will only take an hour. The first two treatments they had to take my vitals every 15 minutes to make sure I was reacting to the drug well. I handled it perfectly so they won't monitor my vitals during treatment any more unless they feel they need to.
That was Monday....the rest of the week I spent at work tying up loose ends for the 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament on the following Monday and slipping out to the hospital for radiation each day for about an hour. By Thursday afternoon everything was ready and the van was loaded on Friday after I returned from my usual 3 appointments at the clinc.
Friday July 16, 2010 - Paul and I arrived at 11:00am to have my blood taken. This time they only took one vile...I questioned that, as they usually take two, but I was told that "No, we only need one today!" (I learned later - Tues July 20 - that I was right, there should have been two!)
Bloodwork done, it was time to sit and wait to meet with the Doctor! I say that we were to meet with the Doctor but we haven't actually seen her since the initial visit...we've always just seen the Primary Nurse (PN) and the Nurse Practitioner (NP), oh and that weird Resident that I'll never let go up my shirt again! We are very confident in the team the Doctor has assembled (except for that Resident) so we are happy to meet with the PN and the NP each week. They report back to Dr. Potvin all my good news.
So we were waiting....for about 45 minutes past my 11:45am appointment time. 12:30 rolls around and we are finally called in. The clinic was so busy that we didn't get to see the Primary Nurse we got to see a woman who is part of the study team. She took my vitals and asked me all the questions....she clearly doesn't do that very often because it took forever! I informed her at 12:55 that I had a radiation appointment at 1:05 so I'd either have to leave and come back or the NP should hurry! I was instructed to leave and come back.
I got in to my 1:05 pm radiation appointment and was back upstairs in the waiting room by 1:20 pm. By 1:30 we were back in the exam room waiting for the NP. She arrived to examine me.
I never get tired of seeing the very excited expression on her face! She found it very difficult to get any kind of measurement as she couldn't really find the edge! She wrote 3 cm by 3 cm in her notes as an external measurement but said that "wouldn't hold up on court!" The 3x3cm area is no longer one tumour as I've mentioned in previous posts, it is a little "mine field" of little tumour bits. If I were to stop treatment now these little bits would continue to grow back to full sized tumours. The aim of the study is to get the size down to 5 millimeters before surgery. Well I think I'm on track to get there! Fingers crossed, knock on wood...rub my bald head for luck...whatever works! God will see me through!
I also learned from the NP that I would only have 4 more weeks of radiation not 7! I guess I either missunderstood or didn't read it correctly but I thought that I'd have radiation for the same duration as the Docetaxel. That is not the case! So my last 3 weeks of treatment will not include a round trip from the office to the hospital and back each day! Sweet!!!
As usual we discussed any side effects I was experiencing and I told her that I've not had any since starting the Docetaxel. She said that this was because I am getting smaller more frequent doses of the drug which is a more "humane" way of administering it. Some of the stories I've heard from other women getting the standard treatment (full dose at 3 week intervals) are very scary! My friend Michelle told me of the terrible pain she would get a few days after treatment that stayed with her for over a week and they got worse with each dose. The smartest thing I did was to get myself in to this test study!
Armed with all my good news I returned to the office and we loaded the van with all our "stuff" for Monday!
The van was loaded, everything ready to go....it was off to the lake for the night!
That Friday afternoon when I returned to work, Paul went to his hairdresser to fulfill his obligation that he and our friend and co-worker Ben had committed themselves to for raising money for our charitable donation to the London Regional Cancer Clinic by having his hair dyed PINK!! For the last month both Ben and Paul have been wearing pins that say "Ask me about my Pink Hair!" When someone asks about it (because until this past weekend they did not have pink hair) they would then explain what they were doing, present their "Pledge Form" and kindly take any denomiation of funds that were offered. This was a wildly successful fund raiser! And I will explain more in a post dedicated to our golf tournament.
As I said, it was off to the lake! Pink haired Paul and me....we had originally thought that we would not go to the lake this weekend due to a couple of parties back in the city we wanted to attend but figured that we should at least make an appearance since many of our friends there had made donations. Everyone needed to bask in the glory that was Paul's pink hair! Truth be told I thought it looked good on him! And it made the "Ask me" pin make sense. So much so that he was able to raise at least another $500.00 in last minute pledges!
Saturday evening we attended a friends surprise 30th birthday party and Sunday a wedding shower for our dear friends Shawn & Lindsay's upcoming wedding! We had a good time at both!
Sunday evening....it was time to put the finishing touches on my dreaded "Thank you" speach for Monday. Once that was written, proofed and "rehearsed" I headed to bed and hoped that I got a good nights sleep!
Monday was the tournament....more on that later!
Because the tournament was on Monday and my Chemo treatments are usually scheduled for Monday's I requested that this week's treatment be pushed to the Tuesday so that I didn't have to leave the tournament for any longer than I had to. I had also scheduled my radiation treatment for 12:40 which was during the game so I could slip in to London have my treatment and get back to the golf course.
That leads us to today! Tuesday July 20, 2010 - Because it was a treatment day I did not go to work. AND because my first treatment of the day (radiation) was not scheduled until noonish I slept in! Oh, it was so nice!!
My BFF Jennifer made arrangements to come to my chemo treatment with me but was only going to be able to get there shortly before 1:00pm so I asked Paul if he could take a quick break from work to drop me off at the hospital and Jennifer would bring me home. Of course he agreed as he wanted to run up to the chemo clinic anyway to show off his newly shaved head!! All the nurses in the Chemo clinic knew about the pink hair/shaved head plan and he promised he would show them as soon as he could. So he dropped me off, did his show and tell and then left me in Jennifer's capable hands.
My appointment was scheduled for 1:00pm....at 1:00pm my pager buzzed!! This is so unusual for the chemo clinic, they are quite often running behind! I was met at the door by the receptionist who informed me that I needed to go for more bloodwork because "they didn't take enough on friday!" I KNEW IT!!! Remember that I questioned them! And they told me "no"! So, off to the bloodwork clinic we went. A full hour after my scheduled appointment I was finally in the chair with my arm wrapped in heat so they could find a vein.
I had to make a confession to my nurse Sharon...I had totally forgotten to take the two perscribed steriod pills the night before! I felt so bad, I had one job to do and I blew it! Normally I set a reminder for myself in my Blackberry calendar but did not this time. I have now set all reminders for my next 6 treatments! I won't forget again! It turned out to be okay, I just had to take it via IV before the Docetaxel.
For this round and all future rounds of Docetaxel I will only be in the chair for one hour since they will not be taking my vitals each hour. Yay!!
Once a suitable vein was found Jen and I settled in for an hours worth of chatting and laughing at each others stories and rehashing a few from our "Girls Weekend" at the lake a few weeks ago. We noticed (as Paul & I have noticed as well) that we were the only ones having an "enjoyable" time. We felt bad, but it is a rare visit that Jen and I are not in hysterics over something! So we continued on with our conversation and hoped that maybe people might find some cheer in hearing our laughter....one can hope!
Finally, when the clinic was closing for the day we were cleared to leave! Jennifer drove me home, stopped in for a visit with Paul and then headed home to take her daughter Camryn to the movies. Today is Camryn 3rd birthday! She's such a sweet little girl and very lucky to have Jennifer for a Mommy! And I am very lucky that Camryn let me steal her Mommy away on her day off to sit with me at Chemo! What kind of friend does that?!? The BEST kind! That's what kind! Thank you Jenny! I love you!
Stay tuned for the results of our 5th Annual Charity Golf Tournament! Complete with pictures of Paul's pink/shaved head!
Monday, July 12, 2010
July 9 through 12, 2010/Charity Golf Tournament
I'll start with last Friday's appointments - I left work at 11:45 to get to the clinic for my bloodwork appointment at 12:00. As it has been all the way through, my blood counts are perfect! My next appointment was at 1:00pm to meet with my Oncology nurse and Nurse Practitioner. I answered the usual questions about how my week went - no changes from the week before. She was not surprised to find that I didn't have any side effects from the new drug. During the first week I was getting daily injections for bone density, so we asked the Nurse what we could do with the spent needles because we were uncomfortabel just tossing them in the garbage...she said she'd talk to the in-house pharmacy to find out what we could do. She then took my vitals (which were normal) and then left us to wait for the Nurse Practitioner.
Paul was getting very fidgity waiting for the NP....he was dangerously close to hacking the computer to check his Facebook page! Luckily she arrived just before he could do so.
She was amazed at how the Docetaxel and the Radiation were working to shrink Ted. The measurements she got were 5cm by 3cm....but let me explain....because the tumours have now "exploded" in to little bits and are no longer a united front this measurement is just the area that the little bits take up and there are voids between the little bits. So it feels very lumpy now and I can feel that there is soft tissue on top of the little bits (tumours are not soft tissue). I'm sure I'm not explaining this so that you can get the remotest idea and the only way for anyone to understand is to actually feel it....Sorry! But that's just not happening!! Just take my word for it that it's all good and Ted is a dead man! Emily has also been slaughtered!
The NP had also talked to the Nurse regarding our question of what to do with the spent needles after my daily injections and then she immediately spoke to the Pharmacy again. As it turns out I shouldn't be having the daily injections while I'm on Radiation! This is information that would have been beneficial a week ago! But it's all sorted out now and Paul doesn't have to worry about sticking me every morning, well at least not for the next 8 weeks! I will probably start them again after Chemo & Radiation are done while I am waiting for Surgery. Paul is not so happy about having to stickme with needles at all but for the past week he did a good job of it. And will do it again when the time comes. He's becoming quite the capabale nurse!
After my appointments were done I headed to the lake for the weekend! We took two cars this weekend so that Paul could return to the city for his Buddy's stag party on Saturday night. This meant that I got to spend some quality alone time relaxing in the hammock all afternoon and visiting with passersby! It was a great afternoon! I made my way to the entertainment in the park that evening with our friends and was in bed by midnight. We had decided that I would actually get a full nights sleep by staying at the lake instead of being at home and waking up when Paul came in after his night out with the boys (of which he reports that he had lots of fun, a great night!). I awoke at 9:00 am (a full 9 hours of restful sleep), was all packed up and gone by 10:00 am in order to attend a fundraiser with our friends at 1:00pm that afternoon....we also had a lot of fun there! We met some other people who have gone through Cancer and have beaten it so we got to swap stories.
As most of you probably already know I make no attempt to hide the fact that I have Cancer. Sure I wear my wig to work and when I stop at places on my way home but other than that I go without....unless I'm outside then it's a head scarf or just my favourite hat, a pink one made special for our upcoming golf tournament. Yes, I wear pink now....it's not as bad as I always thought. When I am just wearing the hat you can definatley tell that there's no hair under it, much easier than you can tell with a head scarf so I get some interesting looks and I hear the whispers. The people I like most who notice are the ones who actually stop me to ask how I'm doing...complete strangers who are just concerned for me or know what it's like to go through this. It's really sweet and usually after our conversation they smile and wish me well or congratulate me for getting through it as well as I have...it makes me feel really good to be able to tell my story to someone and know that they will pass it along to others.
Moving on.....
#2 Phase 2 treatment went smoother than the first one! This time they stuck me in one shot not the usual 3 attempts to find a good vein.
My Chemo appointment today was scheduled for 9:15 am with Radaition just before it at 8:50 am. Radiation was over quickly as usual and I headed up to the Chemo clinic to check in. 9:15 am passed and I was not called in....9:30, no call.....9:45, still no call! At 9:50 am I returned to the receptionist to inquire if I would be called in soon and was told that they were waiting for my drugs to arrive. By 10:15 I was in the chair ready to be poked by as many needles as it took to get a good vein....surprise, only one this time! I have thin veins. I drank 3 bottles of water before arriving at the clinic in hopes of saving myself the agrivation of multiple needles, it worked! I just had to use the washroom many times! What a pain in the butt that is when you're all hooked up to the IV and covered in blankets and frozen slippers and mitts! But I managed.
I will have Radiation every day again this week. So far there has been no discolouration or burning. I was told after my appointment on Friday that I should not "go tanning" this weekend...I thought it a little odd that they felt the need to tell me not to go and worship the sun, it's quite obvious to me that I shouldn't be doing that. If I were to lay out in the sun I would end up with a much darker square that is the treatment area and that could be detrimental to future treatments. I now worship the shade! I was also told NOT to use sunscreen as it has metals in it. This was a slight cause for concern because there are times when you just can't avoid being in the sun and the rest of me would need protection from it! As it turns out I can use sunscreen just not on the treatment area. Good thing I still have some of my tan left from Mexico so I'm not pastey white all summer!
I returned home around 1:00pm this afternoon and have been working in our home office ever since. The CASE 'N DRUM OIL 5th Annual Charity Golf tournament is next Monday July 19 and after working on lots of little things we are so much closer to being fully prepared for it! This week the committee will work on getting everything physically in order. This week will pass quickly I'm sure and before we know it the tournament will have come and gone.
For those of you who don't know and I don't know if there are many of you who don't because I also make no effort to not talk about our Charity golf tournament....you'll know that over the past 4 years we've made sizeable donations to the London Regional Cancer Clinic. I never thought that I would ever need to benefit from generous donations made to the clinic like ours. Each time I go for a Chemo treatment I have a different nurse and I make mention of the tournament and the fact that half of our money rasied goes to support their work. I ask each of them what they think the clinic needs because I have the option to direct our money to specific things within the clinic. More often than not they look around at the clinic and say "there are so many things that we need replaced". In the past we've always directed our funds to Chemo chairs and the Patient Assistance fund and the nurses agree that these are both very beneficial. After sitting for 5 chemo treatments I can tell you they are definitely in need of new Chemo chairs. Sometimes the foot rest doesn't stay up on it's own any more and they use a stool meant for the staff to prop it up....leaving the staff to stand as they administer treatments. This can be very uncomfortable for them as well as the patient. The Patient Assistance fund is used by those patients who don't work for the type of wonderful company that I am so lucky to be employed by. There are patients who have no health benefits and no way to pay for some of their treatments because they aren't covered by OHIP either. I think it's safe to say that we will again direct our funds to these two areas.
Wow! That's a lengthy entry.....I'll save the rest for the next entry!
Paul was getting very fidgity waiting for the NP....he was dangerously close to hacking the computer to check his Facebook page! Luckily she arrived just before he could do so.
She was amazed at how the Docetaxel and the Radiation were working to shrink Ted. The measurements she got were 5cm by 3cm....but let me explain....because the tumours have now "exploded" in to little bits and are no longer a united front this measurement is just the area that the little bits take up and there are voids between the little bits. So it feels very lumpy now and I can feel that there is soft tissue on top of the little bits (tumours are not soft tissue). I'm sure I'm not explaining this so that you can get the remotest idea and the only way for anyone to understand is to actually feel it....Sorry! But that's just not happening!! Just take my word for it that it's all good and Ted is a dead man! Emily has also been slaughtered!
The NP had also talked to the Nurse regarding our question of what to do with the spent needles after my daily injections and then she immediately spoke to the Pharmacy again. As it turns out I shouldn't be having the daily injections while I'm on Radiation! This is information that would have been beneficial a week ago! But it's all sorted out now and Paul doesn't have to worry about sticking me every morning, well at least not for the next 8 weeks! I will probably start them again after Chemo & Radiation are done while I am waiting for Surgery. Paul is not so happy about having to stickme with needles at all but for the past week he did a good job of it. And will do it again when the time comes. He's becoming quite the capabale nurse!
After my appointments were done I headed to the lake for the weekend! We took two cars this weekend so that Paul could return to the city for his Buddy's stag party on Saturday night. This meant that I got to spend some quality alone time relaxing in the hammock all afternoon and visiting with passersby! It was a great afternoon! I made my way to the entertainment in the park that evening with our friends and was in bed by midnight. We had decided that I would actually get a full nights sleep by staying at the lake instead of being at home and waking up when Paul came in after his night out with the boys (of which he reports that he had lots of fun, a great night!). I awoke at 9:00 am (a full 9 hours of restful sleep), was all packed up and gone by 10:00 am in order to attend a fundraiser with our friends at 1:00pm that afternoon....we also had a lot of fun there! We met some other people who have gone through Cancer and have beaten it so we got to swap stories.
As most of you probably already know I make no attempt to hide the fact that I have Cancer. Sure I wear my wig to work and when I stop at places on my way home but other than that I go without....unless I'm outside then it's a head scarf or just my favourite hat, a pink one made special for our upcoming golf tournament. Yes, I wear pink now....it's not as bad as I always thought. When I am just wearing the hat you can definatley tell that there's no hair under it, much easier than you can tell with a head scarf so I get some interesting looks and I hear the whispers. The people I like most who notice are the ones who actually stop me to ask how I'm doing...complete strangers who are just concerned for me or know what it's like to go through this. It's really sweet and usually after our conversation they smile and wish me well or congratulate me for getting through it as well as I have...it makes me feel really good to be able to tell my story to someone and know that they will pass it along to others.
Moving on.....
#2 Phase 2 treatment went smoother than the first one! This time they stuck me in one shot not the usual 3 attempts to find a good vein.
My Chemo appointment today was scheduled for 9:15 am with Radaition just before it at 8:50 am. Radiation was over quickly as usual and I headed up to the Chemo clinic to check in. 9:15 am passed and I was not called in....9:30, no call.....9:45, still no call! At 9:50 am I returned to the receptionist to inquire if I would be called in soon and was told that they were waiting for my drugs to arrive. By 10:15 I was in the chair ready to be poked by as many needles as it took to get a good vein....surprise, only one this time! I have thin veins. I drank 3 bottles of water before arriving at the clinic in hopes of saving myself the agrivation of multiple needles, it worked! I just had to use the washroom many times! What a pain in the butt that is when you're all hooked up to the IV and covered in blankets and frozen slippers and mitts! But I managed.
I will have Radiation every day again this week. So far there has been no discolouration or burning. I was told after my appointment on Friday that I should not "go tanning" this weekend...I thought it a little odd that they felt the need to tell me not to go and worship the sun, it's quite obvious to me that I shouldn't be doing that. If I were to lay out in the sun I would end up with a much darker square that is the treatment area and that could be detrimental to future treatments. I now worship the shade! I was also told NOT to use sunscreen as it has metals in it. This was a slight cause for concern because there are times when you just can't avoid being in the sun and the rest of me would need protection from it! As it turns out I can use sunscreen just not on the treatment area. Good thing I still have some of my tan left from Mexico so I'm not pastey white all summer!
I returned home around 1:00pm this afternoon and have been working in our home office ever since. The CASE 'N DRUM OIL 5th Annual Charity Golf tournament is next Monday July 19 and after working on lots of little things we are so much closer to being fully prepared for it! This week the committee will work on getting everything physically in order. This week will pass quickly I'm sure and before we know it the tournament will have come and gone.
For those of you who don't know and I don't know if there are many of you who don't because I also make no effort to not talk about our Charity golf tournament....you'll know that over the past 4 years we've made sizeable donations to the London Regional Cancer Clinic. I never thought that I would ever need to benefit from generous donations made to the clinic like ours. Each time I go for a Chemo treatment I have a different nurse and I make mention of the tournament and the fact that half of our money rasied goes to support their work. I ask each of them what they think the clinic needs because I have the option to direct our money to specific things within the clinic. More often than not they look around at the clinic and say "there are so many things that we need replaced". In the past we've always directed our funds to Chemo chairs and the Patient Assistance fund and the nurses agree that these are both very beneficial. After sitting for 5 chemo treatments I can tell you they are definitely in need of new Chemo chairs. Sometimes the foot rest doesn't stay up on it's own any more and they use a stool meant for the staff to prop it up....leaving the staff to stand as they administer treatments. This can be very uncomfortable for them as well as the patient. The Patient Assistance fund is used by those patients who don't work for the type of wonderful company that I am so lucky to be employed by. There are patients who have no health benefits and no way to pay for some of their treatments because they aren't covered by OHIP either. I think it's safe to say that we will again direct our funds to these two areas.
Wow! That's a lengthy entry.....I'll save the rest for the next entry!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Radiation
Tuesday July 6, 2010 - my first Radiation appointment.
I went to work this morning, just one day after my first phase 2 Chemo treatment, I felt great! At 1:15pm Paul arrived at the office and we headed over to the hospital for my 1:45 Radiation appointment. I was told that I'd be in and out in 10 to 15 minutes.....wrong! Of course on my first day there was a breakdown! I never learned exactly what happened, all I know is that my appointment was delayed until 2:10. No big deal. I was finally taken down a very long hallway to the radiation wing of the Cancer clinic. I can't remember the name of the girl who led me down there but she was very nice. She introduced me to the team that would perform the radiation....they too were very nice and made it very comfortable. I do try to make a point of remember names but I didn't get any of them today! Oh well, I have 9 weeks left to learn them!
Paul was not able to come in with me today, which only disappoints him because he really wants to see everything that I'm going through.
As usual I had to change in to the gown and wait to be called in. Today, because I had been at work I was wearing my wig so I left it on for the procedure....I won't be doing that again. Not that it was a problem, but to lay back on it can be uncomfortable.
They took a little longer with me today than they will need to going forward because they had to get my tattoo markings all set up on the machine. All my future appointments will be much quicker.
I was told that I wouldn't feel a thing, I just had to lay back and relax and as usual to not move at all! I did as I was told and the procedure was over before I knew it, and like they said I didn't feel a thing.
I don't know why I didn't realize it but "Radiation" is just another word for "X-Ray". So every week day for the next 9 weeks I'll be getting X-Rayed and this will help to kill Ted....Dead! Haha...bye bye Ted!! It's not been nice at all knowing you!
When I was all done Paul dropped me back off at the office to finish out my day and he continued on his sales calls. There won't be any need for him to come with me for Radiation in the future since he can't come in so I will be getting myself there and back every day.
Tonight, I'm tired! Paul put on a movie (Avatar) at 6:30 and within 15 minutes it was lights out for me. I decided that I should just go to bed, but when I attempted that there was a furry, four legged little girl who had decided to curl up on my side of the bed and she wasn't going to move! We just got a new, very comfortable, mattress and Roady likes to spend as much time as possible on it! I was unable to get comfortable on Paul's side so I decided that I would just get up and spend some time blogging.
But it's now 9:00 pm, my eyes are sore from staying open so I think poor little Roady is going to get a rude awakening!
Night all!
I went to work this morning, just one day after my first phase 2 Chemo treatment, I felt great! At 1:15pm Paul arrived at the office and we headed over to the hospital for my 1:45 Radiation appointment. I was told that I'd be in and out in 10 to 15 minutes.....wrong! Of course on my first day there was a breakdown! I never learned exactly what happened, all I know is that my appointment was delayed until 2:10. No big deal. I was finally taken down a very long hallway to the radiation wing of the Cancer clinic. I can't remember the name of the girl who led me down there but she was very nice. She introduced me to the team that would perform the radiation....they too were very nice and made it very comfortable. I do try to make a point of remember names but I didn't get any of them today! Oh well, I have 9 weeks left to learn them!
Paul was not able to come in with me today, which only disappoints him because he really wants to see everything that I'm going through.
As usual I had to change in to the gown and wait to be called in. Today, because I had been at work I was wearing my wig so I left it on for the procedure....I won't be doing that again. Not that it was a problem, but to lay back on it can be uncomfortable.
They took a little longer with me today than they will need to going forward because they had to get my tattoo markings all set up on the machine. All my future appointments will be much quicker.
I was told that I wouldn't feel a thing, I just had to lay back and relax and as usual to not move at all! I did as I was told and the procedure was over before I knew it, and like they said I didn't feel a thing.
I don't know why I didn't realize it but "Radiation" is just another word for "X-Ray". So every week day for the next 9 weeks I'll be getting X-Rayed and this will help to kill Ted....Dead! Haha...bye bye Ted!! It's not been nice at all knowing you!
When I was all done Paul dropped me back off at the office to finish out my day and he continued on his sales calls. There won't be any need for him to come with me for Radiation in the future since he can't come in so I will be getting myself there and back every day.
Tonight, I'm tired! Paul put on a movie (Avatar) at 6:30 and within 15 minutes it was lights out for me. I decided that I should just go to bed, but when I attempted that there was a furry, four legged little girl who had decided to curl up on my side of the bed and she wasn't going to move! We just got a new, very comfortable, mattress and Roady likes to spend as much time as possible on it! I was unable to get comfortable on Paul's side so I decided that I would just get up and spend some time blogging.
But it's now 9:00 pm, my eyes are sore from staying open so I think poor little Roady is going to get a rude awakening!
Night all!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Phase 2 - Treatment #1
Today July 5, 2010 - I under went the first round of phase 2 of treatment which is a drug called Docetaxel. For this treatment I have to wear frozen mittens and slippers. I HATE cold and now I'm forced to freeze myself once a week for the next 8 weeks! Paul said that I looked so pathetic that if he saw me in a window he'd have to buy me....kind of like a "Doggey in the window" situation and of course he took pictures! I'm pretty sure they don't allow cameras in the Chemo clinic so he took them on his cell phone....the quality isn't so great.
Thumbs up!!
I don't feel any different now than I did when I went in but I've heard of other woman say that they start to experience terrible body aches about 3 days after....but everyone handles it differently and I'm hoping that I don't have that. Either way I'll get by.
After treatment I had another ECG....once again the technician didn't seem overly impressed. Maybe it was just a case of the "Monday's" but I doubt it.
When we were all done with the mornings appointments we decided that a good lunch was in order so we headed to one of our favourite spots for lunch (East Side Marios)....that hit the spot! Then it was back home for me to do some work I had to catch up on and off to make sales calls for the afternoon for Paul!
Tomorrow is my first Radiation treatment.....stay tuned for the update!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy Canada Day!
June 30, 2010 - Ultra Sound Guided Biopsy day!
I worked until noon then rushed off to St. Joes hospital Radiology department for my "date" with Martha at 1:00pm. It took her a second but she remembered me. The wig threw her off at first.
Once again, Martha was fantastic. It is so much better when the people who are working on you are friendly and comforting.
They took three more cores from Ted....making him that much smaller!! Haha! Take that Ted!
After my appointment I went home for a quick nap before heading to the lake when Paul was done work.
We spent Canada Day hanging out with old friends....it was a great day and we were very happy to reconnect! We had to be up early the next day to head back to London for more appointments so I was in bed early.
Friday July 2, my first appointment was at 9:00 am...which meant we had to be up and gone from the lake no later than 7:30 am. We were in the Jeep and leaving by 7:10!
The first appointment was a test they call a "Sista Mibi"...I think that's just a short form for a much longer name. It's the second one I've had. Basically they inject me with a solution that highlights the tumour, I lay face down on a cushion and the girls go in a hole, a camera goes around me and takes several pictures for about 45 minutes. I have to be very very still the entire time. That's only half the test....2 hours later I returned to do it all again!
During the 2 hours between part 1 and 2 of the "Sista Mibi" we ran over to the Cancer clinic for blood work and measurements. Again, my blook was perfect! Luckily we had the good Nurse Practitioner again. We told her how weird and ackward our last appointment was with the resident and a student and how he really didn't do much. She agreed that it was weird and she dismissed his notes all together. She tried to take some measurements but found that the tumours had "expoloded" and she couldn't get an accurate measurement. That's a good thing! It means that the treatment is working. So the cancer cells are no longer a united front and the drugs are winning the war! Yay!!
We had a few questions for the Nurse Practitioner:
Saturday we spent some time on the beach with our friends....me in the shade and covered in sunblock of course. I love the beach so I very much enjoyed it!
Sunday (today) arrived took quickly as usual and before we knew it we were heading home.
Tomorrow I start phase 2! Paul still thinks I'm weird for being excited about treatments...I can see his point. Who in their right mind would be excited about being stuck with several needles and have potent drugs pushed through their veins?!? I do! I do! I've always been a little left of center.
Tuesday July 6 is my first Radiation appointment. I'm also looking forward to this. Partly because it will help to push Ted out the door and partly because I've never seen how they do it so I'm very curious. What I'm not looking forward to is what it will do to my skin. I've been told that I will have a "sun burn-like" reaction, but I've seen other women with skin that looks charred! Hopefully they will give me some helpful hints about how to help the "charring" to keep it to a minimum.
Okay....so it's now 8:00 pm, my eyes are very tired and I need sleep before my big day tomorrow. However, I also have to take 2 steriod pills before bed so I don't anticipate getting much sleep at all! Thankfully I have many books to get me through the night. I'll take a long nap after treatment. No one said I had to be alert for it!
I worked until noon then rushed off to St. Joes hospital Radiology department for my "date" with Martha at 1:00pm. It took her a second but she remembered me. The wig threw her off at first.
Once again, Martha was fantastic. It is so much better when the people who are working on you are friendly and comforting.
They took three more cores from Ted....making him that much smaller!! Haha! Take that Ted!
After my appointment I went home for a quick nap before heading to the lake when Paul was done work.
We spent Canada Day hanging out with old friends....it was a great day and we were very happy to reconnect! We had to be up early the next day to head back to London for more appointments so I was in bed early.
Friday July 2, my first appointment was at 9:00 am...which meant we had to be up and gone from the lake no later than 7:30 am. We were in the Jeep and leaving by 7:10!
The first appointment was a test they call a "Sista Mibi"...I think that's just a short form for a much longer name. It's the second one I've had. Basically they inject me with a solution that highlights the tumour, I lay face down on a cushion and the girls go in a hole, a camera goes around me and takes several pictures for about 45 minutes. I have to be very very still the entire time. That's only half the test....2 hours later I returned to do it all again!
During the 2 hours between part 1 and 2 of the "Sista Mibi" we ran over to the Cancer clinic for blood work and measurements. Again, my blook was perfect! Luckily we had the good Nurse Practitioner again. We told her how weird and ackward our last appointment was with the resident and a student and how he really didn't do much. She agreed that it was weird and she dismissed his notes all together. She tried to take some measurements but found that the tumours had "expoloded" and she couldn't get an accurate measurement. That's a good thing! It means that the treatment is working. So the cancer cells are no longer a united front and the drugs are winning the war! Yay!!
We had a few questions for the Nurse Practitioner:
- The vein they use to inject the drugs has become hard and sore...She said that they probably won't use that vein anymore as it is now "tired". Going forward, after treatments I'm to put heat on the vein they use, for the first day, then cold on it for the next few days. This will help to stop the problem.
- It seems to me that my hair is starting to grow back....will the next drug make it fall out again or will it continue to grow? It may fall out again.....shoot!! Good thing for Raquel and her wigs!
- How will I handle the next phase of treatment? Most people who are getting weekly treatments (as I will) have been handling it very very well with the only side affect being tiredness. There is no nausea with phase 2! Yahoooo!!!! I can handle tired!
Saturday we spent some time on the beach with our friends....me in the shade and covered in sunblock of course. I love the beach so I very much enjoyed it!
Sunday (today) arrived took quickly as usual and before we knew it we were heading home.
Tomorrow I start phase 2! Paul still thinks I'm weird for being excited about treatments...I can see his point. Who in their right mind would be excited about being stuck with several needles and have potent drugs pushed through their veins?!? I do! I do! I've always been a little left of center.
Tuesday July 6 is my first Radiation appointment. I'm also looking forward to this. Partly because it will help to push Ted out the door and partly because I've never seen how they do it so I'm very curious. What I'm not looking forward to is what it will do to my skin. I've been told that I will have a "sun burn-like" reaction, but I've seen other women with skin that looks charred! Hopefully they will give me some helpful hints about how to help the "charring" to keep it to a minimum.
Okay....so it's now 8:00 pm, my eyes are very tired and I need sleep before my big day tomorrow. However, I also have to take 2 steriod pills before bed so I don't anticipate getting much sleep at all! Thankfully I have many books to get me through the night. I'll take a long nap after treatment. No one said I had to be alert for it!
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