During my second group of chemotherapy drugs, I developed a rash on my face. The best way to describe it would be little white headed dots. They were all over my face, even along the rims of my eyes. As with any rash, getting to the cause and then taking steps to prevent it, took a few different doctors and treatments plans.
Finally I’m That Girl
January 15, 2015 7 Comments
I’m going to tell you a bit about what is going on right now, in present time, before I continue to recap my story. Even with this news, I am going to continue to tell the story chronologically as it happened. I’m currently about four months behind. If you need a refresher on where we are, please reference the Starting Line page. I hope that in sharing my story in full it will help someone someday.
As you may have seen, I had surgery over the holidays. It took a little while, but just a little over a week later, I received a phone call from the surgeon with the pathology results. And nearly a week later, I had a follow up appointment with her to check my healing and go over the results in detail. I needed to hear it from her in person before I really shared it in this way, which sounds crazy I am sure.
Long story short, I am now considered “cancer free”!
Bookshelf – Radical Remission So Far
January 12, 2015 4 Comments
One of the book’s I’ve been trying to get through is Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Dr. Kelly Turner. While I would like to think the odds are, well, “ever in my favor” to borrow from another good read, I have really enjoyed looking beyond the chemotherapy and radiation to survivor’s stories of radical remission. Dr. Turner sort of defines a Radical Remission as when someone heals cancer against all odds.
This has been another read that I certainly have to be in the right frame of mind to read through. I purchased the book electronically using a gift card I was gifted by a friend, so I am able to read it occasionally when I have a few minutes on my phone or the iPad depending where and when that may happen. I’m still getting into accepting the electronic book thing! Dr. Turner provides 9 key factors that she found common among nearly all the Radical Remission survivors she studied.
All Puffed Up
January 5, 2015 3 Comments
So here we are, day two in the hospital, after a sleepless night and quite a day that led us here. That Guy was with me, my dad still hadn’t seen me so he came up at some point that morning. The doctors came around doing rounds. When I awoke, my arms and hands were even puffier than before! It seemed like this day brought even more questions than answers, which was very frustrating.
I was still very out of it. Some might say I always am, so just imagine how I was even worse. I was not allowed to eat solid food we found out and was not allowed to eat anything until after my IR check that day. Someone had allowed me to have dinner the night before, whoops! And that kind of sums up how everything went that day.
Error In My Favor
December 29, 2014 7 Comments
Once I was back in a little private triage room, which in reality was a hallway where there was a little staff room if I remember correctly, I remember feeling really puffy. I started taking off my rings. Then my necklace. Then my bracelet. And then my wig. The gentleman who had gotten me the wheelchair was seriously the most calm person ever considering the circumstances. He got my mom a little bag to put everything in for me (Catch up with my trip to the ER starting here).
Mama Needs a New Bag
December 22, 2014 3 Comments
With my surgery coming up, there are a few lifestyle type changes I plan to make. Part of the surgery includes removal of lymph nodes. As a whole, it puts me at risk for lymphedema as a side effect. I am pretty certain no one wants lymphedema. At my pre-surgery appointment, they took measurements of the fluid in my body again. The first measurement was when I was still pregnant when we met with the surgeon before we even knew the pathology of my cancer. After surgery, I will be measured again from what I understand and Physical Therapy has taken physical circumference measurements of my arms.
What Everyone Wants to Know
December 19, 2014 2 Comments
People keep asking how I am doing right now. I’m hanging in there. I know that sounds silly and non-commital. Probably because it is. I have good days. I have bad days. I have sad days. I have tired days. Like any mom, there are hard days with the kids. Then there are really awesome days where everything just goes easy. Well, maybe not everything goes easy in one single day.
Wacky Wednesday – My WBC is Better Than Yours
December 17, 2014 Leave a Comment
Breast Cancer isn’t really very funny. Parenthood, however, I will admit can be really really funny. And I do try to laugh at myself as often as possible. When you combine That Girl, That Guy, and My Girls, you get a pretty Wacky life. When I was a child, probably when I was learning to read, one of my favorite books was “Wacky Wednesday” by Dr. Seuss. Since we constantly talk about how wacky my oldest is, some Wednesdays I will be sharing what I think are pretty Wacky stories, quotes, and silliness from our lives. Enjoy!
The last day of my chemotherapy treatments, That Little Girl was pretty amazing. And I was pretty tired that afternoon. She was playing alone in her room during quiet time and made quite possibly her biggest mess to date. Silently.
Danger Danger
December 15, 2014 10 Comments
That Little Girl has a little diddy she likes to sing. It goes something like this, “Danger! Danger! Choking Hazard. Choking Hazard. Danger! Danger! Choking Hazard. Choking Hazard….” It started a little bit after That Baby was born and there was a particular toy she wanted. We tried to explain all the small parts were dangerous to not just her but also her baby sister. We agreed to buy it if she kept it all out of her mouth, something we are still working on. So now she calls all similar toys, “choking hazard Tinkerbell” or “choking hazard such and such” when talking about them. Well, the next part of the story is about me and the day I felt like I was in danger and well, like someone was choking me. Don’t worry, they weren’t.
Sidestepping Side Effects – Brittle Nails
December 12, 2014 3 Comments
Both of the courses of chemotherapy I have had, Adriamycin and Cytoxan followed by Taxol, Herceptin, and Perjeta, have listed brittle nails as a side effect. It may have been the pregnancy nails hanging in there post partum for the first few months or maybe the now change to cooler dryer weather, but the T/H/P really has done a number on my nails. One thing I have found to help, is keeping them polished all the time. At one of the oncology appointments my doctor specifically asked about my nails. Some people have a really rough experience and lose nails, they discolor, and so on. So far, so good. I explained, yes they were a mess and broke very easily, but as long as I kept them polished they were fine. Even I had to smile, because really, tough life I have, right?! He snickered and said, “hey, whatever works!” This has also been a way for me to carve out some time to pamper myself and zone out on some guilty pleasure television (Real Housewives of Anyplace, anyone?).
All About My Girls 