Last Friday I had my fourth chemo treatment. I meet Lance there and saw one of the PA's who I tell all the side effects I had with the last chemo and they tell you what to take or do to try to alleviate or reduce them. I have also had several discussions about putting in a port. That eliminates them trying to put the IV's into a vein in the one and only arm that can be used for that for the rest of my life. My veins in that arm aren't as easy to get the IV into and the more times it's stuck the worse the veins get. So I've scheduled the morning of my next treatment to have a port put in. It takes about 4 hours to put it in and then after that I have my second to the last chemo scheduled. So I will basically be at the hospital that whole day. I bet you want to spend your Friday that way too - ah, come on, you know you do!!
The side effects this time have actually not been as bad as previous treatments and I'm feeling pretty good - other than I can't find much that tastes good, I still have occasional diarrhea, headaches, insomnia, neuropathy on feet/toes and chemo brain effects. All in all, not too bad, considering...
In the chemo treatment room, there's a bell on the wall where you enter and exit. When someone finishes their last chemo treatment, the nurses have a little ritual. They give them a bottle of sparkling cider and the patient rings the bell, usually pretty vigorously. So whenever you hear the bell, everyone gets a little spark of excitement. I had only heard the bell previous to last Friday, one time. That was while I was in an exam room with a PA who explained the event cuz she actually listens for the bell and gets pretty thrilled about it.
During the last chemo, I actually got to see this event as one lady finished her treatments. Another gal I have visited with at chemo (I can't remember her name - chemo brain!) received news that day that she is in remission! We were all so excited for her! So next chemo day, she will be ringing the bell. It will be Mary Nickles last treatment that day, too, and she will be ringing the bell. I think the energy I get from these events will help me endure my last chemo, which will be the next chemo treatment after theirs and I'll be ringing the bell!!!!!!! Then I found out that I actually will ring the bell twice. The first time will be the one described above on May 25. Then I will continue to have chemo every three weeks with the cancer cell targeted drug (herceptin) until January 4th or 11th (chemo brain again) and I'll ring the bell again then. (This is the drug with the rare heart side effect but not all the other good side effects so I can continue on without much discomfort.)
I'll be going back to work next week where I'm finally getting back my own office space with walls and a door and won't have to be sharing with three others - Woohoo! (the three others are as thrilled as I am) We've made the cramped space work for the project we had to do but it's definitely time to move on! However, I will miss the little chats with my closest office mate, Linda. But our new offices are across from each other and Dianna will be closer to us, too.
I want to thank each of you who have registered or donated to the race for the cure! When I go in and see all of you who are supporting me, I am in awe and truly humbled by your support! I'm looking forward to that day and seeing you there. This week, I will be looking into a spot to meet before the race for a few pictures to memorialize the event. I'll let you know the particulars when I get it set up and any parking suggestions.
I truly can't thank each one of you enough for the love and support you give me - it really does help me get through the bad days, more than you know!
Love you all!
Nancy
Friday, April 20, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
RACE FOR THE CURE INFO
This past week I've been at work. The first day I only worked 5 hours, then 8 hours the next day and 10 hrs on Thursday. So I eventually get built up to a full day. Good thing I've been there for 27 years and have lots of vacation saved up!
Peggy has gone into the Susan G. Komen site and set up our team for the Race for the Cure on May 12th (Mother's Day weekend, sorry). Our team name if "Nancy's Knockouts". So if you want to join our team, you can google Race for the Cure SLC and you'll get to the site. Then be sure to click on the bar on the right side that says "Join A Team", then search for our team name. If you don't put it in exactly right it won't pull up, so I just put in Nancy. That pulls up all the team names that start with Nancy, and then it's easy to find. Click on the team name and register to do the walk/run or to make a donation. There is a 1 mile or a 5K walk/run and the cost for adults is $35 not $45. The site is pretty self explanatory but if you need help you can email myself or Peggy, or comment on this blog.
I'm so looking forward to doing this race, but it will be the week after my 5th chemo so I'll have to play it by ear and hope that I'm feeling up to it. Thanks to all of you who may able to attend this race, and to all of you for supporting me through this!
Gearing up for another chemo treatment this Friday!
Love ya!
Nancy
Peggy has gone into the Susan G. Komen site and set up our team for the Race for the Cure on May 12th (Mother's Day weekend, sorry). Our team name if "Nancy's Knockouts". So if you want to join our team, you can google Race for the Cure SLC and you'll get to the site. Then be sure to click on the bar on the right side that says "Join A Team", then search for our team name. If you don't put it in exactly right it won't pull up, so I just put in Nancy. That pulls up all the team names that start with Nancy, and then it's easy to find. Click on the team name and register to do the walk/run or to make a donation. There is a 1 mile or a 5K walk/run and the cost for adults is $35 not $45. The site is pretty self explanatory but if you need help you can email myself or Peggy, or comment on this blog.
I'm so looking forward to doing this race, but it will be the week after my 5th chemo so I'll have to play it by ear and hope that I'm feeling up to it. Thanks to all of you who may able to attend this race, and to all of you for supporting me through this!
Gearing up for another chemo treatment this Friday!
Love ya!
Nancy
Monday, April 2, 2012
Chemo Countdown #4
This is the half-way mark - WoHoo!
I had my third chemo, Friday, March 23. I had decided to do this one by myself. Lance took me and met with the Dr with me. Then after the IV got started he ran and got us some lunch and then went back to work. This time the IV really hurt which I've never had happen before. Doug who did the IV said he must have hit a nerve bed-they can't tell where those are. So I had a pretty bruised hand until about two days ago but it only hurt at the time he did the IV, not after words at all. Just looked bad!
The Dr decided to add an additional anti-nausea IV on top of the one I normally get - which adds another 30 min. So by the time I got all the IV's loaded into me that day, it was 6:00 p.m. before we got out of there. But we decided that was a good thing, cuz we had hoped to miss most of the traffic going home.
The first week after the chemo is usually when I have the most side effects. So this first part of the week I pretty much knew what to expect and it didn't seem too bad. I starting to feel a little better on Thursday afternoon. I was even thinking I might go to work on Friday if I woke up feeling good. So when I woke up feeling not so spunky, I thought I'd go the store and pick up a few needed groceries and stop at the credit union. But after showering and trying to get some breakfast down, I just wasn't feeling it. I hadn't been out all week and thought - just go and the sunshine might help.... I made it to the credit union but after circling the store parking lot, just gave up and went back home. Then the gastrointestinal side effects kicked in.
While all this was going on during the week, Lance came home from work on Monday really sick and said a bunch of people at his work were all sick too. So he quarantined himself to the front bath and bedroom and I stayed locked up in the master. I used an entire container of disinfecting wipes that week, having one in each hand every time I went into the kitchen to get anything. So to say the least, this has been a difficult week!!
Lance kept going to work all week and started feeling like he was getting better about Thursday-Friday. I can still hear it in his voice though so I'm keeping up my guard. Last night I started to feel congested and woke up with a sore throat so we'll have to see what this week brings....
Both Dexter and Joe came to visit me Saturday. I guess they could hear how I was feeling in my voice during phone calls that week and they definitely worry too much! So we talked about our summer vacation plans to Island Park, Idaho, which I love to look forward to. Some of Dexters kids have been sick so Melissa and kids stayed home. Joe and Kia stopped on their way home from a motorcycle ride. Jesse called last night and I enlisted him to continue the yard work we did together last year. I knew I wouldn't have the strength to take care of it this year and was worried how to get it done. So Thank you so much Jesse!!!
This week is also the week we normally go to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari. I had hoped I'd feel good enough to go and maybe just stay in camp. But I don't think it's a good idea to be confined in the truck and camper with Lance as he's getting over this crap his been sick with. Good thing there's next year!!
Sorry for the delay in posting info. Hopefully this will be a week of starting to feel better - just in time to go back to work - ugh!
A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY shut-out to my brother Lynn today!! Happy what 59 or 60?? Wow, does time fly or what? Look forward to seeing you and Deb soon! Have a wonderful birthday!!
Love to all!
Nancy
P.S. Mary Nickles blog dated March 29th, really describes what it's like to go into public while going through this battle.
I had my third chemo, Friday, March 23. I had decided to do this one by myself. Lance took me and met with the Dr with me. Then after the IV got started he ran and got us some lunch and then went back to work. This time the IV really hurt which I've never had happen before. Doug who did the IV said he must have hit a nerve bed-they can't tell where those are. So I had a pretty bruised hand until about two days ago but it only hurt at the time he did the IV, not after words at all. Just looked bad!
The Dr decided to add an additional anti-nausea IV on top of the one I normally get - which adds another 30 min. So by the time I got all the IV's loaded into me that day, it was 6:00 p.m. before we got out of there. But we decided that was a good thing, cuz we had hoped to miss most of the traffic going home.
The first week after the chemo is usually when I have the most side effects. So this first part of the week I pretty much knew what to expect and it didn't seem too bad. I starting to feel a little better on Thursday afternoon. I was even thinking I might go to work on Friday if I woke up feeling good. So when I woke up feeling not so spunky, I thought I'd go the store and pick up a few needed groceries and stop at the credit union. But after showering and trying to get some breakfast down, I just wasn't feeling it. I hadn't been out all week and thought - just go and the sunshine might help.... I made it to the credit union but after circling the store parking lot, just gave up and went back home. Then the gastrointestinal side effects kicked in.
While all this was going on during the week, Lance came home from work on Monday really sick and said a bunch of people at his work were all sick too. So he quarantined himself to the front bath and bedroom and I stayed locked up in the master. I used an entire container of disinfecting wipes that week, having one in each hand every time I went into the kitchen to get anything. So to say the least, this has been a difficult week!!
Lance kept going to work all week and started feeling like he was getting better about Thursday-Friday. I can still hear it in his voice though so I'm keeping up my guard. Last night I started to feel congested and woke up with a sore throat so we'll have to see what this week brings....
Both Dexter and Joe came to visit me Saturday. I guess they could hear how I was feeling in my voice during phone calls that week and they definitely worry too much! So we talked about our summer vacation plans to Island Park, Idaho, which I love to look forward to. Some of Dexters kids have been sick so Melissa and kids stayed home. Joe and Kia stopped on their way home from a motorcycle ride. Jesse called last night and I enlisted him to continue the yard work we did together last year. I knew I wouldn't have the strength to take care of it this year and was worried how to get it done. So Thank you so much Jesse!!!
This week is also the week we normally go to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari. I had hoped I'd feel good enough to go and maybe just stay in camp. But I don't think it's a good idea to be confined in the truck and camper with Lance as he's getting over this crap his been sick with. Good thing there's next year!!
Sorry for the delay in posting info. Hopefully this will be a week of starting to feel better - just in time to go back to work - ugh!
A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY shut-out to my brother Lynn today!! Happy what 59 or 60?? Wow, does time fly or what? Look forward to seeing you and Deb soon! Have a wonderful birthday!!
Love to all!
Nancy
P.S. Mary Nickles blog dated March 29th, really describes what it's like to go into public while going through this battle.
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