Countdown!!!

Only three left now! I truly can't believe it. I know it's not ALL done when chemo is over, but it's so much closer.

I haven’t been feeling especially great the past couple of days. I have a cold and I’m so dried out I get a bloody nose a couple times a day. That’s really special! Also, because the Taxol is so drying it allows your nails to lift a little bit sometimes and I got a little infection in one of them. It’s small, not even worthy of antibiotics so I figure it will be all better very soon. The numbness in my feet (still none in my fingers) got much worse last week, very painful, I was so surprised because it took so many weeks to kick in, but chemo is cumulative so I shouldn’t have been all that surprised. I’m still having some numbness but it seems to be getting better now that I’m taking the correct amount of glutamine. It really helps to read the doctor’s directions! She wrote 10g three times a day and I read once a day…a difference of 20g. No wonder it’s working now! The taste of food and water is getting better too. I still have the strange taste in my mouth after chemo, but it’s lasting less time each session which is great.

I saw friends today at chemo, which is always great. It puts me in a much better mood. Sometimes I think we put on a “show” for each other because we want the other to know we’re doing ok, but sometimes we just tell it like it is…like this is ridiculous and we’d rather be somewhere else. We smile and we laugh AND we vent and cry, all of the things we need to do to get through this. None of us asked to be here, this is not the “life lesson” we signed up for, but we’re here and for the most part I think we’re all making the best of this. Most everyone I’ve met is a fighter and we all know this is not a walk in the park, it’s a marathon that we didn’t train for but we’re all managing in our own special way to make it through.

I am very grateful for each of these new women I’ve met, but mostly I’m grateful that Mom goes with me each and every week. It means the world to me to have her there supporting me. We had Jen, my nurse, take our picture today. It’s cute so I’m sharing it. Maybe my hair will be as long as hers one of these days!!!



I hope everyone is doing well.

Peace
~K

Only five left!!!

Yesterday was round seven of Taxol/Herceptin. This part of my journey will be over before I know it and then I'll be on to radiation. I'm really looking forward to the end of chemo.

I'm starting to feel better, I still get pretty tired but I'm getting better sleep now so it's not so bad. My blood work came back this week indicating that I'm slightly anemic again; I was a few weeks ago too. Nothing to be all that concerned about, I just need to eat more iron-rich foods. Too bad food still doesn’t taste very good; I'm really looking forward to the end of that! I've started getting a little neuropathy (numbness) in my feet but it's mostly just in the evening so it's manageable, I'm glad it's not in my fingers at all. My hot flashes have even subsided a bit. I was getting a couple/few each day for a while, but now I’m getting fewer than one a day…hopefully that will continue to be the norm. All things considered, my side effects have been so minimal I feel really lucky.

I think I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten dizzy a couple weeks ago while I was having my chemo. We thought it was because I was dehydrated, but then it happened again last week. We figured out that both times it happened were during or shortly after I was given benadryl. It turns out I was having a reaction to the benadryl, they think because I had stopped taking the steroids prior to going in for my treatment. Yesterday I was switched to a benadryl pill instead of the IV type. I still had a little reaction, but it was very mild and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out.

Henry went to chemo with me yesterday. He's wanted to go and I think it was good for him to see what happens (he wasn't there for the needles). He got to go to art therapy while we were there and draw (his favorite thing) and talk. He keeps telling me he'd like to go again...I think he just liked skipping school! It was really nice to have him there though.


So that's really about it for now. I'm just taking each day as it comes, so far so good.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

~K

Time is flying

The rounds of chemo seem to be flying by now. I completed my fifth round of Taxol/Herceptin on Wednesday and have only seven more to go!

I’m still feeling pretty good. As I’ve mentioned before, these rounds are not nearly as difficult as the last. I swear my biggest complaint is still the fact that water tastes so bad for a few days after I have my chemo! Unfortunately, I think that may have led to my being a little dehydrated on chemo day this week. Luckily I was already there when I started to get dizzy and the nurses were all over it. I got some extra fluids and took a nap, all is better now.

My hair is really growing back quickly now. It feels so much thicker than just a couple weeks ago AND it’s red. I don’t think I’ll be giving up my hats for a while though. I’m not even sure what I’m going to do with hair and it hasn’t even been gone that long!

I really don’t have much else to tell. I just wanted to let everyone know I’m still here, still doing well and still kicking cancer in the butt!

Love to all…