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…

Checking In

I’m sorry I haven’t written for a couple weeks. Time has been flying by as I had hoped it would having chemo very week.

Chemo days are still very much the same, I go in have my blood work done, meet with Dr. Ellis and have my infusion. The time is about the same as it had been rather than the nearly five hours it took for my first infusion of Taxol/Herceptin. The infusion is usually about three and a half hours now, not so bad. I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the Taxol at all so Dr. Ellis reduced the steroids I have to take prior to going in for treatment…YEA!!!! I’m so thrilled, because I hate the way they make me feel and any reduction in the amount helps as far as I’m concerned.

The new drugs are so much easier than the last. I still have some side effects, water tastes terrible for a couple/few days after treatment. Food still tastes weird too, most things are just tasteless. I’ve been eating a lot of spicy foods so I can taste something. I still get pretty tired a couple days after treatments, but I'm not sleeping well, it's is my only big complaint. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s been through this has had the same complaint, they can't sleep. I think it’s a combination of the steroids and the huge change in hormones, either way it's hard not to have a good night's sleep.

My hair is growing back!!! It’s so soft and about a half inch long (in some places). My mom said its lots of different colors, I might look like a Calico when it comes in! I’m just looking for the red to come back. I'm going to attach a picture, although I'm not sure you can really tell how much is there, I think you can get the idea.

Hope all is well with everyone!

New Year, New Chemo

Happy New Year to all!! I hope everyone had wonderful Holidays. We had a very nice Christmas and a very quiet New Year. Henry came home on Christmas and was home through New Years Day. Jenna was home for Christmas too, she hadn’t been home for six months so it was really nice to see her. Shari, Kurt and the kids came over for Christmas too, lots of fun.

Henry and I went to see Lynette again a coupe of weeks ago to have more photos done. Lynette has posted some of my favorites on her web site. Please take a look. http://www.soulumination.org/kristingallery3.html Click on “more Kristin” to see the rest.

I went in for my first round of Taxol and Herceptin yesterday, the first of 12. I'm now going once a week, every Wednesday. Everyone I've talked to has told me this round, the Taxol and Herceptin, is much easier that than the previous round. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

My new chemo process began at midnight, when I had to take my first round of steroids. My second round was at 6:30 in the morning. The steroids are supposed to help minimize the side effects, but also with this round help to minimize the possibility of an allergic reaction to the Taxol.

Mom and I got to the hospital at 11:30, I had my blood work done (WBC 5,700, yea!) and saw my Doctor. We got to the chemo unit about 1:00 and into my room at 1:30. I think the drug list got bigger yesterday...Ativan (to relax), Zofran (for nausea), Decadron (more steroids), Benadryl (In case I had an allergic reaction to the Taxol), Pepcid (again for nausea), Taxol & Herceptin (the actual chemo drugs). It was a long day at the hospital, luckily I slept through 2 of it (ativan and benadryl makes a good sleeping pill). We left the hospital at 6:30. Long day…

I didn't have an allergic reaction to the Taxol, I guess it's rare, but they prepare for it just in case. The nurse sat and watched me for the first 20 minutes of the infusion and took my blood pressure every 15 minutes through the whole infusion to be sure I wasn’t having a reaction. My Doctor told me that if I didn't have a reaction over the next couple of weeks she would cut back on the amount of steroids I'm being given. This would be a thrill for me because they make me pretty shaky.

I feel pretty good today, but I usually feel pretty good the day after chemo. I’m hoping the crash won’t be so big this time, or maybe I won’t even have one, since the drugs are supposed to be easier on the system…fingers crossed again.

I think I’ve sufficiently filled eveyone in although I’m sure I’ve missed something.

Happy New Year again to all. I hope 2008 is a fabulous year for all of us.

Love and Peace

Merry Christmas

I'm feeling much better and I'm very grateful that I don't have to go in for my next treatment for another week. Can't ask for much more than that this Christmas!

Henry is with his dad tonight and will be home tomorrow for Christmas. I am really looking forward to spending Christmas with him and my family and friends.

I hope you all have a great day no matter what you do.

Merry Christmas and much love!

Chemo Crash

I hate chemo crash...I'm exhausted.

I did really well on Thursday I even went and did a little shopping. Then I started to crash on Friday, I can't even really tell you what I've done the past couple of days. I really hate this time after the chemo, because I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep and I'm agitated (I think that's from the steroids). I've been going to sleep, but waking up shortly after and tossing and turning through the night. I'd like to take a nap during the day, but I don't seem to be able to go to sleep then either. So I just try to lie down and at least relax for a while. Today I did every bit of organizing I could do sitting in bed watching a movie.

I know this won't last long and I'll be on the upswing again soon, but this just really sucks this time and I felt the need to share.

I'm so glad to be done with this end of my chemo and to feel like I'm on the down side of my treatments. I have twelve more to go, but I really think it will go by much faster, as it will be once a week. Plus I've been told by so many people these next rounds will be easier than the first...I'm counting on this!

Thanks for being here and listening...