It has been a longggg time since my last post, so sorry about that. So May was a very busy month for me. My Dad's birthday, my birthday, my Mom's birthday, my niece's birthday, my niece's graduation, my Mom & Dad's anniversary, whew!! June was a pretty good month, I went out with friends a couple times, had some lunches with Mom's crew at work, relaxed, went swimming a few times. July we went on vacation to Michigan had a family reunion with Marty's family, his Mom and Dad both turn 80 this year so we all got together to celebrate. It was a great vacation, not to hot, not to cold, went out on the lake in a boat just about everyday, thanks Logan!! I even jumped into the lake one day! After about 30 minutes it was a little too cold for me so I got out and the sun warmed me up. :-) It was a wonderful visit and we were so glad to be able to get together with the family. We were vacationing in Traverse City. MI and they have an annual Cherry Festival there every year. It started the day we were leaving so we went and spent several hours there. Got to see the Blue Angles before we left, lots of fun! August is right around the corner and I think I'm going to start the school year going back to work. I'm hoping with only 2 treatments left I can handle it. My 11th treatment is the first day teachers report back to work, Aug. 4th, so we only have kids a day and a half that week so I'm thinking I can make it through that week. The last treatment is Aug. 18th, my brother's birthday, that will be a full week of school hoping I can make it through that one. Then I'm done with chemo! Yay! It'll be slow going at work and I probably won't be in top form until well into Sept. but I'm gonna try. I need to get back to doing something, mentally and physically, tired of sitting around the house all the time. The only bad thing is that with these final treatments I'm feeling a little weaker and it hits a little harder each time, my sensitivity to cold in my hands and feet is much more noticeable now and my finger tips are getting somewhat numb, but it's almost over! So, looking forward to the upcoming month coming and going so my chemo will be over and hoping to get back to a new sense of normal! Thanks for all your love and support it means more to me than you all will know!!
Love y'all!!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Weekend Update with Tracy Pierce
So chemo this week went pretty good. Except I found out when I went in Wednesday to have my pump removed that I apparently am going to have to get this Neulasta shot every time I come in to have my pump removed. Booooo! I haven't had any bad side effects except that Wednesday night I was completely wiped out! I met my friend Kathryn after school and we talked about wedding plans although I think I was pretty zombied out for that whole meeting! Then when I got home I fell asleep about 10 and slept til almost 10 the next morning!!! Guess I needed a good night's sleep. Other than that this week was a pretty good one.
Off the chemo subject and back to life in general... Tuesday I went to school, thought maybe I could help proctor TCAP but apparently if I'm off with sick bank I can't be at school to do any work. Not even proctor for three hours. There's a big difference between proctoring for a couple of hours and working a full day! So not wanting to risk losing sick leave bank I decided to go home after I went through my mail. I think 90% of it went in the trash. Wednesday I went and had my pump removed and had to have that shot then I met Kathryn at Panera at 3:30 and we talked about wedding stuff. At 4:30ish we went over to Cracker Barrel and met her fiance Zac for dinner. I felt like a zombie through the whole thing! Thursday I slept most of the day and then went with Marty in the afternoon to pick up our new puppy! Her name is Lucy. She is a brindle colored boxer pup. I'll attach a picture at the bottom of this post, she's adorable! Friday after I got up and ready, I took the Lucy down to Marty's work and showed her off a little. I also got to see the Sheriff's Dept. fundraiser for Relay for Life, it was pretty hilarious. All the big wigs dressed up pretty goofy and for $1 a balloon the people who work under them or above them or whatever could throw water balloons at them. Took the puppy by Mom & Dad's and then to school, after school Diana came over to see the puppy then later that night she and David and Michelle came over and we had a bonfire. It was a great night for a fire and we had good company! Saturday Mom & I went out and did some running around aka shopping and Saturday night Trevor's friend Tagen came over. Sunday we all (Todd, Karen, Brendan, Haley, Conor, Me, Marty, Aaron, Haley, Trevor, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Tim) were at Mom & Dad's. We got the pool opened then BBQ'd some burgers and dogs. The kids played outside and even got in the pool, which was COLD! Then Marty, myself and the boys, and the dogs went over to Rotary Park and walked around a little. It was a beautiful day! And a great start to a fresh new week! Remember each day is a day for you to make with it what you will and I choose joy!
Here's Rocky and our new puppy Lucy!
Off the chemo subject and back to life in general... Tuesday I went to school, thought maybe I could help proctor TCAP but apparently if I'm off with sick bank I can't be at school to do any work. Not even proctor for three hours. There's a big difference between proctoring for a couple of hours and working a full day! So not wanting to risk losing sick leave bank I decided to go home after I went through my mail. I think 90% of it went in the trash. Wednesday I went and had my pump removed and had to have that shot then I met Kathryn at Panera at 3:30 and we talked about wedding stuff. At 4:30ish we went over to Cracker Barrel and met her fiance Zac for dinner. I felt like a zombie through the whole thing! Thursday I slept most of the day and then went with Marty in the afternoon to pick up our new puppy! Her name is Lucy. She is a brindle colored boxer pup. I'll attach a picture at the bottom of this post, she's adorable! Friday after I got up and ready, I took the Lucy down to Marty's work and showed her off a little. I also got to see the Sheriff's Dept. fundraiser for Relay for Life, it was pretty hilarious. All the big wigs dressed up pretty goofy and for $1 a balloon the people who work under them or above them or whatever could throw water balloons at them. Took the puppy by Mom & Dad's and then to school, after school Diana came over to see the puppy then later that night she and David and Michelle came over and we had a bonfire. It was a great night for a fire and we had good company! Saturday Mom & I went out and did some running around aka shopping and Saturday night Trevor's friend Tagen came over. Sunday we all (Todd, Karen, Brendan, Haley, Conor, Me, Marty, Aaron, Haley, Trevor, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Tim) were at Mom & Dad's. We got the pool opened then BBQ'd some burgers and dogs. The kids played outside and even got in the pool, which was COLD! Then Marty, myself and the boys, and the dogs went over to Rotary Park and walked around a little. It was a beautiful day! And a great start to a fresh new week! Remember each day is a day for you to make with it what you will and I choose joy!
Here's Rocky and our new puppy Lucy!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
More stuff to remember
So after reading my last blog and thinking back on all that has happened over the past two and a half months I thought of some stuff I didn't include. Mostly all the support and love from friends and family is what I want to remember. I love the fact that my family (and I include my work family in this) They came up with a t-shirt to show their support, bracelets for Team Tracy, tons of cards, texts, phone calls, Facebook messages. It's just crazy! Makes me tear up just thinking about the amount of people who think about, pray for and support me each day! My best friend Diana has been there for me each and every day. Coming over at least once a week, taking me anywhere I need to go, walking at Dunbar Cave when it's nice out, bringing the world's best chocolate chip cookies, and so much more! Diana we've been friends now for over 18 years!! You are my bestest bud and we have been through so much together and I am so thankful everyday to have you in my life. My Aunt Donna sending me cards and notes of encouragement at least once a week. It's nice to get that continued reassurance that someone is still thinking of you and praying for you. Not that I want everyone to start sending me stuff, please don't, I know you all care about and support me without the reminders. It's just nice to get them now and then. Michelle, you have also been there for me every step of the way. You pick me up when I'm down, let me whine and then tell me it's time to move on, make me get out of the house even on days I might not really want to, take me shopping so we can have girl time, send me cute and funny cards every so often. Thank you so much for all your care and concern for me! Marty Pierce, I couldn't ask for a better husband. I know this whole thing has you very stressed out but you have been wonderful! Attending to any of my many needs, making sure I'm eating when I can, letting me have time to myself when I need it, being there when I need you! I love you!! There are many others that have been there for me and I hate to leave anyone out but I don't want to make this blog super long to read either.
So let's talk about what this chemo is doing to me. So far I have lost about 30 pounds! That is combined effect of surgery and not being able to eat for 9 days and the chemo which leaves you feeling sick to your stomach a lot of the time. The first round of chemo had me losing 8 pounds between my treatment on Monday and going back Wednesday to have my pump removed. After treatment 2 my hair started falling out. I had gobs of hair in my shower and every time I took one. I was worried even though they told me it would thin but I shouldn't actually lose my hair. So I have lost a bunch of hair but luckily for me I had a lot of hair to start with. My hair dresser says I am just now at normal people hair stage. I decided to get it cut and colored-hey if I'm going down I'm gonna do it in style! I feel on a daily basis that I'm pregnant again. Not throwing up or anything just that constant feeling of nothing looks or sounds good to eat. After treatment 3 I found out my white blood cell count was low so I had to get a shot of Neulasta to increase the white blood cell production. I was afraid of the side effects of this but seemed to not be to bothered by it...until a week later. I had the bone and joint pain they said I would have, it was terrible and I talked about in the last blog so I'm not going to go over it again. Then I went this Monday to do treatment #4, I was so excited to be 1/3 of the way through! But low and behold I got there they drew blood from my port as they always do before chemo starts and I was told my platelets were low so they were putting off chemo for a week. So now I have to go back this coming Monday to do chemo and hopefully my platelets will be up so we can get back on track. I think that's got us up to date now.
If you are interested in Team Tracy t-shirts you can email tami.lightner@cmcss.net. They are $15 and I have pictures below.
So let's talk about what this chemo is doing to me. So far I have lost about 30 pounds! That is combined effect of surgery and not being able to eat for 9 days and the chemo which leaves you feeling sick to your stomach a lot of the time. The first round of chemo had me losing 8 pounds between my treatment on Monday and going back Wednesday to have my pump removed. After treatment 2 my hair started falling out. I had gobs of hair in my shower and every time I took one. I was worried even though they told me it would thin but I shouldn't actually lose my hair. So I have lost a bunch of hair but luckily for me I had a lot of hair to start with. My hair dresser says I am just now at normal people hair stage. I decided to get it cut and colored-hey if I'm going down I'm gonna do it in style! I feel on a daily basis that I'm pregnant again. Not throwing up or anything just that constant feeling of nothing looks or sounds good to eat. After treatment 3 I found out my white blood cell count was low so I had to get a shot of Neulasta to increase the white blood cell production. I was afraid of the side effects of this but seemed to not be to bothered by it...until a week later. I had the bone and joint pain they said I would have, it was terrible and I talked about in the last blog so I'm not going to go over it again. Then I went this Monday to do treatment #4, I was so excited to be 1/3 of the way through! But low and behold I got there they drew blood from my port as they always do before chemo starts and I was told my platelets were low so they were putting off chemo for a week. So now I have to go back this coming Monday to do chemo and hopefully my platelets will be up so we can get back on track. I think that's got us up to date now.
If you are interested in Team Tracy t-shirts you can email tami.lightner@cmcss.net. They are $15 and I have pictures below.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Life with Cancer
So I decided I needed to go back and write down all the things I want to make sure I don't forget about living with cancer so far. I should start at the beginning...during the time I was in the hospital I received so many flowers and cards and visitors I can't even begin to thank all the people that did these things for me. Luckily this was all written down because I'm afraid I was a little out of it for most of my time while there. Not just because of the drugs they had me on but also because I was in a state of complete shock at the possibility and then confirmation of the Big C! When people came into my room they said it was like a florist because I had so many flowers. I also have to say the nurses and doctors I saw when I was in the step down unit at Gateway were FABULOUS!! I would like to think it was my charming personality that drew them to my room but I think it was the fact that I was probably the youngest person in the unit and therefore closest to their age and life experiences. All in all I would say my experience at the Gateway was very good, which I'm not going to lie, surprised me!
Finally after 9 days at the hospital I got to come home. Yay! There's no place like home, and the comfort of your own bed! Had a couple people stop by to say "Hi!" but mostly Marty and the boys did a great job taking care of me. Marty has really been wonderful through all this, I know it is stressing him out but he has really been there for anything I need during this time. My Mom has also been fabulous through all this. Checking on me often to see if I need anything, coming over on the weekends to clean my house for me, doing anything I asked of her. If you see or talk to them let them know it's going to be ok. I have heard from several people that it's harder for loved ones to go through all this than it is for the cancer patient and seeing all the stress in them makes me think that must be true.
Wacky Walsh Women's Weekend- Got to fly to Detroit with my Mom for a fabulous weekend with family. If you didn't know my Mom has 12 brothers and sisters so when I say, visit with family, I mean a lot of family! My Aunt Janet picked us up at the airport and we went to my Uncle Tim's house, that's where the party was. So we got to stay there and then my cousin Katie and her daughter Izzy showed up, yay the party could start now!! As the weekend went on I got to see so many family members that I haven't seen in such a long time. It was great! Of course it was a women's weekend so I got to see all my female aunts and cousins but we decided that on Sunday afternoon the guys could come visit too. So then I got to see some of my uncles and male cousins. It was an awesome weekend with some awesome people!!
My first chemo treatment was pretty harsh. I was not expecting that since I had heard from so many people the first one or two won't be that bad. Maybe it's because my cancer was stage 3 and so I had drugs that were more potent or maybe it was just the type of drugs I have but it wiped me out after that first round. I was in bed all day for at least 3 or 4 days after that first treatment. I felt so nauseous even with the drugs to help with that. Felt weak and just drained after that first one, maybe it had something to do with the fact that between Monday when I had the first chemo and Wednesday when I went back to have the pump removed I had lost 8 pounds! So of course by the time I got better it was time for round 2. This round happened to be when the boys were on spring break from school so I had them home to take care of me and Marty got to go to work this week. Surprisingly this time wasn't as bad as the first time. Not anywhere near the amount of nausea and I felt kinda of weak for a day or two but then things pretty much got back to normal. So this time I had about a week and a half of good days! Yay! That was nice considering what last time had been like. The second week I actually went and had lunch with Marty one day at work and went out to Ft. Campbell one day to have lunch with Mom. It was pretty good! The third round of chemo was about the same as the second except this time when I went back to have the pump removed I had to get the Neulasta shot. It had some side effects I wasn't looking forward to but luckily for me I didn't get any of them. Oh wait...yes I did but it was a week later! So half way through what was supposed to be my good week I started having some really bad bone and joint pains. It wasn't funny at the time but looking back now I think I looked like a crazy woman when this happened. It started off Wednesday morning and my back just hurt, ok not my back my spine hurt, all the way from my tail bone to my neck. As the day went on the pain got a little worse and moved into my hip bones, about 3 I took some Advil to see if that would help any, no such luck! By the time Marty got home from work I was crying and trying to get in my pajamas and get in bed and find my good drugs, the ones they gave me after surgery that I hadn't taken since I'd been home from the hospital. So here's where I looked crazy. I'm crying and looking downstairs, upstairs all over saying I need those drugs, where are my drugs, I can't find my drugs. At the time of course all my boys are running around asking what they can do to help and I just wanted the drugs I couldn't find. Poor boys! I finally found them and took some and got in bed. About half an hour later the pain had subsided enough that I wasn't crying anymore but it still hurt and then I fell asleep. Woke up about two hours later and took some more drugs before falling asleep again for the night. Slept until 10:00 the next morning! Felt very nauseous that day but not so much of the pain that I had the day before. Thursday I went to school and had lunch with all the teachers, it was nice to see everyone again! So that catches you up to today. I have chemo again on Monday and I'll write again after that treatment to keep everyone up to date on how things are going.
So now the doctor appts are going and things are kind of getting on a "normal" routine and we start going about our day to day lives. Some weeks are better than others, some days are better than others. I'm not going to lie there have been a few times when I sat and thought, and cried, wondering if this is going to be the end? If I'll get to see my boys grow up, graduate, get married, have grandkids, but mostly I try to stay away from thoughts like that. I know I have so many people praying for me and so many angels in heaven watching over me and God's plan is what's in control now not me. So I try to think positive, happy thoughts, enjoy what I have right now and not worry about the future. None of us is promised tomorrow, cancer patient or not! Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and prayers, keep up all the prayers remember when you see me I may look fine but this battle won't be over for quite a while and prayer works! It has to! Look at me, look how good I'm doing, look at the positive attitude I'm living with, that is all because of prayer so keep up the good work prayer warriors!
Finally after 9 days at the hospital I got to come home. Yay! There's no place like home, and the comfort of your own bed! Had a couple people stop by to say "Hi!" but mostly Marty and the boys did a great job taking care of me. Marty has really been wonderful through all this, I know it is stressing him out but he has really been there for anything I need during this time. My Mom has also been fabulous through all this. Checking on me often to see if I need anything, coming over on the weekends to clean my house for me, doing anything I asked of her. If you see or talk to them let them know it's going to be ok. I have heard from several people that it's harder for loved ones to go through all this than it is for the cancer patient and seeing all the stress in them makes me think that must be true.
Wacky Walsh Women's Weekend- Got to fly to Detroit with my Mom for a fabulous weekend with family. If you didn't know my Mom has 12 brothers and sisters so when I say, visit with family, I mean a lot of family! My Aunt Janet picked us up at the airport and we went to my Uncle Tim's house, that's where the party was. So we got to stay there and then my cousin Katie and her daughter Izzy showed up, yay the party could start now!! As the weekend went on I got to see so many family members that I haven't seen in such a long time. It was great! Of course it was a women's weekend so I got to see all my female aunts and cousins but we decided that on Sunday afternoon the guys could come visit too. So then I got to see some of my uncles and male cousins. It was an awesome weekend with some awesome people!!
My first chemo treatment was pretty harsh. I was not expecting that since I had heard from so many people the first one or two won't be that bad. Maybe it's because my cancer was stage 3 and so I had drugs that were more potent or maybe it was just the type of drugs I have but it wiped me out after that first round. I was in bed all day for at least 3 or 4 days after that first treatment. I felt so nauseous even with the drugs to help with that. Felt weak and just drained after that first one, maybe it had something to do with the fact that between Monday when I had the first chemo and Wednesday when I went back to have the pump removed I had lost 8 pounds! So of course by the time I got better it was time for round 2. This round happened to be when the boys were on spring break from school so I had them home to take care of me and Marty got to go to work this week. Surprisingly this time wasn't as bad as the first time. Not anywhere near the amount of nausea and I felt kinda of weak for a day or two but then things pretty much got back to normal. So this time I had about a week and a half of good days! Yay! That was nice considering what last time had been like. The second week I actually went and had lunch with Marty one day at work and went out to Ft. Campbell one day to have lunch with Mom. It was pretty good! The third round of chemo was about the same as the second except this time when I went back to have the pump removed I had to get the Neulasta shot. It had some side effects I wasn't looking forward to but luckily for me I didn't get any of them. Oh wait...yes I did but it was a week later! So half way through what was supposed to be my good week I started having some really bad bone and joint pains. It wasn't funny at the time but looking back now I think I looked like a crazy woman when this happened. It started off Wednesday morning and my back just hurt, ok not my back my spine hurt, all the way from my tail bone to my neck. As the day went on the pain got a little worse and moved into my hip bones, about 3 I took some Advil to see if that would help any, no such luck! By the time Marty got home from work I was crying and trying to get in my pajamas and get in bed and find my good drugs, the ones they gave me after surgery that I hadn't taken since I'd been home from the hospital. So here's where I looked crazy. I'm crying and looking downstairs, upstairs all over saying I need those drugs, where are my drugs, I can't find my drugs. At the time of course all my boys are running around asking what they can do to help and I just wanted the drugs I couldn't find. Poor boys! I finally found them and took some and got in bed. About half an hour later the pain had subsided enough that I wasn't crying anymore but it still hurt and then I fell asleep. Woke up about two hours later and took some more drugs before falling asleep again for the night. Slept until 10:00 the next morning! Felt very nauseous that day but not so much of the pain that I had the day before. Thursday I went to school and had lunch with all the teachers, it was nice to see everyone again! So that catches you up to today. I have chemo again on Monday and I'll write again after that treatment to keep everyone up to date on how things are going.
So now the doctor appts are going and things are kind of getting on a "normal" routine and we start going about our day to day lives. Some weeks are better than others, some days are better than others. I'm not going to lie there have been a few times when I sat and thought, and cried, wondering if this is going to be the end? If I'll get to see my boys grow up, graduate, get married, have grandkids, but mostly I try to stay away from thoughts like that. I know I have so many people praying for me and so many angels in heaven watching over me and God's plan is what's in control now not me. So I try to think positive, happy thoughts, enjoy what I have right now and not worry about the future. None of us is promised tomorrow, cancer patient or not! Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and prayers, keep up all the prayers remember when you see me I may look fine but this battle won't be over for quite a while and prayer works! It has to! Look at me, look how good I'm doing, look at the positive attitude I'm living with, that is all because of prayer so keep up the good work prayer warriors!
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Wow, I really need to get better at this!
Well in my last blog I said I needed to blog more often and now look at me. Almost a month out and I haven't blogged! Urrgghh!
So let's spend a minute or two catching up. I had my 2nd round of chemo on March 24th. It was not nearly as bad as that first round. Way less nausea this time around, felt better much sooner, was out of bed on the day after which did not happen after the first round. Even went to Opry Mills and did some shopping with Brandi and Michelle on Friday! Mom took me shopping Saturday and got me 2 new spring outfits that actually fit me! Thanks Mom!! The next week I felt almost normal! Had lunch with Marty one day, went out to Ft. Campbell and had lunch with Mom one day, went to school and got to see some friends and co-workers, got my hair cut and colored--It was a good week!
So now we're up to April 7th and it's time for chemo again. This round went about the same as last time. I felt the tingly feeling in my hands, feet and mouth before I was even out of the doctors office this time so I was worried that sensitivity was going to hit me hard. Came home and was practically falling asleep on the couch so I went up to bed, my legs were so sore and tingly going up those steps! I was really afraid Tuesday was not going to be good. But... Tuesday morning came and although I still had some tingling in my legs it didn't seem to be as bad as last time, also my throat didn't seem to hurt as much as last time, Yay!! While at the doctors office for chemo Monday the doctor told me that my white blood cell count was very low and when I came back on Wednesday to have my pump removed I would be getting a shot of something called Neulasta. It gets your body to go into rapid production mode of making white blood cells. The most common side effect of this is bone pain, I'm hoping I'll get lucky and not have to much of that, especially since the doctor asked me if I had something stronger that Extra Strength Tylenol at home and I told him I still had some pain killers from the surgery and he said good, take them if you need them. I'm going to really try to do better keeping up with this maybe next time it won't be so long between posts. Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!
So let's spend a minute or two catching up. I had my 2nd round of chemo on March 24th. It was not nearly as bad as that first round. Way less nausea this time around, felt better much sooner, was out of bed on the day after which did not happen after the first round. Even went to Opry Mills and did some shopping with Brandi and Michelle on Friday! Mom took me shopping Saturday and got me 2 new spring outfits that actually fit me! Thanks Mom!! The next week I felt almost normal! Had lunch with Marty one day, went out to Ft. Campbell and had lunch with Mom one day, went to school and got to see some friends and co-workers, got my hair cut and colored--It was a good week!
So now we're up to April 7th and it's time for chemo again. This round went about the same as last time. I felt the tingly feeling in my hands, feet and mouth before I was even out of the doctors office this time so I was worried that sensitivity was going to hit me hard. Came home and was practically falling asleep on the couch so I went up to bed, my legs were so sore and tingly going up those steps! I was really afraid Tuesday was not going to be good. But... Tuesday morning came and although I still had some tingling in my legs it didn't seem to be as bad as last time, also my throat didn't seem to hurt as much as last time, Yay!! While at the doctors office for chemo Monday the doctor told me that my white blood cell count was very low and when I came back on Wednesday to have my pump removed I would be getting a shot of something called Neulasta. It gets your body to go into rapid production mode of making white blood cells. The most common side effect of this is bone pain, I'm hoping I'll get lucky and not have to much of that, especially since the doctor asked me if I had something stronger that Extra Strength Tylenol at home and I told him I still had some pain killers from the surgery and he said good, take them if you need them. I'm going to really try to do better keeping up with this maybe next time it won't be so long between posts. Thanks for being a part of this journey with me!
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
This chemo better be kicking cancer's a$$ because it's totally kicking mine!
So it's been a little over a week now since my first chemo treatment. Wow!! I wasn't prepared for what that was all about. I had a lot of people say oh don't worry too much it's your first one, the first one or two aren't as bad. If that's true then... Damn, am I in for a rough ride!
So let's start at last Monday, the day I got my first treatment. Go to the doctors office they take me back to the treatment room go ahead and use this handy dandy new port that was put in the previous Wednesday and get the anti-nausea drugs going. Once that gets started we go see the doctor. He tells me that the PET scan looks good and that since I have never had a full GI that's something I should think about doing in a month or so when my insides are healed up more from surgery. BTW did you know that for a cancer legion to show up a PET scan it has to be approximately half a centimeter in diameter and at that point it already has over a million cancer cells in it??? Is that crazy or what! Ok back to my story now- so I go through the bag of anti-nausea drug, then get another anti-nausea drug (they each take about 20 minutes or so to run through) then they start the chemo drugs. Now I should have paid closer attention because when I think back I remember that I was the only one in there they were using a double pump on for chemo drugs, maybe that should have tipped me off. So they start 2 of the chemo drugs I get using a double pump, these take about 2 1/2 hours to run through. Once those two are done it's time for the jump start injection of the 5-FU and here's where I first notice something happening. Almost as soon as they injected it into my port I could feel my tongue getting tingly, that's weird I thought but that is one of the side effects they talked about that could happen so that just means that's one I got. Then they hook up the pump of the 5-FU to my port and I' ready to go home. At this point it's almost 3 in the afternoon and my appt that day was at 10. So it took a while but not as long as some others I have heard about.
Get home and feel like things are going good still. I'm hungry and eat a late lunch and then dinner and go to bed that night with my buddy the pump. Got up several times during the night because of upset stomach, bathroom trips and general yucky feeling. The next day I just don't feel good, got some sleep through. Stayed in bed all day. After talking to doctors office got some good advice on alternating the nausea meds I had at home to help me be more comfortable but it was a rough day. Didn't eat much of anything that day and the diarrhea sets in. Good news on that front, when you have a colostomy you don't have to worry about jumping up to go to the bathroom all the time it just goes in your bag. So slept most of Tuesday! Wednesday and I had to be at the doctors office at 12:15 to remove the pump, yay! Took a good bit of my energy to get to the doctors office that day and when I got home I put my pajamas back on and went straight back to bed! When they weighed me at the doctors office I had lost 8 pounds between Monday when I weighed in for chemo and Wednesday when I weighed in to have the port removed. Now I'm not saying I couldn't stand to lose some weight but this is not the way I really want to go about it! Slept a good part of Wednesday too. By Thursday I was starting to feel a little better, still had diarrhea, but I ate a little bit, still felt very weak. Friday I was feeling good enough to go to school for a bit. I sat in our book keepers office and talked to her about my time off from work and how all that was going to work out. Got to see several of my co-workers as they came through the office area. It was good to see so many familiar faces! Marty picked me up from school about an hour later and when we got home I actually stayed down stairs for a while. Diana came to visit with me for a while then my niece and nephews came over to see me. I had some nice visits that day and was glad to see Haley, Brendan and Tyler but it had been a long day so off bed I went.
By Saturday I was feeling a little better still. My mom and dad came over to visit for a while. My mom stayed and cleaned my house for me. I hadn't been down stairs much in the last week and you could tell the house needed a woman's touch with cleaning. I took a shower and that was about all the activity I could handle for the day. I did come downstairs for a while after the shower was done and I had recovered from the energy that took. Sunday was good, I think I spent most of the day downstairs that day. Wow first time in almost a week I spent more time downstairs than upstairs in bed!
Monday I told Marty I was feeling good enough that he should go ahead and go back to work this week so he did. I took a shower by myself (no one else was home but me), which I probably shouldn't have done but it worked out fine, when Aaron got home from school we went to take Trevor's black pants to him at school and to Sonic for some half price cheeseburgers. Yep that's right I felt like my appetite was back! I ate about 3/4's of a cheeseburger and it was great! Marty and I went to see the play at Rossview Middle that night. Trevor is part of the stage crew so we had to go see what a good job he had done. It was very good. It started at 6 and it was about 8 when it ended, I was glad to have been out of the house but ready to go home! That had been a long day!
Today is Tuesday and my appetite is just so so. I hope it comes back because yesterday it felt really good to want to eat something. I'm kinda worried about this being a week of good and a week of bad every time I do chemo but I'm trying to stay positive and hope that now that I know what to expect and how to alternate the nausea pills from the start, next time will be better! My joy in this post is that I may have felt bad for a while but I am joyful that it has gotten a little better with each passing day! And of course my ongoing joy in the MANY, MANY friends and family that are such a great support to me and help raise me up when I'm feeling low and the prayers that are spoken for me each day. Couldn't ask for more blessings than that!
So let's start at last Monday, the day I got my first treatment. Go to the doctors office they take me back to the treatment room go ahead and use this handy dandy new port that was put in the previous Wednesday and get the anti-nausea drugs going. Once that gets started we go see the doctor. He tells me that the PET scan looks good and that since I have never had a full GI that's something I should think about doing in a month or so when my insides are healed up more from surgery. BTW did you know that for a cancer legion to show up a PET scan it has to be approximately half a centimeter in diameter and at that point it already has over a million cancer cells in it??? Is that crazy or what! Ok back to my story now- so I go through the bag of anti-nausea drug, then get another anti-nausea drug (they each take about 20 minutes or so to run through) then they start the chemo drugs. Now I should have paid closer attention because when I think back I remember that I was the only one in there they were using a double pump on for chemo drugs, maybe that should have tipped me off. So they start 2 of the chemo drugs I get using a double pump, these take about 2 1/2 hours to run through. Once those two are done it's time for the jump start injection of the 5-FU and here's where I first notice something happening. Almost as soon as they injected it into my port I could feel my tongue getting tingly, that's weird I thought but that is one of the side effects they talked about that could happen so that just means that's one I got. Then they hook up the pump of the 5-FU to my port and I' ready to go home. At this point it's almost 3 in the afternoon and my appt that day was at 10. So it took a while but not as long as some others I have heard about.
Get home and feel like things are going good still. I'm hungry and eat a late lunch and then dinner and go to bed that night with my buddy the pump. Got up several times during the night because of upset stomach, bathroom trips and general yucky feeling. The next day I just don't feel good, got some sleep through. Stayed in bed all day. After talking to doctors office got some good advice on alternating the nausea meds I had at home to help me be more comfortable but it was a rough day. Didn't eat much of anything that day and the diarrhea sets in. Good news on that front, when you have a colostomy you don't have to worry about jumping up to go to the bathroom all the time it just goes in your bag. So slept most of Tuesday! Wednesday and I had to be at the doctors office at 12:15 to remove the pump, yay! Took a good bit of my energy to get to the doctors office that day and when I got home I put my pajamas back on and went straight back to bed! When they weighed me at the doctors office I had lost 8 pounds between Monday when I weighed in for chemo and Wednesday when I weighed in to have the port removed. Now I'm not saying I couldn't stand to lose some weight but this is not the way I really want to go about it! Slept a good part of Wednesday too. By Thursday I was starting to feel a little better, still had diarrhea, but I ate a little bit, still felt very weak. Friday I was feeling good enough to go to school for a bit. I sat in our book keepers office and talked to her about my time off from work and how all that was going to work out. Got to see several of my co-workers as they came through the office area. It was good to see so many familiar faces! Marty picked me up from school about an hour later and when we got home I actually stayed down stairs for a while. Diana came to visit with me for a while then my niece and nephews came over to see me. I had some nice visits that day and was glad to see Haley, Brendan and Tyler but it had been a long day so off bed I went.
By Saturday I was feeling a little better still. My mom and dad came over to visit for a while. My mom stayed and cleaned my house for me. I hadn't been down stairs much in the last week and you could tell the house needed a woman's touch with cleaning. I took a shower and that was about all the activity I could handle for the day. I did come downstairs for a while after the shower was done and I had recovered from the energy that took. Sunday was good, I think I spent most of the day downstairs that day. Wow first time in almost a week I spent more time downstairs than upstairs in bed!
Monday I told Marty I was feeling good enough that he should go ahead and go back to work this week so he did. I took a shower by myself (no one else was home but me), which I probably shouldn't have done but it worked out fine, when Aaron got home from school we went to take Trevor's black pants to him at school and to Sonic for some half price cheeseburgers. Yep that's right I felt like my appetite was back! I ate about 3/4's of a cheeseburger and it was great! Marty and I went to see the play at Rossview Middle that night. Trevor is part of the stage crew so we had to go see what a good job he had done. It was very good. It started at 6 and it was about 8 when it ended, I was glad to have been out of the house but ready to go home! That had been a long day!
Today is Tuesday and my appetite is just so so. I hope it comes back because yesterday it felt really good to want to eat something. I'm kinda worried about this being a week of good and a week of bad every time I do chemo but I'm trying to stay positive and hope that now that I know what to expect and how to alternate the nausea pills from the start, next time will be better! My joy in this post is that I may have felt bad for a while but I am joyful that it has gotten a little better with each passing day! And of course my ongoing joy in the MANY, MANY friends and family that are such a great support to me and help raise me up when I'm feeling low and the prayers that are spoken for me each day. Couldn't ask for more blessings than that!
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Here's to Joy!
So this blog is probably going to be a bit of rambling, bear with me, please. So I was all excited to blog this year about joy, thinking to myself, I'm a pretty positive person I can find joy in almost anything. But then life happened! So Super Bowl Sunday and all is well, Well except that the Broncos played terrible!! Monday I didn't feel so great thought I might be coming down with a stomach bug. Tuesday took the day off work because I was feeling a little worse. Still under the impression I had a stomach bug. Marty called to check on me around 11 and I told him I thought I would probably try to make a doctor appt. since I was still throwing up and hadn't eaten or drank anything since Sunday. So before noon he calls back to check on me and I told him to come home so he could take me to the doctors. By the time he got home, less than 30 minutes, I told him he needed to take me to the ER.
When we got to the ER I tell them I feel terrible, have been throwing up and diarrhea all day, I hadn't eaten or drank in two days, and again I felt terrible! They actually took me right back to triage and when they checked my blood pressure it was 150 over 251! So they put me in a critical care room but my arms became pin cushions as they tried to get and IV started. (Remember I haven't eaten or drank plus being sick for the last two days, they really had to work hard to find a vein) The worst part of all was having the NG tube put in while I was still conscious!! I went to have an MRI and they came back and told me I had what's called an apple core lesion in my colon.
The next afternoon they operated and took out part of my colon, I was given a colostomy and about a 12 inch scar down my belly from just under my ribs to just past my belly button. I was in the step down unit for the following 5 days (that's one step under critical care) where some awesome nurses and doctors took great care of me. On day 7 they moved me to a regular hospital room and then on day 8 I got to go home! Yeah there was great joy in that! haha
Since being home I have found out some not so great news. I have stage 3 colon cancer. I have seen an Oncologist and we have a plan of action. I had my PET scan last Thursday and will find out the results when I go to the doctor on Monday. Also on Monday I will begin the first of 12 rounds of chemotherapy. The chemo regimen I am on is called FOLFOX 6. I will go to the doctors office for 4 hours of chemo and then I will take home a pump which slowly releases a drug called 5-FU over the next 48 hours. I will repeat that treatment every other week until my 12 rounds are done.
So let's get back to joy. I have been told by many people that I need to keep up my positive attitude which I have tried very hard to do, not just for myself but for my friends and family. I feel like they might need my support as much as I need theirs. I have asked for lots of prayers and love as I go through this and according to my Mom I have a billion angels watching over me. So hopefully with all the prayers, the angels and love this will be the beginning of something good!
When we got to the ER I tell them I feel terrible, have been throwing up and diarrhea all day, I hadn't eaten or drank in two days, and again I felt terrible! They actually took me right back to triage and when they checked my blood pressure it was 150 over 251! So they put me in a critical care room but my arms became pin cushions as they tried to get and IV started. (Remember I haven't eaten or drank plus being sick for the last two days, they really had to work hard to find a vein) The worst part of all was having the NG tube put in while I was still conscious!! I went to have an MRI and they came back and told me I had what's called an apple core lesion in my colon.
The next afternoon they operated and took out part of my colon, I was given a colostomy and about a 12 inch scar down my belly from just under my ribs to just past my belly button. I was in the step down unit for the following 5 days (that's one step under critical care) where some awesome nurses and doctors took great care of me. On day 7 they moved me to a regular hospital room and then on day 8 I got to go home! Yeah there was great joy in that! haha
Since being home I have found out some not so great news. I have stage 3 colon cancer. I have seen an Oncologist and we have a plan of action. I had my PET scan last Thursday and will find out the results when I go to the doctor on Monday. Also on Monday I will begin the first of 12 rounds of chemotherapy. The chemo regimen I am on is called FOLFOX 6. I will go to the doctors office for 4 hours of chemo and then I will take home a pump which slowly releases a drug called 5-FU over the next 48 hours. I will repeat that treatment every other week until my 12 rounds are done.
So let's get back to joy. I have been told by many people that I need to keep up my positive attitude which I have tried very hard to do, not just for myself but for my friends and family. I feel like they might need my support as much as I need theirs. I have asked for lots of prayers and love as I go through this and according to my Mom I have a billion angels watching over me. So hopefully with all the prayers, the angels and love this will be the beginning of something good!
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