Neulasta pains

I was so achy last night. It was the familiar strain in my back from the Neulasta. I took an ibuprofen this morning, and it's worked so well that I can sit without feeling ANY pain. It looks like my appetite is coming back, but it's not to where it's usually at. I'm eating about half as much as I usually eat. I've got some major sniffles. My nails are hanging in there, but my thumbs look purple and orange. The gum around my wisdom tooth is swollen again, but the Neulasta will probably take care of that soon.

Sugar ride

I spent most of the weekend in bed reading books that Beth gave me, went through 3. I've got some achy muscles, probably from not moving too much. I haven't nipped the nausea yet, and I had to cancel dinner with Mom and William. Let's just say that sometimes I have difficulty sitting. The celebration will have to wait. I think that the gummy bears saved the weekend. It was really the only thing that I could eat consistently without having me regret it afterwards. So basically, I was on a sugar high the whole weekend.

All done!

I'm already finished for the day. The last chemo infusion went without a hitch.

I got 139 mg of Taxotere and 446 mg of Herceptin. I'll still be taking my Neulasta shot tomorrow since I'll be flying out to Texas next weekend for the Young Breast Cancer Survivor meeting. I don't want to get hospitalized like I did during my first round. I'll probably get a check up with the dentist soon to take a look at that wisdom tooth.

Megan and Diana from my lab stopped by to see me today. They were so sweet to think of me. Sam watched Obama's speech in AZ and checked the computer. He has a thing about eating in the infusion room so he stepped out for that. The nurses liked the rugala. Today I had Keisha, my fav phlebotomist, so I only had one poke in the wrist. Liam took out the i.v. later and told me the news about the robbers who had their getaway car stolen by the owner of the house they were stealing from. Just cracks you up!

As soon as the side effects are over from this, I'm pretty much home free! I'll try to speak to a nutritionist and work on getting my weight down again. Yay! No more chemo!



From Sam for Valentine's Day. It seems the 2-lb. bag of gummy bears is missing already.

Got the OK for the Last Chemo

My blood work was really good yesterday. My platelets were at 145,ooo--don't want below 100,000. I'm in the waiting room now for the taxotere and Herceptin infusions. There are a lot of people today. The bruise on my arm is hardly noticeable, just some yellow patches. The ones on my leg are taking longer to heal though. It looks like it's about the go away though in a few more days. This past week I've had some bumps around the lining around my eye, sort of like a sty I guess, but very small. It goes away the next day, but then crops up in another place. I don't have any now, and I don't know what it's from. If Carol comes by to see me, I'll ask her.

Since today is my last chemo day, I brought some rugala for my nurses and phelbotomist. They've really made sure that things went smoothly and that I was comfortable. That's how I get the comfy bed!

Eyelash countdown and Shelley's book

I am able to count the number of eyelashes I have. I have 22 on the top left and 1 on the bottom. On the right side, I have 21 on top and none on the bottom.

I recently read Five Lessons I Didn't Learn from Breast Cancer (and One Big One I Did) by Shelley Lewis. Sam picked it out for me at the library. The book was pretty entertaining with lots of sarcasm. Shelley mentions how so many baby boomers are getting breast cancer, like it's some "generational experience" akin to tie-dye, and suggested that Fisher-Price make a "My First Death Scare kit for grown-ups, with a doctor's bag, pink ribbons, and some toy breast implants." That just cracked me up. Did my sense of humor get warped? Nooo, according to Shelley, she realized that breast cancer didn't change her. I am probably going to read this book again sinceI enjoyed it so much.

Shelley also mentions a quote from breast surgeon Dr. Susan Love's book: "Once you are diagnosed with breast cancer you become an outsider. You no longer belong to the world of the 'temporary immortal' but have joined the world of the 'defectives.'" Well, it's kinda sad for me to think of myself as "defective," but in the back of my head, I know that I won't be able to take my health for granted any more. Other breast cancer survivors have run marathons and gotten into the best shape of their lives, but as a cancer survivor, you wonder if the original cancer will come back or a new one will crop up due to the treatment or whatever caused you to have cancer in the first place. Hopefully, in the far future, I'll think about going through chemo only once in a while, but I have my little scars to remind me that I actually had breast cancer.

bookcase and Jacobs

On Sunday, I bought some bookcases from Target and carried them up 3 flights of stairs. I didn't realize that doing that would leave a huge bruise on my right forearm and two bruises on my right leg. The one on my arm is pretty sensitive. I had the pediatrician in my lab take a look at it today. It looks like it's healing since it's turning yellow and hasn't gotten bigger. I hope it's mostly gone by next week when I'll have my last chemo infusion since they can only infuse in my right arm. The left arm is left alone since some of the lymph nodes were taken out there, and additional pressure or stress may cause lymphadema or swelling of the arm. I'm also hoping that my platelets counts are OK for next week. I had a random nose bleed yesterday in the car while I was putting on my makeup.

I saw my favorite doctor today, my surgeon, for my 6 month check up. She did an exam, and everything looks OK, no odd lumps. "The symmetry is quite good," she said. :) She had a doc from Switzerland shadowing her today. It was a brief visit, but I asked her about the clogged duct. Since I'm still healing, it should be OK. There's a black "stitch-like" mark at the incision site. She thought that she could take it out with foreceps, but then said it can come out on its own. There's slight peeling still and some tanning, but no problems.

Chemo #6 pics

I was behind on pictures. This is from Chemo #6. I have the red bandage because my vein blew out. I still think it was because of the phlebotomist. I'm not sure why the pics came out so dark.

Bad dream and chemo angels

In the last photo, you can see the top of the Washington Monument between our heads. Not bad, considering that I took it at arms length.

Two nights ago I had my first dream where I could die from cancer. I think that my chemo buddies think about this a lot more than I do. In the dream, my condition was based upon whether 3 flowers grew or not. (I know, very scientific. Hey, it's a dream.) At first, none grew, which was good. There were other plants around, too, for other people. When two did grow for me, I got a nose bleed, which wouldn't stop, and bled out. I think that I was grossed out by that nose bleed I had in the shower the day before. What do you think?

I received a beautiful framed Apache poem from Deb, one of my chemo angels, yesterday. My angels are very attentive, and I'm really thankful for their time and thoughtful notes and prayers. They really do have kind hearts and very crafty hands!

Sam and Kyung's Day o' Fun

Sam and I haven't really gone anywhere in a while so yesterday we decided to go into DC to check out the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We arrived at 2pm and stayed until 5:30pm when they closed. It's not really early, but that's just us. Besides, I think that I would have been worn out otherwise. Here are some pics of the creatures we met:

This is Phoenix the Right Whale, right because she was easy to hunt when whales were hunted. She ate near the surface and floated when dead. I'm just repeating what I read.
Can you spot Sam?

















Sam liked the T. Rex, and I liked the stegosauraus.













There was a photography award gallery. This one is of a waterfall. The photographer saw in the upper right hand part of the the photo the head of Neptune, the Sea God. It's in white with eyes, nose, and mouth.

I also liked the baby polar bears. The photographer actually crawled into the den to take the picture while the mother was tranquilized for a health examination.

Sam liked the penguin and sea otters. We also met Minister Cox, the real mummy.

Clot and no hair

I got a nose bleed while I was in the shower. Fortunately, it eventually clotted, but I think that was the biggest clot I ever seen for my nose. Breaking records left and right. It looks like I'm not completely free for this round. Yesterday I had what I call the revenge of the gummy bears.

Does my bald pic not shock anyone? I don't think that I make a good bald person, maybe if I was thinner... No, this style is out forever, if I can help it.

Of note, 2-3 days after chemo my throat was super sore around my lymph nodes. It passed. I got that weird twinge in my back when sitting from the Neulasta this week, but I didn't have to take ibuprofen. I still have a bruise from the abused vein, but it's not as big as people seemed to indicate.

I'm bare like a hairless cat, la dee da, la la la

Did you get the e-mail?

Janet told me about the e-mail notification feature whenever I post.

It's a gummy world

The first few days after chemo my nails felt really weird, like I had glued fake ones on top of them, but now they feel more normal. I noticed that they are flatter and more uneven near the base. My scalp is peeling a little so I started putting the vitamin E lotion on top again. The little hairs on my head are falling out again. They stick to my hand when I put on the lotion.

I've been eating pretty normally, all kinds of food. I did have a craving for gummy bears. Acutally, at first it was for those gummy frogs that are green on top with the white base. It may have even been in a dream. After eating practically a whole bag of gummy bears, I'm pretty good. =>