Germs! Keep your Distance!

I went and had my blood work done yesterday and found that my white blood cell count has dropped down to 0.7 (it is supposed to be between 4.0 and 11.0) which means I really have no resistance to germs if I am around others who have any bugs. Otherwise I feel great and have more energy than last week. This week my body will be generating a lot more white blood cells as my white blood cell count had gotten back up to 11.2 at the time of my last chemotherapy treatment.

My Naturopath had suggested taking a root tea called astragalus that is supposed to be good for the immunity and helps bolster your white and red blood cell count. It sounds like I might need that as this $5,000 white blood cell booster shot takes its time getting going.

I have been enjoying the comments that I have been receiving on my blog. I didn't know that was a feature to the blog. I appreciate all the healing energy and good wishes everyone has been sending me. Check out the comment at my last blog from Toyin. She lists her 'my space' site at the end of her comment and if you visit the site you will hear her beautiful voice. I don't know why she is working at my spa when she obviously could go far with that voice of hers! But who am I to question our luck in having her in our lives at this point. :)

I have discovered that wigs are itchy! Especially on shaved heads. I enjoy wearing scarves and a hat instead, but at least I have the option and have something that can keep my little bald head warm. I even have to wear a little knit hat over my head at night or I get real cold.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

This morning I was all ready to chop off my hair, but when I held the scissors up I lost my nerve. I wrapped my hair up with a scarf that helped cover some of the thinned out areas, but I continued to shed (which is a big nuisance when you are cooking!) and felt itchy. I took my shower later this morning and another handful of hair came out, plus a second handful came out while I was 'styling' my hair. I just decided to heck with it! I pulled out the scissors and chopped it all off and Paul got his razor and shaved my head. OMG!!!! I look like my brother Joe! Of course he would say that there is nothing wrong with that as he is an exceptionally good looking kind of guy. :)

I am now wearing my new wig which of course does not look anything like the way the sales lady had it looking, but at least it is halfway decent and covers my bald head. This whole event wasn't near as traumatic as I thought it would be, probably because the shedding was becoming such a nuisance and dragging on for so long. It was more traumatic for the kids, watching their mom have all of her hair shaved off.

Wine? Whine?

I saw my Naturopath yesterday and she told me that I should drink green tea, take CoQ10 as well as eat cruciferous veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc) for the anti-oxidant values. Also take cod liver oil for the vitamin D, cook with seaweed for their anti-cancer benefits and decrease my sugar and wine intake. What?! Not that I have been feeling like drinking much wine at this point, but that's not the point!

I got onto the internet (you can find anything on the internet if you look long enough) and it said that a recent study (March 2008) was showing that there were benefits to fighting cancer while drinking red wine due to the prophenylols or some such thing found in the lining of the grape skin. They were finding that it actually helped fight the cancer while one was undergoing chemotherapy!! However, it is still in the experimental stages and needs to be studied more. So at least I figure I can have a glass of red wine occasionally if I am feeling good. I suppose this proves I am an alcoholic, fighting for my red wine! Ah well.

I purchased some wakame seaweed yesterday and am planning on making some miso soup. I will have to look up more seaweed recipes as I know very little about it. My Naturopath also recommended that I get a Macrobiotic cookbook. Maybe that will give me some more ideas.

I am losing more hair. I feel itchy and am walking around 'molting'. I have some bare areas but the rest of my hair is covering up most of those patches. Tomorrow is day 19. I may be shaving my head yet. I keep thinking that I will still have something remaining, but it is pretty persistent about falling out. :(

Oh what a beautiful morning . . .

We are bursting into song down here with the beautiful morning and Shelley is feeling sooooo much better. Except for molting. Damnit! I cut my hair yesterday as my ponytail was getting pretty thin, so I bobbed it something like Luellyn's, actually. Just a lot more shaggy as I did it myself. :) More hair came out in the shower this morning and again while I was brushing it. It makes me want to shave it all off, but then I keep thinking that maybe I won’t lose all of it, so maybe I should just ride it out. I guess I will find out more on Sunday the BIG day as they said that the 19th day is when it will all come out. Paul was making fun of me, saying – yeah, you will save one little curl on the top of your head. The twit. Now I can't get that image out of my head!

I meet with a Naturopath later this morning and I'm hoping that she will have some wonder cures for me. Anything natural will be a plus after all these chemo drugs.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!

Rough Night, but doing better now

The nausea started up like it did last time, 3 hours after the chemo treatment. I took both nausea drugs and it seemed to help better, but I still ended bent over the toilet. After that my stomach stayed pretty calm, and the nausea was not quite so pressing.

Doing better this morning, but planning on taking it easy and not doing much.

Our neighbor brought over macaroni and cheese for the kids along with fettucini alfredo AND a vegetable tray with French bread! Wow! So the family ate good and I didn't have to worry about it.

I am looking forward to this weekend when I should be back to feeling much better and hopefully also enjoy some nice weather at the same time.

Second Round

Went in for my second dosing of chemotherapy. It went pretty uneventful. The good thing was that I was told my white and red blood cells were back within normal limits. Last week my white blood cells were at a 1.2 and normal is 4.0 to 12.0. Today they measured in at 11. Much better! That $5,000 white blood cell shot really did the trick. Better have for that price!!!

I am now home and trying to keep notice of any slight nausea at which time I will run for the anti-nausea medication. So far so good. Just don't feel like doing anything very active.

Aaaah! Is that a bald spot?!

Took a shower this morning and a handful of hair came out. Sob! I decided to check out the wig store in Federal Way after work. They were so very nice and helpful. I looked around a little and then the next thing I knew I was being called to come sit down and try on a few wigs. Okay. :) I fell in love with the 3rd one and feel sooooo much better now that I have something other than scarves and hats.

I tried it on when I got home to show Paul how it fit and I was having a hard time making it look like they did, but finally got it to look fairly decent. Paul thought it looked pretty sexy. Taryn thought it looked nice until she realized that it wasn't very long, maybe just above the shoulders. Not long enough! Silly girl.

Going in for my next chemo treatment tomorrow and feeling a little nervous. Hoping that the nausea will be under control much better this time around. We did get a call from our neighbors earlier today. She told Paul that she would be bringing dinner over for them tomorrow. How wonderful! So I won't worry about the family if I'm not feeling up to cooking. I had talked to Lisa, our neighbor, over a week ago and told her that I had been diagnosed with cancer and was going through chemotherapy. She then told me that she had been diagnosed with the same 5 years ago and had underwent treatment under the same doctor. It was such a relief to talk to someone who had undergone what I am starting, and to even have knowledge of the same doctor, and confidence, was a relief.

After tomorrow's treatment I will be going in for another white blood cell shot 24hours afterwards to encourage white blood cell growth. This Friday I will also be meeting with a Naturopath and hopefully finding out some other ways to fight the cancer, in a more healthy manner.

Thank you all for your positive and happy thoughts!

Cancer 101

Taryn brought home a book from the school library on cancer. I didn’t start to read it right away so she has taken it upon herself to read a chapter at a time to me. She was reading the chapter about treating cancer with chemotherapy where it kills the fast growing cancer cells, however, it also kills other fast growing cells and can affect the bone marrow, hair and nails. She then read how chemo drugs are ‘poisonous’ and large doses can kill the patient quicker than the cancer can, so doses need to be monitored. I started laughing at the wording of this lovely passage. Taryn took exception to my laughter – “Mom! This is not funny! We need to take this seriously!” When did my daughter get so grown up?

Hello World!

I am feeling soooooo much better today! Still not eating very large meals, but not having my stomach turn when I eat. I also have a lot more energy and have been taking advantage of that time to catch up on chores around the house. We went to the Olympia Farmers Market and took advantage of the sun and nice warm temps by walking along the waterfront. Life is good.

Feeling better

I had the shot yesterday which is supposed to get the white blood cells producing more. They won’t be doing the blood work until next Tuesday.

I was dragging yesterday, but was able to do a few things then went to bed early so that I could keep my tummy calm and not have to take more anti-nausea drugs. Feeling better this morning.

Ugh

Didn’t have the best evening. About 3 hours after receiving my chemo I started to become nauseous. I had nausea and vomiting for a few hours before it finally got under control with the Compazine. As the nausea drug makes you sleepy, that probably helped combat the steroid drug so I was able to get sleep throughout the night, off and on. Have low energy this morning, but the 2-3 days after chemo are supposed to be the most draining, so I expect the next 1 ½ weeks afterwards to be better.

The big day has arrived

I was at the oncology clinic for 6 hours today, but I’m told it will be a lot less the next time around as they have all the paperwork out of the way. They gave me a steroid (not the muscle building ones - damn!) that is supposed to be in my system for the next 24 hours or so. This may prevent me from sleeping, however, I might also feel like cleaning house or baking a cake, so should take advantage of it. Especially as it could drop me flat in another day or two and I won’t feel like doing anything.

After the steroid they gave me an anti-nausea drug and then proceeded with two different chemotherapy drugs that were given by IV one after the other, which took about 1 ½ hours. Nothing was painful and everyone was nice. I understand that as I continue to receive chemotherapy I will get more tired and drained as it proceeds.

I am supposed to go in for a $5,000 shot tomorrow that is supposed to encourage the white blood cells to reproduce more as the blood cells take quite a hit from the chemo. Then next Tuesday I go in for a checkup and blood checkup to make sure everything is going along as it should. I will be receiving my chemo drugs every 2 weeks for 2 months and then will start a different chemo drug that isn’t supposed to cause nausea and is maybe a little less draining. However, I'm sure it has it's own set of nasty side effects. That drug will also be given every 2 weeks for another 2 months.

I am looking forward to doing something fun in August after this is all done!!!!

The results are in

My ultrasound is negative, or shows no signs of cancer, for the other boob. My chest CT scan showed nodules in the lungs that contained calcium which is normal when there has been some scarring due to pneumonia (which I have never had) or other things. He asked if I had ever lived in southern California or Arizona (I did live in Arizona for 1 year) as there is that particular disease you can get in those areas with the dust, etc, a fungus of some kind. There was just one nodule that didn’t show the calcium so they will keep an eye on that, but the doctor was feeling pretty confident that we were probably not looking at any lung cancer so that means I am still ‘keepable’. Sorry. I’m the only one who can make those kinds of bad jokes.

My chemotherapy will be starting on Tuesday and I should actually be in pretty good shape the first couple of weeks. After a couple of chemo treatments I understand you are supposed to be more run down, so I will get more and more tired towards the end of the 4 months. The doctor said that I will most likely lose my hair after about 19 days, 2 ½ weeks into the treatment, so I should at least get a scarf and be somewhat prepared for that event.

Saw Fred today

I saw the doctors at Fred Hutchinson yesterday and they passed on the information from the PET/CT scan – no metastases were seen in the rest of the body. There was the breast cancer that I had mistaken for a rib head out of place (not a lymph node, but actual breast tissue) as well as a couple of lymph nodes under the arm showing cancer. There was also a deep mammary lymph node under the sternum positive for cancer and some nodules in the breast suspicious for cancer as well. They recommended that I start with chemotherapy to shrink the tumors so that it would also make surgery easier and maybe they wouldn’t have to take out much, if any, muscle. I would have to have a modified radical mastectomy, meaning they would take the breast including two levels of lymph nodes. And then after all of that I would need to go through 6 weeks of radiation therapy to make sure that all cancer cells were killed.

Fred Hutchinson’s has found that they have slightly better results if they give chemotherapy once a week at a slightly lower dose, rather than every 2 weeks that most other places do; however, the treatment would then be extended over a longer period of time. They would be treating with one chemotherapy drug for 12 weeks and the second one over 15 weeks. My oncologist doctor, Dr. Lechner, has been having good results with giving 4 doses of one chemotherapy drug at 2 week intervals, and then starting the second drug at the same intervals. This means that we would be done in 4 months compared to 7 months with the Fred Hutchinson plan. I jumped on his plan, especially as there doesn’t seem to be any big differences in results between the two treatment plans.

The PET/CT scan also showed that I had 3 nodules in my lungs. The doctors didn’t seem to be too worried about these as they were pretty small and most people have them from scarring or something else. However, Dr. Lechner had me get the CT scan to have a better picture of the nodules and after starting the chemotherapy I would be getting another CT scan to see if the nodules had disappeared or not. If they do disappear that means they WERE cancerous which is not good news as that means I was at a stage IV rather than II-III. Supposedly IV is not considered ‘curable’ where the others are. I was confused that if they do disappear isn’t that a good thing???? But he said not. However, none of the doctors could really explain it so that I could understand this concept.

I do have a nodule on my other breast that they want to have checked with ultrasound before starting chemotherapy. They are thinking it is a cyst and as it did not show up on the PET scan it seems most likely that is what it is, but we need to rule everything out. I am having the ultrasound done tomorrow morning and then I am supposed to meet with Dr. Lechner Friday morning to go over the last tests and to finalize our treatment plan. He will then order chemotherapy which needs to be approved by the insurance company, this can take from 48-72 hours to be approved. I am assuming that chemotherapy will not be started until the middle of next week.