Sleep is ...my friend!

There was no chemo insomnia last night!  Thanks to the miracle of... well... Miracle Mouthwash (I swore she wrote the prescription as MAGIC mouthwash, but hey..), I slept almost through the night, and when the pain woke me up, I sipped more of the stuff, and slept again. :D

Once again, my marvelous medical insurance said they wouldn't cover this great stuff.  When did they get so snotty about coverage?  Ugh.  But it wasn't much, and a darned small price to pay to be comfortable.  AND SLEEP!

I wonder how one builds up one's white blood cell counts? I'll have to go read up on that.  Hopefully, the answer is to eat more ice cream.... ok, probably not. :D

Today I had toast with peanut butter for breakfast; good source of protein, since I can't eat my eggs the way I prefer, over medium.  No raw yokes until my immune system gets better.  Poo.  I can't even eat a salad, since I'm supposed to have all my food cooked, to eliminate the possibility of bacteria entering my body.  I *love* salads, too.  Oh well, I'll have them again someday.

I don't know what kind of coffee Jane made this morning, but it surely is wonderful.  In fact, I need more.... be right back... umm, I think it has some peppermint in it.  Strange, yet yummy.

Must be fall; my back yard is full of Pecan tree leaves.  At least we don't have to skim them out of the pool anymore... since we had the pool demolished.  Best investment I ever made.  No more pool guy, no more chemicals, no more wet chihuahuas.  We simply didn't use it enough to justify the expense, and it was getting so old, it was going to cost a fortune to do anything it was about to need, like resurface or get a new filter system.  And now, I have lots of trees, and flowers and it looks much cooler out there.

So, time to relax, let my body heal up, and maybe start back on my NuStep... maybe Monday. ;)

Love to all!

Only 1 1/2 hours of chemo today!

Apparently Herceptin doesn't make you nauseated, because all I got today was a bag of Benadryl and the Herceptin... no anti-nausea, and THANK THE GODS, no Decadron, and no Pepcid.  So, it was a very quick chemo session.

Oh, and today was definitely NOT social chemo day.  Everyone was quiet, but actually, it wasn't as crowded as it has been.  I'd say not more than half the chairs were taken.  Most folks were sleeping.  I have NEVER been able to sleep during chemo, myself.  Of course, everyone is getting different stuff, so it's hard to say how anyone will react.

There was a woman there today who was TERRIFIED of every little thing that was happening to her.  Remember how I got that port implanted in my chest so that my chemo goes directly into it, instead of them having to find a vein every week?  Well, she had the same model as mine.  What scared her was when the oncology nurse accessed it, and didn't get any blood back following the initial flush of fluid into it.  Well, I haven't had any blood flowback in weeks, and mine is fine.  The oncology nurses know it's working because you can taste and smell whatever it is they use to do the initial flush.

So, I dragged my drip holding contraption over to where she was and told her that it's NOTHING to worry about; that I havent had blood flowback in weeks, and I'm fine.  I actually saw her get tears in her eyes, she was so relieved.  I just wish there was a way to take all that fear from people; it's not healthy.

Anyway, I know I used to post to the blog a couple of times during my chemo, but this went by so quickly today, I didn't have any time. :)

I don't have to go ANYWHERE tomorrow... no doctors, no labs, no chemo and no radiation... YAY!  Dr. Fastenberg says he wants my body to start recovering from the chemos I've already had.  Let's just see how Saturday and Sunday go, my historically worst days.  I don't think Herceptin is really like the other two meds.  And to tell you the truth, I haven't read anything about it.  I'm just at the point that I'm not going start scaring myself by reading the 72 possible side effects... que sera, sera, baby.

Love to all!

Saw my Medical Oncologist

He's taking me off Taxol and Carboplatin, at least for now, but I must continue on the Herceptin.  I also have to go make an appointment with Dr. Wilcoxson, my cardiologist, to get an echocardiogram on my heart. 

Dr. F says he is trying to weigh the use of the chemo against my quality of life.  He's never said how much time he thinks I might have, and I don't know that I want to know, nor would I give much credence to a number, but if he's talking quality of life already, ... ugh.

But anyway, I feel like I could live several more years, so that's that. :)

I'll see Dr. F again on the 30th of December. 

Ok, the exciting beginning drugs are coming so I'm going to end this post.

Take care, all!

I'm DONE!

Radiation 28 is now under my belt... or in my chest, as it were, and I've got no more radiation treatments for at least a month.  I see Dr. T, the RO on the 11th of January and then we'll decide where to go from there.

Tomorrow is Chemo day, and as per my normal drill, I'm sure I'll post whilst being infused.

Oh, and by the way, I got my Rice Pudding. :)

And right now... I'm snacking on my Jalapeno Smokehouse Almonds.... like a celebratory snacking... happy that radiation is done, and I don't have to go to Ironwood EVERY SINGLE DAY of my week, weekends excluded.

Alrighty, I'll post more tomorrow.  Love to all!

RIP Elizabeth Edwards

I hope when my time comes, I can accept it with the same grace as you.

Cataclysm!

Jane and Nancy went out last night to get our Collectors' editions of WoW Cataclysm, and I have spent the morning playing my new little Goblin Warlock, Gremolata.  I have to say that this couldn't have come at a better time:  It's taking my mind off the esophagus pain. :)

So, today is Radiation 27 and tomorrow is number 28 and I am done for a month! YAY! Just checked my temp and it's at 96.6.  I run low.  I have to take it every day, as we have to avoid any infection of any type and hit it hard with antibiotics if one happens.  Hard to believe I've been doing radiation for almost six weeks, and it's only been this last week that's been really hard on me.  That's not bad, not bad at all!

And now, back to playing.... :)

Huge hugs to all!

"Loose Food"

Just back from having Radiation number 26... two more to go.  Dr. T wasn't there.  I forgot she told me I'd be seeing another RO.  He said to make sure I ate loose food, now that I'm having problems.  Nothing acidic, nothing spicy, no vinegary stuff. no salty stuff... so, I think he meant just eat ice cream.

OK, probably not.  Well, Glucerna is loose, and I'm having one now. :)  I'm guessing broths are a good choice, not too hot temperature wise.  I remember Dr. F telling me neither hot nor cold would be very comfortable.

I want rice pudding.

So, I don't have to see Dr. Tsai for a month.  That means I should heal up pretty well before the next round of radiation, if that's what we're doing.  Of course, I will still have my weekly chemo.

Oh well, I can do two more... really... I can. :P