Wow, this week sure has seemed to fly by. On Tuesday, I took the family to my friend's house and got portraits done in her at-home studio. It was so much fun! Carley thought she'd died and went to heaven because Marie had a whole wardrobe full of dress-up clothes, gloves, purses, hats, and so on! And of course, she's a camera-hog! Even the "moody-teenager" (Ashleigh) had a good time... and admitted it! lol. Marie was showing us some of the things she can do with the shots she took and this is going to turn out so great!!! We're going to have so much fun. My long-term goal is to combine all of my blogs and the photos that Marie takes, and see if we can publish a book to help other people see and read about my experiences. I'll have to do more research, but it would be fun! Anyone know any helpful tips?
Then, on Wednesday, Tim took me back to the Oncologists office, with the understanding that we were going to try to re-introduce the Herceptin into my system, with less benadryl this time. However, I talked with the doctor first, and she was concerned that the Avastin was causing my nose bleeds (had two right there in her office) and I had three of them today. So, rather than pump more chemicals into my system, she decided to hold off until the 13th of February when I'm supposed to be starting my second cycle.
Right now, my blood counts are a little low. Not dangerous, but low enough that it makes me tired pretty easily. I make myself a list of things I want to get done in a day, and am lucky if I get even 1/3 of them done. I'm not lazy, I just have absolutely no energy in me at all. It's very frustrating! So, I'm going in next Wednesday to get an Aranesp Injection to help boost my blood cell counts. Here's a website:
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-21884-Aranesp+Injection.aspx?drugid=21884&drugname=Aranesp+Injection
Plus, I've been fighting a sore throat for over a week now. My throat hurts so bad that I can barely swallow, my glads under my jaw bone are swollen, and my ears hurt whenever I try to swallow. It's very painful! They did a swab on it, and it showed no signs of infection. So, whatever it is that is causing it, it's not a virus, apparently. So, it just adds to my "humorous" situation.
Finally, because of the nose bleeds, sore throat, and low blood counts, the doctor decided not to do the herceptin. Instead, she decided to divide the one dose that I'm supposed to get every three weeks into smaller, weekly installments. It should be easier for my system to handle.
Today, I vacuumed the car, tried to take a nap, and then ran some errands before heading to the base for a second opinion on my throat problem. Their labs came back saying the same thing. They gave me this stuff to rinse my mouth out with that makes everything numb and tingly. It's horrible! I'd rather just not swallow at all then use that stuff.
I guess that's about it for now. We're headed to Keith and Tammy's this weekend for Lexi's 6th birthday! (Yay!) Her birthday is always a reminder that Carley's is only 6 weeks away. Guess I should start thinking about what I want to do for her. We'll see.
Not much else going on. The work on the house is SLOW to say the least. It's monsoon season outside, and Tim and Kevin are trying to move the bikes to Kevin's house so that they can put the big, long gurters in, to support the floors in the bedroom area tomorrow.... but I honestly doubt anyone will show up. Nobody has been here to work on the upstairs in 2 weeks. They keep saying that they had to wait on Curt to do some wiring... but all I've seen him wire is some temporary lights so that they can see better up there. The gurters were supposed to be here on Friday, but didn't show up until Wednesday morning. Mostly, I am just here to have the door unlocked IN CASE anyone decides to show up. So much for getting it done before we have people visiting from out of town! It's very disappointing... and to think that I was originally told that it would be done by mid-December. Sure, whatever.
Ok, sorry. That was a little cynical. I'm over it now. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I plan to sleep and try to get over this sore throat.
Love, ~Brenda
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Happy Monday!
Hey, everyone! After a slightly rough weekend, this week seems to be off to an alright start. As I said in my last post, I had a small allergic reaction on Wednesday, and I've been feeling weird ever since, and every time I get one problem solved, another one pops up! Tim's already started calling me "Melman" after the hyprocondriac giraffe on Madagascar. So, in a nutshell, here's what's going on...
Wednesday and Thursday were spent sleeping, trying to get all of the benadryl back out of my system. I kept (and am still) getting aches in my legs that feel like the growing pains we'd get as kids. I was also having cramping, which felt like PMS cramps, but I knew that they couldn't be. So, I finally called the dr. on Friday. She had me get some Milk of Magnesia and see how that worked.
By that time, nothing tasted good at all... water, crystal lite, soda, beer... NOTHING! You know it's bad when I don't like my beer. lol! So, Tim took me to the grocery store and tried to buy some of my favorite foods to cheer me up... he said it was like shopping with Gandhi because I turned my nose up at everything! I didn't want to try my favorites because if they tasted bad, then they wouldn't be my favorites any more! So, we got a few things, and it turned into a day of experimenting to see what foods I could eat. I did try sushi, but hesitantly because I would cry if I didn't like that! Fortunately, it still tasted good to me.
So, Friday night rolls around, I am sitting in a hot bath, trying to take in liquids (nasty) and waiting for this Milk of Magnesia to work. I'm just all around miserable, unhappy, and frankly, just a little whiny. All of a sudden, I go from sitting in the tub trying to feel better to sitting on the "pot" trying to feel better. That stuff works a little too well! lol.
Once I was finally able to get that under control, I sat down in the living room to watch some TV, and I started having a nose bleed that lasted for about 45 minutes or so. It scared Tim because I don't ever get nose bleeds. So, he called the doctor that was "on call" at the oncologist's office. They didn't seem to think it was a big deal, so I got it to stop and we went to bed with the intention of heading to Atlanta to visit Tom and Jane on Saturday morning.
We woke up Saturday morning and started to get packed. I still had a bit of a stomachache, but I felt well enough to sit in a car all day, so I was ready to go. I was just excited to be going somewhere besides a doctor's office! Frankly, I am tired of my own house and tired of doctor's offices. I'm bored!!! lol. So, we packed and piled into the truck and stop off at Kevin and Tammy's to see if they would let the dog out while we were gone and my nose started to bleed again. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'd also had a nose bleed that lasted close to an hour that morning and another one in the shower before we left. Well, that was the final straw. We left the kids at Kevin and Tammy's and Tim called Tom and Jane to cancel the trip, and he took me to the hospital.
We were at the hospital for 4 or 5 hours, they ran some labs on me, and gave me 2 bags of fluid and sent me home. Basically, they couldn't find anything wrong with me. So, that's when I got the name "Melmen" from Tim. So, we went and got some food, then back to Kevin and Tammy's to hang out and watch a couple of movies.
Oh, I had heard that chemo makes some people lactose intolerant, though, so I decided not to eat any dairy at all on Sunday, to see if that was causing my stomachaches. My stomach felt fine all that day. So, I tried a bowl of cereal today to see if it made a difference, and YAY! it didn't. I still feel fine. What a relief that is. Can you imagine ME, growing up on a dairy farm, becoming lactose intolerant? My family would disown me for sure. lol!
So, like I said... it was a rough weekend (and I know it will get worse than this!) but I'm feeling better now. I still can't taste much, so it's really hard to force myself to eat and drink. I look at it as my weight-loss plan before bike week in Daytona. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to go! I plan on being bald and having Carley put a huge biker tattoo on my head before I go. lol!!! It'll be funny.
Hugs to all. Love and miss those of you that I don't get to see often! Love, ~Brenda
Wednesday and Thursday were spent sleeping, trying to get all of the benadryl back out of my system. I kept (and am still) getting aches in my legs that feel like the growing pains we'd get as kids. I was also having cramping, which felt like PMS cramps, but I knew that they couldn't be. So, I finally called the dr. on Friday. She had me get some Milk of Magnesia and see how that worked.
By that time, nothing tasted good at all... water, crystal lite, soda, beer... NOTHING! You know it's bad when I don't like my beer. lol! So, Tim took me to the grocery store and tried to buy some of my favorite foods to cheer me up... he said it was like shopping with Gandhi because I turned my nose up at everything! I didn't want to try my favorites because if they tasted bad, then they wouldn't be my favorites any more! So, we got a few things, and it turned into a day of experimenting to see what foods I could eat. I did try sushi, but hesitantly because I would cry if I didn't like that! Fortunately, it still tasted good to me.
So, Friday night rolls around, I am sitting in a hot bath, trying to take in liquids (nasty) and waiting for this Milk of Magnesia to work. I'm just all around miserable, unhappy, and frankly, just a little whiny. All of a sudden, I go from sitting in the tub trying to feel better to sitting on the "pot" trying to feel better. That stuff works a little too well! lol.
Once I was finally able to get that under control, I sat down in the living room to watch some TV, and I started having a nose bleed that lasted for about 45 minutes or so. It scared Tim because I don't ever get nose bleeds. So, he called the doctor that was "on call" at the oncologist's office. They didn't seem to think it was a big deal, so I got it to stop and we went to bed with the intention of heading to Atlanta to visit Tom and Jane on Saturday morning.
We woke up Saturday morning and started to get packed. I still had a bit of a stomachache, but I felt well enough to sit in a car all day, so I was ready to go. I was just excited to be going somewhere besides a doctor's office! Frankly, I am tired of my own house and tired of doctor's offices. I'm bored!!! lol. So, we packed and piled into the truck and stop off at Kevin and Tammy's to see if they would let the dog out while we were gone and my nose started to bleed again. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'd also had a nose bleed that lasted close to an hour that morning and another one in the shower before we left. Well, that was the final straw. We left the kids at Kevin and Tammy's and Tim called Tom and Jane to cancel the trip, and he took me to the hospital.
We were at the hospital for 4 or 5 hours, they ran some labs on me, and gave me 2 bags of fluid and sent me home. Basically, they couldn't find anything wrong with me. So, that's when I got the name "Melmen" from Tim. So, we went and got some food, then back to Kevin and Tammy's to hang out and watch a couple of movies.
Oh, I had heard that chemo makes some people lactose intolerant, though, so I decided not to eat any dairy at all on Sunday, to see if that was causing my stomachaches. My stomach felt fine all that day. So, I tried a bowl of cereal today to see if it made a difference, and YAY! it didn't. I still feel fine. What a relief that is. Can you imagine ME, growing up on a dairy farm, becoming lactose intolerant? My family would disown me for sure. lol!
So, like I said... it was a rough weekend (and I know it will get worse than this!) but I'm feeling better now. I still can't taste much, so it's really hard to force myself to eat and drink. I look at it as my weight-loss plan before bike week in Daytona. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to go! I plan on being bald and having Carley put a huge biker tattoo on my head before I go. lol!!! It'll be funny.
Hugs to all. Love and miss those of you that I don't get to see often! Love, ~Brenda
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