The past 2 weeks have been busy. I had my first physical therapy appointment. The PT said that my mobility is really good and she gave me some exercises to use at home. I will see her again the second week of January. I had my port placed. It is a hospital procedure so we checked in once again to the hospital Tuesday morning. For some reason they always think I have huge feet:)
It took 4 nurses and 45 minutes for them to get an IV on me. One nurse was one of my patients from my old office!
They called in the ER nurse and she finally got one in my hand.
They place the port up by my collar bone. it connects into a vein somewhere so that everytime I need chemo they don't have to try to get an IV in me. The surgery was under conscious sedation, so I was awake the whole time. They gave me the 'Michael Jackson drug'..Fentanyl and Versed...I commented on how amazing it felt and didn't blame Michael for liking the cocktail of drugs. After the surgery I felt fine and was numb from my chest to my neck. They even gave me 'world class room service' So I ordered some food and relaxed before we went home.
I now have a creepy bump sticking out of my chest where they 'plug in' to me to give me chemo. After the numbing wore off it was more painful than after my mastectomy surgery. It hurt really bad.
My parents flew in from Arizona that night Tuesday the 18th. We hadn't seen them since September. It was nice to have them here to be with me when I had my first treatment. They brought Landon a sucker with a scorpion inside!
We decorated a gingerbread house..
Wednesday I had to have my IUD taken out because my cancer was hormone fueled so they don't want any extra hormones being released into my body. Landon had a class Christmas party and Luke and I had a 'Chemo Class', so my mom dropped me off at the dr. appointment and I met Luke while my dad attended the class party. My mom had made a few hats, so Landon wore his to school that day.
The kids got out of school Thursday. My dad took me to my Plastic Surgeon so I could get a fill up on my boobs that morning. After my appointment we headed downtown to see Santa. There was no line so we were done in about 5 minutes. Landon asked for a chewbacca costume and Josie asked for 'nothing'. Santa asked me if Josie had been bad or something because she didn't have anything she asked for. I had to bribe Landon to wear Jeans and a nice shirt. We had to bring an extra outfit that he could change into after the picture.
Luke was working so we were short a family member, but he has missed a lot of work helping take care of me so we understood.
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We shopped around the mall for a while and then went to Lunch. The kids posed with the spokane runners.
Then we went wig shopping. They said it will take a couple of weeks for my hair to fall out so I wanted to be prepared. Josie helped us:)
We finally picked one out. I sat and cried in the wig shop because it is such a crazy thing to know your hair is going to fall out. I ended up with a wig that is pretty similar to my own hair. The wigs all come with names. My wig is called Savanna. I put her on and flipped her off...I'm not totally sold on the style but I can have it cut and styled if I want.
Friday was the big day...Chemo #1. I checked in and one of my friends had left a care package and some flowers for me!
The whole chemo area is awful. It is a bunch of small areas with curtains you can close, only a couple have widows you can look out of and the chairs are really uncomfortable. It was very surreal walking in and I quickly started to have a panic attack and started crying when I sat down. My mom came with me and held it together the whole time reassuring me that I would be ok. I popped an anti anxiety med and pulled myself together. They accessed my port and hooked me up to a bag of anti nausea meds. My nurse Kate who has been with me from the beginning stopped by to say hi.
The whole process takes a couple of hours.
The first drug is administered by an IV. The second one is called the 'red devil' and the nurse administers it over the course of 15 minutes.
After it is over with they put a Neulasta contraption on my stomach and sent me on my way. The Neulasta injects you 27 hours later to help raise the white blood cells in your body. There is a green light that flashes on it and then 27 hours later it starts beeping and you have to lay still while it is injecting you for about an hour. After it is done injecting you then you peel it off and throw it away.
We came home and I just relaxed. I started to feel tired and weak that evening. Luke took the kids up to the mountain so they could ski and I could have a quiet weekend with my parents. They sent me home with 3 different types of anti nausea meds and so I stayed on top of those. My dad made his traditional Christmas Chex mix.
My flowers from my friend Lisa.
Saturday we had some friends stop by and they brought me some lipton noodle soup and a pizza. I didn't have much of an appetite. It was kind of like when I was pregnant. Nothing sounded good to eat and smells were really irritating. The kids old swimming instructor had gotten together with a bunch of other moms and put together a care package for me. She dropped it off on Saturday. There was even a lady who made me a really cool pillow that didn't know me and another mom from freeman who I don't know, but she donated to the package as well.
Sunday Luke called to say that he was on his way home, but Josie had a sore throat so he wanted to make sure it wasn't strep before he brought her home. They went to urgent care but the dr. said she didn't have a fever and the swab tested negative for strep. They came home and Josie wore a mask so she wouldn't get me sick. She was making a tasty dessert:)
I felt like crap, but posed for the pic.
I felt like I had overdosed on Nyquil. No energy and no appetite. It was the most fatigue I have ever felt in my whole life. I forced myself to eat and tried to drink as much as possible. Christmas eve we just hung out and had dinner. My dad made his traditional brandy carrots.
we let the kids open their present from Uncle Scott and Auntie Lisa.
Snow scooters! We had a little bit of snow, not enough for sledding but that didn't stop the kids from trying. It was more mud than snow, but they had fun trying to get them to work in the dark.
The kids set out everything for Santa and his reindeer. Josie doesn't believe in Santa so her letter was brief. Landon said his favorite reindeer is Prancer, so he left him a candy cane.
Santa came and brought Landon his Chewbacca outfit and Josie a poloroid camera that she had wanted.
Our christmas wasn't white this year so Josie had made a bunch of fancy snowflakes and boxed them up for all of us. She made it 'snow' christmas morning.
The kids were spoiled once again this Christmas.
My friend from Hygiene school has a son who is 9 and makes Jewlery. He had a Facebook contest to award someone one of his bracelets he made. apparently my friend Jen nominated me and I won. So I was awarded one of his beautiful creations with a nice note.
My parents got Landon a robotic lego set. Luke helped the kids put it together while I rested.
My parents left Christmas day. It was really nice to have them here to help. Rudy and Carli made Christmas dinner and brought it to our house to eat. It was the first night my appetite was back and I actually ate a full meal. It felt good to get my appetite and some energy back. We left for Schweitzer the next day. Every year the kids have a Holiday ski camp for a week with a race on new years eve.
The kids brought their snow scooters to the mountain because there was way more snow there compared to our house.
It was tough not being able to go skiing. Luke and the kids left the first day and I tried to keep myself busy at the condo. It's not all bad. It was quiet and I was able to do some reading and relaxing.
Walter was there to keep me company.
The Port a potty is still there...I think it will be there all winter now. It is starting to buckle on the sides!
Josie had some friends come over one night. There are a bunch of kids who are in our condo's so they all come and go to each other's places and play.
The weather was nice so I was able to take Walter outside and get some fresh air. The view from our condo.
We had some friends come over and have dinner with us one night. Their son is Mason who is friends with Landon...Here they are hanging out in their long underwear..a standard outfit after skiing all day:)
Friday I had a Dr. appointment where they checked my blood and white blood cell levels. We left the kids on the mountain with their coaches and headed back to Spokane. I was feeling good enough to eat out at Hu Hot, one of our favorite restaurants. It was amazing and I ate more than I had in a week!
My appointment was quick and easy. They took some blood and then I met with the nurse practitioner. Her name is Andrea and she is one of my favorites. She told me that my white blood cells were way below where they should be the # was 234. She said they should have been close to 500 and I needed to be really careful about being around people who are sick because I would be at a high risk for developing infection. So she said wash your hands and avoid sick people. When I was in the lobby I noticed that someone had made hats for people who needed them.
I picked up a copy of Cancer Health...Never thought I would be interested in reading that magazine!
I was really bummed about my white blood cell count. I was feeling great and my energy was back. I really wanted to try and do some skiing, but I would have had to go in the lodge with a million other people and who knows what germs were lurking there. It was one of the busiest times of the year so there are a ton of people. I decided to play it safe and quarantine myself to the condo. We have been trying to be as clean as possible.
Josie has stepped up to be a second mom to Landon. She was helping him get his ski boots on one morning.
New years eve was the kids first race. It was the first race I have missed. Luke took some pics and some videos so I could see their races. I drew little hearts on the back of the kids helmets so I could be there in spirit with them as they raced down the mountain. Landon is the youngest and smallest in his age category this year. He was hoping for top 10 and raced his heart out.
Landon's runs...
Josie also likes to shoot for top 10.
Here is one of her runs.
One of lukes friends took a picture of him snowboarding before the race.
my friend sent me this picture of the awards ceremony...This is why I avoided the area...So many people!
Landon was so close to top 10, he finished 11th. Landon was not super pleased, but he did great.
Josie took 9th place. She was so excited you would have thought she placed 1st! She even posed with her medal and made sure the 9th place was facing out. When she got back to the condo she told me this had been the best week of her life and was so proud of her medal she put it up on the mantle and made sure the 9th place was facing for all to see:) I think she was excited to finally place higher than her brother too:) You can see the excitement on Landon's face! Ha!
New years eve my friend Crystal came to the mountain to hang out and go snowshoeing on new years day. The two of us stayed up until midnight and then went to bed.
Today Luke took the kids up to go skiing while I hung out at the condo with Crystal. They had fun free skiing with Luke and some friends. It was hard to know they were having fun up on the mountain and I wasn't able to be there. Luke took this picture of the kids at the lightening tree. It's a big tree that is hollowed out in the center and the kids can crawl inside of the trunk.
We came home and now it's time to take down Christmas. I have decided to not work during my chemo treatments. I let my bosses know and they were really supportive. I'm lucky to work for such a great office. The kids go back to school on Thursday and I have my next chemo infusion on Friday. I'm having major anxiety about going back to the Chemo 'ward'. I know I can't turn back now, but I wish I didn't have to be going through this. I am trying to take advantage of feeling good and get some stuff done before I have my next infusion. My hair should start falling out soon, so I'm also enjoying having hair! Happy New Year!
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