The Journal Begins

I said I was going to keep track of chemo week meticulously, so here goes. Chemo isn't until tomorrow (Tuesday), but the day before chemo I always have to go in and do bloodwork. I've been going to the lab where I receive my chemotherapy infusion to do my bloodwork because I worked out a special deal where I don't have to pay my co-pay ($35). I have to do bloodwork once a week so the co-pays add up. I also pay a co-pay when I do chemo every 3 weeks and when I see the doctor.

I found out that if you go to an alternative lab to do bloodwork, they can charge different prices. I found one nearby that only charges me about $5 total. When I couldn't even afford that, the Cancer Institute worked out a deal with me so I wouldn't have to pay anything if I went to their lab instead. Whew!

They draw my blood through my port in my chest. Today they took 2 vials of blood and flushed it with saline. I can taste it when they give me the saline. They'll check my CBC and CA-125. I also asked them to check my thyroid levels per my doctor to make sure my thyroid medication is working for my body.

The needle kind of hurts going in, but it's not as annoying as having a needle in your arm. Someone gave me some Lidocaine gel for some mouth sores before I got the Magic Mouthwash (don't get me started on how awesome that is!) so I'm going to rub it on my port tomorrow. I don't know if it will work, but I'm going to try it out. It gets sore if I have my port accessed two days in a row.

Stay tuned!

Chemo Postponed a Week

Well, I went in to have my last exam and chemotherapy treatment today and I got the good/bad news that it would be postponed a week. My platelet counts were 65,000 (they have to be 100,000) and my white blood cell counts were also low. They say it gets worse and worse toward the end and harder to recover between treatments. I feel pretty good; just tired.

So my doctor said she thinks I'm just fine and didn't notice anything abnormal. I will have a CAT scan 3 weeks after my last chemo. I will also have to have a colonoscopy and a mammogram. Not too excited about either of those but I'll get them regularly for the rest of my life.

So that's it. I'll take some video during chemo and record the daily goings-on and pill-popping starting Tuesday, September 11th. Can't wait to be done!!!

Chemo Week: I Can See the Light!

My last chemotherapy treatment is set for Wednesday morning. I have a checkup with my oncologist at 9:15 a.m. to take a look and make sure everything seems "normal". I guess we'll talk about what happens next, when I come back for checkups or bloodwork, and to tie up loose ends. She said last time that I'll have a CAT scan done to look for any other weird stuff in my body. Not sure if I can spare any more organs so it better come back clean!

Assuming I have chemo tomorrow (they typically get postponed a week), I've decided to give a run-down on how I feel and what medications I have to take throughout the day for every day of chemo week since it's my last one. I wanted to do this in case there was someone out there who was going through this too, or is about to, and was interested in how I deal with it. I plan on being completely honest. I do not want anyone to assume that the medications that I take and how I take them are the right ones for them unless they've spoken to their doctor about it.

Everyone has a different way of coping with pain, and for me, every chemo week is different. I've learned how to lessen some of the effects but I'd be lying if I said I was pain free. The bottom line is most effects have a pill and most pills have an effect. New ailments occur all the time. This is just how I try to survive.

Chemo Brain

Chemo Brain is real.
During the week of chemo
I can't remember

ends of sentences
or whether I've taken pills.
I get quite confused.

It lasts a long time;
they say up to a whole year
after treatment's done.

At least I have one
more thing to blame memory
and bitchiness on.

Thyroid? What's a Thyroid?

Just when you think you can't handle anything else, life hands you another "WTF". After my surgery in April and a week to recover, I got a voicemail from my nurse practitioner at the oncologist office. When I called her back she was munching on her lunch. Between bites I could hear her rustling through folders trying to find my chart. She said (chewing), "Oh, hi, Hillary. We got the results back from your thyroid tests done in the hospital. Looks like you have growths on both sides of it." I was so shocked, I don't even remember hanging up the phone. I called my mom and started just sobbing. This was such a scary moment for me: I hadn't let my fears about cancer get too intertwined in my life up to this point. All I could think about was "am I going to die?", and "I can't leave my kids". Had cancer invaded my whole body?

I met with the surgeon within the next couple of days. He said the cells in the two growths on either side of my thyroid were called "follicular neoplasms" which means they can't say that they are specifically cancerous but they would have to remove the growths to be sure. He said they would try and leave half of my thyroid so I wouldn't have to take medication for the rest of my life. For those of you who don't know, the thyroid is located right below where your Adam's Apple would be, adjacent to the vocal chords.

I checked into the hospital exactly 2 weeks after the last massive surgery. This one was much less painful, but it's pretty scary when you know someone is going to slit your throat while you're unconscious. I woke up unable to talk with a sore throat like I had swallowed a cactus. Luckily for me, my surgeon was able to combine the thyroid surgery with the insertion of a port (port-a-cath, like picc line) into my chest so I could receive my chemotherapy treatments through that instead of through an IV in my arm.

My doctor came in later in the day to say that he had had to remove the entire thyroid. Unfortunate since the pathologist didn't think it was cancerous after all. Oh well, just another scar to add to the list. Besides, this one was cool. It was a 3 inch gash across the base of my throat! I was starting to look pretty tough.

Thanks For the Support

We had a blast at the race today. Aside from waking up at 5:45 am to get everyone fed and down there before traffic got too bad, the hot hot heat, and the silly Scientologist preachers, we really had a good experience. I felt so much camaraderie, and even though I don't have the same kind of cancer, a lot of us have the same or similar therapies. It's unfortunate that it's the pain that brings us together.



Thanks to Mom, Teresa and Margie for walking with us, and Miranda et al for meeting up after the race.

Meeting Place Before the Race

Ok. I've had a lot of people decide to walk or run the race this Sunday the 12th. I've never done this one so I don't know a good place to meet so I've tried to come up with something. For those of you who want to meet up before the race, Dan, Tristan, Maja, and I will be leaving our house at 6:45 am in order to find parking and get situated with the kids. If you'd like to, feel free to meet at our house in time to leave by then. The 1 mile starts at 7:45 am (after the 5K competitive run at 7:30).

I know there will be tons of people there so if you want to walk with us but prefer to meet there and can't find us, I'll have my cell phone on me.

Also, there was some talk about brunch afterward at First Watch. I think I'm in, but we'll see how I feel after a mile of walking with a 15 pound babe strapped to my chest. I'm so excited to do this! Yippee!!

See you all at the race!