Two Down, Two to Go

The second round of chemo was interesting. After I got past the allergic reaction to one of my chemo drugs, Taxatere. Benedryl and something else took away the symptoms -- chest and back pain with flushing around the neck, front and back; I was able to continue both treatments without any more difficulty. Jay was sitting next to me when I sat up and he said "Talk to me" and when I told him how I was feeling, he had just about every nurse he could find around me. So, it was all about me for about thirty minutes yesterday! I thought I was having a hot flash at first. Guess not. Hopefully, the reaction is out of my system now and the last two chemo treatments will be fine.

Otherwise, except for tired, I'm good. No nausea and we even went to lunch today. Nice to get out and enjoy lunch with my hubby. We thought about golf today, but it was sprinkling when we left Rock Bottom, so we came home and I napped for two hours. Such a hard life!

I hope you are all doing well and planning great summer fun. It's fun watching my garden take on a life of it's own, once all the prepping is done. Enjoy the sounds of summer!

Memorial Day

Here we are at the start of all the summer fun and excitement. I don't know about you, but our weather has not been cooperating with the thought of summer, in fact, the temperature didn't get out of the 50's today.

I hope that everyone remembers fondly all of our loved ones that have left us. Let's make our life changes while we're here, so we can be alive, healthy, and loving as long as we can, and in turn, remembered fondly.

Happy Memorial Day to all of you.

White Cell Count

My white cell count is in and the chemo appears to be doing it's job. Normal white cell counts are 3.8 - 10.8, mine was 1.4. Which means I'm in the "extremely high risk of infection" zone. That means no crowds, going out to eat, raw or rare meats to eat, some fresh veggies are out, blah, blah, blah. No friends, grandbabies, kids, with runny noses or other springtime bugs. ): Lots of hand washing and more rules, rules, rules.

I'm content to wait it out here at home for now, thankfully, there is on-line shopping! I seem to be keeping the UPS guy busy. It's only until close to the end of July, then chemo will be done.
I'll have another blood check next Wednesday and hopefully, my white cell count will be rebounding. I'll keep you posted.

It's a beautiful Saturday here. Jay is out golfing. We had coffee and read the newspapers on the deck before he left. He is planning on grilling steaks for our dinner. We'll see how I like medium to medium well steak. I'm thinking not much as of right now, but we'll see. My favorite is a filet, medium rare with bleu cheese sprinkled on top. Hmmmm, I'm looking forward to August for that.

Have a great weekend everyone and thank you all so much for your support. I love reading the comments. Noah, what a nice surprise to hear from you. I hope your family is doing well!

Hair Day

I'll never have to say I have a bad hair day for the next four months or so! Today was the day for my buzz. Jay and I both got our hair buzzed and except for the mirrors, I don't notice a difference. It's kind of empowering to say "hair be gone" on my rules, instead of chemo's rules.



I had my white cell blood count done this morning, but I won't know the count until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, I start the process to have my genes tested (BRAC). So, I'll let you know how that goes and how long it takes, etc. The white cell count is important so I can go out to eat, shop, be in crowds without getting sick -- oh, yeah, and it has to be high enough for my next chemo treatment.



In the meantime, I golfed yesterday and had an awesome putting day - 15 putts for nine holes. Celebrate the small things and today, on my second visit to the Occupational Therapist, I graduated with full right arm motion! Every little victory is sweet.



Take care everyone and enjoy the weather when you can.

One Down, Three to Go

The week has gone pretty fast and has been fairly uneventful. There's been a few ups and downs like trying to figure out how often to eat (I need many smaller bites), what to eat (I'm trying to memorize the book, so I don't have to look each time I'm hungry) and drink (caffeine tea is out for me!) and the resulting chemo fatigue or, how should I put it, utter exhaustion. How was that for a good whine. As far as a first round goes, I hope the next three are equally uneventful!

I've been on my treadmill in the mornings (especially when I can't sleep, my old back is bothering me) and working in the garden most days. Jay is being a saint and willingly working in the areas that I would normally be toiling, like our wall of ivy. We decided to pull out the vines on the top of the wall and reinvent our design. He's awesome!

Speaking of awesome, my team Chickadee will be walking for me tomorrow in the Chicago Y-Me walk. Because I am in my low white cell period (Nadir), Jay is not permitting me to walk in the rain. My heroes are Jay, Jessica, my friend Vicki and her grandson, Alex from Minneapolis, and maybe baby David and John. Of course, the weather will be raining, blowing and utterly delightful right off Lake Michigan.

THANK YOU TEAM!

I'll be getting my blood checked every Wednesday, so we'll know how low my cell count goes. Since I have chemo on a Monday, I have a few extra days to fortify myself before Wednesday.

The tulips and daffodils are done and the lilacs are in full bloom. The iris are opening and the peonies are getting nice, fat bulbs.

Stay well everyone.

Beautiful Day

Today was one of those picture perfect days we all want to see and so many of us are too busy to enjoy. I enjoyed it all today. Golf was great, I didn't play that well, but I played and had a good time with my four some.

I'm still feeling fine from the chemo yesterday and I don't expect that I'll really have any problems with the nausea -- Yeah. Another picture perfect day!

My gardens are shaping up nicely and I even enjoyed an hour futzing around and communing with nature. Jay had dinner made for us and quite frankly, it doesn't get much better than that.

"To love and be loved in return" makes the whole world go round.

Be well.

First Chemo Day - Three more to Go!

First of all, my CT scan and MRI came back as NO cancer anywhere else. I have bursitis in my right hip, as we already knew. Whew!

So, the chemo went on as planned. Got my nausea drip first along with a nausea pill, then an hour of the first drug, Taxotere. My nurse, Deb, watched me like a hawk the first half hour. I guess that drug can cause an immediate allergic reactions, they even had the oxygen near me in case I needed it. But, I did just fine. The second drug, Cytoxan, dripped in the last hour. It can be given in a half hour time, but because I don't usually due too well with drugs, she put it in slower. A piece of cake for the first time. Yeah -- small victories, I celebrate them!

Everyone from the doctor to all the nurses were great. For the next 48 hours, they have me taking compazine every six hours and, of course, my dexamethasone (steroids) today and tomorrow. These two drugs keep the nausea at bay.

We're switching my chemo days from Monday to Wednesday, since my next chemo would have fallen on Memorial Day, seems no one would be there. But, I'll be going in every Wednesday for blood tests so they can track my white cell count. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep that up so my chemo treatments won't be delayed. There's always something.

Jay and I are much relieved that everything went so well today. I think it's going to be a relatively early bedtime tonight. All the adrenalin is slipping away from us and we're worn out.

Tomorrow my tee time is 7:08 a.m., so I must be well rested if I'm going to go out and chase that little ball around. I've decided I'll take a cart, so the cart can do most of the chasing! I'll just have to hit them straight.

Be well all of you and thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. THEY WORK!