Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 11 of 12

11/25/2014 Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 11 of 12

This weeks treatment went really well.  My mom came down and spent most of the week with us, which made things much easier.  I'm sure she loved the Meinecke Thanksgiving, nice and loud:)  And we even were able to get out shopping on black Friday, or is it now black Thursday?

 

As the week of Thanksgiving came upon me, there are many things that I have to be thankful for.  First off a big thank you to everyone that has been praying!  They say big things can happen with prayer, and I'm hoping that God is hearing all of us.  Special thank you goes out to my Aunt PK and Uncle Stan who have been making sure that my house is getting cleaned for me each month.  Thanks to everyone that has brought us a meal.  It's been really awesome not having to worry about those things and using my energy with the kids instead.  Thank you to everyone that has given me support and love.  I'm truly blessed to have such awesome friends and family in my life.

For my mom who has been so amazing through all of this.  You are so willing to come down and help anytime that I have needed you.  Thank you for the many hours we've spent talking on the phone, crying, and telling me things are going to be OK.  You have been so strong for me and have helped keep me focused on the things that are important in life.  I pray that I will have many years with my children and be able to give them the same love and support you have shown me.

For my hubby.  You have been my rock for the past 5 months.  Thanks for taking on more of the rolls at home with the kids, getting up with Clara each night so I can sleep, laundry, homework, and so much more.  Thank you for listening, and letting me tell you how scared I've been.  Most importantly thank you for holding me through the rough nights, and letting me cry in your arms.    I love you to the moon and back!

Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 10 of 12

November 18, 2014 Taxol/Herceptin 10 of 12

After the crappy week I had, the thought of going in for another round of treatment was definitely more discouraging.  But things went quite well this past week.  My high school friend Abbey came down to take me to my treatment, which was super nice.  During all the pre-meds we gobbled down our subs and had fun catching up and talking about kids, her kegerator, and life in general.  As soon as they gave me the benedryl and lorazapam it was lights out for me.  I woke up a little bit on the uneasy side, I could've slept for a couple more hours.

We had a little time when we got back to the house before the kiddos came home.  Andy had a basketball game so I was thankful that Abbey stayed and helped get the kids fed, homework done, and ready for bed.  It would've been a hard night by myself without her.

The rest of the week went better than the previous ones.  I've needed to take some of my nausea medicine a little bit more each week because I have felt sick to my stomach a couple of times.  The fatigue is just there, nothing that I can get rid of right now and just have to deal with.  I started to sew some sweater mittens this week.  I was pretty impressed with my sewing ability.  The mittens are made out of wool sweaters, so don't get ride of any wool sweaters.  I'll take them and start my own mitten shop or something:)  Although I will share that I after making my first two pairs of mittens without any problems, I went to make the next two pairs and ended up with 4 right handed ones:)  So maybe the mitten shop isn't such a good idea.

Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 9 of 12

November 11, 2014 Taxol/Herceptin 9 of 12

After the scare over the weekend I was very anxious to meet with my oncologist Dr. Hake on Monday.  Wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say or if he would even have answers.  So I told Dr. Hake what had happened over the weekend, that my chest has been hurting, and the speech problem I had.  He told me he was more concerned about the speech problem and wanted to run a CT scan of my head.  When he was examining me he took a double take at listening to my heart.  "I think I hear a heart murmur.  You didn't have one before?"  Not really sure what all this meant, other than Dr. Hake told me that he was NOT worried, so I shouldn't be.  So they got me in this same day for my CT scan,  and Echocardiography test (ultrasound of my heart) along with a bubble study of the heart.  The good news is the CT scan of my head came back normal, and the Echo test didn't show anything major.  I do have the heart murmur now, but they're not sure if the chemo caused it or some other factor.  I don't know much about heart murmur's other than there are lots of people that have them, and its something that can come and go.  So this will be something they will be monitoring, but treatment will continue on as planned.

My dad came down for my treatment and stayed a couple of days.  Treatment on Tuesday was earlier than normal, so as upsetting as it was we didn't end up getting Subway.  Although come to find out they do serve breakfast food, but the thought of an egg on a sub didn't entice me.  The treatment went well again.  I didn't watch much of Happy Gilmore, but dad was laughing so I don't think he got quite the same nap as me.  We got done with treatment a little after 1, so we went to the Boneyard Pup & Grill and shared some appetizers.  It's always nice to spend some father-daughter time together.  By the time we got back from lunch I had a little time to relax before the the kids got dropped off.  Even though I'm tired, they keep me moving.

The rest of the week I wish would've went better for me.  I really hate to complain, but this stomach cramping, spending time in the bathroom, and fatigue business just plain sucks!!!!  I couldn't even keep Clara home with me on Thursday because I felt so crummy.  Friday night I had ran out to Walmart for just a short period of time and I just didn't feel right.  Now this is less than 5 minutes from our house.  I had to sit down twice in Walmart, felt very uneasy, came home and went to bed by 7:(  I guess the fatigue stage is deciding to stick around for an extra couple of days now.

Saturday, we went up to Brillion and I went out to eat with my girlie's.  Since I still wasn't feeling the greatest we kept it close to home.  So thanks for picking me up, spending time with me, listening and laughing, and just being great friends.  I love you guys!

Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 8 of 12

November 4, 2014 Taxol/Herceptin 8 of 12

Treatment went really well this week.  Thank you to Kelly for driving down and spending the day with me.  It was nice to spend some extra time together and catch up on our busy lives.

Excited to say that my hair is definitely growing:)  I'd like to say it's my special shampoo and conditioner that I got, but who really knows.  Just as long as it keeps working!  I'm also excited that my eyebrows and eyelashes are also starting to grow back too.  It seemed like all of a sudden they were gone. I couldn't believe it.

I was a little sad this week and had some extra tears after finding out my new friend Chris had passed away last Sunday.  I had met her at some of the breast cancer events that Richy's had in Big Bend.  We both were on the same chemo regimen, but she had already had her surgery.  I've been very confident that I was going to make it through this battle and come out on the other side.  So many people have and why shouldn't I believe I will too.  Then this through me back a couple steps, realizing that things can change just like that.  I will keep fighting, praying, and hoping that I will be a survivor, and that I will be around to see my kids grow up, and grow old with my hubby.  I just need to keep believing that God will lead me.

I did have a little scare this week.  On Friday night after going out to eat with family I started to feel a little bit tired, weak, and was having some chest pain.  So I sat down in a chair and tried taking some deep breaths to calm myself down.  But then I tried talking and I couldn't get words to come out.  I was mumbling.  I felt like I knew what I wanted to say to Andy but couldn't.  Like idiots we didn't call the doctor or go in to the ER.  I laid down on the couch and after a few minutes I got my speech back.  I felt like it was forever, but Andy thought it was only for about 5 minutes.  Saturday morning I called the doctor and they wanted me to go into the ER to get checked out since I was still having mild chest pain.  They ran an EKG, blood work, and chest x-ray.  Everything came back just fine.  So after 5 hours of being at the ER they sent us on our way, with still really no answers for the pain  (maybe I could have strained a muscle picking up the kids, but really don't know).  I'm hoping that it will just get better and the speech problem won't happen again! 

Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 7 of 12

October 28, 2014 Taxol/Herceptin 7 of 12

Well, I was crossing my fingers that my counts were high enough to get treatment this week.  They were pretty low the week before and we weren't sure if they would climb high enough, but they did. Yeah!  Grandma Getter came with me to my treatment this week, which was really nice for her to meet all the great nurses.  We of course got subway again and went through the same routine at the clinic.  After all the pre-meds I think I slept the rest of the time we were there.  Grandma said she walked around quite awhile because she didn't want to wake me.

We got back to the house and I decided to try and stay awake again so that I would hopefully sleep better at night.  I was very fatigue, white as a ghost, and my legs felt like jello.  So I spent most of the evening in the recliner.  Wednesday I had a little stomach cramping on and off, but for the most part was just fatigue.  Mom and I walked around the big block, which helped get me moving a little.  Andy had parent teacher conferences so he didn't get home that night until after the kids were already in bed.  We watched a movie and went to bed semi early.

On Thursday, around 3 in the morning is when the stomach cramping got real bad.  I spent the rest of the night in the bathroom on and off.  In the morning, I called Dr. Hake to see if they knew what might be causing this.  I had the same reaction the week before, but then I thought I might have just caught a bug of some sort.  So Thursday, I went in to the clinic and they ran a bunch of different tests. Everything came back fine, so nothing that could be causing the stomach pains other than a reaction to the chemo.  So unfortunately this may just be what I have to deal with for the next 5 treatments.  Yikes!  Funny thing is Clara was scheduled to have her 18 month checkup this day, so my mom had to take her instead.  While I was getting fluids, any questions the Dr. had about Clara mom would text me and I'd answer.  I thought about just taking my fluids with me to her appointment but didn't.

Friday we met with the plastic surgeon, Dr. Sonderman who is very nice.  He did say that a team of Doctors had looked at my case earlier in the week and talked about my progress and upcoming surgery.  I feel a bit relieved knowing the next plan in my treatment, and also that a bunch of doctors agreed this was the best for me.  So I am scheduled for a double mastectomy on January 5th.  First the surgeon will go in and remove all of my breast tissue.  I still have been having nipple bleeding so they will not be saving that part of my breast.  Then the plastic surgeon will put in tissue expanders and 4 drain tubes.  The surgery will take about 4-5 hours and I will be in the hospital overnight.  That part amazes me and scares me that I will be there only one night.  They will maybe remove some drain tubes after one week, otherwise they stay in most of the time for 2 weeks.  During this time I will be going in so they can add more fluid into the tissue expanders.  They want to try and do this as quickly as they can so we don't delay starting radiation.  It sounds like after 3-4 weeks I would then have a second surgery where they will put in the breast implants and take out the tissue expanders.  During this surgery they are going to take fatty tissue from either my stomach area or back, and put a layer over top of the breast implant to help protect it from radiation.  Sometimes during the radiation process, if you have an implant put in first the scaring can have an affect on the implant and it may not look as natural.  But layering it with the fatty tissue should help.  This is a newer procedure that they have been doing and they have seen some great results from it.  I've had lots of volunteers for me to take their fatty tissue instead of using mine, so maybe the highest bidder will win:)  J/K  I did ask Dr. Sonderman if my breasts will be a little higher than they are right now, after breast feeding and 3 kids their not quite like they used to be.  He of course laughed and said they will be much more perkier.    This made me think that wearing a bra or even a swimsuit are going to probably feel very different.  Anyway, this is the plan as of now.