Chemo Day 4

Well… it was another great week overall. However, I do have to say that last Monday was definitely a doozy… a very busy day at work put me flat-out on the couch for the entire evening, not something I’ve ever experienced before. I obviously overdid it, my fault totally, but I recognize that and will be in better control from here on. And I didn't do a great a job with keeping up on my water chugging last week... busy is not an excuse... I am the only one in control of me and I let down a little. Besides that little issue, the rest of the week was awesome!!

As far as side effects… yep, I’ve got some! They’re minor still but they are on the 'side-effect' list, which makes it a little easier… I’d rather have that than “hmm, we’ve never seen that before”! Fingerprints are fading so my iPad doesn’t recognize me. Nail beds turning a slight purplish… I like purple! Dry mouth, but I’ve learned how to deal with that. Luckily I still have my eyelashes, eyebrows, arm hair… the things that make me, me!

Sooo, another surprise happened this week…

...seems short hair is a trend in my family! Not that I expect, nor would I ever ask, anyone to do this, but I’m deeply honored. And since both Bret and Aaron both had tons of thick hair I got them each a new beanie to help keep the heat in!

Aaron ~ Love Your Melon

Bret ~ Buffalo Bills (go Bills!!)

Oh and these arrived this week... and I'm so excited!

Yes, I design Nike shoes now.

I love my simple, yet classy design with a touch of pink, but my very favorite part is the personalization! (6 digits/shoe… but it’s obvi) These will take me many-a-mile… for now it’ll be by treadmill or my backyard trek, but when the time is right they’ll take me to so many new adventures!

So to address the title of this blog… today was Chemo #4.

Significant, yes!

It was the last of my A/C treatments!!!

The ‘A’ for Adriamycin, nicknamed “Red Devil”. And yes it is red, and it’s typically more harsh and given manually so it/me can be monitored. The ‘C’ for Cytoxan, given over ~1 ½ hours via a drip… both injected through my port. I felt normal, again, for both treatments. And now, 6 hours later, I'm still feeling good. Tomorrow my 'on-body-injector' will do it's thing and I won't have to do this any more... yay! It's necessary to help keep up my white blood count with these chemo treatments, where a little box is placed on me before I leave my appt.... 17 hours later it auto-injects! You might see it advertised on TV... Neulasta! Ingenious, otherwise I'd have to go back to CoH for an injection 17 hours later. For the next 2 weeks I will take my meds as directed, continue water chugging and hope this feeling stays. I learned that labs do not lie... I didn't do a great job at water chugging this past week, and it showed. It was a busy week, but I cannot use that as a good excuse. I have to be in control!! Lastly, my doctor and all the nurses are amazing, and I am so grateful for the kind, caring, and compassionate professionals at City of Hope!

I sound like I’m on repeat, but I am so grateful for the FaceTimes, phone calls, texts, emails… you have no idea how much it means to hear from you.

I spoke of my immediate family last time, but there’s so many more family members who are so very special to me… my parents, my brother, my sisters in Greece, my nieces, my brother/sister-in-laws. I love you all so much, and I know how hard this is on all of you. Know that I’m feeling your love and prayers.

To those who aren’t family, but feel like family… I’d like to adopt you! Seriously, thank you for your regular check-ins, you mean so very much to me.

To L&R, SB, MS & NSh... thank you... your heartfelt gifts of support are so very thoughtful and I appreciate you more than words can say. <3