Half Way There!

I got a re-fill on my "puke medicine" and finished Chemo #4! Bring it on!

Only four more of the "Easy ones" to go. I will be finished with chemo by the end of Sept. (Except for the 5 years of Tamoxifen)

I was thinking that it would be nice if I could get this wound healed, get the "fills" and have permanent implants (New ROUND Boobies) by the end of the year, then I don't have to pay another insurance deductible. That way, even if I don't finish well in the triathlon, at least I will look really good. Except maybe for the hair. If my breasts look great, nobody is even going to know whether I have hair or not! (Right Heather?)

BTW- Two Guys Pasta & Pizza was good. They serve homemade bread when you come in that reminded me of what I used to make. (It also reminded me that I haven't done any baking in a long time) We both had Fettuccine with chicken, which was tasty. The fettuccine sauce is made fresh from scratch each day. The service was great, so I guess I will be keeping my other discount coupon. You can get your own on EBay.

...And Bounce Back I Did!

My mouth is a lot less sore, so I can finally eat real food, like potato chips and cookies! The only problem is I can't really taste them. What is the fun in eating junk food if you can't taste it? Isn't that the point of eating junk food? You eat something that when you taste it, you know it is bad for you? All I get is the coating of slime in my mouth. I may come out of this whole chemo experience liking brussel sprouts.... who knows? I sure haven't been drinking my quota of coffee lately. That is probably a good thing since it is getting really expensive.

I walked/ran 2.6 miles on Saturday and another 3 miles on Sunday. I was feeling so good during my walk, that I decided to try jogging. I had some upbeat tunes on the iPod and picked up the pace a little. My lung capacity is definitely not what it used to be, but I still felt good. I wasn't even totally exhausted when I got home. I cooled down in the pool, which I can only go up to my waist, but it felt good! As soon as this wound heals, I am going to be swimming laps at the Aquatic Center... I am SO ready to start swimming again! One of these mornings if it is cool enough I am going to Rollerblade around the island. (Hey Mom- you want to come and ride your bike?)

I am not going to run on the days that I coach, I need all the energy I have for the one hour that I walk up and down the side of the pool. I probably walk at least a mile on that deck....

I am taking my sister out for her Birthday lunch today at "Two Guys Pizza & Pasta". I won some discount coupons on E-bay, so I could check it out. If it is good, I will let you know. If it isn't, I have a couple of coupons for sale.... cheap. Hopefully I will be able to tell the difference! :)

Diet Plan

It took a little longer to bounce back from chemo #3. With the outside temp being warmer in the early hours of the morning and the humidity being quite a bit higher, I didn't have the energy to get out and walk. (Or post a blog)

Every chemo brings a new surprise... and these ones aren't coming from Sherry B.! Once I finally got over the nausea, I started getting sores in my mouth and throat. So that made eating anything with substance very painful, even my special oyster crackers were impossible to eat. I can only have so much ice cream and milkshakes when all I really want is a hamburger. I tried to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but all I had was extra crunchy peanut butter... talk about pain. I only got one bite before it brought tears to my eyes. I did have a bowl of soggy Cheerios with a cut up bananas the other morning. It took 20 minutes just to eat. I could only have a couple cheerios at a time, and I had to make sure the banana was thoroughly smashed before swallowing, plus I could only eat on one side of my mouth. Add this to not being able to taste anything, and I figure I could come up with a pretty good weight loss plan for people that tend to over eat.

Susan's 7 Step Weight Loss Plan:

1. First Cut up a Habanero Chili Pepper and place pieces under your tongue. Remove once your mouth is thoroughly burned. (You need to leave in until a sore is produced) For an extra diet boost, you can also rub on the roof of your mouth and back of throat.
2. Swallow a quarter teaspoon of Ipecac - not enough to make you vomit, just enough to make you really nauseated.
3. Put Orajel on the top of your tongue to take away any taste. Make sure you don't cheat and get it on the burned part of your mouth.
4. Get one of your favorite crunchy foods (Potato Chips, Peanut M&Ms...) and try to eat... make sure that the sharp edges rub against the sores in your mouth. Spit out, and go to step #5 when you are really hungry.
5. Now, if you still feel like eating, you can have Applesauce, cottage cheese, canned fruit, or other soft foods. An occasional milkshake is okay, but it must be mixed with crushed ice to take away any possible flavor.
6. If you feel like you are no longer nauseous, repeat Step #2 as needed
7. Before drinking your favorite beverage, gargle with Tabasco sauce, or a hot sauce of your choice. (Hint: You may want to have a glass of water nearby)

By following the above diet plan, you should lose at least 2 pounds per week. Make sure you drink plenty of water and be prepared to get dieting advice from everybody you talk to.

Bonus: Shave your head and don't wear a wig when you go out to eat, or answer the door when the pizza delivery person shows up. (Expect to receive pathetic looks of sympathy or complete avoidance) I don't know if it helps with weight loss, but as long as your following my regime... what the heck!

Important Notes: Make sure you cut up your fruit in to baby size pieces and it is thoroughly mashed in your mouth before swallowing. It should take at least 20 minutes to eat about 3 ounces of food. And Don't Forget to EXERCISE at least 20 minutes every day!
*Please talk with your doctor before beginning any weight loss plan.

Good luck and let me know if it works for you, I know it did for me! (I will post the before and after pictures later)

Chemo #3

It is hard to believe I am already on Chemo #3. I am going to be all done before I know it, and I won't know what to do with myself when I don't have to go to 3 appointments every week. I might actually have to start working again! Today's chemo went well. This was my last one in Bullhead City. It actually wasn't bad at all, they are very nice up there and today's visit went quicker. We arrived a little early, but they got me in right away and I didn't have to wait too long to see the oncologist.

I lost 5 lbs in the last couple weeks, but I attribute most of that to the antibiotics, they make me really nauseated and I have to take 4 a day, so I have to be very creative about eating. But don't worry, I was finally hungry today after chemo (probably has something to do with the steroid that I get before the chemo) and I ate enough to feed a couple of elephants... well not quite, but I think I ate more this afternoon than I ate all week.

I am anemic, so they recommended a shot to boost the RBCs, along with the one I am already getting for WBCs.... it should be a nursery rhyme...

One for the WBCs
One for the RBCs
and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

..... or a Cheer.. anybody got some pom poms I can use?

Who Needs a Waterbed...

....when you can create your own? I am not sure if my fever broke, or I am having hot flashes, but I woke up completely drenched and in a puddle of water this morning. (I am pretty sure I didn't wet the bed.) I had to wring my clothes and pillow out in the tub this morning, that produced about 3 gallons of water. Maybe I should have saved it to water the plants???

I am actually feeling really good this morning. I finally had the energy to balance the checkbook, clean out the refrigerator, wash the bed sheets and water my poor dying plants on the pot shelf, all before 9am! I wanted to do more, but I could feel my temperature going up just doing that, so I decided to take a break and blog. :)

The weather wasn't too bad yesterday, I think it only got up to 105 degrees and we even got a few sprinkles of rain. I was wishing I could have gone on the jetski...... someday!

Wound VAC off for now

I saw the plastic surgeon today and I get to keep the wound VAC off, at least for now. I like not having to carry it everywhere, but I was getting so used to having it, I feel like I am always forgetting something when I get up and move around.

My temp was still up a little and I was feeling a bit "puky", so I didn't coach this morning. Hopefully I will be back to normal by this weekend. My next chemo is Tuesday, and I don't really want to start out feeling crummy.

My Favorite foods during chemo so far:
7-Layer bean dip (Amanda's)
Breakfast Pizza (Picadilly)
Pina Colada Hawaiian Shaved Ice
Potato Salad (My Mom's recipe, but made by my loving sister)
Ginger Ale (You have to wash all that stuff down with something!)

Seems like a weird combination....

My Trip to the Emergency Deptartment

During my summer vacation, I got to go to the emergency room. It was fun.

Okay... I am joking about writing about "Summer Vacation", but I really did have my first (actually second- but that is another story) trip to the ER, that doesn't include the gazillion times that I worked there.

My temp started going up yesterday afternoon, and by evening it was getting to the "go to the ER zone"(100.5), which isn't high for a normal person, but unfortunately when a person is getting treated with chemo, it means an infection. After trying to weasel my way out of it with my most knowledgeable friends, I ended up calling the oncologist from Bullhead and he told me to go the ER.

Although the ER was busy, I knew the triage nurse and got in immediately. They gave me IV antibiotics and checked my blood. Some skin near the wound VAC had a rash and was a bit warm to the touch, so they thought that it was the source of the infection. The doctor had planned on admitting me, but my blood tests came back okay, so he gave me a Rx for antibiotics and I was home by midnight.... I got home before I turned into a pumpkin!

And the good news.... I called the plastic surgeon and I got to take the wound VAC OFF!!!! I'm FREE, I'm FREE!!!!! At least until tomorrow. I think if he tells me I need to put it back on, I will cry.

No, I am not dead....

..... I have just slept Thursday through Sunday! It sure makes the week go by faster. I did get up and walk a little in the mornings, but that was about all I could do. I don't even remember if my family ate for the past week... oh well, good diet plan.

You know those fairytale stories where the kingdom is all dark and then the good fairy princess (or whatever) comes along and lifts the dark spell and suddenly everything is all bright and shiny? Well.... I have been in the dark for the past few days, except rather than a fairy princess lifting the spell, I think I got a toad, because it seems to be taking awhile.

I really am feeling better... :)

Side Effects and Moving Walls

My treatment in Bullhead went well. They just moved into a new facility and the chemo room is very large with new recliners and a closed captioned TV, so you don't have to listen to it blasting throughout the entire room. I had to meet with the P.A. and oncologist first, so of course I didn't get in on time, but they were very pleasant. The chemo nurse was also very nice and they have a well stocked fridge and yummy snacks. (That is very important!) Mike is thinking that he is going to start chemo with me next time so he can have free juice and snacks... what a great idea!

I felt pretty good, just a little tired and I didn't feel much like eating. I went to bed fairly early and slept until 2am before I desperately needed to go to the bathroom. I had to go so bad that I forgot to unplug my VAC from the AC and ran into the side of the bed as I was unplugging it. My eyes were burning and I couldn't quite get them open (must be a funky side effect of the chemo or the anti-nausea medicine), so I made it the rest of the way around the bed with my eyes half closed, but ran into the wall....twice. I finally made it into the bathroom with only a couple of bruises and my bladder still intact.

I haven't checked my hair yet this morning.... I think it is still there! I did find out that I won't be needing that bikini wax that I have always been wanting! (TMI- I know!)