WARNING- scary picture!

I hope this doesn't scare anyone, but this is the naked (head) truth.  My brother-in-law shaved his head to be "on my team". Isn't he sweet?!

Well, only 1 day left of chemo in round 2.  So far I'm not feeling too bad.  I know I haven't reached my "bottom out" days yet, but I still think I feel better right now than I felt at this point last round.  Nausea is under control so far.  My only problem is all the fluids they're pumping into me - they're not coming out near as fast as they're going in.  Get this - between Tues and Weds morning I gained 10 pounds!!  And then this morning (Thurs) I was up another 4 pounds.  Yikes!  Can we start a new Biggest Loser contest right now?  'Cause I feel like I would win easily.  They are giving me some Lasix (sp?) - a diuretic - to help flush some of that out and it is helping, though not as much as I would like.  I feel kind of like the Pillsbury dough boy. 

Thanks for all the nice cards friends - you're the best!

Thanks for reading,  Susan

Round 2 is underway

Yesterday (26th) was officially the beginning of round 2 of chemo, although I actually didn't get chemo drugs until today...because the first day of each round (Mon) is fluids only.  That is to flush and prepare my kidney for the chemo.  So today was the first of 4 days of chemo. I go to the cancer center each day at 9AM, they hook the IV tubes up to my port, and they start with a bag of fluids only.  When that bag is empty they give me some pre-chemo drugs (mainly for nausea prevention), then they start the chemo drugs - one goes in from a big syringe; the other is in a bag - and when that bag is finished, they hang up another bag of fluids.  When THAT bag is empty I'm free to go home.  The whole process takes about 6 hours.  In that 6 hours, they're pumping a total of 5 liters of fluids into me.  That means quite a few trips to the bathroom...and I'm still all puffy everywhere.  The only part of this that bothers me right now is that my belly blows up like a watermelon and it's pretty uncomfortable.  But I'm trying to stay more...um, not really active but moving around more...staying flexible and not letting myself get all stiff and tense - I think that contributed to my back pain last time.  Lindsey and I went for a walk this evening.  It wasn't something that sounded great beforehand but I felt better afterward.  Plus we saw the most adorable puppy down the street.  :)
Lindsey and Mom stayed with me all day today, and Kris, Sara, and Dick came for visits too.  Having company made the day go faster for sure.
I can't get a signal at all in the chemo room, and I have a limited amount of time when I get home, so if I don't get your call or return your call, I'm sorry.  Please leave me a message and know that I appreciate that you're thinking of me, even if I don't get back to you right away. 
Beth - I loved going on vacation with you through the postcards!  Great idea!
Thanks everyone for reading.
P.S.  Larry's lawn service is top-notch.
P.S.S.  I'm still working on adding pictures to my blog - I have a couple I really want to post...and I think it will make it much more fun to view.  :)

Love this quote

God's will is exactly what you would want if you knew all the facts.

My friend Ginny shared that with me - don't know who actually said it, but I really liked it and wanted to share it on my blog.

Thanks for reading,  Susan

New Schedule

Well either I misunderstood the doc, or he changed his mind somewhere along the way regarding my treatment schedule...but it's going to be a little different than I originally thought.  He initially told me there would be 3 weeks between rounds, but I found out from the nurse that there will actually be 3 weeks from the beginning of one round to the beginning of the next.  That basically means that week 1 of each round will be spent getting chemo drugs, week 2 will be getting that out of my system (probably at home, unless I can shake off the effects faster than I did the first round), and week 3 should be my "good week".  Then I'll start another round the following Monday.  Today is the beginning of week 3 and I am back at work - feeling like a normal human being again finally!  Round 2 begins Monday, July 26th. Boy, chemo really does kick you in the butt!  There is a long list of possible side effects - some of which I didn't experience, but several which I did.  Suffice it to say that I have a new respect for the many people who have been through this before me...I didn't realize what troopers they were and I feel bad now for not being more attentive and... just aware of what they were going through.   
I cannot write a blog post without saying thank you again to the many people who have been so nice and have done so much to help me...I just can't even list everything, but for the food, house cleaning, shopping, lawn care, phone calls, thoughts, prayers, words of encouragement, gifts, cards...just thank you SO MUCH for everything.  My sister was reading some of my cards and she said, "Gosh Susan, you have a lot of people who really like you and miss you".  (Seemed a little surprised by that, but...).  And I replied, "I KNOW - I HAVE GOOD PEOPLE!"  I do. I have good people.  Much love to all of you.
Thanks for reading,  Susan

Round 1 goes to Susan!

I'm home and feeling pretty well.  The biggest issue right now is feeling SO weak.  Just walking from 1 room to another leaves me totally out of breath.  Man, it's hard to believe that I went from being a tooter to this.  (tooter is a Boyce term for really fit and in shape...like Tom & Kim).
Big thanks again to my family, who is taking such great care of me!  They've been taking care of my every need and keeping me supplied with great food.  Sara made some delicious soup yesterday and Mom made a rhubard custard pie.  The sad thing is that it's kind of wasted on me right now 'cause the tastbuds on the top of my tongue aren't registering anything.  Salty stuff is more appealing to me right now.  Brenda, I haven't tried salsa yet.  :)
I know I'm not out of the woods yet...the dr said the "bottom out" time in terms of white cell count being low is 10-14 days after my first chemo dose (which would be middle/late this week), but I feel stronger today than yesterday so I declare round 1 a success in my corner!  :)
Thanks for reading.  Susan

This is crazy!

I forgot to tell say this.  Last night they brought a chocolate chip cookie with my dinner...which I didn't request...and it sat on my little tray table all night and all morning.  I didn't even want to eat it - how crazy is that!  I was going to donate it to you Kim, but Jeff ate it with his lunch.  Anyway, that has probably never happened to me...:)
Thanks for reading,  Susan.

It's a better day!

Today was a better day, for sure.  The chemo doses are DONE and I'm now just getting fluids and mesna, which flushes the chemo through and protects my stomach, bladder, and kidney.  I have to stay at the hospital again tonight (: but should be able to go home tomorrow (Sun) morning.  So pray everything goes well tonight.
I feel much better though.  The nausea seems to be under control.  Kris convinced the nurse to unhook me for a little while so I could go for a wheelchair ride outside.  It was very nice...sun felt good.  I had several visitors today.  Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, cards, calls, and visits.  ONE DOWN Y'ALL!!

Thanks for reading,  Susan 

Still pluggin away

Well, I've had 3 doses of chemo, 1 more to go today (for a while anyway).  Last night was not as good as the past couple have been - I think it's catching up with me.  My mind was working overtime last night so I couldn't sleep, then I had a bout with nausea and vomiting at about 3 AM.  They gave me some Adavan, which took care of the nausea and also put me to sleep so that was good.  Right now I just feel kind of - yuck.  Flu-ish I would say...achy and queasy.  All of which is to be expected but I'll still be glad to get it over with.  My dr is going to make me stay until Sunday I think - probably because I didn't handle the drugs as well last night.  Maybe I can work on him... :)  They did some blood tests this morning and he said those were all good.  Well, gonna walk the halls another time.  Woo.

Treatment schedule

This is a boring post, but for those of you who are interested in my treatment schedule, drugs, etc., it looks like this:

I'm staying here at St. V's this whole week for my first "session".  I have an IV in my arm and I'm getting plain fluid plus a drug called Mesna through that line 24/7.  The Mesna is to protect my stomach and bladder from one of the chemo drugs that is apparently hard on them.  At 11:30 each day, they start pre-chemo drugs which are to help with nausea...and there's an anti-inflammatory in there.  Those are put in through a port in my chest and take about 30 minutes to infuse.  At about 12:30 (assuming I'm available) they start the 2 chemo drugs.  The first is Adriamycin (I'm sure I'm not spelling that right)...it's red and it's in a big syringe.  She connects her syringe to a valve in the line that comes from my port and slowly pushes that drug through - it takes about 15 min.  The 2nd drug is Ifex (that's the short name for it).  It's in a bag which she connects to my port and it take about 3 hrs to infuse.  That's it for 1 day.  I'm getting 1 treatment per day for 4 days.  On the 5th day (Sat.) they want me to continue to get the Mesna to "flush" everything.  Hopefully I'll be able to go home sometime Sat.  I will wait 3 weeks before starting another "session".  I will get a total of 6 "sessions" of treatment, and the doctor seems to think I can get the remainder of them administered at St. Joe in Kokomo.  I would have to go to the cancer center each day during the week of treatments, but I could go home around 5 PM for the night.  That would be AWESOME!
Thanks again for reading! 

Busted on my first day!

The first day of my stay here at St. V's...I haven't had a chemo treatment yet...they've hooked tubes up to me but the nurse says I can go wherever I want - my pumps are on a pole and they run off batteries when I unplug the pole from the wall, so I just have to take my pal the pole with my everywhere.  My nurse gives me my pre-chemo drugs (anti-nausea, etc.) at 11:40 and says in an hour she will start the chemo drugs.  So Mom, Kris, and I go down to the cafeteria to eat lunch.  We probably didn't head down there until about 12 and it was pretty crowded so at 12:45 I look at my watch and say that we should probably head back up.  Kris says not be worry about it because the nurse got started late and she didn't think it had been an hour...so we finish eating and casually head back up (yes, I'm blaming this on Kris).  As I'm coming down the hall I find out that they've been looking all over for me and that my nurse is on the phone with security as I'm walking back to my room.  I pass another nurse in the hall and she says "Somebody's in trouble".  Yikes.  I'm now grounded to the 6th floor.  My nurse said she found out from the Charge nurse that since I'm receiving chemo drugs I'm really not supposed to leave this floor, but I wonder if it's because she's mad at me. 

Beginning of the journey

7/6/10

Hi all. Thanks for being interested in my blog. I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up-to-date and to journal my thoughts.

So... to provide some background information, my cancer journey all started at the beginning of May (2010) when I began feeling a little pain in my lower right abdomen. It was just a small pain and initially it was only when I took a deep breath, but gradually it became more constant. On May 13th I stayed home from work because my mom was having gall bladder surgery that day. By the way, Mom is my hero. She bounced back from her surgery like it was an ingrown toenail or something. Seriously. She was taking awesome care of me after my surgery and it was only a week after hers. Superwoman.

Anyway, so I was at home on the morning of the 13th making vegetable soup because I knew Mom was coming home from her surgery the same day and I wanted to take soup to her house. So the pain became worse while I was on my feet that morning and felt like a burning sensation toward my back. When I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital later that morning I mentioned this pain to my sister and nieces. Kris is a nurse, Erin just graduated from nursing school, and Emily is currently in nursing school at Purdue, so of course they all encouraged (actually pushed) me to get it checked out – which turned out to be a really good thing. At that point I thought the worst case scenario was that my appendix was infected and would have to be removed. I was kinda panicked ‘cause I was scheduled to fly out to Colorado the next morning for Lindsey’s graduation (I’m gonna blog about that in a couple days ‘cause I’m SO proud of her!).

Well, to cut to the chase…I had a very large mass in my right kidney, was told it was cancer, and that I’d have to have my kidney removed. I was still able to go to CO as scheduled (YAY) and had my surgery the following week, on My 20th.

I spent the next 4 weeks at home recovering from surgery, which was NOT fun, let me tell you. Whew! Having never had surgery before, I had no idea how painful it could be and was very unrealistic about what I would be able to do once I got home…which I paid the price for in the form of more pain.

I have to give a HUGE shout-out here to all my family and friends who took SUCH good care of me and did so much work on my house and yard and everything. Lindsey stayed with me for 2 weeks before she had to go back to CO for work. She took care of me AND painted my entire dining room, kitchen and entry way at the same time. Mom helped her with that as well as keeping us fed and helping me with about everything needing done around my house. Matt, Tyler, and Larry have made sure my yard stayed manicured.  My sisters, Kris and Sara keep close tabs on me and make sure I'm feeling okay and that I don't need anything.  My 'sistas' are keeping the prayers going up for me.  Kim also keeps close tabs on me and she and Bob spent a whole day at my house helping cross items off my list - including unclogging my bathroom sink drain!  Yeah, Kim did that...she's another on of my heroes.  I also have to thank my bosses at work, who are being SO understanding and flexible and caring...that has been such a relief.  I can't name everyone here but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate you.  Thank you to everyone who has been helpful and caring - including those who sent cards and are including me in their prayers.

After 4 1/2 weeks I went back to work - although that wasn't very steady due to doctor appointments.  Then today I started my chemo treatments.  I'm staying at St. Vincent's in Indy this week for my first "session", but the doctor said I should be able to complete my other treatments in Kokomo at St. Joe...which I'm EXTREMEMLY excited about. :)