Belated Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a belated merry Christmas. Thanks for all the well wishes and moral support. This last round of chemo was rougher on me than the first two were. I don't know how much of it is the chemo, the weather or a combination of things. I hope everyone has a happy new year.

All gone

All the hair on my head is gone. I'm starting lose my eyelashes. On the plus side, I haven't needed to shave in about a month.

Wigs and scarves

I got a couple of wigs, some scarves and a hat from a nurse at the Breast Center yesterday. I had also gotten a bunch of scarves from Mom. I uploaded pictures of the wigs. I need figure out styling for the blonde wig. I need to take pictures of the scarves.

First days after chemo - round 2

I had chemo on Wednesday. Thursday wasn't bad. I was more tired than anything, Yesterday and today were more painful. The prescriptions (Ibuprofen for pain and Neurontin for tingling) I got seem to be helping plus this time I have some idea what to expect.

I'm still losing my hair but I don't mind not having to shave my legs. I'll try to post more pictures soon.

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for all the love and support I've been getting and that my side effects aren't worse than they are. That being said, the hair loss is the what's the most frustrating for me so today I cut it short. It's about 2 or 3 inches long. I forgot to take any of the back and sides. My wonderful husband said he'll help me with them tomorrow.

New schedule

The chemo that was scheduled for Nov. 22 has been rescheduled for Nov. 29 because of Thanksgiving. Everything after that has been pushed back a week. At least now I won't have chemo on Valentine's Day.

Alopecia

Well, it's started. I'm definitely shedding more hair then I used to. I still need to find out about getting a hair prosthesis. I'm glad my insurance pays for one.

A week after chemo

The pain is mostly gone and the tingling is much less intense than it was. I am noticing other side effects more now. Food tastes different, texture is more intense and temperature is inconsistent. Crystal Light lemonade used to taste quite lemony to me. Now it's much sweeter tasting. Pizza that was almost perfectly spiced is almost too spicy. We have Berber carpet in our apartment and it seems like I can feel every little loop in it. When I run water for a shower, it'll feel warm to my hands but cool to my feet.

Third day after chemo

I still have a lot of pain and tingling in my legs and feet. It's not as bad as yesterday but it's still bad. It seems like heat, massaging and stretching makes them hurt less. I hope this ends soon.

First days after chemo

The first day was great. I felt better than I have in a long time. I had no pain and more energy. Too bad it didn't last more than a day.

Today, not so much. All of my joints from the waist down hurt and I have mild tingling in my hands and feet. Apparently both are common side effects of the Taxol and usually appear 2 or 3 days after chemo. I'm trying to figure out what helps make them go away faster.

First chemo

I had my first chemo treatment today. I was there from 9:30-4:30. There was quite a bit of prep work when I first got there. They gave me a 1 inch binder full of information. I get Taxol for 3 hours then Carboplatin for 1 hour. They did a half hour flush after each one. Normally the flush will be shorter.

Chemo rescheduled

I was supposed to start chemo today. I got the infusion center and they put in the access tube to draw blood for the labs. I then went to Dr. Abbott's office to get my vitals taken and get checked out. Dr. Abbott said that because I didn't have the medication that I have to take the night before, my chemo couldn't be done today. It's been rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:30.

Port insertion

I got my port installed today. This way I won't be getting stabbed everytime I need to get chemo or need to get blood drawn.

Bard power port

How it all started

On March 29, 2017, my dad passed away. That weekend, I got very sick. I was vomiting, had diarrhea and severe abdominal pain. I thought it was just stress and maybe some bad potato salad. After several days of saltines and ginger ale, I got better or so it seemed.

On April 21, I got very sick again with same symptoms. Around 2am on the 24th, I couldn't take the pain anymore and called 911. They gave me a saline IV with Zofran for the nausea and vomiting and morphine for the pain. They did an EKG, CT scan and blood tests. The CT scan showed masses on my ovaries and a spot on my liver. The ER doctor told me that I have ovarian cancer and that it had spread to my liver. She gave me a referral to get a MRI and told me to follow up with my doctor.

May 1 was my next doctor's appointment. Dr. Moody looked at the results of the CT and MRI. The MRI showed that the spot on my liver was benign. She took blood to do a CA125, which can indicate certain types of cancer.

Since I hadn't heard from our doctor, I waited until my husband's appointment on May 30th to talk to her. I was hoping no news was good news. Apparently the doctor's office called an old phone number, so I didn't get the results. My CA125 was more than twice the normal level. She gave me referrals to a couple of gynecologic oncologists.

June 19, we went to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis to the gynecologic oncologist. Dr. Ducie did a full exam including a pap smear. She said that all indicaters were that it was cancer, but only a biopsy can say for certain.

On July 6, my sister-in-law drove us up to AAMC for my biopsy. I assumed that they would biopsy one or both of my ovaries, but they did part of the lining around my stomach and intestines.

July 11, Dr. Ducie called me to tell me it is cancer and she wanted to do surgery then chemo. She said we could wait to do the surgery until after our wedding.

On the morning of August 11, we had to be at Mercy in Baltimore at 7:30am for my 9am surgery. They did some pre-op testing and introduced the whole surgical team. Once they took me into the operating room, I don't remember anything else until about 6pm. I have some vague memories of a woman telling me to wake up. I think she was an ICU nurse named Jenny. I was wheeled upstairs on a gurney to a regular room. They wanted me to slide over on to the bed, but I couldn't do it. They had to use a bed board to transfer me. I was still really out of it for a while. I kept trying to figure out why my husband and sister-in-law took everything home with them including my glasses and cellphone. I finally remember the locker that my stuff was put in before surgery and was able to get everything brought up. They made me get up and go to therapy the next day. I was in the hospital until August 15.

August 29, we went to AAMC to get my 37 staples out. Dr. Ducie made arrangements for me to see Dr. Ryu because he works out of Calvert. It's a 2 mile commute instead of a hour long one.

September 12, Dr Ryu did quick exam of my abdomen and then said yes to me going back to substitute teaching. He said Dr. Abbott's office would call me soon.

September 27, Dr. Abbott talked to us about the chemo and said that they could give me a port so I don't have to get stuck with an needle each time.