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| 10/20/07 - It's been a while |
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It's been a while since I've last written... sorry... haven't been much motivated lately. I guess I feel a new wind- so here I am writing! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. I've been denied chemo again b/c of low white blood counts. This has led them to give me shots of (I forget the name right now- starts with "N") in my arm three consecutive days after chemo to keep those counts up. They can't give me Neulasta like before- b/c my treatments are too close together. So last week I got my chemo- Avastin, Navelbine and Zometa. Then the next 3 days I ventured up to Hooksett for the shot. Which is kind of a pain b/c it takes like 5 minutes- yet 1.5 hrs round trip almost. Oncology talked w/ my insurance carrier- and they are able to order the shots and send them to my house. I will in turn take them to my pcp where they will inject them- which is 10 minutes from my house. That works for me! So this last week was awful. I had the aches and temp and flu like symptoms of the Zometa to contend with. Plus the wbc shot gives you aches as well. Now its sunday and tomorrow I'll just have Navelbine. I look forward to mondays... I look forward to chemo. The week before last when i was denied- I just broke down crying in the office. I had been so confident that I would have chemo- I felt great, had a great weekend...but alas- no chemo. Jennifer Vaughn had come up to see me at chemo with her two beautiful children. They gave me gifts and hugs and were so very sweet. At least I had that to lighten my spirits. So- mornings and evenings are hard. I wake up (or Todd wakes me up) around 8 or 9am to get the regiment started. I have a Xopenex nebulizer that I do to open up the lungs, which is followed by a painful coughing spell. My chest usually hurts- and now I have a spot on my right ribs under my "little one" that hurts when i breathe or cough. So I hack up some loogies- yuuummmm and then try to have breakfast. My stomach is extremely finicky right now- and nothing seems to please it or tempt it. So I choke down some breakfast and then take my Vicodin, Ativan (for anxiety) and Lexapro (for anxiety- my "happy pill" as we call it). Then the Pulmicort nebulizer to again help with the lung capacity. About 45- 1 hour later I'm feeling good at least. I get up and take a shower and start my day...running errands, watching tv, taking a nap, going to appts, going online,.... yeah- some tough stuff! I have found that the Travel Chennel is now my favorite channel to watch. I love to watch Samantha Brown- Passport to Europe, Made in America, Tastes of America, and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. LOVE that channel! I feel like I'm travellling all over the world without leaving my couch. And seeing places that I'd never thought would be of interest. By around 4 or 5pm I've started to get more rundown and the breathing isnt as good. I use my inhaler or nebulizer to help...but overall just hang out and relax. Night time is the Claritin, Vicodin and two Ativan to sleep. Then its the cycle all over again! Last weekend was the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in Manchester. Our team raised over $5,000 (they haven't updated the site yet) and we had like 60 people at the event with Shannon's team shirts on (i've included the adorable kids in this count!). I had such a great time- and from what I hear- they did too! I got my picture taken with Mike Morin in the morning (radio personality), the Mayor of Manchester, the Lion from the Manchester Monarchs! By the time we started the walk- I was wiped from walking around and registering and stuff- so Todd lovingly pushed me again in the wheelchair that hadn't been touched since last year! It was decorated with balloons. The kids wagons were decorated with pictures of me and pink ribbons- as was Becky's suv! She had Shannon's Team written on the windows- we took pictures! We did the walk- and got all spread out- but you cuold see our team members b/c we were all wearing our custom Shannon's Team long sleeve t's! The weather was warm- but the breeze was chilly. we finished up the 3 mile walk and took a group pic- not knowing that some had done the 5 mile walk and weren't back yet. We went for a late lunch with the fam'.... and I cried to Todd on the way home...so amazed at the amount of people and the event in its entirety. I still have Shannon's Team t's left over if anyone wants one :)! This week my oncologist ordered an oxygen machine to be brought to the house. I had checked my o2 levels after last chemo- and they were pretty low- barely reaching 91. So they sent me to the Elliot to have a chest xray to check the fluid levels in my lungs- which was good that they hadn't changed at all. So- they ordered the machine to help me- mostly at night when I'm sleeping. I would have a hard time getting thru the night without waking up to cough or shortnes of breath. So though I know I need it and it would help me- I didn't want to feel like I was becoming dependent on it. The guy dropped it off and the smaller tanks for travelling- and showed us how to use them. I stared at the 50 foot tube for a while until he left... then I tried it on. I could feel a little change...but I would feel the change at night when I slept. I've been sleeping thru the night and actually remembering my dreams. So it helps me there. I still feel like I've aged countless years though- having to have it in the first place. We had to put a lign on the front door "CAUTION - OXYGEN IN USE - NO SMOKING!" Our friends are over this weekend and laughed- b/c none of us smoke- so who are we warning?! This weekend has been totally exciting! A bunch of our friends and family have taken it upon themselves to come over and help to make our house a home! We had ordered new windows and a front door, need a new roof and will eventually do the new siding. Aaron, Aaron's Dad, Peggy & Brian (Todd's parents), Rich, Sylvia, Mike, Melissa and Scott all came over yesterday and put in 4 windows and scraped and did a bunch of work to the roof. I of course sat and watched all the progress- as I I'm pretty much useless at this point. They worked so very hard to get all that done in one day. The girls brought and picked up food and took care of everything. Todd and I are very blessed to have such fun, entertaining, hard working and most of all loving friends and family. Who else would give up their weekend to do work on a friend's house- then people who love you? Right?! I LOVE YOU GUYS- and THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping to make our house a HOME! This beats the Extreme Home Makeover Crew who are in Manchester right now :)! Although.. Ty Pennington would be a nice addition!? So I guess those are all the updates for now. I'll post some pictures of the walk and the house at some point. Gonna go enjoy my new windows...and supervise now :)! |
Shannon, NH
BRCA1 Mutation,Infiltrating (or invasive) Ductal Carcinoma (IDC)
BRCA1 Mutation,Infiltrating (or invasive) Ductal Carcinoma (IDC)
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