Today I got treatment number 3. So far, so good. My hair is letting loose a little bit more today. Honestly, I thought it would be all gone by now, and I'm getting a little frustrated that it isn't. Ironic, I know. It's the one thing I dread the most, yet I'm aggravated that it's not gone yet. They told me that the taxol would loosen my sinuses and make me feel like I had a head cold the whole time, and they hit that nail right on the head! I have had runny nose, congestion, sneezing, all that good stuff, plus with all the pollen, it just adds to it! I've even lost my voice a couple of different times, both from the allergies and coughing so much. Oh, and nose bleeds are a side effect too, and I had one heck of one a few days ago. It was pouring from both sides of my nose, and it lasted a good 5 minutes before I could get it to stop. I don't know if I wasn't putting enough pressure on it or what, but it just did not want to stop. Then when it did, I would have to sneeze and it would break loose and start bleeding again! Whew, that was a doozy! It seems like the steroid is gonna be nicer to me this time around, better than the first time anyway. Two years ago when I had to have it, it bloated me really bad and made me want to eat a lot, but this time, it's right the opposite. I haven't had an appetite hardly at all, and I have lost 7lbs in two weeks. So I'm thankful for that small little miracle. Actually I'm thankful for everything. I've not been nearly as sick as I know is possible, I know I have a wonderful staff taking care of me, and I love cutting up and chatting with the chemo nurses. I have wonderful friends and family that are behind me just when I need them, and even when I don't. I have lots of reasons to be thankful!

I was finally able to have my first chemo treatment this past Thursday! It was an all day event too! We did leave there til after 5pm. The next one, this Thursday, shouldn't take as long, cause I'm not having the Avastin, just the Taxol. Originally I was suppose to have the Taxol once every 3 wks, but he changed it and now I will have 3 doses of it in 3 consecutive wks. I've felt pretty yucky over the wknd. Saturday might not have been so bad, but my uncle died last week and we spent the day with family Saturday, and it's possible that I just let myself get too tired. I spent most of Sunday in bed, and today I'm still really tired and achy. It will probably work out to where I will get to feeling better by Wednesday, then I get to start over Thursday, lol. So far there has been no nausea, but I do not have much of an appetite. I'm trying to drink plenty, because the Avastin can cause kidney and bladder trouble, but when you don't really have a "taste" for something, it's hard to drink much, nothing sounds good.
That's about as long as I feel like sitting here. But I would like to thank all the special people that have sent emails, cards, comments, and most of all, prayers.

I'm home now! They let me come home around 5:00 Monday evening. It would've been sooner, but I had to wait til they done the echo on me. I should get the results of that tomorrow when I go see Dr. Pierce, my oncologist. I thought I was feeling fine, but realized that I still needed to rest some after I had gotten up and went to school yesterday. It ended up just being a half day for me. I'm still really sore and achy, mostly in my hip area. That's why I'm up at 5:30 am writing on my blog, the pain woke me up, and I'm waiting on the ibuprofen to ease it off some. I didn't sleep much at all, but I can't pinpoint what it was that kept me up.
The kids are going on a field trip today to Bays Mountain to see the new planetarium they have. Usually, I would go with them, but I just don't think that I can walk around up there today. I know they will have a great time!
Like I mentioned earlier, I will go to my oncologist on Thursday. As long as blood work comes back ok, and my kidneys are clear, I will start chemotherapy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Happy Easter!

I hope you are all having a great Easter! If I were pessimistic, I would say this is the worst Easter ever, but I don't like be so negative. No, I am not happy about being in the hospital on Easter, but I am and there is nothing I can do about it. I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, let me rewind a little and start from where I left off from the last post...so on Thursday, I had an infusion of Zometa, it's to help make my bones stronger. And on the drug information sheet, there was a list of side effects and when to contact your doctor. Of course there was a long list, but the one that was my deciding factor was the one that said fever. My other symptoms were flu-like, you know, achy body, chills, and bone pain. I put off going to the er until my temp got up to 104.7!!! That scared me! Doug gave me a couple Tylenol and made me take a cold shower, but it didn't act like it was gonna come down any, so we decided it was time to let somebody else see about it. Of course it seemed like no one believed us when we told them how high my temp had gotten up to, because by they time we got there it had dropped down to 100, but they were still very thorough. After being in the er for 8 hours, they finally put me in a room. They gave me some really strong antibiotics to start off with, in case there was some kind of infection in my body somewhere, and I had an allergic reaction to it, making my head itch, hives around my hair line, swollen lips, it was horrible. And the bad part is that we didn't figure it out til the medicine was all gone! Oh yea, and my eyelids got real puffy too! The dr decided to keep me for a few days to get some fluids restored in me and to give me several rounds of antibiotics, a different kind, of course. They also have found that I have a heart murmur, and why it didn't show on the MUGA scan I had a few weeks ago is still a mystery to me. It's possible that there could be some kind of infection around my heart, like on one of the valves, and that could be causing the fever and the murmur, but my blood work is showing nothing. Thus the main reason for my extended stay, apparently if there is, in deed, and infection in the heart, it can take up to 3 days to show up in the blood work. So far, so good. I have had some great visitors tho, my buddies from school came by yesterday, and my best friend Samantha came to stay a while so Doug could go home to feed and get me some things I needed. My daddy and step mom have been here, making sure I'm getting something better than hospital food to eat, plus she picked up the last minute Easter stuff for me that I hadn't got for the kids yet.And I'm expecting some company today, I might even get lucky and get to see my kiddos. If everything goes well, and nothing actually does show up on my labs, then I may get to go home tomorrow. I'll let you know!

Have you ever had those days that you just have the feeling it wasn't gonna go your way? I felt that way this morning, and sure enough, things didn't go my way. We made to trip to Va this morning, but still didn't get to start chemo treatments. I did get an injection of Zometa, to help strengthen my bones. But there wasn't enough time to put in an order for my chemo meds and insurance approve it. They have 24hrs to decide. She did say I could come back on Monday for it, but since they try to make the treatments the same day all the time, I just asked to come back next Thursday. And I have a very good reason for that, see the biggest side effect for this treatment is probably gonna be fatigue for the first few days following treatment. So if I have it on Thursday, they are closed on Fridays, then I can have the wknd to lay around and not worry about missing school. Plus Doug would be home to deal with the kiddos, if need be. She could tell that Doug and I were both really upset that we STILL are not getting to start, so she made me a promise. She said that I WOULD get my first round of chemo next week, even if it means that she put me in her car, drive me to Kingsport to get the meds herself, and bring back to my house and administer them to me herself! Looks like I will be having Taxol once every 3wks, Avastin once every other wk, and Zometa once a month. And just when I have accepted that I have beautiful hair, I have to face the fact that it will be leaving me once again. Oh do I ever dread this part!! It was just getting long enough to pull back in a ponytail, too! I'm not trying to be rude, but I ask that no one please comment that my hair will come back, or that I will be just as beautiful without it. I know you mean well, but it's just not what I want to hear. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the patient advocates at the office today, and she was amazing. She told us about different things that was available to us, got me to fill out some papers so we could get a large part of our fuel taken care of driving back and forth there. She said she always gives a nice welcome basket to the new patients, but she was out of the ones the has for the breast cancer patients, so I'll get that next week. There is also a group of volunteers that take turns preparing a dish that can be sent home with a patient, and they draw a name from all the patients there that day for the winner, and I got it for today! It looks really good, chicken casserole, one of my most fave foods! And all we will have to do it pop it in the oven and enjoy! I was feeling a little spoiled, even if I was in a dr. office, and I liked it, lol!
Do you have big plans for the Easter wknd? I don't have BIG plans, but there are a few things I would like to do. I need to go out tomorrow and try to find the kids some shoes for their Easter outfits. My best friend, Samantha, and I want to try to take our 8yr old daughters to see the Hannah Montana movie. Then church on Sunday and dinner with my in-laws. Hope you all have a great Easter, and don't forget what it's all about!