Another beautiful sunny day in downtown Poulsbo. I’ve been rising early and enjoying the early
morning cool of the sun. My yard is
getting weeded and beautified by my wonderful Sister-in –law, Jean Ford, and
I’ve actually done some myself. I wish I
could do more, but that’s another story and another day.
Sorry, once again, to be so long with my update, but I
wanted to see how the first week of chemo went before I reported. I had my first intravenous chemo on Monday,
May 7th. The clinic visit
takes a little less than 2 hours. I see
the doctor or nurse practitioner first, and they are very thorough. Each visit they will check my blood cells
before I am treated and also discuss any possible side effects I may be
having. By the way, the clinic is less
than a mile from my house, and I am able to drive myself. Yes – I can drive. After the doctor visit I go to the treatment
room. It is a large room with many nice lounge chairs. I choose my chair and am immediately
approached by the next available nurse.
After verifying my name and birthdate, an IV is put into my right
arm. First I am given a drip of steroids
and an anti-nausea drug. That takes about
20 minutes. Then the nurse comes with
two hypodermic syringes that fasten into the IV near the insertion point. She administers these manually and that takes
about 5 minutes. These are the actual
chemo drugs. This is called a “push”. Next I am given s drip or “push” of saline to
be sure the drugs are sent into my blood stream. So, the entire treatment takes about 45
minutes, but the actual chemo takes only 5 minutes. Since I am there such a short time (compared
to many others) I have just used my time there for napping. Nothing much else I can do.
I have now had two IV treatments and will not go back until
June 4th. My cycle is 28 days
and the IVs are on the first and eighth days.
When I start the IV treatment I also start 14 days of oral drugs that I
take at home with my breakfast. This is the
third drug in my CFM treatment. After
those 14 days I have 14 days of no drugs.
My side effects have been fairly minimal. At first I had some constant nausea but I
have fixed that by having a big breakfast with my pills and eating many small
meals all day long. I guess that is what
we call grazing and it works great for me.
I’ve stocked my freezer with small Trader Joe’s frozen meals, so when I
get hungry I just put something in the microwave. I’ve also been pretty tired. This also comes in waves. I’ve just decided to give in to that and take
naps as needed. So if I’m talking to you
and say I’m going to take a nap, it’s not because I don’t want to talk, I just plain need a nap. Good news is that during my 14 days off, the
side effects should go away. I will plan
for that and those will be my days to get back to work at my quilting and
bookmaking and sock dying fun. Also, as
I figure out how to deal with the chemo side effects I will be able to get more
done. I really miss my studio time.
The Plastic Surgery (Boob-Job) is coming along nicely. I had my last fill last week and it is now
starting to feel much better. Those
first few days are pretty uncomfortable.
This time I swear you could have bounced a quarter off my chest. It feels like I’m wearing a way too tight bra
but there’s no taking it off. The other
day my brother came to take me out to dinner.
When we were finished he said he had to get me home to get the truck
parked back on my chest. Funny, but
true. I am now scheduled for surgery on
June 15th. This is a day
surgery where my doctor will make a smaller incision to remove the temporary
expanders and replace them with the “real” thing – the permanent silicone
ones. Permanent actually means temporary
also as they will last for 10 – 15 years.
Then I will make a decision to have them replace or just removed. Will I really care when I’m 75 years old?? A few weeks after the exchange surgery I will
have a couple of office visits where the doctor will do a little cosmetic
surgery and his nurse will do some tattooing.
(no detail needed here) This will
finish off the plastic surgery phase of my adventure. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this “final”
phase of the reconstruction. By mid July
I should be feeling pretty good and able to start my summer commitments beginning
with Royal Family Kid’s Camp. I’m praying
that my white-blood cells hold up for that.
So far, so good.
So, there is your update.
Just know that I am doing great and am reminded regularly how blessed I
am that this isn’t worse and that we caught it in time to make it right. The other great thing is that it is happening
during the most beautiful time of year in the Northwest. If I have to feel lousy
sometimes, at least I’m feeling lousy when the sun is shining and everything is
in bloom.
Life is good and this event has certainly changed my outlook
on life. My priorities have changed and
I have less thought about the little things that just don’t matter.
Once again, thank you all so much for your kind words and
prayers, phone calls and cards and e-mails.
Each one means so much to me and it is what will get me through this
with joy and grace. I wish I could
answer each and every one.
6 comments:
Hi Karen,
So glad to be able to read about your progress. Are you going to be home this weekend? I think I'll be able to come to the parade on Saturday, so I could stop in and say hello.
:-)
Have been wanting to call and thank you for passing my name along to Sharon Ham (I think I got her name right) - - anyways, we were not able to do the Stillwaters gig, because Terry E. was already booked with a job in Tacoma. But I told Sharon that we would have loved to have done it. So maybe next time! I gave Sharon a few names to try, so I hope one of them led to someone performing for them. Thank you again!!
Linda
Hi Karen,
This is a great way to keep all of us informed on how you are doing and the process that you are having to complete.
My thoughts and prayers are always with you in your journey.
And may I say: Viva la Naps!!!
Char
Karen, I so love your updates. Sounds like you wonderfully well and I pray that you are able to keep the SE to a minimum.
Continuing to send healing energy your way.
Susan
Thank you for the updates! You are a trooper. We're praying for you and hope you'll bug us if you need anything, now that we got out of the state o' Wyoming!
OK Karen....I finally read a blog!!! You have always been such a bad influence on me. I miss you at every retreat and my socks have worn out. Love you to bits, my life is so dull and boring compared to yours. Its good to be dull. Wendy Egilson.
Hi Karen,
Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you. Hope you had a restful weekend!
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