Tech vs UVA

Go Hokies! I'm down in Blacksburg and we're celebrating our big win against UVA! It was an ugly game - we had the yards but had the hardest time getting the ball in the end zone. But we won, yippee! And now we go to the ACC Championship, either to play BC or Florida State. We'll know in about 15 minutes who it is. We lost to both teams earlier this year, so it would be nice to come out of the ACC game with a win.

It was a bit chilly out today. I was warmly dressed, but towards the end of the game I was getting quite cold. Luckily it didn't start sleeting/raining until we were back at the tailgate, so I was able to get warm again with the help of Mr. Heater.

Food is still tasting pretty bad, but the meds help a bit. I had a few beers yesterday, and several jello shots today, which were very yummy! But tomorrow I go back on the other meds, so no more alcohol for at least 3 months. How sad.

Otherwise, I'm doing okay. I have some numbness in my hands and feet. And of course I'm still tired a lot, but I'm trying to accept that. It's hard at times. I know the next 3 months will be difficult as this set of treatments is supposed to make me even more tired. So I'm trying to really cut down on lots of my activities and just concentrate on getting through this as best as possible.

It looks like we'll be playing BC next weekend, for the second year in a row. Let's hope the outcome will be the same!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! As my friend Angella said on Tuesday, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I'm very thankful that I have so many family and friends who are supportive. It's been a very trying year, and I don't know what I would do without all of you. I'm thankful for my doctors who work so hard to find a cure for cancer. I'm thankful that This was found early enough so that it could be treated with minimal disruptions. I'm thankful that I haven't had the complications that other people have had.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

More Blahs

Feeling kind of blah today. I think it's just that I'm tired of all of this. I have my doctor's appointment today, so we'll discuss the next round of chemo and what will be expected. I know they will make me more tired, which is something that I just dread. It's so hard to get anything done when I'm tired all the time. So it'll be a long 12 weeks, but there is nothing I can do about it.
I just wish food would taste the same again.

Plastic Surgeon

So today I met with the plastic surgeon to discuss all of my options. There are really two options that I can do. One is to use the fat and muscle from my abdomen area to make my breasts, which just kind of creeps me out. It's like of like a tummy tuck, but not fully. I wouldn't have any of my ab muscles left, and I'm not sure that I'd want that at all. It's a longer surgery, a longer recovery time, and it would be much harder for me to do things.

The other surgery is just using implants, which sounds so much easier and more my speed. Less surgery, less recovery, no damage to my muscles. And if I don't like it, I can always then do the other surgery.

On another note, I'm glad that the first set of chemo treatments is over. I'm still tired all the time, which will happen until I'm done with chemo. But right now, food doesn't taste good - everything has a metallic taste to it. In one way, it's not bad since I'm not eating as much. But in another way, it does suck since nothing tastes good. Hopefully that'll be done by Thanksgiving. I want food to taste normally.

And, hopefully, I'll get off these meds so I can have a drink. I know I can't drink with the next round of chemo, so it would be nice to have a weekend where I can enjoy a few drinks.

Updates

It's been a few weeks since I've updated this. The main reason is that I've been so busy. We've been doing a lot of recruiting at work, so that keeps me busy during the day. I'm still tired a lot, which is one of the side effects, but it's not too bad. And I've been heading to a few football games down at Tech, which had mixed results.

Today is the last of my first set of chemo treatments. My lab work is good - my white blood cells are in the range they should be; same with my platelets. My red blood cells are still a bit low, but not enough to worry about. Tomorrow I'll come back in for my injection. And that will be it for that! I'm very happy that this round is almost done.

Then I'll start on Taxol and Herceptin for 12 weeks. That is supposed to be easier than what I'm on now, so that's positive. I'll still be tired, but I can handle that - heck, I've handled this for 2 months now. So that'll be much easier. And once the Taxol is done, my hair will start growing back!

Then I'll have a few weeks off. I have to have more surgery, which I'll have dates in a few weeks. But I am doing the double mastectomy and also having my ovaries removed. I'm not looking forward to that, but it has to be done. I'll do it right after tax season is over. Hopefully the recovery time will be short! I can't afford to be out of work too long, LOL. Meanwhile, while that is going on, I'll be on the Herceptin every 3 weeks for about 40 weeks. And some drugs, of course.

Overall, I'm doing okay. I still have bad moments (usually at night), but I'm getting through them. I'm learning to accept all of this and I think I'm dealing with it as well as can be expected.

I just came back from a few days at Disney with Debbie. We had a blast! It was exactly what I needed - to go away and forget about all of this for a few days. I wish I could go back again soon, but the next trip will be at the end of June.

Thank you to everyone who has read this, and commented. I'm still behind on my thank you's - they'll get out one day!

Month of Thanks

I'm copying this from others who are doing it. Yes I'm behind, but I'll try and stay current with it going forward. The challenge is to think of something that you're thankful for every day of November. Here goes:

November 1 - I'm thankful that I was able to see my niece perform in her last regular season band competition. They did an excellent job, scored the highest they ever scored, and moved on to the ACC Championships!

November 2- I'm thankful I got to see my nephew play in his flag football game. He only played on the defense (with the exception of one offensive play), but he was able to run the ball in for a touchdown!! The boys on this team are very small, so they have a hard time playing against the bigger boys, but they kept it pretty close.

November 3 - I'm thankful that I got to spend some time with my sister and friend at a concert tonight - real adult entertainment (even though my niece and her bf were there).

November 4 - Clean report from the doctors. My chemo treatments are going very well. What more could I be thankful for?