ONE GOOD WEEK
I know I have been quiet for a couple of weeks and thought it was time for an update. Last you heard from me, I had had a rough couple weeks with round 3. That is over. We moved on and passed Round 4. One week ago today!The week right before round 4 chemotherapy, I actually had one really great week! I walked around as if I was not fighting cancer, as if life had righted itself (well kind of - hard to ignore some of the obvious). I went to work 4 out of 5 days (and the one day I missed was spent with my mom at the doctor's office, getting her a repeat brain scan from the sudden onset of confusion she was having). I walked the dogs every day, I went to the beach, I went shopping and out to lunch a couple of times, and even got on the Peloton (although my output sucked), it felt good to move my legs. Neulasta (White blood cell/immune booster) worked, my white blood counts stayed up and I didn't have to hide from the world of germs and infections (although I still had to wear a mask in the doctor's office - who cares). It was a good week.
ROUND 4 CHEMOTHERAPY
Last Tuesday, I had round 4 of chemotherapy - I also saw my oncologist and found out a few things.- I do not get to do my third PETscan - three weeks after my last chemo session but more like 2-3 MONTHS after. UGH. That puts me into late July or early August to know if I am in remission. This was hard news. But I get it. You do not want a false positive. You do not want to think maybe I am not in remission when you are. The chemo drugs work long after 3 weeks, so we wait. The good news is, we wait and we have more good weeks, we staycation, we celebrate being through this first line of treatment, and we pray the chemotherapy did its' job.
- I also found out that my purple power port (yes that lovely device (at least it is purple) that lives just below my collar bone attached to my subclavian vein where they infuse all the chemo-cocktails into my bloodstream) will stay for 2 YEARS, while I receive maintenance infusions of Rituxan, every 8 weeks (2 months sounds better) but it still sucks - but then again so do a lot of things so I will deal and embrace it or spin it as a good topic of conversation.
HOW DO I FEEL?
I am hanging in for round 4. Usual side effects that I will spare you the details on. Today is usually the day I crash hard and can barely stand but they are keeping me on prednisone at a lower dose to stave off the bone pain that mimicked cardiac arrest so I am hoping that will help with weakness as well. Something new to watch and learn about is my hemoglobins. Your hemoglobins are an iron-containing protein found in red blood cells (RBCs) enabling the cells to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood (kind of important) - basically it would indicate anemia. My hemoglobins are a little low so we are watching that - they are at an 11 on a scale of 11.7 - 15.5. If they drop to an 8 or lower, I would have to have a blood transfusion. We are not letting that happen. I will find out later today on yesterday's blood draw.MOM UPDATE
My mom is continuing to make slow progress. But two weeks ago, she had a sudden onset of confusion. It was like she was relapsing and we were concerned. We got her into the doctors and they were as concerned and rushed her over to get an MRI of her brain to make sure she didn't have another stroke. When that came back as stable, they tested blood and urine. She wound up having a pretty bad UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) -sorry TMI and if we had not caught it when we did, she could have gotten even more septic. With some antibiotics, she became less confused. This Thursday, she is finally having surgery to clear her very blocked carotid artery. This is not only what caused the stroke, but what has her walking around like a ticking time bomb, with the possibility of her having another stroke at any moment. There is also a risk that she will stroke during surgery - so we are taking all the positive vibes, prayers and thoughts we can get on April 18th at 12:30pm. The hope is that it will be a successful surgery, the oxygen will start to flow to her brain in great quantity and she will improve even faster! Yes, fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed!LOOKING AHEAD
TWO MORE ROUNDS OF CHEMOTHERAPY TO GO. Round 5 in 2 weeks (April 30th), and 3 weeks later, round 6 (May 21st). That puts me at less than 6 weeks (35 days) until this first line of treatment is over. Yes, I am a counter. I love to countdown to things, like my birthday (50 more shopping days), to trips (none planned at this time), and now, my new normal, to chemo... It is just my thing (if you know me - you know). So we count, and we enjoy all the good, the ok and not so bad days, and we push through the bad and awful days. Looking forward to that point where there are more good days than bad and while my live life detour is not over, the road is turning, the sun is shining (well not right now, but it will), and this too shall pass.
Thanks as always, to all of YOU! My family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and strangers who show kindness and compassion every single day. Who continue to check in on me, sending me love and positive vibes or messages that say; it is ok to not be so brave, it is ok to not be so strong, it is ok to rest and if you do that is not a sign of weakness, but actually a sign of strength, brilliance really (😂), it is smart, because your body is telling you to rest. So listen. Today is a rest day. 💚💚💚💚
