Life's Journey

In follow up to my last post I put new pics on the Photos page of my new haircut and Roy and I going out for our date night!    We had a really nice night.  Roy took me to the Melting Pot for fondue, we just got the good stuff: cheese, chocolate, and wine.  It's always good food there, a great atmosphere, and it's an experience.  It takes awhile to eat fondue so we had a lot of time just to talk and enjoy each others company.  It was really nice.  It was a great kick-off for the first week of treatment.

Treatment - Day 1 - Monday 4/11 - Radiation Only
I'm not gonna lie to you, I was s-t-r-e-s-s-e-d out!  I didn't really have any idea of what to expect or how I was going to feel afterwards.  Yes, I've done my research, taken notes, talked to doctors, talked to other survivors... but the bottom line is that everyone reacts differently so I was nervous.  I went in and they put me on the radiation table for preliminary xrays to confirm that everything was lined up correctly.  This is really kinda cool - they have laser beam "x"s coming out of the ceiling and the side walls of the room that they line up with "x"s they drew on my body last week.  Then the machiene starts up and these 4 huge arms come down and kind of wrap around me.  The beams come on then the arms rotate, treat another area and so on.  In the end it takes about 20 minutes and I'm done.  Today they made the "x"s that they drew on permanent with a tattoo.  I went 35 years without a tattoo and what do I end up with?  Cancer dots - lol!  Go figure.  In the end the stress and anxiety caused more side effects than the actual treatment did   Roy and I stopped and grabbed a bite to eat on the way home and spent the evening on the couch.  So far so good. 

Treatment - Day 2 - Tuesday 4/12 - Chemo & Radiation
I should just copy/paste the first 3 sentences from the the paragraph above, pretty much felt the same way walking into the chemo room.  Roy went with me today to hold my hand and I can't tell you how much that eased my mind.  Everyone in my oncology office is awesome and super helpful and always try to make me as comfortable as possible which is greatly appreciated.  Michelle (aka supernurse) came in to see me right away and tell me everything was going to be fine!  (thanks Michelle - love ya)  The room is set up with big comfty reclining chairs and not so comfty chairs for visitors   They are all set up in a circle of 10 so you can see other Superwomen like me fighting the beast.  I'd have to say this was the best part of the day.  Being able to talk to other women (some are on their last treatment, some on their second) and share war stories, tips and tricks was so beneficial to me.  If you are on this site, you know me...  I didn't sit in the chair in silence - I made friends!  It was a LONG day and I'm amazed at how many bags of fluids and drugs were put into my body.  We got there at 9:00 and the drips started by 9:40.  They loaded me with fluids, steroids, anti-nausea drugs, and other prep supplements before even starting the chemo drugs.  At 12:30 I was "unplugged" to go downstairs for radiation treatment.  Met with the radiology doctor briefly before treatment to see how I'm doing and if I had any questions.  They explained that while it hasn't had an impact yet, it will start changing my appetite and eating habits, digestive system will have a big impact, and I will become lethargic - Yay!  Sounds like so much fun!  Something to look forward to   Anyway, had my treatment and returned to the chemo room.  She plugged me back in and started the first drug: Taxol.  Ok, here's the best part, Roy went and pick up Wendy's for us to have for lunch.  Yup, I ate fast food while getting chemo.  Didn't anticipate that being an option - and honestly don't know that it will ever happen again, but thought I'd enjoy it while I could.  The first drug ran for an hour then she started the last one: Cisplatin.  She gave me an extra dose of anti-nausea meds for this one and got it going.  A total of 6 bags of fluids/drugs were given to me today.  I spent a lot of time expelling all that fluid throughout the day too - lol.  We were out of there around 3:30p.  6.5 hours of cancer treatment is a long exhausting day.  But, so far I'm feeling ok.  I'm tired but feeling good. 

Roy was such great support today.  He held my hand when I was scared, made me laugh when I needed it, kept me entertained to distract me, and kept me safe and loved.  I'm glad he was able to take the day to be with me.  As I've mentioned I am completely overwhelmed by everyone's kindness and generosity.  All the smiles, love, and happy thoughts that everyone has sent have made such a huge impact on me.  You have given me strength, friendship, and smiles when I need them most - I will never be able to thank each of you enough.  Please know that I appreciate you and you are precious to me.

xoxo - Sarah