Three down, Three to go.

I'm surprised that I haven't posted anything for so long. I've completed half of my chemo regimen. It hasn't been terrible, but I really hate it. After my first treatment, my vein got swollen possibly due to the fact that I left the needle in the vein overnight. I've not done that again, and I haven't had any problems with soreness in my veins since that first treatment.

I don't have any bad side-effects except for fatigue. I haven't gotten sick, and I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't lose my hair. But I get really tired for a few days. Last month, I was tired for 4 days. Today is Monday, and I took off work today due to fatigue. Today is day four, so I'm hoping to return to work tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I'll feel back to normal. I am tired of feeling tired!

This weekend was beautiful. Blair walked downtown in Frederick with a friend that she had met from D.C. She and I picked him up at the Shady Grove Metro and then took him back in the late afternoon. I think it was a date, but I'm not sure she is sharing that. He seems like a nice guy, who is also 15, but at this point, it's a texting relationship!

Brooke, Jerry, and Molly went ice skating this weekend. Brooke wanted to go for her birthday. I think that they had a good time, but afterwards, Brooke had blisters on her feet and Jerry's legs were sore. I guess we don't go enough to be properly prepared!

After the skating, Brooke got an ice cream cake from the DairyQueen. I'm surprised that they call it a cake, as there is truly no cake involved. It's ice cream, chocolate crumb, and then more ice cream. She loved it. Gone are the days that I make and decorate a cake. Although she did get a pie from Nana on her birthday. We didn't have her birthday dinner until the day after her birthday, due to Blair's swimteam banquet. So Nana did come up with a pie for her on her birthday. Then my parents came down to help with the kids and meals during my trips to Georgetown, so we had her birthday dinner Wednesday night with them and Nana. It was a nice evening.

I hope to be more frequent with my posts. But days do have a way of getting away from me.

Survived Round One!

I received my first chemo treatments Wednesday and Thursday of last week. I get two drugs on Wednesday and one of the two on Thursday. All went relatively well, and I didn't have any side-effects during the treatments.

On Wednesday morning, Jerry and I left our house by 6:30 a.m. Jerry was really nervous, although he denied it all that day! We arrived at Georgetown Hospital by 8:10, and the first thing I had to do was get my blood tested which took forever. That early in the morning there is only one guy checking people in and then taking them back to get draw the blood. So after waiting 25 minutes, I got called, but then the paper work wasn't properly done, so that had to be straightened out. On my first day of treatment, my blood counts have to be checked out before I can be given the chemo. So I have to get this done first, so the nurses can get my blood numbers before they can call in the order for the chemo which can't be ordered until I am there and weighed.

After my blood is taken and being analyzed, I wait to see my doctor, Cheson, whom I really like and trust. After he assured me that my hair wouldn't fall out, I asked him if we could make it curly, but he said he couldn't. He then gave me a hug and sent me up to floor 5 for the chemo.

My nurse is Kim, and I'll try to have her each time I go. One nice thing about Georgetown is that each person receiving chemo has his/her own little cubby with a curtain that can be drawn for privacy. Each cubby has its own t.v., and wireless internet service is available.

The first thing that Kim did was put warm towels on my arm to prepare my veins for the infusion. Even as late as this, I'm still thinking that someone will come in and tell me that this is all a mistake. It's really surreal to believe that I can feel okay, and still need chemo. But Ashton didn't pop out telling me I was "punk'ed".

Before starting the first medicine, I was given Benedryl and Tylenol orally, and a steroid intravenously. Before the second medicine, I was given an anti-nausea medicine. The first time, the medicine is given really slowly to make sure there are no side-effects. Therefore, the first day, we weren't finished until around 4:30 p.m. But traffic coming home wasn't bad, and friends had left dinner for us while we were gone, so the day ended well.

Thursday morning, I felt fine. I didn't need to be at Georgetown until 1:30 p.m., so that morning I got some laundry done. We had left the "stent" (the part in the vein that the infusion connects to) in my arm wrapped well, so that part didn't have to be done again, although it had been uncomfortable some during the night. Once I was there, the chemo was ordered, which can take up to 90 minutes to receive. It didn't take too long, and the infusion took only about an hour. So we left around 4:30 again. This time traffic seemed a bit worse. And I seemed a bit more nervous. I was really glad when we got home! Again, we had food left from friends, so I just crashed on the couch.

Friday morning I got up and went to work. I really felt fine. By the end of the work day I was really tired, so I came home and took a 3 hour nap! My arm where the infusion had been inserted was red and swollen, so I had put ice on it throughout the day. But other than that I had no side-effects.

Saturday and Sunday I have been able to rest a lot. Sometimes, I have been a little nervous, wondering how my body would react to the poison that it had received. My legs were really tired at times, but I rested and used a heating pad on them, which seemed to help. Saturday afternoon, I did take an anti-nausea pill, which did seem to relieve the symptom.

Today we didn't have school/work thanks to Martin Luther King. I was grateful to have another day to rest. Jerry and I took a walk this afternoon, after my nap, but I didn't want to walk too quickly or too far. I have now decided that I'm fine and will be back to normal tomorrow.

Bone Marrow Test = OUCH!

Thursday, Jan. 7, I had a bone marrow test.

Before any cancer treatment starts, the bone marrow is tested to see if the cancer has progressed to the bone marrow. When I was first diagnosed, I had a bone marrow test. Because I was so anxious about it, I took two valium before it started, and the test didn't seem very painful. I had heard terrible stories about the pain of the test, and how it was the worst pain that some people had ever experienced. I didn't find the first test bad at all.

When I had my regular six-month cancer check this December, Jerry and I stopped at a restaurant, Clyde's, in Rockville. Since I had been told at my doctor's appointment earlier that day that I would need to start chemo, I decided to try a new cocktail. I had an appletini (an apple martini), and it was delicious. I also had a cosmopolitan, but I enjoyed the appletini a little more. My friend, Sallie, had introduced me to the restaurant earlier in December when I had gone to Georgetown for my MRI. Clyde's is a nice restaurant in Rockville with great sandwiches. I had never had a martini lunch before, but after being told that I had to start chemo and I having Jerry as my driver, I decided to have one!

Back to the bone marrow test. Since the first test didn't seem too bad. I decided to forgo the valium, which does make me sleepy, and just have the test done. Then, I thought that when it was finished, Jerry and I could go back to Clyde's, and I would have another appletini.

First of all, the traffic to Georgetown University Hospital was terrible. At the doctor's, one person said that there had been a bad accident; another person reported a murder. Anyway, everyone was late, and the appointments were backed up. Jerry and I waited over 1 1/2 hours before I got called back to the room. I was starting to get a little nervous, but not too bad.

The test got started, and my bone marrow wouldn't cooperate, which means that none of my bone marrow could be pulled into the needle. It was painful, but it didn't last too long. She tried twice, but had no luck. Then she took the bone sample. That was really painful. Probably for only about 30 seconds, but it really did hurt. During this painful 30 seconds, Jerry whispered into my ear, applitini! Once the test was finished, I was able to see the 1 inch sliver of bone that was removed. It looked similar to a 1 inch pencil lead.

Jerry and I left Georgetown and headed for Clyde's. I did get an applitini. It was delicious, but when I have to get my next bone marrow test, I'm going to skip the martini and have the valium!

August 16 - Finally writing about our last day!

We've been home for two weeks, but I'm just now writing about our last day in Chicago. We got up fairly early and walked to the Sears (now called Willis) Tower, which was two blocks from our hotel. 

Since we arrived at the tower shortly after 9:00 a.m. the line to get to the top was very short. In the one picture the girls are standing beside a wall that showed how many of them it would take to reach the top of the Sears Tower. We watched a short film about the construction of the building. I enjoyed the informational movies, but the girls were getting tired of them, so they weren't too excited to be watching another movie. The elevator ride to the top took less than one minute, but they have a guide and a short clip to watch on a t.v. as you ride. One of the fascinating things at the top of the tower is that there are three glass enclosures that you can walk out on, and then you are looking straight down through glass to the street below. I was a little scared, but Jerry pushed me out on one. I stayed out for only a few seconds because it did give me a weird feeling to be looking so far below my feet!

It was also neat to see the river that runs right through the city of Chicago. 

We got back to our hotel by 11:00, packed up our things and got on the road by 11:30. We were 10 hours from home, so we thought that we would travel as far as we could, with the slight chance that we could make it home. 

The roads we traveled on had lots of tolls. We spent almost $31 in tolls to get into PA. Around 8:00 p.m. we stopped for dinner at this Mexican restaurant in a town a little north of Pittsburgh. As we were waiting for our food I asked if everyone would like to stay in a hotel here and make it home Saturday morning, or keep driving and try to make it home that night. Everyone said, "Go home tonight!" without any hesitation! 

So we continued on and made it home Saturday morning at 1:15 a.m. We did want to say that we weren't in Maryland for the whole month of July 2009, so around midnight we were getting close to the Maryland border and we were getting worried, so Jerry said that he would pull off the road and wait in PA until after midnight if he had too. I got the GPS which has a world clock on it, and as we were still traveling in PA we all counted the seconds down to the month of August! It was fun. 

Once we got inside our house, we kissed and hugged each other goodnight. It seemed so weird that we could all go to our rooms to sleep after being together in the same room and van for 6 weeks! No one really went to sleep until about 2:00 a.m. because we were all so excited to get home.

Home sweet Home

We're home! We got home last night around 1:15 a.m.  Nana, who lives next door, stayed up for us, and the first thing Brooke wanted to do was go say hi to Nana. She had put milk, juice and eggs in our refrigerator, and bread and no bake cookies on our counter. What a great surprise. Someone had left a Welcome Back note on our garage door. It's wonderful to be home. 

Thursday, July 30

We had a really nice day. After sleeping in and missing the continental breakfast, we walked across the street to have a Starbucks breakfast. Then we went back to the Navy Pier and took a ride on the ship, The Tall Windy. It's the only sailing ship at the Navy Pier. It was an hour ride and it was really nice leaving a ship and not feeling like you are going to be sick! (Last year's whale watch didn't go too well!). While we were sailing, we listened to pirate stories of pirates on the great lakes. Apparently, pirates in this area got away with a lot, as the area was too large to patrol very well.

Then we rode to Millennium Park. We enjoyed walking under the "the bean"

(Cloud Gate sculpture) and seeing the reflections. Then the girls splashed in the water in the fountains in the park. Then we walked to our hotel. After resting for a while, we got a taxi and headed for Briar Street Theatre to see the Blue Man Group. As the girls have written on the blog, it was very enjoyable.  The group is very entertaining, and we all laughed out loud at times.

We got free tickets to go to the top of the Sears Tower when we bought the Blue Man Group tickets, so we put that off until tomorrow.

We got back by  a little after 10:00. We are 10 hours away from home according to Google Maps, so after we go to the top of the Sears Tower, we'll see how far we can get tomorrow.

Molly - Thursday night

The Blue Man Group is awesome. It just is. You should go see it. I love it. It is beyond words so I won't even try. I would only waste your time.