THANK GAWD!!!

A week and a half ago I had my now yearly mammogram. A few days later I got a call that they needed to take more images of my right breast. This made me nervous, then ok, then nervous again. I had the second mammogram today and...

ALL IS GOOD! It was dense breast tissue.

ok... I can now proceed with the regularly scheduled program.

Bye, Bye Port

GREAT NEWS:
Last Wednesday I said goodbye to my mediport! It was done at my surgeon's office in a procedure room. She numbed the area with Novocain and once it was numb she cut my open and removed the port and the catheter that went into my vein. I was awake for the entire thing chatting with my surgeon during the whole thing. There was music playing during the entire process and it started out very spa like but at one point while she was cutting into me the music became more intense - like battle music from Lord of the Rings - so Dr Cassani had her nurse change it because it was a little too intense for the situation. She closed up the incision with dissolvable stitches on the inside and then sealed the skin with medical superglue that is PURPLE!

She also let me keep the mediport... you know, since it was in me for over a year and I did pay for it.

The incision seems to be healing nicely.

Now the not so great news: 

I had my yearly mammogram and I got a call that they need to take more images on the right side (not the side my cancer was on) so I will be going in on Wednesday afternoon for more boob squishing. Hopefully it is just because the tissue is dense and they need a better view, but I'm still scared. I think I will always be nervous when it comes to mammograms, but especially when they call and need more images. I will report back once I get the results.

Happy Cancer-versary???

I guess the only reason to "celebrate" a cancer-versary is because I no longer have cancer.

One year ago today I got the call from my doctor with the results of my biopsy. They asked if I wanted to come in or hear them over the phone. Well, we all know what that means so I asked that she give me the results over the phone. One phone call changed my life. I had just opened a show and was planning a trip to Disneyland for later that month. I continued to perform in the show, but I had to cancel my trip to Disneyland because they wanted to start chemo ASAP and I needed to get a bunch of tests and procedures done before they could start it. That night I had a brush-up rehearsal for Candide that I went to to help me not think too much about my results... I almost a few times at the rehearsal wanted to say "fuck this! I have cancer!" and walk out but I was not quite ready to tell my cast mates. I also learned that day that toast is one of my comfort foods. Since hearing my results all I wanted that day was toast.... toast for days.

I know I have not blogged in a while and so much has happened! Here are some updates...

I found a place to live for Dombey and I! I had been looking for a place to either buy or rent for months. As we all know, the housing market in Bay Area sucks so buying is not an option for me right now in any areas I would actually want to live and would not have a crappy commute to work. I found a small studio (450 square feet) apartment in Mountain View, super convenient to the freeway. Been trying to get it all organized but it's been hard with rehearsals... someday it will be done.

I FINALLY went to Disneyland! In October I went with my friends Jane, Lori, and Doreen. It was hot as hell but we had fun! I meant to blog about the trip but I have been busy. I got a Deluxe Annual Pass because my friends Dana and Dave are planning on going for a week in February and it will essentially pay for itself during that trip.

I have a boyfriend!!! ...and that is all I am saying about that for now.

I have an appointment to get my mediport removed. December 9th it is going away!

I want to take the time to thank my family for helping me out, especially my mom (Linda) for letting me move into her room and be her room mate for all those months. My Aunty Betty for sending me cards for every session of chemo counting them down. My brother (Michael) and sister (Julie) for helping me move both times. My mom, brother, sister, and sister-in-law (Josephine) for taking me to chemo. All my friends that helped me move. All my friends that did not stop being my friend just because I was sick (thank you for inviting me to things and hanging out with me). Thank you to those that sent me gifts. My work for being totally understanding of my time off and telling me to take what ever time I needed.

I am ready for my next adventure in life and for all the good things ahead!

This might be TMI for some people...

When I started chemo they put me on Zoladex to shut down my ovaries and stop my periods in hopes of preserving my fertility so I can actually have a baby some day. I have been off Zoladex since April. I was told it could take up to 6 months for me to have my periods again. Well, today is the day. Aunt Flow, the crimson tide.... it has returned just in time for me to go to Disneyland on Friday. HOPEFULLY it is all be over by then. Now that I can't take birth control pills to control my periods (my tumor was estrogen responsive so no birth control pills for me ever again), I hope that it is not too awful.

In other news:
I think my body is getting used to Tamoxifen now, I have not been having nearly as many hot flashes as I was when I first started taking it.

I mentioned in my previous post I was see a therapist/Clinical Social Worker. I saw her for a few sessions and I am feeling better now. We think just getting it all out and learning that what I am feeling is pretty normal helped.

I FINALLY found an apartment that allows cats and is in my budget! I moved in this weekend. It was really quick because I am going to Disneyland next weekend so it was either do it this past weekend or wait two weeks until I get back from Disneyland. I did not want to wait. It's a mess right now and I don't know where anything is. It definitely not going to be all organized before I leave, I have rehearsals in the evenings so it will take some time to squeeze in unpacking and organizing.

Hey strangers!

I have not posted in about a month so I figured it was time.

I have decided it's time to talking to someone to help me deal with all the emotions so I have starting seeing a therapist. It's offered as part of my cancer care program to meet with a Clinical Social Worker. I have had one session and will be going once a week for 4-12 weeks depending on how I am feeling. I have never really been good with emotions and expressing them so that is one of the issues we are going to focus on.

The housing search is very frustrating. I am finding apartments in my price range, but a lot of place do not allow pets and ones that do are getting snatched up before I can look at them because I can't just drop everything in the middle of my work day to go look at an apartment.

In the attempt to not gain anymore weight while taking Tamoxifen for the next 10 years which is known to cause weight gain, I have cut back on my bread/pasta intake. I am only allowing myself one or two meals a week with those kinds of carbs. I am also striving to get my 10,000+ steps a day on my FitBit. Every time is vibrates on my wrist when I reach my 10,000 steps is like a little celebration. This past week I did the American Heart Association's HeartWalk and raised $1,300! I walked in memory of my Grandma Medeiros (heart attack and two strokes), my Dad (heart attack), and my Uncle Barry (heart attack). It was a 3 mile walk so all my steps were fulfilled for the day in that one. I also did the Rock n' Roll 5k in San Jose yesterday. Yesterday my step count was 18,415.

Holy $h!t... I had cancer!

Now that I am all done with treatment, I look back on what has happened and I have moments of "Holy shit! I had cancer! People die from cancer! Cancer kills people!" Yes, I cry about it. Cry because I am grateful that everything went so smoothly for me and my treatment. Cry for those that were not as lucky, those who lost their lives too early.

The day after I got my tattoo I was shopping at The Avenue and the girl that was helping me noticed my tattoo and she asked if I had breast cancer and I told her I had gone through chemo, surgery, and radiation and I am now cancer free. She told me her cousin just died from breast cancer. Her cousin was 36 when she died. By the time she found the cancer it had spread and was so aggressive that no treatments where helping. After I made my purchases, I got in my car and cried. It hits me hard to hear about women my age dying from breast cancer. I don't take it lightly that I am still here.

I am so ready to find a place of my own. I want my own space again. I think once I find a place to live and I am all settled in I will look at taking real vacations and maybe doing a little traveling. I am always amazed when my single friends travel on their own. I am such a wimp to travel by myself but I think I might try it once. If I wait around for a travel buddy I may never go anywhere except Disneyland. Speaking of Disneyland... I do have a trip to Disneyland planned with some girl friends in October. I am so excited!

TATTUESDAY!!!! TATTOOSDAY!!!

So a few weeks ago my friends and I were talking about tattoos and one thing lead to another and we set a date to get tattoos. That day happened to be a Tuesday since they (Dave & Dana) are in rehearsal... thus coining the phrase "TATTUESDAY" (or "TATTOOSDAY" depending on how you feel like spelling it).

We made appointments at Marks of Art in San Jose with Rob. Rob was late and while we were waiting for him we thought maybe we would have to cancel Tattuesday but eventually he showed up. I have been thinking about getting a tattoo for a while now long before the cancer. I really wanted my first tattoo to be special. I chose a pink ribbon to cap off the end of my treatments.

I am now ready to move onto the next adventure.

I am hoping that next adventure is moving into my own place.

Finding a place to live has been rough. Housing prices in the Bay Area are ridiculous! I have been looking at either purchasing a condo or renting an apartment. There really has not been any condos in my price range in an area I really want to live in. There are some in Hayward and other parts of the East Bay but I would much rather purchase closer to the South Bay. Since nothing much was coming up on the purchase side I have been focusing on renting. Obsessively checking Craigslist. The major problem I am having now is that A LOT of places don't allow pets. :( I know something will come up that will be good for me, but it is very frustrating right now.

I pet sat at Jeremiah and Jamie's while they were out of town this weekend which meant I got to spend some time with my Dombey cat. It was really hard to say goodbye and leave him there. I know he's not that happy and spends most of his time hiding from the dogs. I really hope I find a place before the end of the month so we don't have to move Dombey twice in a short time since J&J bought a house and are moving. Prayers and thoughts and fingers crossed!

Oh hai, gym!

Today I had an appointment with my onocologist. Since the cancer is gone and I am now done with treatment, I will now be starting on Tamoxifen (http://www.drugs.com/tamoxifen.html) which I will be taking for the next 10 years because my tumor was estrogen responsive. I have to get a gynocological exam for a baseline because one of the side effects of Tamoxifen is increased risk of cancer of the uterus so they monitor it (<sarcasm>and I totally need more doctor appointments in my life</sarcasm>). We also discussed getting my medi-port removed and he wants me to get blood work one more time before giving the final ok on removing it. I go back and see him in a month. 

I joined a gym today! I have been thinking about it since I finished chemo and finally bit the bullet, walked in and joined. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and was totally drenched in sweat afterwards. I also get some sessions with a personal trainer which will be nice to kick-start this next step. My first goal will be to lose the weight I have gained since starting treatment (about 20 pounds). Once that is gone it will be time to lose the divorce weight (about 30 pounds). Then I will be back in One-derland I will feel so much better! 

Radiation... almost done

Today was supposed to be my last day of radiation, but because they gave me 2 days off last week and 3 days off this week for my skin to heal it was extended until next Friday. I will be so happy to not have to go everyday. I also will be happy when I can wear underwire bras again. Soooooooon.... very soooooon!

Ah, Honey, Honey!

My skin under my breast has been pretty raw from the burned skin peeling off so Dr Ray gave my these patches made from honey to help regenerate the skin more quickly (http://www.dermasciences.com/medihoney). They are definitely helping. I can tell the skin that has been covered by the patch and what hasn't been, but I feel like I should be avoiding bears for the next few days while I am wearing the patches. I made sure to move the patch location to cover some areas that have not been covered today. It does hurt for a little bit after I put the patch on but that dies down after a while. I occasionally can smell the honey. Hey, as long as it's helps my skin I am all good with it. They gave me yesterday off from treatment which means my end date was pushed back as well. Now the final treatment will be on July 14th. Today I am spending most of the day at home with out a bra on... letting my skin breath so it can heal. I don't really like walking around with boobs a flopping but anything to get my skin to heal is ok with me. Don't worry, I will not be taking or posting photos of my burnt skin... that's gross plus it's on my boob which I don't want posted on the interwebs for all to see.

I mentioned in my previous post that I am looking at buying a place to live (probably a condo since that is what is available in my price range). I've been able to save money while living with my mom and also throw more money at my debt. Yesterday I looked at my savings account and looked at how much I owe on an account that has been haunting me for years and that needs to be paid off before my lender will giving me funding and decided to take a chunk of my savings and pay off that account. It feels good to have that paid off knowing that it will no longer be an issue, but this does mean I need to building up my savings a little more.

Oh hai peeling!

I finished my 4th week of radiation, my skin is not happy. I have reached the peeling stage under my left arm pit and under my left breast. The doctor gave me calendula cream to put on all the burned areas as well as silver sulfadiazine cream on the open areas that are peeling. I can no longer wear an underwire bra because the wire hits in the sensitive skin areas. I have been wearing sports bras... hello uni-boob. I think I have like one or two more treatments where the radiation will hit the areas that are having issues and then they will changing where the radiation hits so it should be getting better.

My hair is growing in nicely. It is still up in the air about the texture because it looks like the back of my head the hair is coming in wavy/curly in parts. The top looks straight though. We shall see as it gets longer.

In other news...
I am currently looking for a place to buy. With my budget and living in the Bay Area it's slim picking but still possible. I did actually put an offer in on a condo in Hayward (great for my daily commute - 12.5 miles from work, but not so great for my social life - most of my friends are in the South Bay). I was out bid by one person and they asked if I would be the back up incase the other deal does not go through, I agreed. I am still looking. Hoping to find a place not too far from work or my social life.

Radiation Update

I have not posted in a few weeks since starting radiation. Mostly because it's been pretty uneventful. This week though, the redness and irritation has started under my breast and arm pit. The nurse gave me a cream today to use on it. Other then going into radiation everyday, life is pretty normal. I found a dress to wear to my brother's wedding in July. I need to get shoes, a hair accessory, and a crinoline for it. My hair is growing, still really short right now. Soon I may be able to style it... HOPEFULLY in a few more weeks.

In other news:
I'M RETURNING TO THE STAGE IN NOVEMBER!!! I have been cast in the ensemble of Evita with Sunnyvale Community Players. YAY!!!!

Radioactive Boob Girl!

The idea of Radioactive Boob Girl happened when I was having lunch with my friend Kevin while he was in town for Fanime when we were discussing my upcoming radiation treatments. I came up with the idea for a comic book character. I don't wanna give away too much of the idea, but it's gonna be good ;)

ok, so my boob is not really radioactive, but I did start radiation on Thursday. The first appointment took about an hour or so. I did a simulation last week where they figure out my positioning for the treatment, so on thursday they worked with the photos and markings to recreate the positioning which takes time the first time and they also take x-rays. Subsequent treatments appointments take about 30 minutes total. The actual treatment time is less then 10 minutes, the set up is what takes a little time to get me in the exact position they need. Treatment is everyday for 6 weeks. The whole process kinda feels like some strange alien probing in a way. They don't actually probe me with anything, but the way I have to lay I can't really see much of what is going on and there are laser beams and people measuring the laser beams and the machine is moving around.

My hair is coming back nicely. I am noticing it getting fuller all the time. I posted this photo on Facebook last week, but I also want to share it here. I no longer wear a hat or scarf to cover my bald head... I'm no longer bald! I have gotten so many complements about the shape of my head, I never knew my head was such a nice shape.

Free from head coverings!!!

So my hair has grown in enough that I feel comfortable going out with out anything covering my head. It's kinda nice not having to worry about what I am gonna wear on my head. I had been going head covering free on the weekends but wearing hats and scarves at work. Today was the first day with out a covering at work and I got lots of compliments.

with Josephine (my beautiful sister-in-law to be)

I've been hoping to be able to buy a place once I was ready to move out of my mom's place so I met with a realtor to see if there is anything even available in the price I can afford. It turns out there are condos I can afford mostly in the South Bay which I am totally fine with since most of my friends live in the South Bay anyways. The only problem now is I don't have nearly enough for a down payment as the lenders and realtor would like to get the best deal on a loan. Also, I was presented with possible place to live with a friend Cupertino whose roommate is moving out. The rent is really good (and really hard to pass up) and I would be able to have my Dombey back living with me sooner. I really miss my cat and I want to get a new home where we can live together ASAP. I need to let Elizabeth know by June 1st but I would like to give her my answer sooner so that I don't miss out on the chance. I am kinda leaning towards moving to Cupertino and renting for another year while I finish paying off my debt (which I should be able to pay completely off by the end of 2015 because I have been able to dump more money into it while living with my mom) and saving more money for a down payment. I am trying to make smarter financial decisions so that I don't end up going back to living paycheck to paycheck like I was previously. I'm also chomping at the bit to not be sharing a room with my mom anymore and to have my cat back. I've got some more thinking to do about it... but it's late and I need to get to sleep.

Hair progress

Saturday marks 2 months since my last chemo. Just wanted to share how the hair growth is going. My eyebrow hairs look so dark. Makes me wonder how dark my hair is gonna be when it all comes in. 

I am continuing to heal after surgery. I am doing my stretching and movement exercises to losen up my left arm. Mobility is improving. There is still numbness under my left arm. I have to look in the mirror when I am putting on deodorant on left armpit because it is numb and I can't feel it. That should regain feeling as I heal more.

My sister and I went to Zaza's today and had pedicures. I have not had a professional pedicure since I started on chemo. It was to nice to get my toes done. Now I have pretty toes for sandle season.

Yesterday I had lunch with my Auntie Betty. She is a breast cancer survivor. It is nice to be able to talk to her about side effects and know I'm not alone in experiencing some of these things. 

My doctors are really happy with how I have been handling things through this entire process and how well I did during chemo. I have been doing my best to keep a positive attitude during this time. I was not gonna let cancer stop me. I have plans for my future and we gotta get through this and get back to working on my plans. My surgeon asked if I would be willing to speak to other cancer patients who are having a hard time. Of course I would! She did say we had to wait until I have all my hair back before I do it though. I am not saying it was always easy but I did try/am trying to live as normal a life as I can during treatments. 

Visit with my Surgeon

I had an appointment with my surgeon. She removed the drain that was under my left arm. I can now move my left arm all I want.... YAY! My arm is stiff so she gave me some exercises to do to help loosen it up. Things are looking good. She also gave me a print out of the pathology report from my surgery. I jokingly asked if she could put an A+ on it since it was so good and she DID along with a smiley face :D

It was nice to get out of the house today. I have not left the house since my surgery. I put makeup on and everything. It was nice to feel kinda like a girl again. I've just been wearing baggy button down shirts (because I had the drain and could not lift my arm) and no makeup along with the buzz-cut look I am sporting with my hair starting to grow back I have been seeing myself as a boy for a week. My mom, sister, and I even went out to lunch after the appointment. Still not ready to drive yet, I think I need a few more days of healing before I try that. 

THIS JUST IN... Part II

I just received a call from my surgeon's office. They got the pathology results back from the tissue and lymph-nodes they removed during my surgery last Thursday.

THEY HAD NO CANCER IN THEM!!!!!

WOOT!

Nails

I am not sure if I have addressed this in previous posts but chemo jacked up my nail beds which means I will be sporting nail polish more now then before. Most of my nails have partially detached from my nail beds during the last few rounds of chemo and they are no longer pretty. :-(

It was time to remove the nail polish I had on and trim my nails so I decided it is time to share.

Things are getting back to normal

Sometimes coming up with titles to these posts are the hardest part. Anyways, I am noticing that my oily skin is coming back which is a bummer. I really enjoyed the way the skin on my face was during chemo, smooth and not oily. More and more eye brows are appearing everyday and with that means stray eye brow hairs. I actually plucked some stray eyebrow hairs this morning. Looks likemy vacation from the usual hair removal processes will be over soon. It was nice not having to pluck, shave, or wax anything for a few months. 

Look!!! Eyebrows!!!

In other news, my throat no longer hurts from the intubation from my surgery on Thursday. Yay! It is hard for me not to be able to do things for myself. So I must be patient and ask for help when I need it.  Fine! Life!!! I will TRY to be patient while I am healing!

Surgery... done!

I had my surgery yesterday. All went well.

I had to check-in at 6:15am. First they had to do a wire loc so my surgeon knew where to cut out since there was pretty much no more tumor left. That required me being wheelchaired to the breast center next door. They have a tunnel going from the hospital to the building where the breast center is. During the wire loc they so a bunch of mammograms. They do two before to find where they need to place the wire and then after they measure and place the giant needle in (they numbed my breast so it did not hurt) they do another Mammogram to check. They had to do an adjustment so after the adjustment they did another mammogram to check it and it was good. they insert the wire through the giant needle and then tape it down so it was not in the way of my gown. Then they wheeled me back through the tunnel and at 11:30am I headed to the operating room.

I had partial mastectomy also known as a lumpectomy (which really means they removed the marker that was placed when they did the core biopsy plus a margin of good tissue since the chemo did it's job there really wasn't much of a tumor left which is awesome) and they removed a few of the lymph-nodes that had cancer in them.

I am attempting to type with one hand since I am not allowed to lift my left arm just yet. I have a drain in my armpit where they removed some lymph-nodes. I have to empty it 3 times a day and measure it and log it on a form the doctor gave me.

I don't really have pain where the incisions are, but I do have soreness. If I don't move I am fine... of course I can't not move. They want me to get up and move whenever I can.  My throat hurts because they intubated me during the surgery. That should go away in a few days.

In other news, my ankle is getting better. I can walk on it. It will probably be another week before it is back to normal.

and....

HAIR!!!!! I can see hair growing on my head and eyebrows and eyelashes!!! Soon I won't have to draw eyebrows to have a face.

I see you!!!!

I see signs of hair growth!!! I can tell my eyebrows are starting to grow back... There are tiny hairs and it kinda looks like my eyebrows have a five o'clock shadow. Soon little hairs, soon you will be eye brows again!

Waiting...

Today I lost the last of my lower lashes so I officially have no more lower lashes. I had my last round of chemo a month ago and i hear say that my hair should start to  grow back soon. No signs of it yet. So I am waiting for that and waiting for my ankle to heal that I sprained last sunday. It's a pretty bad sprain. I had my mom take me to the ER on sunday night because it hurt so bad I could not walk. They x-rayed it and gave me an air splint and crutches. I used the crutches on monday and it was exhausting. My muscles hurt for days after. Proving how out of shape I am. My mom had a knee scooter from when she had ankle surgery a few years ago so I have been using instead of crutches. My thigh muscle in my left leg and the calf muscle in my right leg are getting used a lot.

Reporting in

So not much to report but felt like putting an entry. I met with my surgeon and my surgery is scheduled for April 16th. I will be out of work from April 16th returning to the office on Star Wars Day (May the 4th). I will be having a lumpectomy and having a few lymph-nodes removed. After that is radiation. I meet with the Radiation Oncology doctor in early April. I know I will have radiation everyday for about 6 weeks.

My family auditioned for the Family Feud yesterday. It was fun but short! We were the third group up and they ask each group only two question so one family can answer and the other family huddles and then they switch. We were out by noon. Now we wait to see if we get a postcard in a few weeks to let us know that we are in there pool of families to pick for taping the next season.

My hair should be growing back soon. I will not be sad if my leg hairs and arm pit hairs don't grow back. I do want my eyelashes, eye brows and hair on my head to grow back.

This just in!!!!

Here I am hanging out with my sister on a Friday evening watching Wheel of Future when my cellphone rings... it's my oncologist. He wanted to let me know the findings of my MRI that I had yesterday. They are measuring in millimeters this time instead of centimeters like that last time, which means the tumor is much smaller!

The tumor in my left breast measured 3.8 x 3.7 cm back in November, it is now 6 x 5 mm. The left axillary lymph nodes that measured up to 3.9 x 2.6 cm in November are now 14 x 5 mm. 

This is awesome news!!!!

I meet with my surgeon on Friday, March 13th to discuss my surgery.

And for those of you curious about the stage number = Stage IIB 

BYE CHEMO!

I did my final round of chemo today and all I can say is BYE! 

I'm so excited to be done with this part of the treatment! Now it's a waiting game. Waiting for an MRI appointment and waiting for an appointment with my surgeon. 

Neither my oncologist nor I can feel the tumor anymore which is a great sign. The tumor was fairly large (measuring 3.8 x 3.7 x 3.1 cm) and very easy to feel. He also can not feel the lymph nodes that were enlarged during my first exam with him, another good sign. I am anxious to see the new MRI results.

Since I took a selfie for my first round of chemo, it's only right I take a selfie for my final round of chemo.

Last round of chemo selfie!

I LOVE MAKEUP!

I enjoy the process of putting on makeup. When I am in a show, I like to get to the theater at least 30 minutes before call time and start putting on my makeup in the quiet dressing room, occasionally a kindred soul is there as well doing the same thing. I enjoy this time. It helps me to relax.

I wear makeup almost everyday. I wear it for myself and not for anyone else. Since losing my hair and now my eye brows and eyelashes have gotten thinner I find that I have to change how I wear my everyday make up. I now draw in eyebrows and use liquid liner on my eyes instead of the eyeshadow with a liner brush I used to do.

Before: no makeup and bald head

After: with makeup and bald head

After: with makeup and scarf... ready for the day!

This week can suck it!

Welp, this week was not zesty. I wish I could have a drink, but no alcohol for me right now.

Started out on Sunday with my Uncle Barry dying. He had a heart attack. I'm really done with people dying, you all can stop now!

The rest of my crappy week is work related. We hired a person as a contractor who will be my back up and be on call for when I am out and if I need extra help with proposals. Well, I trained her for 4 days and it was painful. Her skills in InDesign were not what she said they were. On Tuesday my boss Kathy and I had a meeting with her just to see how she was feeling about the job and to also voice concern about her speed since this job is very deadline driven. On Wednesday she came in and told us that she really needs a job that will have guaranteed hours (right now we can't guarantee a set amount of hours). She stayed for the day and I worked with her on a proposal for the Northern California Sales Director. It was exhausting watching someone work so slowly on something I would have finished in a few hours. She finished it a around 4pm and we sent her home and that is the end of it. We will be bringing in a gentleman we interviewed and give him a test run... hopefully he will be more speedy. Today I get a call from the Sales Director of Northern California and she basically yells at me because the proposal was not what she wanted even though we did exactly what she asked us to do which was the convert the PowerPoint file she sent us to the proposal layout. So I spent the day working with Cynthia, our on staff writer, to give the proposal actual content. I won't be back to work until next Thursday so hopefully it's what the Sales Director wants.

I am singing at my Uncle Barry's funeral tomorrow (Friday) in San Ramon and then I have to drive to Sunnyvale to go to my pre-chemo appointment and do blood work. Since Presidents Day is this Monday, I will be doing my chemo on Tuesday.

I have no plans for Valentine's Day... since I don't have a Valentine. I will hopefully get a kitty visit in with Dombey over the weekend, probably on Sunday.

That's it for now.

Chemo #6 done... two more to go!

Did my 2nd round of Taxol on Monday, which means I'm sore today. If it's anything like last time I will be fine tomorrow.

My brother Michael took me to chemo this week. He brought his wedding binder so we talked about stuff for his wedding in July. After chemo we had lunch at Asteria Grill off of Mathilda near 101 & 237 in Sunnyvale. I drive past it all the time going to doctor appointments so I decided that is where we were going for lunch that day. It was delicious! MMMMMM.... Greek food!

I can't believe 2 more chemo treatments and then we get to see how they worked! I can't feel the tumor any more so that is hopeful. It was really easy to feel before treatment.

Stye of the Eye!

Yesterday my eye lid started hurting at the upper tear duct and there was some swelling, this morning it was worse. I thought maybe my tear duct was blocked. I was googling blocked tear ducts and some of the sites I found said that it could be a side effect of some chemos. I was not having any other symptoms of a blocked tear duct except the pain and swelling but I also have really dry eyes so I was not surprised that my eyes were not watering over. I called my oncologist's office because it was something out of the ordinary and that is what I am supposed to do. His nurse, Katie (she is awesome), set me up with an appointment with an eye doctor this afternoon. The eye doctor examined my eyes and said it was the beginnings of a stye and that it was good we caught it early. Warm compress on it 4 times a day for 20 minutes each. The eye doctor also gave me a regime for my dry eyes... and also a diagnosis for my dry eyes - Blepharitis/Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. Once my baby stye is cleared up I still have to do warm compresses everyday but only 1-2 times a day and for only 10 minutes along with eye drops and lid scrubs daily. The daily regime will help prevent any more styes as well as help my eyes with moisture. I've had problems with dry eyes for years so hopefully this daily regime will help alleviate some of the discomfort of it.


Yesterday I was also feeling some side effects from the Taxol - muscle/joint pain. I can only take Tylenol for pain so I took that and it helped. Today the pain was much less.

Chemo #5... intro to Taxol

I am done with my four rounds of AC (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) and I am now on Taxol for my last 4 rounds. Taxol is definitely different than AC... one noticeable different in sleeping. On AC chemo days I would pretty much come home and sleep through out the day and go to bed really early and sleep through the night. Yesterday I took no naps and went to bed late and am now wide awake at 5am writing a blog post because I could not fall back to sleep. Another noticeable difference is no nausea.... YAY!

I've been making sure I do more physical activities so I have been walking on my lunch hour during the week and I did more yard work on Sunday morning and also riding my stationary bike. It's helping me to feel better and my leg muscles don't feel like wet noodles anymore so that's good.

Neuropathy... I don't recommend it

One of the side effects of chemo is neuropathy. I occasionally have been getting tingly finger tips and with the last round my muscles in my legs are feeling a little jello-y at times. I feel the need to be more physically active. I have not exercised in quite a while (really since I started chemo in the end of November) so I need to pick that up again. I decided today I wanted to get outside and do something so I went in the back yard and pulled weeds and tidied up the decomposed granite patio area.

Before

After

I am feeling better after getting outside and moving around. I need to make it a priority to be active everyday even if it's just taking a walk around the block. This has always been an issue with me, but I know if I do it I will feel better.

Chemo #4 & Random Thoughts

Round #4 of chemo is done. This was my last round of AC (Adriamycin and Cytoxan), my next 4 rounds will be of Taxol which I am told is less harsh. I'm feeling pretty good today. Yesterday after chemo I spend the day dozing in front of the tv and finally just went to bed around 7:30pm. My nausea to has been pretty good. I took my morning dose of Zofran and Decadron and have not needed to take anything since then which is really good... I normally have to take a dose of Compazine around noon.

Random Thoughts:

DON'T offer unsolicited advise if you have never gone though cancer or treatments or are not close to someone who has. Chances are anything you have read on the internet/heard on the radio/seen on television I have read/heard/seen as well.

DO feel free to talk to me and ask me questions. I am willing to answer any questions you have about how I discovered my tumor or the treatment or side effects or really anything. Don't feel weird about it.

My skin on my face has changed during treatment. It's less oily - my skin normally is really oily and now I don't find myself blotting my face every time I go into the restroom and look in the mirror. I ain't complaining about that! It also feels smoother.

AGE SPOTS!!!! FTW!!!! I have noticed some "age spots" popping up on my face. I pointed them out to my mom and she said I need to wear sunscreen, well as a pasty white girl I put sunscreen on my face everyday (and have been for years) and my face primer and foundation also have sunscreen in them so I don't think that is the issue... it's gotta be the chemo.