Friday morning started off with a meeting with our Oncologist. We had to set a few ground rules on the importance of having my Aunt Kathy and my cousin Kristin a part of our appointments. This experience is so overwhelming and I truly feel it is important to have more than Deron and I in for these meetings. Being emotional, I'm hearing things different from the way the doctor is meaning. Deron may interpret one way so having the four of us to make sure we are all on the same page is extremely important to me. Once we got that established which was emotional...and shouldn't have been...we discussed my expectations. Only the Lord can cure me of this disease. I'm fully aware of that. At this time there is no "medical" cure for colon cancer. There also is no "medical" cure for Lymphoma. Guess what, the Lord gave us a miracle! My mom has been cancer free for 7 1/2 years now. Medicine only goes so far...and then comes God. Am I expecting the same thing?...I'm sure praying really hard. I understand I'm stage 4...not only has the primary tumor spread from the colon region into my liver but also to the base of my lungs. I don't want statistics....I don't want to know the amount my liver is affected. I want the positives!! I had the choice of one chemo over another so I would not lose my hair. At this point...my hair will grow back. I want the most aggressive chemo for this cancer. I will fight just as hard if not harder as the chemo fights. With every ones prayers and positive energy...we will get through this! I know it won't be easy. I tend to do things the hard way in life as it is. I have way too much to live for. Have you seen the picture of my family? They are everything to me. We have so many things to accomplish over the next 50+ years. Soon we will have more pictures up of my entire family that we just took a week ago. Thank you Natty for doing that for us all.
Anyways, back to Friday...Chemo started pretty good. They gave me a bed vs. a reclining chair since I was so tired. That was the earliest I'd been up in days. We had our own private room, flat panel TV, two chairs for Deron and Kristin. However, Kristin ended up laying in bed with me half of the afternoon. I wish we had a camera. Deron pulled his hooded sweater up and cinched down so you could barley see his face except for his nose and sunglasses. And there was Kristin and I spooned in my hospital bed together taking a nap. That's how my family rolls. I only got nauseous once. Slight upchuck but then I was fine. They happened to give me my big dose of benadryl right before the last portion of chemo in the hospital. Therefore, I felt so heavy and I just wanted to sleep. They wheeled me out in a wheel chair because I was so tired from the benadryl. I slept the entire way home and even after we got home. My Aunt Karrie, Uncle Mike, Kristin and husband Eli all came over, brought dinner, and hung out with us for quite some time. I have the best family ever. Aunt Karrie even gave Kyrstin a bath for me. My only incident last night was when I brushed my teeth. I told myself not to brush my tongue but I did out of habit and I lost my dinner. I was so mad at myself. Had I not brushed my tongue I would have not gotten sick. I felt just fine afterwards. Deron had his first night back at work last night in almost a month. He went in at 8pm but only made it to 3am. He normally would have stayed on duty until 6am had he not been up with me at 6:30am the morning before. Everyone at work wanted to meet up with him and ask him all these questions and talk about my situation. He so badly wanted to get back to work and be able to focus on something other than my illness for at least a few hours.
I woke up about 11:30 today for my morning bowl of raisin bran. I then fell asleep on the sofa for a bit. This afternoon my mom and I went to Old Navy for the major winter sale they were having "today only". I got the kids a new winter coat each, Deron a few new shirts, and myself a couple of $1 scarfs (I love sales), cool hats and a sweater. We saved so much money. That's the only way I can shop. I felt really good being out. No one really noticed my chemo pack I had under my sweater. It's not as bad as I thought. I sling it over my shoulder and wear it like that to bed as well. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and forget to grab the pack off my bed stand and it fall. That might hurt.
Tomorrow around 2pm my home care nurse will come to the house to unplug me. About 2:30 tomorrow afternoon, I want everyone to say a prayer for a very successful round 2 of treatment.
Deanna starts the first round of state on Wednesday at Millennium at 7pm. I will be there.
As of today, my hair has not started to fall out. When it does...I'm ready. I've got a few really cool hats and wigs to wear.
Thank you to everyone who is working so hard on fundraisers for my family for us to make it by with all these new expenses we are now taking on. There has been an over whelming response from everyone at my work, John Laing Homes, donating their sick time to me. As of right now I am maxed out with 3 months of sick time donated. We are checking to see if they might give me an exception to utilize all the time people are wanting to donate. Either way...I am so grateful to all of you who have donated to help me out. I'm really excited to see the turn out at the "Guns and Hoses" football game this coming Saturday night. If I'm not mistaken...the Colon Cancer walk is this Saturday morning. I love you all. And cheers to a great round 2!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
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1 comment:
Kim and Deron:
Goodyear PD is still family, still small. While I know how hard this is for you and that Deron just wants to be at work, know the family will always want to support you all and ask questions.
God has blessed us in Washington, I am praying for blessings to you all!
Your family ROCKS!
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