Hi lovely friends and family. Time to update you all on the good ‘ole “C” journey. So the chemo treated me as expected. I had about 8 days of nausea, aches, pains, exhaustion. It was manageable but not super fun. But starting day 9 (thursday this week) I started to feel much better. So hopefully that will be the norm on this chemo regiment. It’s nice to know I have another 10 days of feeling good before my next treatment (going in day after Thanksgiving). I’ll spend that relaxing and getting some good rest to gear up for treatment #2.
But unfortunately it’s not all sunshine & kittens…my pleural effusion has been really bad. I had over a LITER of liquid drained on Monday and when we went back in on Friday it was almost all back. Ugh ugh ugh. And as I think I’ve expressed in the past, getting that drained sucks ass. It is NOT fun. SO the great lung doc (Dr. Jed Gorden) called up my oncologist and talked her into letting me get a catheter installed tomorrow.
What that means is Dr. Gorden will insert a catheter into my side that will stick out a bit. Then Brian will be able to drain my lung lining from home (I realize that sounds SO GROSS!). But the good thing about that is I’ll have more relief because the liquid won’t build up so much since we’ll be able to drain it on a regular, frequent schedule. And I won’t have the sucky pain of having a catheter inserted each time I have build up like I have been over the past few months. So tomorrow at 12:30 I’ll be getting my SIXTH scar thanks to this cancer. Wheeeee! Just in case you’re keeping track: #1 – mastectomy. #2 & #3 – mastectomy drain scars, #4 port number 1, #5 – port number 2 and #6 – catheter. I look like Frankenstein. 😉
Overall my mood is good right now which has a lot to do with how well I feel today. It’s a stunningly beautiful day and I get to spend the day playing with Desmond and Brian. I also have felt SHOWERED by love from so many of you. Comfy pjs, my fave sweatshirts, food, gift certificates, pretty bracelets, chemo care packages, plants, flowers, cards. Just so much love. And my wonderful bosses at work treated us to a Thanksgiving meal from Tom Douglas so we don’t have to worry about cooking. Yeah!
Thanks for keeping me happy and positive, dear friends. Here’s a picture Desmond took of me this morning because he thinks my pj’s are “cute”.
