Like I mentioned before, the plan was to work M-W and have chemo on Thursdays. I started back to work on April 12 and chemo started on tax day, April 15th. The plan to work M-W didn't end up working out so well. Chemo really has taken a lot out of me and for more than just a couple of days. I was to have 18 weeks, 6, 3 week cycles of chemo. The first week of each cycle the hardest, the 2nd was still not easy, and the 3rd wasn't as bad. Just by the Wed I start to feel better, it starts over again!
The first chemo treatment, I was very nausea and had a lot of anxiety. I was very scared! I kept thinking am I going to get sick now or in 5 mins, or 10 mins, etc. It was awful and the nausea lasted over a week. I would have allergic reactions where my tongue would swell up. Luckily I had a couple good friends to help and with a phone call to the Dr and benadryl I was off to sleep. That was the Sat after my first treatment.
Another weird side effect, my eye sight even changed. The day after my first chemo, on Fri I noticed I could not see as well. I had never heard of vision changing with chemo, but mine did. I had to get a new prescription at the eye Dr and he confirmed my eye sight was worse.
I went through about 5 weeks of chemo before my hair started to come out. I didn't want to deal with it just coming out everywhere so as soon as I got the first of the big chuncks in the shower I made the appointment to get it all cut off.
I was very blessed, my dear friend Cheryl just happen to meet a lady from Eden Day Spa at FL Hospital. It is a spa for cancer patients only, but it is not cheap. My Ins would not cover a wig and wigs are not cheap. The synthetic hair starts around $200 and the good stuff, real hair starts around $600 and goes up from there. Well when I found out the cost I went to the American Cancer Society and got a wig for free. This wig however, is a little big for my head, but looks adorable with a hat. In FL summer who wants to have to wear a wig and a hat!?? They are so hot and uncomfortable! Well, I mentioned I was blessed! The lady, Sandy at Eden Day Spa whom my friend just had happened to meet insisted I should just come in for a consultation, that I didn't have to buy anything. Well went I went in she found a Free, Donated, Real Hair Wig for me! It was the wrong color, very light blonde, but all I had to pay for was the color, trim, and service. The cut and color are just like what I already had. Noone that doesn't know can't even tell. It is awesome and I am truly blessed, because it would have cost over $1000. Being sick, I am not earning the income I need so the last thing I needed was to pay a lot of money for hair! Call it what you want, but I don't believe in coincidenses. I believe God was taking care of me and my needs through my friend Cheryl meeting Sandy.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Port for Chemo
I mentioned before that I would be placed randomly in one of three arms for chemotherapy. The one I was put into was to have the chemo right above the chest and below the shoulder. So I would not be getting the chemo in my belly. They do not know which treatment is better which is why they are doing the study. At first I wanted the one in the belly so I was a little disappointed. The side effects are worse, but some think it may be more effective and I wanted the max treatment. At this point being over halfway done with chemo I am glad I didn't get the one in the belly. It has been rough as it is and after speaking with other patients who had the chemo in the belly I don't think I could have handled it.
Next step was to have a port placed for the chemo. Instead of finding a new vein each week for the chemo they place a port under the skin. It is connected to a large vein and it has a place for the needle to go in. I can feel it by touch and the nurses are so good they never miss. I had to undergo outpatient surgery for the port placement. My pain only lasted about a day or so and the surgery was nothing compared to the hysterectomy. Just another scar to add my first one..........I will talk about how the first treatment went later. Thanks for reading!! : )
Next step was to have a port placed for the chemo. Instead of finding a new vein each week for the chemo they place a port under the skin. It is connected to a large vein and it has a place for the needle to go in. I can feel it by touch and the nurses are so good they never miss. I had to undergo outpatient surgery for the port placement. My pain only lasted about a day or so and the surgery was nothing compared to the hysterectomy. Just another scar to add my first one..........I will talk about how the first treatment went later. Thanks for reading!! : )
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Continuing my story
Hello again!
In writing my first Blog, I forgot to mention how blessed I am! When I went to the hospital for my surgery on March 1 I had 6 family members and 5 close friends there with me. Most people have 1 or 2 people with them. The nurse who took me back for surgery was amazed that I had so many people with me. More people came while I was in surgery as well. My family and friends took over half of the family waiting room and it was a big room. No one else had that many people supporting them in person. I also had several family and friends with me around the clock the whole week and my sister and sister in law took turns spending the night in the hospital with me. They told me I would tell them to leave my room so I could sleep and go to the family room right down the hall. Then I would wake up and call them and ask why did they leave my room to come back. Got to love drugs! : )
Those 5 days in the hospital are a little bit blurry. I remember being in a lot of pain and the nurse made we walk around the hall every day. I am told it was more like a shuffle than a walk, but I remember I begged not to do it and had to anyways. I was on 1 painkiller that I cannot remember the name of, but it is considered hospital crack. I was also on a morphine drip for pain.
I was told the morphine drip only releases every 6 minutes regardless of how often I push the button. Well, I thought they said every 6 seconds! My family and friends were very entertained! I pushed the button non stop and was constantly putting chap stick on my lips as I kept telling them I was afraid the chap stick would come off. I am told the nurse said I broke the hospital record for how many times I pushed the morphine drip button. I said, well I don't know when 6 seconds or mins are so I am going to keep pushing it. They said I even hit the button non stop in my sleep!
Once I got home my grandma and grandpa where in town from AZ to take care of me. It was so wonderful having them around to help me with everything. I was still in a lot of pain, but had good days and bad days. I had Many friends and family visit and bring food, so again I am blessed with so many people to help! I was trying not to think about chemo coming up, but I was learning what to expect and what it would be like.
Next up was chemo. I decided with my Dr and family to take part in a clinical trial. There are 3 arms to the clinical trial and each patient is randomly put into one of the 3 arms. The chemo meds are the same chemo meds every Ovarian Cancer patient gets. They are called Carbo and Taxol. The difference is that in 2 of the arms you get some of the chemo in your belly and the side effects are worse. In one of the arms it is only just above the chest, just right below the shoulder. Then there is the test drug that is also received that has been shown to stop the blood from spreading the cancer. This drug is already approved in breast, lung, and colon cancer and is in the final stages of approval for Ovarian Cancer as well. The test drug is called Avastin. I really wanted to be on the test drug and I felt like that by taking part in the study I would also be helping with research for other patients. Another factor was that I felt like I was leaving it up to God as to which of the 3 treatment arms I would receive. This way, trying to decide which regimen to take, as there are 2-3 options was no longer in my hands.
I went back to work on April 12 part time. The plan was to work M-W. Chemo was on Thursday and I would need Friday to Sun to rest. Chemo started on April 15, 2010.
More about the chemo process later~
In writing my first Blog, I forgot to mention how blessed I am! When I went to the hospital for my surgery on March 1 I had 6 family members and 5 close friends there with me. Most people have 1 or 2 people with them. The nurse who took me back for surgery was amazed that I had so many people with me. More people came while I was in surgery as well. My family and friends took over half of the family waiting room and it was a big room. No one else had that many people supporting them in person. I also had several family and friends with me around the clock the whole week and my sister and sister in law took turns spending the night in the hospital with me. They told me I would tell them to leave my room so I could sleep and go to the family room right down the hall. Then I would wake up and call them and ask why did they leave my room to come back. Got to love drugs! : )
Those 5 days in the hospital are a little bit blurry. I remember being in a lot of pain and the nurse made we walk around the hall every day. I am told it was more like a shuffle than a walk, but I remember I begged not to do it and had to anyways. I was on 1 painkiller that I cannot remember the name of, but it is considered hospital crack. I was also on a morphine drip for pain.
I was told the morphine drip only releases every 6 minutes regardless of how often I push the button. Well, I thought they said every 6 seconds! My family and friends were very entertained! I pushed the button non stop and was constantly putting chap stick on my lips as I kept telling them I was afraid the chap stick would come off. I am told the nurse said I broke the hospital record for how many times I pushed the morphine drip button. I said, well I don't know when 6 seconds or mins are so I am going to keep pushing it. They said I even hit the button non stop in my sleep!
Once I got home my grandma and grandpa where in town from AZ to take care of me. It was so wonderful having them around to help me with everything. I was still in a lot of pain, but had good days and bad days. I had Many friends and family visit and bring food, so again I am blessed with so many people to help! I was trying not to think about chemo coming up, but I was learning what to expect and what it would be like.
Next up was chemo. I decided with my Dr and family to take part in a clinical trial. There are 3 arms to the clinical trial and each patient is randomly put into one of the 3 arms. The chemo meds are the same chemo meds every Ovarian Cancer patient gets. They are called Carbo and Taxol. The difference is that in 2 of the arms you get some of the chemo in your belly and the side effects are worse. In one of the arms it is only just above the chest, just right below the shoulder. Then there is the test drug that is also received that has been shown to stop the blood from spreading the cancer. This drug is already approved in breast, lung, and colon cancer and is in the final stages of approval for Ovarian Cancer as well. The test drug is called Avastin. I really wanted to be on the test drug and I felt like that by taking part in the study I would also be helping with research for other patients. Another factor was that I felt like I was leaving it up to God as to which of the 3 treatment arms I would receive. This way, trying to decide which regimen to take, as there are 2-3 options was no longer in my hands.
I went back to work on April 12 part time. The plan was to work M-W. Chemo was on Thursday and I would need Friday to Sun to rest. Chemo started on April 15, 2010.
More about the chemo process later~
Saturday, July 10, 2010
About me and this blog
Hello Everyone and welcome to my online blog. I have created this Finally so my friends and family can follow my journey through chemo and my fight against Ovarian Cancer. Also I want to create awareness for Ovarian Cancer so Please feel free to share with anyone.
Where to begin!!??
On Feb. 23, 2010 I was seen by a Gynecological Oncologist who told me that he was 99.9% sure that the huge mass, the size of melons found on my ovary was indeed cancer. Surgery was scheduled for March 1, 2010 the following Monday! Talk about devastated and in denial!! I was very hopeful that he was indeed wrong and it was not as serious as he was telling me, although I was still very upset. A couple days later I got a 2nd opinion on the advice of a dear friend, Kim O. The 2nd Dr gave me the same diagnoses, so I knew at that point it was pretty serious. I went with my Original surgeon as he is very experienced, went to John Hopkins (you don't just get into John Hopkins Medical School!), teaches other Drs on the subject, is at teaching hospital, and is at MD Anderson, one of the top 2 or 3 Cancer treatment centers in the country.
I went from begging the Dr not to take anything out that wasn't necessary, (as I was scheduled for a Full Hysterectomy), to telling the Dr to do whatever it took and take anything and everything he needed to to save my life.
My surgeon did what's called a de bulking surgery and staging of the cancer. This is standard procedure. After surgery I was diagnosed as Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. I had a full hysterectomy, the cancer had also spread to my appendix and stomach omentum (outer lining of the stomach) so they were removed as well.
The next week was spent in the hospital followed by 5 more weeks of recovery time at home. Talk about intense pain! I didn't know pain like this was possible! When I woke up in recovery I thought I was going to die. It was awful and intense pain. Surgery is not fun!!
I will continue this story later and write more. I am still going through chemo and it is time for a nap. More to follow~
Where to begin!!??
On Feb. 23, 2010 I was seen by a Gynecological Oncologist who told me that he was 99.9% sure that the huge mass, the size of melons found on my ovary was indeed cancer. Surgery was scheduled for March 1, 2010 the following Monday! Talk about devastated and in denial!! I was very hopeful that he was indeed wrong and it was not as serious as he was telling me, although I was still very upset. A couple days later I got a 2nd opinion on the advice of a dear friend, Kim O. The 2nd Dr gave me the same diagnoses, so I knew at that point it was pretty serious. I went with my Original surgeon as he is very experienced, went to John Hopkins (you don't just get into John Hopkins Medical School!), teaches other Drs on the subject, is at teaching hospital, and is at MD Anderson, one of the top 2 or 3 Cancer treatment centers in the country.
I went from begging the Dr not to take anything out that wasn't necessary, (as I was scheduled for a Full Hysterectomy), to telling the Dr to do whatever it took and take anything and everything he needed to to save my life.
My surgeon did what's called a de bulking surgery and staging of the cancer. This is standard procedure. After surgery I was diagnosed as Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. I had a full hysterectomy, the cancer had also spread to my appendix and stomach omentum (outer lining of the stomach) so they were removed as well.
The next week was spent in the hospital followed by 5 more weeks of recovery time at home. Talk about intense pain! I didn't know pain like this was possible! When I woke up in recovery I thought I was going to die. It was awful and intense pain. Surgery is not fun!!
I will continue this story later and write more. I am still going through chemo and it is time for a nap. More to follow~
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