The Countdown Begins...

1 week until Chemo begins...

It's been several days since my last post. I had a wonderful week with my BFF Suzie! She went with me to appointments, to get my hair cut, shopping, eating out, etc. We had a blast just being together. I am so blessed to have had her in my life for nearly 20 years. Love ya SuzieQ!

Tomorrow morning (Monday) I go for what is called a MUGA scan of my heart and a chest x-ray. Then Tuesday afternoon I have an appointment with my regular Dr. to check up on how I'm doing with my anxiety meds. On Friday, I have my port surgery. If you're interested in that sort of thing, here is a video of what they will do...fair warning...it's a video of a real surgery so don't watch it if you're squeamish!! https://youtu.be/-jWMYh0Y6gg   I'm not looking forward to that at all. As a matter of fact, I think I am more nervous about this than anything else I'm facing (right now anyway). I guess because I will have a foreign object inside me and it is going to look weird and feel really gross. But, it will save my veins and make it safer to receive the mean, nasty, chemo drugs. With the port, I will only have to be stuck once each visit and I'm all for fewer needle sticks.

I probably won't be at church this next Sunday because I will still be very sore and grumpy from the surgery on Friday. Going forward, I am going to be missing a lot of church. I'm very sad about that. I'm going to have to take a break from the Praise Team and Choir. I just cannot risk getting sick. I don't have the best immune system now...and it will be very low once Chemo starts, so it is for the best. If I do make it to church on occasion, please just give me a thumbs up or a wave and know that I love you and want nothing more than to be able to shake your hand or give you a hug and when this is all over with I promise I will!!

I went to Chemo orientation while Scott was out of town moving Jarod back to his apartment in Boone. Suzie went with me. It was not a joyous appointment to say the least. The nurse was very nice and encouraging but what she has to tell you is anything but. So my Chemo appointment will be as follows.

1. Check in, wait to be called back for blood draw.
2. They will put an IV in my port, flush it out with saline and then draw blood from it, tape it all in place, then send me back to waiting room.
3. While waiting for lab results, visit with Dr.
4. Back to waiting room until lab results say my blood is good and I am ok to receive Chemo.
5. Go back to the infusion room, get settled and receive pre-chemo drugs. There are at least 5 mostly to prevent nausea and allergic reactions. This takes about 5 minutes. 
6. Flush out the port again, start first Chemo drug which has to be done by the nurse with a huge syringe. That one takes about 15 minutes.
7. Flush out the port again, start second Chemo drug which is done via IV drip and takes an hour.
8. Once the bag is empty they will flush out the port again and remove the IV.
9. They will then place this small plastic thing on the back of my arm called Neulasta. You may have seen commercials about it. It is a time released medication to stimulate my bone marrow to produce white blood cells. About 24 hours after Chemo it beeps a warning then sticks a needle in my arm, inserts a tiny catheter and slowly releases the medication over 45 minutes into my system. When it's done it beeps again and I just peel it off. Kind of like a tiny robot stuck to your arm. Technology is cool.

I will be having the treatments over here in Leland at the Zimmer Center's Brunswick location. It is much smaller than the Wilmington location and so there are no private infusion rooms. There is one big room with 9 infusion chairs lined up side-by-side. There is no room for visitors so I cannot have anyone sit with me during Chemo. They can wait in the waiting room and come back for brief 3-5 minute visits, bring me food, drink, etc. I can eat, use my laptop or tablet, etc so long as I bring earphones. They have blankets...but they're small so I am bringing the nice soft, fuzzy one my mom sent me because it was FREEZING back there! The whole thing should take 3 hours the first time and around 2 hours from there on out, depending on how I'm doing that day. I will have Chemo every 2 weeks for 16 weeks. If my blood counts go down, they may have to postpone a treatment to give me a few more days to recover which will mean it takes longer than 16 weeks to finish. 

When I am done with Chemo, I will have to wait 2-3 weeks, until my blood counts rebound to a healthy level, and then I can have the surgery. That will take 6-8 weeks to fully recover from. After that I have to decide if I want to go ahead and have the hysterectomy or wait a while. I am thinking I may just go ahead and get it all done. That recovery is 2-4 weeks. 

Looking at it right now, here at the start of it, it seems like it will take forever. I look forward to being on the other side of it. Unfortunately, I will never be completely free from it. There will always be that chance, that niggling worry that it will come back. But I know the doctors are going to do all they can to knock it out once and for all and I will be monitored closely from here on out. Your prayers help as well! 

Up until I was diagnosed, when I was told someone had breast cancer, I just assumed that meant they were going to die. I had no idea that it is very treatable now.  I've seen how devastating it can be. But that was many years ago and I am thankful that now there are so many more options and so much more understanding of how to treat it and kill it. I am blessed that it was found early. Ladies, I cannot stress enough that you need to get your mammograms regularly. If someone in your family has had breast cancer, start getting them while you're young! If you notice anything different AT ALL insist on more tests to be sure. If I hadn't done so, I would be much worse off. 

So, the countdown begins. My sweet friend Ann has set up a meal train website for us and everything is falling into place for this all the begin. I feel so blessed to have such amazing support from family and friends and thank God for all of you daily in my prayers. I'd rather not be here needing any kind of support. It makes me uncomfortable to be honest. But here I am...and I have no choice but to depend on others right now. My biggest comfort comes from knowing that I am held in God's arms. He knows every tear I cry in the night. He knows every fear, every doubt that crosses my mind, and He comforts me in ways I cannot explain....through family and friends, even through complete strangers. If you don't know that peace that passes all understanding, my friend, you will find it in Jesus...all you have to do is ask. 

Love to you all this week. Keep praying me through it! 

Today's Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for my tests tomorrow to all be normal.
2. Pray for me to be able to rest and enjoy this last week before Chemo begins.
3. Pray for me as I have the surgery to put in the port on Friday.
4. Praise for all the love and support from family and friends.
5. Praise that Laura is home safely from her mission trip, Jarod is moved into his apartment at App State and Taylor starts a new job on the 8th!

Today's Verse: