2nd round of Chemo

Oh the joy of Chemo days!

Yesterday, I spent another 6hrs at the oncologist office.
Everything went well - all my blood work was good and I had no problems with the treatment - it just takes FOREVER to get it all.

Here is a quick run down of the day

~9:15am - finally get everyone packed up and out the door
~Drop the men off at school along with all accessories & car seats
( they went home with Gryphyn's teacher afterward)
~Stop and get breakfast for Zac
(who wasn't up in time to eat before we left - in typical Zac fashion)
~Arrive at the oncologist office for 10:30 scheduled time
~Wait in waiting room forever to get called back
~Move to new room with 3 others and wait my turn for vitals (all good)
~Move to exam room down the hall to see nurse
(quick check up, answer questions etc.)
~Finally move to chemo treatment room
~Get all hooked up to port



~Draw blood through port
(to make sure it's in the right place and to test my levels
and see if I'm "well" enough to receive treatment)
~Results all came back good - so they start mixing my meds
~12:00 - finally ready to start chemo
~Take tylenol, benadrly and 2 antinausa meds


Chilling with a magazine while getting anti-nausea iv

~ 1pm (ish) Start on the 4 ivs of chemo and HER2 drugs

Getting sleepy (thats my nurse Sharon in the back gound)

~Slept for a bit while Zac took off to drop off my prescription at the VA pharmacy and get us some lunch and a few things from Wal-Mart
~ 3pm - Zac back with lunch - Chick -Fil-A - YUMMY!
~5pm - finally done for the day
~"YAWN" what a long day!

Then we still had to go pick up my meds from the VA and get the lil men from Jennifers house.
Thank you again Jennifer for keeping them for me - You have been such a blessing to us - especially on these long treatment days!

A few details that I know some of you will ask :)

I got some new meds for heartburn and Zac also picked up some head and shoulders type shampoo for me to shower with - I forgot what they called it but I broke out on my hairline everywhere - first under my arms mostly on the left side so I thought maybe it had something to do with the lymph nodes being removed from that side but I also now have it on the back of my neck, chest, bikini line and a few on my legs - so they said to shower with the anti dandruff stuff since it also has a med in it to prevent breakouts - humm who knew - worth a try a least. I so don't want to be the bumpy, pasty, bald girl. LOL

I go back tonight at 5pm for the nulasta shot (to stimulate white blood cell growth) It was quite painful last time - so I'm anticipating lots of pain killers and sleep for tomorrows schedule.

Thank you in advance for the prayers- I only had about 4 bad days first time around - so I'm hoping for the same or less this time around!

Shaving Party

A few weeks ago I posted that I was going to have a shaving party when my hair started falling out. It proved to be pretty difficult to get everyone together for a shaving party - especially when I didn't know exactly when I would start shedding. Luckily, my sister in law, Mandy, was able to fly out to see us around the time the doctors said I could expect the transformation to begin.

I was hesitant to shave it if it wasn't going to fall out - so on Wednesday morning when it DID start to fall out, I was actually relieved. That morning, when I ran my hands through my hair I got 4 or 5 strands each time - but by that night, it was around 20-25 each time. So we decided it was time to shave it.

We had so much fun - we laughed A LOT and joked that "THIS" is why you should always have a professional cut your hair. Zac was on hand to capture everything in photographs and add a few creative designs himself.

Here is the video of this step in my journey:

Smoochbooth Soiree

Last night I got to go to a party!
I was so excited - I NEVER get to go out.
We sort of forgot about it - till Zac checked the calendar yesterday afternoon
- Great no way am I going to find a babysitter last minute.
But after several phone calls, someone finally said YES!

Thank you so much Jennifer and Blake for being available and willing to come over on very short notice. I had the most fun I've had in a really long time - thanks to you guys keeping the kiddos so we could go out :)

So where did we go???



Why the Smoochbooth Soiree of course - it was the official release of the Smoochbooth.

What the heck is a Smoochbooth? - Its sort of like those little photobooths in the mall where you take pictures with your friends - only MUCH MUCH cooler.



Check out the website at: www.smoochbooth.com

Here are a few pictures we took in the booth.







To see more, you can register at : http://www.pictage.come/611671
The event isn't released yet - but you can sign up to be notified by email when it is -if you want.

Oh and you may have noticed that I don't have any hair - Yeah that happens with cancer :)

I'm working on editing the photos from the shaving party and should have those up soon.

CUPCAKES!

Today is Zac's Birthday and in celebration, Gryphyn and I made colorful cupcakes.
Here is our adventure in photos. ENJOY!
(thanks for the idea Crystal)

Getting ready:


Mixing Colors:


Ready to bake:


Yummy:


Now about that mess.....

Are we done yet?

So today - definitely NOT one of the best days of my life! Did I mention I'm not such a big fan of all this cancer stuff???

Thankfully, the symptoms haven't been too bad - mostly tired and everything tastes like crap! Then yesterday, I had to go in to get a shot that stimulates the white blood cells. And today - MAN does everything hurt! All my big bones and joints hurt so bad. I'm pretty tough so if I'm complaining of pain - you know its gotta hurt! So I've been spending most of my day in bed sleeping while Zac is being a trooper and taking care of everything else. The men aren't letting him have an easy time of it either.

It all started at 7am when Gryphyn woke up and had said he had to throw up. Thankfully he made it to the bathroom. However, that was just one of many times thru out the day - not all of which made it to the bathroom :( Somewhere in there, Zac put Vahn in bed with me so he could deal with Gryphyn's mess and Vahn drifted off to sleep - a bit later however, he apparently was feeling left out because he woke up and puked all over the bed - Gee Thanks! Being the good wife I am, I quickly called Zac in to deal with that as well and moved over to the boys bed so I could stay out of the way!

Its been several hours now and things seem to have settled down - I'm praying that tomorrow isn't as eventful! However from my perspective, I got to sleep all day and the boys got baths, the beds all stripped and washed, laundry done, bathroom cleaned and the men are all tucked in sleeping peacefully! Somehow, I don't think Zac sees it in the same way!

I couldn't do this with out you Zac - Thank you so much for everything - I DO!