Happy Thanksgiving

Get ready for photo overload.  I finally took a few pics over the last few days with the new wigs, and I am ready to share!  But first, we are fortunate to have family come and spend time with us for this Thanksgiving holiday.  My mother and father-in-law flew in from TX on Saturday, and today my brother-in-law also arrives from TX and my sister-in-law from NY.  Luckily, my chemo this week has been pushed off until Friday so I have an extra day of feeling decent.  I will say, I am feeling pretty doggone tired, like exhausted, but that is to be expected.  I know I am a little more run down than I had been because over the last week or two I will start up the stairs at my usual pace (in real life I am a fast walker), then I need to pause half way up the flight of stairs.  That is just personally embarrassing for me.  I mean...it's a cotton-pickin' flight of stairs in my own house!  I am beginning to get a little nervous about how long it is going to take to "bounce back" after all of this is said and done.  I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to put a goal out there of running another 5K. Seems like a manageable goal.  I was so proud when I ran my first one without stopping, and it didn't take all that much work (and I am not a natural runner.  Love the effects of running and the sense of accomplishment, but I am not one of those people who wake up in the morning and think that I need to go for a run so that my day can be complete.  I have had many wonderful, complete days without one bit of running, but I digress.....)

Anyway...I will be realistic, but I was *hoping* that with a Jan. 21 surgery, that after 8 weeks (possibly before) I can begin real exercise again, and then try to get a 5K in before school is out.  I am not a good summer exerciser, other than our normal (former normal, I guess I should say) active lifestyle....hiking on weekends, pool time, etc.  If I don't get it in before school is out, then I will kneed to wait until school is back probably....we'll see.  All of that is to say that at the blood check last week, my white blood count was back down quite a bit, which I attribute to the fact that the prior week my body was fighting off a cold or virus, causing the whet blood count to kick up.  My red blood count was up a little again, which was good.  I guess I just keep hoping that the red blood count improvement will give me some energy back but it is not happening.

Otherwise, the new Rx for the night hot flashes works like a charm.  Yay!!!  Thank goodness for sleeping through the night.  The only other changes are more dryness in my skin and as a result I have had a few nose bleeds.  Overall, manageable.  The chemo sessions are long....usually 4-5 hours, but this past Thursday I was happy to have my friend Dawn there who is an RN and worked Oncology for years.  She even knew some of the nurses there, so that was fun, and she answered a gazillion questions that I had (those questions that you wonder about but that don't seem important enough to ask the doctor, or that you know you already asked the doctor but you forgot the answer and are embarrassed to ask again).  I was thrilled that my friend Melissa who works close by dropped by and hubby came by too.  It was quite the party.  :)

Here is the Incognito.  We have come up with a couple of other names, too.  My father-in-law calls it the Cher, and when I put it on and looked in the mirror my first thought was Cleopatra.  It is really dark and really straight and the bangs are what make it so strange looking on my face, I think.  but it doesn't seem to tangle like my nice wig, so I have worn it a few time with a hat on it so it doesn't look so Cleopatra.

A few people have asked about my port, so I thought I would show what it looks like.  It has 3 raised bumps that guide the nurses where to puncture each time I go for a treatment.  This is to avoid getting an IV every time, so I am very happy to have it.  I have an Rx for lidocaine that I apply 30-60 minutes before my appointment so it doesn't really hurt when they "stab" me to get me hooked up.  

Here is a perspective shot.  I don't like that it can be seen in so many shirts, but with the long wigs it is mostly covered up. I will keep the port for a full year since they will use it to give me the Herceptin every three weeks even after the chemo is done.  

This is the Ariel, and I am really loving her.  I realized yesterday why....she reminds me of the 80s and the spiral perms that I loved so much.  But really, she is easier to maintain...at least so far.  You can't see if she is tangled up at the back of your neck so easily.  By the way - I am the WORST at selfies - yikes.  Side note - see how I have drawn in eyebrows and you can barely tell they are fake unless you look really closely.

Ariel with the purple cap - my new carpool look.  I wake up 5 minutes before needing to leave the house and voila - ready to go.  

OK - I guess you can tell I have a new favorite. I also like the color.  Or maybe I just never realized how much I wanted curls.  Not sure.  Here Ariel is clipped back (which I enjoy having the option of doing).  

Downside of Ariel - she can be a wild child.  By the way - I know that Ariel the mermaid has a different shade of hair (as my girl quickly pointed out), but regardless, I refuse to give up the name Ariel until someone comes up with something better! 

So there are some photos to bring you up to date!  Meanwhile, I truly hope you have a happy Thanksgiving.  Last year at this time I had family here and I was looking back at some pictures and the left side of my face was paralyzed and I looked angry in the few photos I had take of me.  So, the good news is I don't look angry this year.  Yay.  But really, I guess the point is, a lot can happen in a year.  I would have never guessed I would have been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (the Shingles on my face combined with Bell's Palsy), let alone the cancer the following year.  I hold out hope that next year will bring change as well, and I pray that it is for the better, for good health, for friends and family to be protected, and for faith to carry us through!  HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FRIENDS!!

75% Of The Way!

This past Saturday, Nov. 15, marked 75% of the time undergoing chemo.  Pretty pumped!!  In fact, in terms of actual infusions, I am down to FIVE more!!  Really cannot wait.  Cannot wait to unclog my head.  Cannot wait to get my energy back.  Cannot wait for hair to start growing back.  Cannot wait for all other body functions to return to normal!!!!

I don't have much time for an update right now....I have a friend stopping by soon.  But the major points include.....no big change last Thursday.  I received a NEW Rx for the hot flashes and hallelujah, it seems to work.  NO side effects that I can tell.  I take it at night and it has a sleep aid effect, but with no hangover effect in the morning.  I am still getting a few hot surges during the day, but again, that is only momentarily miserable, not disrupting my sleep.

I met someone new at chemo on Thursday.  My friend Kati was with me, and she ran into someone she knows, introduced us, and we briefly shared stories.  Again, it's all about perspective.  This young lady (I think quite a bit younger than me) has a two year old, plus two older children, went through 10 months of chemo for lung cancer last year, now the cancer has spread to her brain and she is back getting chemo.   Sounds devastating.  She had two wigs she wanted to sell, since they hurt her head with the cancer in the brain and her equilibrium is off, among other things.  Anyway, I bought them sight unseen, mainly because I couldn't figure how to say no off the top of my head and I knew she was really wanting to get rid of them.  And....you all know my feelings about R2.  They have tempered and we are mostly friends, even though she drives me crazy some days.  But...I thought it might be "neat" to have another choice, so now I have them.  There was no struggling to name these gals.....Chris took one look at me in one of them and said I could go incognito with it.  He said I could run into 5 people in Publix in that wig and no one would recognize me.  I am not sure about all that, BUT it's funny how different I look.  Of course, I quickly named that one The Incognito.  I put the other on (the one I was more excited to see) and my first thought was "Ariel" (you know, the Little Mermaid).  I secretly really like it, though my family is not fully on board. It is also really different, but how I can imagine having my hair in an hair commercial.  It is long. a pretty reddish brown, with loose curls, and none of the bangs or bangs-like stuff from R2.  That hair around my face drives me bonkers.  I get that wigs have to "disguise" themselves with hair like that, but I wore this out to the soccer games yesterday and I was able to pull it sideways across my forehead (like I used to wear my real hair) and then because it was so big and full (with all those curls) I pulled it back in a clip like I would have done my real hair.  That part felt nice...just clipping it back.  Anyway - I will take a pic in them soon when I have my face "done" and you can see what you think.

Otherwise, white blood was up to about normal range, which I guess was good but I felt like it was higher because my body was fighting that cold last week.  Red blood count continues to lag....a tiny tick up was the only change.  Thursday through Saturday/Sunday remains my exhausted and achy times, with things beginning too improve on Mondays usually.  Oh, and I gained a pound.  Fantastic.  They keep telling me that most people gain weight on chemo (which was not my perception at all before any of this!!), and that those who don't are really, really sick.  Ugh.  I guess I can't complain, but seriously...talk about adding insult to injury.  I am hoping half of it is water weight that will "melt" away when all is said and done.   Of course it will also help when friends stop bringing me yummy food plus decadent desserts.  Again....no complaints here....but I will have to join "my new reality" after the "excuse" of chemo has expired.  :)

OK - gotta run!  Have a great week and stay WARM!!  It is COLD outside!!!

We Have A Surgery Date!

This week has been a little different.  Last Wednesday we picked up the medication, Effexor, they prescribed to combat the hot flashes that were keeping me awake at night.  From the beginning I did not seem to react well to it.  I woke up the next morning feeling queasy, and I felt more nauseated when I moved around or bent down, just like with the first chemo.  My eyes were twitching and my muscles were shaking.  The worst, though, was when I would try to sleep I had difficulty getting my brain to slow down.  It was really strange....reminded me of my reaction to a few prescription painkillers I have had, where the "noise" from my brain was so loud I thought I was going to go nuts. I have always said I hate taking medication, especially anything with a narcotic effect.  It does strange things to my mind.  The shaking reminded me of the shots they give at the dentist.  They always warn me that it has a bit of an epinephrin effect, and I really don't like that shaky feeling.  After the second dose we finally realized we could move the time I take it up earlier in the day and that did help a little with the sleep.  Not so many crazy, fast thoughts.  But, all the rest of the "effects" remained, so I basically stopped taking it on Sunday.  All the symptoms went away within a day.  And the sweats stayed away for a night, too, but they were back again last night.  I guess we will see what else they can come up with to fight the hot flashes.  In any event, I prefer the hot flashes/sleeplessness over all the stuff above.  Yuck.

Otherwise, my red blood count climbed up in the good direction again, and my white blood count stayed about the same overall, but with my Lymphocytes decreasing.  I am not sure how to explain that.  I am curious to see how everything looks this week.  I have been fighting a sore throat and a bit of an ear ache since shortly after the chemo last week, and I know my glands are really swollen on the left side of my throat (they hurt!), so I get the feeling my body is trying to fight something off.  Mouth sores are back again, but luckily I have the Magic Mouth Wash, which is helping (though it doesn't seem quite as miraculous as last time).  The only other thing I realized is that my eye brows and eye lashes are really, really thin now.  However, I am amazed at how "decent" it looks to make fake eye brows by drawing them in the way they taught us in our little chemo beauty class.  I notice the thinness immediately in the mirror first thing in the morning, but once I use the brow tool, I don't notice at all.  Yay - good news.

Finally, my breast surgery has been scheduled for January 21st.  When the nurse called me today with the date my first reaction was panic, yikes, this is really happening.  That lasted a split second, followed by, ok, well now we have a date so I can get this figured out and move on.  For those who know me well, you know I immediately went to my iCal to add it and get going on getting organized with childcare, etc.  That led to my 3rd reaction, which was total dismay, because I quickly saw that January 21 is Muffins with Mom at school.  A once a year event.  Boo.  I am so sad about this, but I don't have the heart to try to change the schedule because I know that nurse had to coordinate THREE different doctors' schedules to make this happen.  I will get over it.  Jonathan will get over it (haven't had the heart to tell him yet - that can wait).  I should have looked forward at the calendar to start with so that I could have maybe requested NOT to have it on that date, but I'm not nearly firing on all cylinders here.  Anyway - you might be thinking this isn't a big deal, and I guess in the big scheme of things it isn't, but really, they are only little once, and so the number of times a mom attends an event like this is about 6 times per child EVER, then you're done.  I will try to put my "thinking cap" on (in quotes because Chris and I joke about chemo brain all the time now since I regularly struggle to pull words out of my head that I know I know) and come up with an alternative to Muffins with Mom.  Enough about that!!

So, the surgery is scheduled at 8:00AM, with a 6:00AM arrival.  I prefer that over the later surgery times.  I think it is about a 4-5 hour surgery.  Seems long, but I know they have a lot to do.  Also, having the early surgery slot enhances my chances of only spending one night in the hospital, I bet.  I pray that I can have a calmness going into this surgery.  I am going to work on that.  I am not feeling very calm right now.  I was scared of the lumpectomy, and this is so much more that I am not quite sure how to get over being afraid.  But, I am praying about it and trusting that this is (unfortunately) a common surgery, and the doctors know what they are doing.  It will not be my first time with anesthesia, so that is reassuring.

I think those are the main updates.  I have a regular Thursday chemo this week.  Jonathan is performing this Thursday in the school Variety Show, and I really, really don't want to miss it.  I haven't ever tried to do anything on a Thursday before.  You have read how I feel.  On the day of chemo the main feeling is pure exhaustion, especially after it is over.  Part of it is the "relaxing" drugs they give me.  All I want to do is sleep.  BUT....we shall see if I can pull this off.  Having Chris to lean on will be key.....stay tuned!

Time Marches On

I missed my regular Monday update yesterday.  I guess it's because I haven't felt very good over the last few days.  Last Thursday went about the same, so that was pretty good.  Finally both the red and white blood counts took a move in the right direction, as the doctors predicted.  It was only a tiny, slight move, and they are both still below normal, but at least it was a move in the right direction.

Friday was Halloween, and we usually have friends over for dinner and fun before trick or treating, but I was nervous to commit to anything with it being the day after the chemo.  I know it might sound shallow, but I was pretty bummed (along with kids) about not being able to do the social events that we have loved so much in the past.  And it's not just Halloween...just add that to the list of things cancer has "robbed" from us.  Anyway, as it turns out I was feeling good enough to reprise my Princess Leia costume from last year (with Chris who agreed to wear his Darth Maul outfit again), which went perfectly with the kids' choices to do Star Wars for the second year running.  Caroline went from Queen Amidala to a female Storm Trooper and Jonathan went from General Grievous to an Arf Trooper.  It worked out nicely that I bought that Leia wig last year.  In photos you can't really tell, but I have ended up losing a bunch of eye lashes and brows.  I LOVE the magic brow pencil/tool, but am beginning to wonder if any eye lashes are going to remain by the time it's all said and done.  Time will tell.  Our neighbors in the cul-de-sac very kindly offered to bring their fire pit out and hang with us, so it was nice to be a little social without a lot of planning.  I was surprised that I was able to keep my energy going as long as I did, but by the time the second round of rain came along, not only was trick or treating o.v.e.r. but so was I.

Kern Family Star Wars 2.0

Action Shot!

For anyone in the Atlanta area, you know that the next morning was crazy cold, especially for November 1.  Of course the kids both had soccer games at the same time in different places, so I took the one close to home.  Even at 10:00 there was a wind chill of 29 degrees.  We survived that game and I planned to lay low and watch the TCU game later.  I am not sure if I overdid it on Halloween (sad as that sounds since I didn't really "do" anything) or if being out in the cold and wind affected me, but I felt pretty lousy that evening and all day Sunday and Monday.  I was congested, my throat hurt, I had what felt like a sinus headache and my whole body was aching.  Add in sporadic shooting pains and frequent hot flashes and that pretty much describes my days.  Ugh - not fun.

As I have mentioned, it is much more difficult for me to be positive when I am tired or in physical pain, so I have struggled over the last few days with keeping my mind in a good place.  I began to think about those "big" questions that don't have real answers and wonder too much about the what ifs and whys.  I let my emotions get the best of me over the last few days, but today I am in a better place.  Thank goodness.  I cannot think too much about the future, because with or without cancer, no one knows their future.  No one knows how long we have or how their "end" will come and cancer hasn't changed that.  It feels like it has but I guess it hasn't.  I keep thinking about graduations and weddings, but I need to focus on here and now, and so long as I do that, then I am fine.  So many people have advised "one day at a time" and "one foot in front of the other" and that is the best advise, I think.  At the very least, I know, when I pause a moment to be sane and smart, that stressing about the future or even wasting too much wondering about it, is just that....a waste of time and energy and unhealthy.  Not to mention.....it reflects a lack of faith.  So.....I have to reign myself in on a regular basis.

Anyway - this week is a little abnormal since I have chemo tomorrow (Wednesday) instead of Thursday.  This weekly chemo seems SO much faster than the other.  I really don't like having only one day maybe of feeling better.  And though the other chemo was more difficult (so far I still think this is true), it was nice to have that quite distinct feeling of "coming out of it."  That does not happen with this.  I feel a little better as the days pass but I never get back to a point where I would say I am "out of it."  The only other update is that tomorrow I plan to ask for the prescription for something to help with the hot flashes.  This last week beat me down too much, and I need to try to stay sane and mentally healthy.  I didn't want to have to deal with the side effects of the Rx for the hot flashes, or add yet another drug to the long list I am taking, but the need for restful sleep overrides!

I almost forgot - today was our appointment with Dr. Barber, my regular surgeon.  We shared with him our choice for plastic surgeon, and thanks to my friend who has been through this process recently, I learned about a nerve block and have now requested that we schedule an anesthesiologist who uses that technique.  The surgery will be mid January.  The doctor explained a lot more about his part of the mastectomy, particularly how my lymph nodes will be treated and why.  During the surgery they will remove a portion of my remaining lymph nodes on my right side, due to the fact that I had one positive sentinel node.  The expectation is that no additional cancer will be found.  Of course I have learned that the expectation is not necessarily what will happen, but it's good to know the odds.  We will not get those results immediately as we did with the lumpectomy.....it will take 3 or 4 days.  Worst case scenario would be to see active cancer there.  Possible scenario is to see that there had been cancer there but the chemo attacked it and killed it.  Best case is to see 100% healthy nodes.

With this surgery I will only spend one or two nights in the hospital, then will be sent home with drains for a few days and then best case scenario I can drive after a couple of weeks.  It sounds like they think I will need some physical therapy to get the full range of motion back in my right arm.  I probably will never get all of the feeling back in it.  In fact, it is still numb on the underside from the lumpectomy.  I didn't like hearing that due to the risk of lymphedema (swelling of the arm due to lack of proper movement of lymphatic fluid after the nodes are removed) they will give me a special "sleeve" to wear during "risky" behavior, like flying.  The sleeve squeezes your arm to promote proper flow of lymphatic fluid.  But, I guess that is a small price to pay.  There was a lot more information, but I think I hit the main points for anyone who is still reading this long post.  Anyway - I love that this doctor takes a lot of time with us and doesn't seem rushed and seems to welcome questions.

I am pooped after all of this.  I have a couple of pictures to add, too.  In an attempt to end on an up note, I will post one of the many quotes that are posted around our bedroom and my closet area.  I like seeing these every day, since I need constant reminding of what is important.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.

I meant to add this last week, but here is a picture of R2 inside out.  I never realized that maintenance of a wig would exceed maintenance of real hair, but it does.  Real hair doesn't knot up the way this does, and then it is a SLOW process to gently pick it apart then flat iron it to "repair" it.  I remain thankful for the wig option, but thought you might find this interesting!

Beautiful flowers - ending on a happy note!