Treatment Plan

  Today was my first day of chemo. It wasn't as bad as I had expected, but I hear as the treatment goes on I will feel worse. We got there at 9:00 and after our "chemo class" I was started on an anti-nausea drip, then some steroids (I think), a potassium & magnesium drip, then I got my first "chemo" which is called Cisplatnin, after that I got Etoposide, then some heparin and I was finally able to come home. We got home about 4:30 so it was a really long day. Tomorrow I get to add Bleomycin to my "cocktail". The Bleo will only be once a week on Tuesdays though, so that's a good thing.

  I will have to complete 3-4 "cycles" and a cycle is:
5 days of chemotherapy with the Bleo infusion on Tuesday. Then I get two weeks off, but I still get the Bleo every Tuesday. So this process is going to take 9-12 weeks. I will lose my hair (I'm still dealing with that issue, but I'll have to accept it eventually!). And I will have the typical nausea and fatigue side effects. The anti-nausea infusion I got today seems to be working OK. I did have to take a pill on the way home, but bright light seems to affect me, kinda like when I have a migraine, so  I don't know if my nausea on the way home was from the bright sun or just a reaction to the meds or both.

   I was finally provided with some "normal people" information about my cancer. Check out this link. Then the "kind" of sex-cord-stromal-tumor I had was the Serolli Cell Tumor My oncologist said that she has only read about 6-10 women having that particular one. Its so weird how I had almost every single one of the "Signs & Symptoms" listed.

   Even though this seems like its going to be a rough road, I am sure I will make it through and hopefully be better than ever! I hope the 3 people that read this don't mind that I will be posting more than I usually do. I want to keep a journal on how I'm feeling and what is happening in our lives during all of this.

Its so weird how fast it has affected what I want to eat and drink, and I just started this morning. I drank a Sprite and all I could taste was the carbonated water. Crackers with Peanut Butter and Pretzel sticks with Mozzarella tasted so divine! Also Lime Tootsie Rolls were delicious! I keep telling Gary I want BBQ, so we'll see if I still want some when he gets around to smoking a turkey or roast. I might just have to have him drive down to Goodwood and get me some! Orange,vanilla, and Lemon Tootsie Rolls tasted horribly sweet. I guess time will tell what I want and don't want.

  Well, I'm off to make a log of my medication cause I have a lot more now!!

Ahh updates!

So I thought I would start this off on a depressing note 

{I'm that fun of a person!}

I have ovarian cancer, its super-rare and my doctors are unsure how to treat me.

The good news now!!

I am only at stage 1! My surgery was a success. The Dr removed my right ovary/tumor which was the size of a football. I have a nice 12" incision down my belly and has given me nothing but issues, but I am glad that is my only issue after surgery. My 3 day stay in the hospital turned into a 7 day stay because I kept getting infections any place they tried to put an IV in me {and they tried lots of places}. 

My pathology stuff came back too, my lymph nodes, odentum (?), and some other stuff came back negative for cancer. 

So all were waiting on now is to talk to the chemo therapy Dr. and then she and my oncologist will discuss if I need chemo or not. It sounds like they are leaning towards yes, as a precaution. I don't want to have it but if it keeps me with my family longer then, why not? 

It has been a hard few months, and I am anxious to get this over with. The waiting is the hardest right now, I don't sleep anymore and Gary has found me zoning out a lot. I want to call it day-dreaming, but its not its more like day-nightmares, cause I can just imagine the worst (I think I get that from my Nana). 

Thanks to my mom, Garbear, and my good friend Zennetta for being awesome and helping me with everything!! I love you all and couldn't have made it through the last few months without you and your generous help. 

Moms Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

Mom, Nana, & Me

Mom & Me at Temple Square

My mom and my Nana are two of the most important people in my life. They have taught me so much, and have always shown me so much love. I wouldn't be "me" without them. I only hope I can become so much more like them as I learn more from them. 

Las quiero mucho! 

Whats been going on here...

After posting last night I realized I haven't posted since January! It's not that there hasn't been anything to say, but time and energy run low most days for me.

In January I had that awesome stomach flu...that was fun.

In February I had an ear infection, Sinus infection, Strep throat, Bronchitis, and I got diagnosed with Asthma...still kinda fun.

In March I went to my gyn for my annual and a 13cm cyst was found on my right ovary, they gave me birth control to see if the hormones would shrink it. After over a month and three other appointments it only got larger and more solid. I saw a different doctor who wanted to operate as soon as he got my blood work back and MRI back. Well, he did get all the stuff back, but now the "mass" is mostly solid and no longer a cyst. It has its own blood supply. It is 15 cm X 13 cm X 11.2 cm....not so much fun.

On Monday I have an appointment with an gynecological oncologist, my blood tests came back negative for cancer, but they say there is always a chance because it is changing so rapidly....this really sucks.

Soooo, this is where I'm at. 

My sweet Garbear has been doing what he can to make me feel better, but he is worried and it's taking his toll. He looks very stressed, so me sick + work stress isn't a good combination for him, but Im so thankful for him. 

Coupons!

Gary and I have decided to start incorporating coupons when we shop, its a little time consuming but we have already seen some awesome savings.  Nothing that's worthy of a coupon TV show, but good for us. Last weekend we went to Smiths, with my list and coupons in hand we shopped (three separate transactions!!). My total bill was $106 and we ended up paying $32.

Then today I went to walgreens and got two bottles of Purex Crystals fabric Softener (reg $5.99 each) and eight bags of Butterfinger Snackers (reg $0.89 each). My total savings was over $16. I paid $6.04!!!

Happy 2011!



We hope that it is the best year that you ever have!

And that the next one is even better!!

Were looking forward to a lot this year and pray it will all work out.

A few things to celebrate in 2011:

We'll be married half a decade in August! 

I am finally going to decorate the house...I will!

I am going to graduate...it's 'bout time!

Gary is already doing great things with his woodworking and he has lots of projects planned!

And hopefully we'll get to go to Florida this summer!

and Im sure there will be many more things to come!!

Happy 2011!

Christmas time was here.....

Let me start by explaining why I was dreading Christmas so much:

My family in New Mexico always has a big dinner/get-together on Christmas Eve at my grandparents house.

Gary's family doesn't.

Christmas day everyone goes to my grandparents again to finish off the left overs and just hang out for a while.

Gary's family doesn't.

I always go day-after-Christmas shopping with my mom.

She was in New Mexico.

To top it all off, I kept imagining how different my house would be if we had two little feet running around trying to take ornaments off the tree and making general toddler trouble.

But he is with his family now.

OK, so now the good part!

I was determined to make Christmas Eve a little like Grandmas, so I put Tamales on the stove to cook. We also had cookies and sparkling grape juice!

My mom, knowing how upset I was, called to assure me that I wasn't missing much, and that most of the family had gone down to Grandmas for Thanksgiving (which I got to see!) so they were spending Christmas Eve with their other families.

Instead of seeing everyone in one house, Gary and I traveled to his families houses and visited a while with everybody.

1st we went to his sisters house. We visited with her and the kids, we also dropped off their gifts (I heard they were a hit on Christmas morning! (Yay Aunt Sam!!))

We went and visited Grandpa & Uncle Lee. Gary's cousins Ashlee (and Chase) & AJ were there, as well as his Aunt & Uncle. It was really nice seeing people we don't see very often.

Then we visited his mom & dad, who we see all the time, but it was still nice.

We came home and enjoyed our quasi-New Mexico Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Morning we exchanged gifts (Santa was good to us this year!!), got ready and went to Gary's dads house.

There was yummy food (and a delicious punch I need the recipe for), Gary's Sisters & Brother and all their kiddos. While we ate everyone laughed and had fun, then came the presents! Gary and I got some cool stuff along with stockings for the dogs (they are so spoiled by their Grandpa Grant).

While everyone was opening presents I got a little sad and teared up a bit at the fact that we were a family of two sitting in our little area, while every other little family there had at least four. Seeing all the kids unwrap their presents and show their parents, I kept wondering "what if?".

But I also realized that I am very blessed in my own right, I have a wonderful husband who sat with me through those tears and tried to cheer me up, he also made sure I was busy the rest of the day to keep my mind off stuff. My niece Abbi made my day when she only wanted Aunt Sam to fix her hair and shared her Dolly with me. Later in the day at Grandpas house, Gary's Aunt Gail made me laugh, I met his cousins Cody's wife, Janelle, and she is so nice! We had a great time visiting with them.

That night we came home to our cute little house, even though it was quiet, I did have two 4 legged kiddos waiting to give us lots of love.

So this has been a really long post about Christmas and how much I was dreading it, and how great it turned out to be...sorry so long! But it just goes to show you that sometimes you just have to give things/people/days a chance and you might be surprised!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope it was fantastic!!

P.s. My birthday was great too!!