Round 2: Chemo vs Lisa

Today was my 2nd round of Chemo and it was strange to be a little more anxious before this infusion than my first.  That anxiety had to do with my port, on my first treatment my port surgery was the day prior and so they left the tubing taped on me so the oncology nurse would not have to go in through the port site.  Today would be the day they would have to go through the port site. In preparing for the infusion, you cover the site with lidocaine about an hour beforehand to numb it for the needle insertion and then cover your port area with saran wrap so the ointment doesn't soak through onto your clothes (hence the reason you see plastic on my chest).  The thought was still unnerving wondering if I would feel the needle or would I be completely numb.

So before each chemo infusion I have to visit with Dr. H, we go over each day in my prior cycle, we talked about the things that happened such as nausea, diarrhea, headaches, bone aches and then we discuss anything new. Finally he measures my mass!  This measurement he does is just by feeling the area, so its not exact but he can feel the mass pretty well.  Two weeks ago it measured just over 4.5 centimeters, this week he estimated about 2.5 centimeters... so the poison is working it made the mass shrink some which truly was the best blessing today!!

This is a picture of me before my chemo waiting to see my oncologist, I have been wanting some funny shirts to wear to my appointments and to the gym that bring humor to cancer. Although there is nothing funny about having cancer, the best medicine for something like this is humor, so I will not dwell on the bad and ugly but will have fun with it all.  My friend, April made this shirt. April has a little business going, check out her Etsy site. If you order from her and you are local, you can put "local" in the shipping section of checkout and do a personal pick-up so you can meet April. She does a variety of projects and has inspired me over the years as she raises her children on her own, after the tragic loss of her husband.  Projects like this help her to make a little money on the side for her and her three kids. https://www.etsy.com/shop/InspiredDesignsForU?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Once I am finished with my Oncologist I head to the Infusion area.  This is the second week they have placed Carla and I in a corner! I am starting to get a complex.  First thing was, my port had to be accessed, Nurse M told me not to worry and she had that thing in quick and best of all it was painless.  First they draw my blood to run tests. In order to get the chemo infusion, I have to have good blood counts, so that takes about 15 minutes to get the results. My white blood cell count looked great but my iron levels were still low.  So today I received all my chemo, then some iron.  I do have to make several trips back in for iron infusions. Over the next 10 days they require that I have 5 iron infusions within a 2 week period.  And for those that know me well, they said the iron will give me MORE ENERGY!!!! That is scary, I mean yes this week I am a little blah with meds but, last time on my off week I had energy so maybe I will be super-energized!!

During chemo today, Carla and I played Scattergories ...and I lost! She made up many things I am sure, but it was funny that some of our off the wall answers were the same (our crazy minds think alike).

This last picture shows a special card/note I received from my trainers daughter. Each chemo day, I try and bring something special with me to lay on my table or read and Emily had just given this to me the day prior and it was the perfect piece to take along for today's adventure.

I thank EVERYONE for your thoughts and prayers today, this evening has been much better than last time. I am controlling my meds a little better this time. I just finished eating some wonderful chicken noodle soup, my good friend and mentor Sherry Flader made. She whipped up a very large batch of chicken noodle soup for my rough days. She then placed many portions in freezer bags, so I am stocked up and it was YUMMY!!

This next week I have many appointments, every time I think it will slow down, those cancer people fill my schedule back up. So tomorrow is my Nuerablasta shot, Friday is a iron infusion, Monday another iron infusion, Tuesday genetics appointment and then yet another iron infusion, Thursday Caleb gets a cast change and then I will have my last iron fusion right after Caleb's appointment. 

I will keep you all updated on how I feel this week! Lisa