I'm Back

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here, still fighting the good fight. I have finished chemo for at least a little while. My body endured 7 months of chemo this time around and it was ready for a break! I am having a CT scan next week and will then get the results on Nov. 4th. I will let you know what the doctor says. When I had a scan back in July it showed that the tumors were shrinking but there was a 1mm "questionable" spot on my liver. So we are hoping and praying that the tumors have shrunk even more and am curious to hear what the doctor has in store for me next.
Even though I have cancer, life goes on. I had a fun summer at home with the kids and our little family was even able to take a vacation in July to San Diego. We went to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Aaron broke his collar bone right before leaving Sea World. His sandal fell off and he dove out of the stroller after it and starting screaming like I've never heard him scream before. Poor guy. I took him to the doctor when we got back and the X-ray showed that his right collar bone was broken right in half. There is really nothing you can do for a broken collar bone so we had to wait a few weeks and then take him to an orthopedist. They took more X-rays and the X-rays showed that the bone is healing just fine.

Hannah started kindergarten in September. She loves school and she loves her teacher. It has been such a great positive experience for her. I volunteer in the classroom once a week and I have a lot of fun doing it. Hannah also started wearing glasses recently. She chose her frames all by herself. They are purple and very cute. (Sorry I don't have a picture of her with the glasses yet!)

Aaron is finally starting to talk. He is getting so big that I can barely carry him anymore. He and I still go to our little storytime/music class once a week at the library. He is finally going to the nursery at church without any tears!
I'm sure you all heard about what happened to Scott at work last week so I won't go into the details. He and his employees are safe and sound. Scott says he's fine but I'm waiting for the PTS to set in. Then again, maybe he's just as tough as he says he is.
Life is good and life is busy. Thank you to everyone that has helped our family out over the last two years. We really appreciate it.

My Dad...

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/rds_search/ci_8834963?IADID=Search-www.whittierdailynews.com-www.whittierdailynews.com

If you check out the link above, you can read an article that was in the Whittier Daily News about my dad and his friends who are all retiring this June. My dad has been a hard working teacher for 50 years and is such an amazing person. Love you dad!

Feeling better and excited for something

Thought I would take a few moments and let everyone know that I am finally feeling somewhat normal since last week's treatment. I didn't want to post again until I could say that. Friday through Sunday was pretty bad. I was in so much pain everywhere, especially my legs. I had to take the ambien to make me go to sleep at night. According to Scott I would get up and wander around the house and I have no recollection of doing that. Scarey!! On Saturday I couldn't take the pain anymore, so I rummaged through my medicine cabinet and found some norco that I had leftover from last year's chemo, and it was still good, so I took some. Within half an hour it took the edge of the pain off enough so that I could take care of my kids while Scott went to the Priesthood session of general conference. I know, all of my nurse-friends are out there shaking their heads at me for self-medicating, but I couldn't take it anymore. The body pain started lessening on Sunday night and I can say that I woke up today feeling pretty good.

So I've been walking around the house today with a little spring in my step and I started to think of the reasons why that would be: Is it because I woke up feeling good? No. Is it because it's such a beautiful day out today? No.

Could it possibly be because...

my favorite show is finally going to be back on TV tonight?

YES, that's it!!!

I'm so excited!

Some Family Pictures

Our friend Michelle called a few weeks ago and asked if she could take some family pictures of us before I loose my hair. If you go to her blog, she has a few of the photos up. Check them out!

http://thewonderfulnguyens.blogspot.com

Treatment #1

My first treatment of Taxol and Avastin went smoothly, and LONG. It took about 6 hours to get the whole infusion. The amount of Avastin that I get each time will decrease, so the time it takes to get the infusions will go down as well each time. The new arm port worked well, it was just very tender and swollen from it only having been put in 5 days before chemo. I had forgotten to ask Cherise for some EMLA cream to put on an hour or so before so that my skin could be numbed up for the insertion of the needle, so I had to put up with that not so fun poke. My dad took the day off of work to take me and to be there with me. He was a trooper. My dad is not a hospital/doctor office kind of guy, so it meant a lot to me that he was there with me.
As for side effects, they are all too similar to last time. There's the restless leg syndrome from the decadron, the horrible bone pain from the neulasta shot, and I'm trying to combat the metallic taste in my mouth with some special toothpaste and mouthwash that the nurses gave me. So far I haven't experienced any nausea, which I am very grateful for. The nurse would not give me a prescription for Ativan, which was my life saver last time through chemo for nausea. She would only give me a prescription for compazine, which just doesn't work for me.
Thanks to everyone who has done so much for me these last few days. Meals, cards, flowers, babysitting, visiting me, etc. What a support system!!! Love you all!

Another Battle...

Ok, so I've been getting a lot of flack from family members who are wondering when I am finally going to update my blog. To tell you the truth, I just haven't had the emotional strength to do it. My life has been turned upside down once again. I had a CT scan done in February to check out some damage that had been done to my right lung during radiation. The results were never sent to my oncologist so it wasn't until a few weeks later when I went to go see my surgeon about reconstruction that she looked up the scan and told me the news that my cancer is back in my lung and in the lymph nodes underneath my heart. We met with my oncologist the next day and he ordered me a bunch of tests to have done in two weeks. I had a blood test, a PET/CT scan, a MRI on my brain, and a CT guided biopsy of the biggest tumor they could find on my lung. There is no cancer anywhere else in my body right now, but now we do know that cancer is in my blood stream, so there is no way for me to ever be "cured." I had a port (my third) put into my left arm yesterday and I am set to begin chemo on Tuesday. Back to being pumped full of poison and steroids, feeling like crap, and losing my hair. Back to the constant constipation, not being able to sleep, and the lovely taste of metal in my mouth constantly. Back to numb hands and feet, Neulasta shots, and a second trip through menopause. Can't wait! I'll keep you all updated.

Happy President's Day!