Chemo is DONE! hopefully I never have to spend another day in the chemically-rank infusion ward! Now just 6 more radiation treatments!
I have enough hair to make little spikes! And full eyebrows! And a stupid rectangular sunburn on my back where I got radiation :(
August 26, 2009
August 18, 2009
Radiation sucks!
Not much to report. Radiation sucks. I'm so tired that I can do about one errand a day, and that errand is to drive to radiation. I don't have any diarrhea, but I have been nauseous a few times in the last week. Kinda randomly. And I am starting to get really bad chemo brain. I'm forgetful and am having a hard time bring up words to mind when speaking. Arghhhhhhhhhhh over a week to go...
I see the radiation oncologist once a week to go over my symptoms and the progress of the treatments. At our last meeting he recommended that I do an extra 3 treatments aimed at the area over my para-aortic nodes where the highest tumor was found. I was like, whatever, what's 3 extra days going to matter? Well we'll see now cause I'm getting really tired of this.
My doctor hadn't order a CA-125 for me yet so I demanded to get it drawn last week. I feel like they have totally forgotten about me- I hadn't had the test in almost 3 month! But all is good, I got it back and it was 9! I think that is my second lowest number yet. And it had better be cause I'm not doing this double whammy preventative chemo-radiation combo for nothing!
Other than that... My sis came to visit last week. We spend a good portion of the time napping or watching movies on my bed. She was just as tired as me! We did go to Karaoke and a fun Madonna-Elvis party though. She dressed up like Like-A-Virgin Madonna in a white corset, and I did the whole cone-boob thing. They were rocking costumes! Pictures to come...
I see the radiation oncologist once a week to go over my symptoms and the progress of the treatments. At our last meeting he recommended that I do an extra 3 treatments aimed at the area over my para-aortic nodes where the highest tumor was found. I was like, whatever, what's 3 extra days going to matter? Well we'll see now cause I'm getting really tired of this.
My doctor hadn't order a CA-125 for me yet so I demanded to get it drawn last week. I feel like they have totally forgotten about me- I hadn't had the test in almost 3 month! But all is good, I got it back and it was 9! I think that is my second lowest number yet. And it had better be cause I'm not doing this double whammy preventative chemo-radiation combo for nothing!
Other than that... My sis came to visit last week. We spend a good portion of the time napping or watching movies on my bed. She was just as tired as me! We did go to Karaoke and a fun Madonna-Elvis party though. She dressed up like Like-A-Virgin Madonna in a white corset, and I did the whole cone-boob thing. They were rocking costumes! Pictures to come...
August 7, 2009
Radiation grind
Just been doing the grind lately: chemo on mondays, radiation monday-friday. Radiation is definitely annoying because I have to plan my day around whatever time I have to be there for the day. I don't really have a set schedule at the moment, so each day I ask what's available and show up then. It only takes 20 minutes, but it's 20 minutes to drive there. They only offer it M-F until 4:30pm as well, so I don't know what people do who have a life to work around... what if people still want to work? Not that this applies to me at all, where I concern myself around whether or not it's warm enough to go to the lake and what to make for lunch. At least I get to socialize a little more during the day (usually I am alone during the day because everyone else is at work) at radiation- I have the same 3 techs every time. One girl is super cool- she is my age and is married to a musician. She listens to the same music as me and always changes the pop-music which is playing on the ipod when I come in to her special mix. It makes the whole process just a little easier...
Chemo isn't so bad. It sucks to have to be back in the Infusion ward. I was so excited to leave that place. I even have the same nurse as before. Luckily, I don't have all the side effects this time- radiation caused much more nausea and fatigue than chemo last week. All I have now is that good ole' metallic taste that I missed so much...
Other than that not much is going on. I went to another funk show last night which was pretty awesome. I wore my long rainbow-colored striped socks with my red wig. I looked like I shoulda been in a Skittles advertisement. Anyways, this is the first time I've worn my wig in awhile. I finally have just enough hair to not wear anything- no scarf, no wig. Last week we had this record-breaking heatwave- 103 deg high- so I got used to going scarfless. It's kinda nice because my hair is really soft and my head stays cool. I never thought for the life of me that I would be sporting a supershort pixie cut.
That's it for now..my sister comes next week to visit so I can't wait for that!
Chemo isn't so bad. It sucks to have to be back in the Infusion ward. I was so excited to leave that place. I even have the same nurse as before. Luckily, I don't have all the side effects this time- radiation caused much more nausea and fatigue than chemo last week. All I have now is that good ole' metallic taste that I missed so much...
Other than that not much is going on. I went to another funk show last night which was pretty awesome. I wore my long rainbow-colored striped socks with my red wig. I looked like I shoulda been in a Skittles advertisement. Anyways, this is the first time I've worn my wig in awhile. I finally have just enough hair to not wear anything- no scarf, no wig. Last week we had this record-breaking heatwave- 103 deg high- so I got used to going scarfless. It's kinda nice because my hair is really soft and my head stays cool. I never thought for the life of me that I would be sporting a supershort pixie cut.
That's it for now..my sister comes next week to visit so I can't wait for that!
July 31, 2009
Radiation Prep & Procedures.. and the NEW plan
I'm rushed to get some stuff up here so this is a half-finished blog from a week or so ago...
Today I went to my radiation appointment to get scans taken and to prep for the real deal.
The first step of this appointment was to prepare a cast for treatments. In other words, the techs had to find the exact position that they would need me to be placed so that the beams would be on target. Since I would be going everyday for treatment, I would need to be able to lay in the exact same position every time. So to accomplish this, they had me lay on the table with my legs over this thin blue mat. Then, they filled the mat with two chemicals, which when combined formed a foam that surrounded my legs. This process took about 10 minutes and was quite pleasant because the chemicals were very warm. After 10 the foam was hardened enough to make a nice little leg-shaped trough. I asked why they only wanted to make a leg cast, since it was my pelvis that would be irradiated; the tech explained that keeping my legs still would stabilize my pelvis, and other barriers would keep me from turning. Little did I know that they other, more permanent plans to keep my pelvis in place. In addition to the leg cast, they used lasers in a cross-pattern to ensure alignment. So to make the points where the lasers would intersect they used tattoo. That's right, tattoo. I have 5 very small black dots permanently inked into my skin- 3 in a line on my torso, lower abdomen, and above the pubic bone; 2 to the right and left of my navel. Not what I was expecting for that second tattoo. I know I will NEVER get another tattoo on or anywhere near my pubic bone again! I remember I asked the tech if he could just make a little design or something, but he told me no- his forte was circles. Oh well, worth a shot. Anyways, each time I was to come in for a treatment, the techs could now line up these lasers with my tattoos and know exactly where to irradiate.
The rest of the appointment was about 45 minutes of CT scans. Just me laying on this table half-naked while this massive xray machine took pictures from side to side and from up top. My arms were above my head and my circulation was starting to get cut-off... very uncomfortable. But finally I was done and ready to meet with my lovely radiation oncologist. Apparently he is the only gynecological radiation oncologist in the area. Well, he told me that he and my gyn onc had a new plan for me. This one I wasn't expecting at all. Instead of doing radiation for 5 weeks on both sides of my pelvic lymph nodes, he thought it would be just as effective to only do the right side- where the original tumors were- as well as the para-aortic nodes (the spot near my two large abdominal blood vessels where some of the tumors had spread). He reasoning was that this way would greatly reduce the amount of radiation my uterus would be exposed to. Of course, I liked this idea a great deal. However, he said that he had discussed with my gyn onc that the treatments would be most effective if combine with low-dose chemotherapy with Taxol as well. The plan was, then, to do 5 wks of radiation (M-F) and chemotherapy once a week (M) for 5 wks. Basically a double whammy of treatments for 5 whole weeks. As crappy as this sounds, the combo plan has shown success in lengthening remission times, and is the best way to protect my uterus. So there it is. This is my next 5 weeks....
More to follow soon!!!
Today I went to my radiation appointment to get scans taken and to prep for the real deal.
The first step of this appointment was to prepare a cast for treatments. In other words, the techs had to find the exact position that they would need me to be placed so that the beams would be on target. Since I would be going everyday for treatment, I would need to be able to lay in the exact same position every time. So to accomplish this, they had me lay on the table with my legs over this thin blue mat. Then, they filled the mat with two chemicals, which when combined formed a foam that surrounded my legs. This process took about 10 minutes and was quite pleasant because the chemicals were very warm. After 10 the foam was hardened enough to make a nice little leg-shaped trough. I asked why they only wanted to make a leg cast, since it was my pelvis that would be irradiated; the tech explained that keeping my legs still would stabilize my pelvis, and other barriers would keep me from turning. Little did I know that they other, more permanent plans to keep my pelvis in place. In addition to the leg cast, they used lasers in a cross-pattern to ensure alignment. So to make the points where the lasers would intersect they used tattoo. That's right, tattoo. I have 5 very small black dots permanently inked into my skin- 3 in a line on my torso, lower abdomen, and above the pubic bone; 2 to the right and left of my navel. Not what I was expecting for that second tattoo. I know I will NEVER get another tattoo on or anywhere near my pubic bone again! I remember I asked the tech if he could just make a little design or something, but he told me no- his forte was circles. Oh well, worth a shot. Anyways, each time I was to come in for a treatment, the techs could now line up these lasers with my tattoos and know exactly where to irradiate.
The rest of the appointment was about 45 minutes of CT scans. Just me laying on this table half-naked while this massive xray machine took pictures from side to side and from up top. My arms were above my head and my circulation was starting to get cut-off... very uncomfortable. But finally I was done and ready to meet with my lovely radiation oncologist. Apparently he is the only gynecological radiation oncologist in the area. Well, he told me that he and my gyn onc had a new plan for me. This one I wasn't expecting at all. Instead of doing radiation for 5 weeks on both sides of my pelvic lymph nodes, he thought it would be just as effective to only do the right side- where the original tumors were- as well as the para-aortic nodes (the spot near my two large abdominal blood vessels where some of the tumors had spread). He reasoning was that this way would greatly reduce the amount of radiation my uterus would be exposed to. Of course, I liked this idea a great deal. However, he said that he had discussed with my gyn onc that the treatments would be most effective if combine with low-dose chemotherapy with Taxol as well. The plan was, then, to do 5 wks of radiation (M-F) and chemotherapy once a week (M) for 5 wks. Basically a double whammy of treatments for 5 whole weeks. As crappy as this sounds, the combo plan has shown success in lengthening remission times, and is the best way to protect my uterus. So there it is. This is my next 5 weeks....
More to follow soon!!!
July 16, 2009
Another Cancer Blog
I randomly came across this ovarian cancer blog by a woman who has CCC (clear cell carcinoma). It's pretty comprehensive but if anyone wants to check it out...
Also.................... everyone reading this should be a Follower! It's quick, just click on the link on the side bar- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
you don't need to be a member I think, but if you are it does allow you to comment. It would definitely be nice to see who all is reading this!
Oh and shout out to Adam who is done with his radiation treatment!!!!! woohoooooooooooooooooooo! Way to keep strong Adam!!!
Also.................... everyone reading this should be a Follower! It's quick, just click on the link on the side bar- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
you don't need to be a member I think, but if you are it does allow you to comment. It would definitely be nice to see who all is reading this!
Oh and shout out to Adam who is done with his radiation treatment!!!!! woohoooooooooooooooooooo! Way to keep strong Adam!!!
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