Chemo#1 Day#2

I went to sleep at about 7pm and woke up this morning at 7am to rain. That is nice since we really need the rain out here. I had a great sleep. Ramon was a trooper as he woke me up at 8, 10, and 4 to take my Tylenol and nausea meds and made sure I had plenty of Gatorade with them. I feel fine and was not planning on this, so it is a nice surprise. I had this notion that I would come home feeling like a different person, drugged up, symptomatic, fatigued, sad, and not myself and since that is not the case I am so happy! I continue to count my blessings.

I am gonna eat a small bowl of cereal in a bit and since I have not felt nauseous I hope it will be okay.

6:38 p.m.: I am still doing well :-)! I had a great lunch and been drinking a lot of liquid. I think I might skip dinner as it was a big late lunch and I am still full. I will update again tomorrow

It is REAL now

I just got home from my first chemo treatment (2:15 pm). It was a long appointment (5 hours) as we knew it would be. The first one is usually the longest since they spend a lot of the time giving valuable information. It was in San Marcos and I really liked their facility so much that I had them reschedule the rest of my chemos to their facility. Everything went pretty well considering that they pumped me up with a bunch of toxic chemicals. There were 4 separate drugs that I was given. Two were pushes (they are pushed into my IV and the last two were drips). The very last one started to burn my vein so the nurse had to slow the drip down considerably. I only hope that the drugs have begun to do their job already.

I feel FINE right now. No different than I did before we left to the appointment this morning. But as I am told, this will not last. I am just sitting in the rocking chair right now while I am typing this up. I am also trying to eat a little soup and crackers.

Well, I guess there is not much to report right now. Maybe later? If not, I will update tomorrow.

THANK YOU for checking up on me.

My Last Day of "Normal"

Tomorrow my fight begins. A 12 round fight and I have EVERY intention of coming out victorious! It just makes me sad to think that this is possibly the last "normal" day my daughters will get from me for many months. We are just gonna hang out today. Go to the park, play, read, .... Do the things that I might be to tired to do in the days/weeks/months to come. Who knows. Maybe I will have days in which I feel "normal" during my treatment but I cannot predict that. I really hope I do.

I wanted to take some time to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you have done for me and my family. All the kind words, emails, uplifting comments left on the blog, offers of assistance, prayers, time taken off of work, and for caring about me and my struggle mean the world to us. What would I (we) do without the awesome support system that is in place? I could not even imagine. I am THANKFUL, so very THANKFUL to have all of you in our lives!!!!!!!!

I thought that I'd list my upcoming chemo dates (every 2 weeks) for those that were interested: Chemo#1 - tomorrow, Chemo#2 - 10/26, Chemo#3 - 11/09, Chemo#4 - 11/23, Chemo#5 - 12/07, Chemo#6 - 12/21. As this point I would be half of the way done :-). There are 12 sessions in total. If I am very lucky I might only end up doing 8 sessions. The oncologist said that he would determine this at a later date.

2 Days Left

I think that I counted wrong (shame on me, the math teacher). On Monday I only had 4 days left not 5, oh well. So that makes today - 2 days left not 3. I guess I better tune up my counting skills over break.

Well...what did I do today. MUGA, done!, blood work, done!, hair cut, done!, pick up anti-nausea meds, done! My hair is not as short as I thought it would be but she took a lot off. It does not hit my shoulders, it is about a 1/2 inch above. I love it actually. So I guess I will cherish the time I have left with my great new DO.

The Countdown Continues...

I got my flu shot today. My oncologist advised that I do so before the chemo starts so I have an added defense against getting sick during the flu season. This is another thing that I can cross off my never ending to-do list. Afterwards I went to buy a Gameboy. I figured that Ramon and I could fine tune our Tetris skills during the hours of my chemo. He used to have a Gameboy years ago (before the girls) and we used to sit and play against each other. He is playing it right now as I write - he thinks that he is gonna get a head start.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to repeat my MUGA (heart) test. I took one last week but the image it produced was not as good as it could be so this time they will be injecting me with a different radioactive tracer. I am already tired of getting IV's and now have some scar tissue in the vein in my left arm and the major stuff has not even begun yet. Tomorrow is also the day of my "prepping for chemo" hair cut. My hair stylist is gonna give me a short hair cut so that when my hair starts falling out it wont be as noticeable.

Had it not been for the test the girls and I would probably be in Palm Desert with my parents right now enjoying this week. Well, there's always next year.

As 'THE DAY' draws closer you'd think that I would be more nervous and I don't think I am. I am ready to get the process started and over with! I have a chemo bag that I am going to be packing to take with us to the hospital. I think that I will be working on that on Thursday.

My sisters are actively involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and their Team in Training (TNT) program and have been long before my diagnosis. They are training for the Dublin (Ireland) marathon with TNT and raising money for the Society. If you have a chance take a look the website.
[http://www.active.com/donate/tntsdh/tntsdhMDIAZ4]

How I ended up Here!

I guess this is my story. During Spring Break of 2007 I went to urgent care for a cough that I had been battling for weeks (has been gone for months now) and a recent painfull sore throat. The doctor ordered me to have a chest x-ray to see if there was something causing my symptoms. It was a Tuesday. The next day the phone rang and Kaiser showed up on the caller ID. I knew something was wrong because they do not call unless there is a problem. My heart sunk. The doctor told me that the x-ray had shown a mass in my chest and neck and that I needed to have a CT scan ASAP as it was likely Lymphoma. I guess the Tuesday of my x-ray was the last day of normal as I had known it. I remember that day vividly as my parents and 2 aunts were on a cruise to Baja and they were docked in San Diego for the day. That was a fun day. We were at Seaport Village, Horton Plaza, Sammy's Woodfire Grill, and we entertained by the fact that Loli smuggled a chocolate cake off the ship for Angela.

Well back to my story. The CT scan I had confirmed that I did have 2 masses (or 1 contiguous ??), one in the chest and one in my neck. I had a left VATS surgery to get a biopsy of the mass. It was very nervous as I waited for the results. I got the call (after school one day) from the surgeon and the pathology came back non-cancerous. I was so happy!!! Words could not describe. I was referred to a Pulmonary doctor and underwent a series of blood tests to see if they could find an explanation for my tumor. No luck. The panel of Pulmonary doctors agreed that it needed to be removed. They had a feeling that they cancer was hidden deep within the mass and the first biopsy had not produced a large enough tissue sample. So here I was again, cancer was suspected and more tests needed to be preformed. How dumb I was to forget the renew my cancer insurance in February.

Well, to make a long story short, I had another CT scan and it showed that the tumor had grown about 1 cm in about 4 months. My 2nd surgery was scheduled, a left VATS again. This time my doctor said that he was going to take the whole thing out! He did and 8 days later the diagnosis was in: LYMPHOMA. That was a sad day.

I have since met with the oncologist twice, have had numerous other tests, and have finally scheduled my chemotherapy, and so continues my story...

5 days until my chemo starts

Today is Monday and my first chemo appointment is right around the corner. As much as I wish that day would come, I know that the sooner I begin this fight the sooner it will be over. I am scheduled to have a treatment called ABVD. It is an acronym for the 4 drugs used in the treatment. The treatment will be given once every 2 weeks for a period of 4 - 6 months. I am told that it will most likely be 6 months rather than 4, but that will not be decided at this stage of the process. I guess enduring chemo and all the its effects is a small price to pay to save my life.

I just ordered a Livestrong Survivorship Notebook. It is supposed to help organize and guide you through the cancer experience. Hopefully it will arrive in time. I have a pulmonary function test today to provide a lung function baseline as one the chemo drugs can cause lung damage. I am on Fall Break for 2 weeks so I might as well enjoy this week while it lasts because I am not quite sure what the weeks and months to come will bring.