Chemo #1 ~ In the books!

Yesterday, October 11th was Chemotherapy treatment #1. I'm pretty happy to say that I got out {mostly} unscathed! I had to be at Ironwood Cancer & Research Center at 10am so that I could meet with my Oncologist, the delightful Luke Halbur, before my treatment could begin. Everything checked out accordingly ~ my lab work from the week before was great and my MUGA scan (remember, the scan for my heart to make sure the Chemo doesn't cause heart damage) came back with an exceptional clean bill of health ~ Let's keep fingers, toes and eyes crossed that doesn't change...I tend to like my heart & in the condition it is now!!!! 

So off we went, to the Chemo treatment room. Although it was a slightly busy morning, there were two chairs together so that my mom could hang out with me the entire treatment. So...treatment begins...since I had the Medi-port put in last week, it is easy-peasy!!! First, they clean the chest area surrounding the Medi-port, then spray a numbing solution on the skin, then poke the port with a needle and get the IV started that way. I have about 20 minutes of 'pre-meds' to get my going...the beloved anti-nausea meds so I don't get too sick and some fluids to keep my veins open. All of that is done through the port. Then the 'good stuff' ... my two Chemo drugs. The first is what they call a push ~ it is injected by a very large needle into the IV that was started through my Medi-port. It is a pinkish-red drug, and the nurse sits next to me and injects it completely. After that, I have about an hour drip of the other medicine. Then I'm done.

Yesterday, I noticed that I felt pretty good during everything...right up to the last 5-10 minutes. All of a sudden, I got really tired and very pale. I didn't come close to passing out or throwing up, but just didn't feel right. So mom got me right home and I laid down on the couch, ate a sandwich and took a nap. 

I was in bed by 7:30 last night...just not feeling right. Mostly flu-like symptoms...achy everywhere, headache, hot / cold constantly...but luckily, I managed to fall asleep ~ and stay asleep until about 12:30am. By then, all meds seem to have worn off and I was not feeling well again. I woke my mom up and asked for another anti-nausea pill ~ then was all of a sudden hungry (good sign!), so mom and I were up at 1am heating up some home-made chicken soup with dumplings that she made for me! It was so yummy and it stayed down! {Knock on wood} I have yet to get sick from Chemo. We'll see if I can continue this trend!

I go in again today for my Neulasta shot which will help increase my White Blood Cell counts and will help my immune system recover more quickly from the Chemo...but for now, I'm off to lay down. I'm getting a little tired and my head is starting to way a small ton!!! 

Thanks for checking in and I will have more updates posted soon! 

Much love to everyone!!

   ~ heather :o)

Chemo set to begin

Well, we all knew this was coming ~ Chemotherapy. I am set to start this upcoming Monday, October 11th, 2010. I have a full 6 months of Chemo...the first round will consist of 4 treatments given once every three weeks. It will be approximately 2 hours per appointment. I will then have to go back on Tuesday so that I can have an injection to increase my White Blood Cell count. Rumor has it that I won't get sick...but will be very, very worn out and sleepy all the time. Yay...just what I need...!! But, the way I look at it is the more sleep I can get, the faster I can / will recover from this!

Today is a busy day...I have to have my MUGA scan, then I have to have pre-Chemo lab work, then I have to go pick up my anti-nausea meds from the pharmacy. This will become my new Thursday or Friday routine...lab work and the pharmacy before Chemo-Mondays. 

This past Tuesday was my Port-Placement surgery. It went well. I'm still a bit sore, but it is definitely getting better every day. Honestly, my neck is killing me! They place the tube into the jugular vain...not very natural!! 

On a side note, the weather in Arizona is finally starting to be tolerable again!! We had a HUGE storm front blow through on Tuesday...hail, wild winds, rain...it was AWESOME!! We actually opened up the windows in the condo yesterday and turned off the AC!! WOW...October 6th and we turned off the AC...!!! I told my mom that she has pretty much missed any sort of Fall Season. It has been so hot since she has been out here and when she goes back to Ohio it will already be cold and rainy and icky there!!

This weekend is the Susan G. Koman 5K in Phoenix. I am lucky enough to have a team in my honor...Walking for Heather. TONS of work people ~ from jobs present and jobs past ~ will be there. I truly am the luckiest person in the world. I can't wait to see everyone on Sunday!! Hopefully I can get some great pictures and will get some posted! 

Off to start my running around for the day! Thanks for checking in and more info to be posted soon! 

Love always, 

  ~ heather :o)

The Road Ahead

My Dearest Family and Friends ~

So, today was the day we met (again) with the Oncologist to find out what is on the road ahead of me ~ and I wanted to fill you in! There is a lot of road to cover, but, like I have said in the past, I run marathons...I got this!

First and foremost is having the Medi-Port put in. What this means is that I am going back to the hospital on Tuesday, October 5th for a Same-Day Surgery to have a port put into my chest. The reason for this is so that the doctors can hook me up and ingest "the goods" (the chemo) right into me.  Then, I need to go in for a MUGA scan...let's see if I can explain this correctly. It is a test to check my heart. Because of the drugs, they could negatively effect my heart and lead to heart damage...but because I am young and healthy, my Oncologist is optimistic that I will be okay. HOWEVER, I will be getting regular scans to check my heart!

So, what's next ~ well, to be honest, something fun! On Sunday, October 10th, 2010 is the Susan G. Koman Race For The Cure Phoenix and there are a lot of people that are going to be partaking in this event, myself included!! I have a lot of support in the Phoenix area that will participating in the event and I'm really looking forward to being down there for it.

After that, comes Chemo ~ starting on Monday, October 11th, 2010. Chemo will encompass 6 full months of treatment. The first 3 months will include 4 total treatments given once every three weeks. It will be approximately 2 hours of treatment per visit. The following day after treatment, I will go back to the office so that I can receive an injection to increase my White Blood Cell count. That will be an easy in-and-out appointment. After the first three months, I will start going in to the Cancer Center once a week for the next twelve weeks for another set of drugs.THEN...I start 6-7 weeks of Radiations which will every day of the week. So, in a nutshell, I will be at the Cancer Center for the next 7ish months of my life!! Luckily it is close to home and I like my Oncologist!!!

So, with all that said, I am a bit overwhelmed, but handling it as best I can. I knew Chemo would be involved, I thought Radiation would be involved...now I just have confirmation of what exactly is expected of me and I'm ready to start my treatment so I can be on my way to recovery! 

I hope I have covered everything that I wanted to for this entry...but if not rest assured I will be back to update you again!

Thanks again for checking in with the blog and me! I'm hanging in there and staying positive! I will get through this with a smile on my face!!! Hope to see you all soon!!!

Love always,

   ~ heather :o)

Post-Surgery Update

Hello My Booble Followers!!

Thank you for checking back in with my blog! I am very, very happy to report that I have been home from the hospital since last Friday evening. I was in the hospital starting Thursday morning for surgery and recovery, stayed Thursday night and almost all day on Friday, but was home by around 8pm. It was SO nice to come home and sleep in my own place. I crashed on the couch ~ I have a very comfy couch!! And it allowed me to sleep on my side ~ which was so much better than the hospital were I had to sleep on my back (so uncomfortable!). Pillows were used to prop me up on one side and off I went to sleep! I woke up around 7am to go to the bathroom ~ and for anyone that has had to stay the night, or any time at all in a hospital, you know how difficult that can be! My ability to just stand up, walk to my bathroom and go was a great feeling! I wasn't attached to anything!!!!! 

Since I have been home, I have started to catch up on sleep ~ but notice that I can sleep almost at the drop of a hat during the day, but it takes me a while to fall asleep at night! I really hope this isn't going to be a new trend for me! My mom has been taking the best care of me and so has the rest of my family and friends.  My wonderful Aunt Cathi and cousin AnMarie have been here a few days since I have been home...(1) to check on me (2) to help my mom with stuff and (3) to get my mom out of the condo for a little while! Speaking of getting out, I have now taken two walking trips to my mailbox and a car ride to the post office! It was nice to get out for a little while, but it is still so hot here in Phoenix that no one wants to stay out too long!

My roomie/eoomie, Alyssa, has been a dream. Some of you were in contact with here when I was in the hospital. She became my personal Medial Communication Specialist when I was unable to text, talk for Facebook! Not only that, but she along with my friend Lizzie have planned and executed the Meals-on-Wheels for Heather program! The wonderful group of people I have become the best of friends with from Team In Training along with co-workers have signed up to cook and/or order dinner so that my mom and I don't have to worry about it. It was been wonderful and I am forever indebted to each of these people for for their generosity and kindness they are showing to me and my family! 

What else ~ oh, I have a follow up appointment this Friday with my Surgeon and next Tuesday with my Oncologist, so I'm guess I will know more then and can update from there! Thank you to everyone who has checked in on me during all of this. I really appreciate it! I will leave you with this ~ I'm feeling pretty good. Sore, but not in a lot of pain. I'm sleeping pretty well (albeit maybe at the wrong hours, but sleep is sleep, right!!), and I'm in good spirits! I know there is still a long road a head of me, but I'm willing and able to make the journey ~ hopefully with really cute shoes on! 

Love to all of you! Check back in a few days for additional updates! 

Hugs and Smiles!! 

  ~ heather :o)

Surgery is set

I'm going to keep this short and sweet ~ I am exhausted!!! 

I'm going in for surgery this coming on Thursday, September 16th, 2010. I will be at Banner Desert in Mesa, Arizona. I should only have to be in the hospital overnight on Thursday and released to come home on Friday ~ but we will see how I'm doing on Friday. 

I am very optimistic but, as to be expected, I'm very nervous and emotional.  I will update everyone as soon as I am feeling well enough to do so, but my wonderful roommate, Alyssa, will be posting updates on my Facebook page, so check back in regularly for updates!

Thank you so much ~ ALL OF YOU ~ for your love, support, encouragement and friendship through all of this. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I will be blogging again just as soon as I can, so stay tuned!!

Love always!!

  ~ heather :o)

The waiting game continues...

...Hello family and friends and followers of my booble blog! Thanks so much for checking in ~ it is because of you that I am doing this! I love you all so much and want to make sure you are kept in the know of what is going on with me! 

So...Today's news ~ there really isn't any! I know, not what we wanted, but it is what it is. I spoke with the Surgeon this morning and and did get some good news ~ no chemo before surgery! And I have an appointment this coming Friday (September 10) to talk about the surgery ~ let me pause and say, for those that might not know, I have decided to go with a Bi-Lateral Mastectomy with Reconstruction later. This is the best option for me (1) to not redevelop cancer cells in the breast and (2) not redevelop breast cancer if I choose to get pregnant later in life. Plus, as strong as everyone says I am (and I know I am...!), I only want to have to go through this once ~ more than that is unacceptable {not that once is acceptable either!!}. So, back to the appointment, the Surgeon would like to discuss what to expect ~ everything from the hospital, the surgery, recovery. I think these are all good questions to have answered BEFORE embarking on this journey in my life, don't you?? So even though I am frustrated and the waiting game continues, I want to go into this with eyes wide open! 

On a side note, it has been just WONDERFUL to have my family here with me during this. I feel bad because I am still working right now ~ so I don't get to see them much. But, they have met Travis {the new boyfriend!!} and really like him {what's not to like?!?}; they have been able to help with stuff around the condo and make it post-surgery ready; they have seen family; gone swimming; been to Sedona! I would say it is a good visit ~ well, except for the whole cancer part...!! :)

I hope you sense that I am still very much the same ol' Heather ~ joking around and laughing whenever I can...at whatever I can! That is what will get me through this along with the most amazing support system that reaches throughout this entire country and even internationally! I have awesome doctors that want the best for me. And I have a bucket list a mile long ~ skydiving {possibly late-March, early-April 2011}, Dublin Marathon {October 2011}, drive cross country with Travis {June 2011}...just to name a few!!

So ~ check back in a few days...hopefully by then we will know when surgery is scheduled!

Love always

  ~ heather :o)

Phew...What a week!

Sorry for being MIA since starting My Booble...but I had just about the most exhausting week ever. It started off with a full day of work on Monday and a few hours on Tuesday followed by an MRI. What a loud, annoying procedure THAT was...!!! It didn't hurt or anything, but boy oh boy was it loud! For those of you that have never had one before, I'll try to explain it. I had to take off anything / everything metal ~ all my jewelry and my shoes. Then I was taken into this room with a huge machine and I had to lay face down (which was actually good!) on the table. They put headphones on me and promptly ran out of the room...heaven forbid they get any of the radiation that I was able to receive! They then started some music, which sounds nice, but I couldn't hear it over the machine, so what good did it do?!? Anyways, the scan itself took about 40 minutes. I left there with the biggest headache ever.  

Wednesday was supposed to be a pretty easy day, but it wasn't (I have a feeling I am going to end up with more days like that ...!). I had an appointment with an Oncologist first thing Wednesday morning. My mom and aunt were going to the appointment with me. Thank goodness...I would not even think of half the questions that they have been asking, so I'm so glad to have them there with me.  Anywho...come to find out that we had been scheduled with a Radiation Oncologist...weird...I was under the impression that I wasn't going to need radiation. But...come to find out...I may. We won't know for sure until after surgery. But he was great in answering all of our questions...and we had plenty for him. Questions about what to expect, what's next, what's to come. He was then able to get me scheduled (same day) with a Medical Oncologist in the same practice so I could speak to him about the Chemo & what to expect with that. So, off and running we were. We had about an hour to get from Gilbert to Mesa ~ totally doable. We ended up at the Ironwood Cancer & Research Center in Mesa. Very nice facility and the doctor we met with was amazing. He will become my primary Oncologist. We really liked him and he too took the time we needed to ask ALL of our questions (that we could come up with at that time). AND it was over his lunch break...what a guy...

After that, it was on for blood work and we spent the next 45 minutes sitting in a waiting room with about 20 people, most of which were kids...screaming kids nonetheless. It took all of 2 minutes to poke me and get the blood they needed, but we waited...and waited...and WAITED...  I was pretty well exhausted after that. I had a pounding headache and couldn't think straight any more...and it was about 2:30 in the afternoon. We started out day out at the first appointment around 8:30 am...so it had been a full day of doctors and running around.

Thursday was filled with meeting the Plastic Surgeon I am going to see for the reconstruction surgery; then work for a few hours; then a PET scan. What a breeze that was compared to the MRI. The PET scan required me to check in around 3:10pm. I was called back and luckily my mom could come with me. We were put in a comfy, small room with a big over-sized (medical) chair. I was able to change into something comfy, then I was stuck with another needle and injected with radioactive glucose! After that, I was left to relax for an hour...yes, a full hour of nothing! The lights were dimmed, I had a warm blanket and pillow, and was able to fall asleep for a little while! Then they woke me up, put me on a table and started to scan away. This test only took about 20 minutes and we were out of there. 

So far, I haven't really received any of the results of any of my tests, but I'm not concerned. I think they were more to help me determine what type of surgery I should have, in case I was still undecided.  

What this upcoming week holds...Who knows! All I know is that by Wednesday, I hope to know when surgery is going to be scheduled. My dad and sister will be in Phoenix through Friday at least; and my mom will be here for a bit longer than that. I think I have most things figured out and ready to go. More information to come as I get it! Thank you so much, to everyone, for your support and love during this. It is still overwhelming, but I am going to get through it with a smile on my face!

Love always!

  ~ heather :o)