ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????

So my faithful followers, wondering where I've been for the last week? Well, a few days after chemo I became extremely weak and was basically on the couch all that following weekend. So much so that mom had to come back from the beach to take care of me. Well, I also started having severe stabbing pains in my chest where I had my surgery, so bad that I was back on the pain meds. Tuesday (a week after chemo) the fever started and didn't stop. I was miserable. Not only was I weak, but I had this horrific pain that I couldn't get to subside. Went to the Dr. on Thurs, he sent me to have an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have an infection. Nope, no infection at the surgery sight, but still fever and pain, so he sent me to the E.R., wanting to rule out a pulmonary embolism (that would be blot clot in the lung). So, off the the E.R. we go, they take me right back and start their magic. Luckily, they can start the IV in my chemo port. Yey!! No needle sticks. Right, NOT. They have to start another IV to run dye through so I can have a CAT scan to make sure I'm not about to croak from the pulmonary embolism (PE for short). After 7 sticks to my arm and hand, yes, 7, they've finally given me Ativan for anxiety. Ya think?? The ER doc comes in and the nurses tell him every time they stick me my veins blow. No kidding. So he says, let's try the neck. Yes, the neck. They lay the hospital bed almost upside down, kinda like I'm hanging in iversion boots, and he says turn your head to the left all the way and don't move. Well, I happen to have 3 buldging discs in my neck, and it doesn't turn all the way. He made it turn all the way. So, he sticks me in my neck telling me to relax as I'm hyperventalating. That vein blows. Great, turn your head to the right. Remember the discs?? Ok, so he says to me as he's at my jugular vein with a sharp thing, relax and don't move. Holy crap it actully took! Thank the Lord above after 9 sticks they finally got the damn iv in me. So, off to CT scan. No problem. Doc comes in and says, ok everything looks clear, you can go home. WHAT???? What about the fever and the intense pain in my chest??? Well, they can't figure it out. Saturday, still running a fever and still on pain meds for the ice pick stabbing me. Sunday, no fever, get up and we got the church. Hey, no pain in my chest. Hopefully whatever it was is gone. So, this morning I got up and got ready for my follow-up appt with Lance the adorable PA at my oncologist office. Uh-oh, the pain's back. Wait a minute, I had no pain yesterday and I had on a normal bra for church. Today, I put on the sports bra that I've been wearing since my surgery. So, I changed my bra and the pain went away. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? All this crap because I had on the wrong %$#$%^% bra???? So, long story short, I had a virus that caused the fever and had on the wrong damn bra. The End.

No More Squirty Cheese!

So, I wake up this morning at 3:00 am, not able to go back to sleep and notice my hands have begun to swell. Oh crap I think, not a side effect already! Wait a minute, didn't Lori and I consume a bottle of squirty cheese and wheat crackers along with a few slim jims during chemo yesterday?? Of course, it's the squirty cheese that's making me swell, not chemo. Sodium anyone?? Anyhow, today is going pretty well. I'm not sick just tired from being up since 3 am. Four hours sleep is definately not enough for me. Hopefully tonight I'll sleep better. I just want to send a sincere thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes, prayers, funny comments and words of encouragement to me. The response I've gotten is truly overwhelming and humbling. You never really know how many people care until something like this happens. What is really amazing is all the support I've gotten from all of you from WHS. What a blessing to grow up in a small town like Walkersville, and almost 30 years later people still take time out of their day to send prayers and support. I love you all and please know that your support is what is keeping me going right now. That and that squirty cheese!

First Day of Chemo

Well, day one of chemo was a very long day. Lori and I arrived at the oncologist's office at 8:40 this morning and didn't get started until 9:45. They started me off with an anti-nausea drug, then the three drugs I'll be taking, starting with taxotere, then carboplatin and last but not least herceptin. The room was set up with 5 or 6 recliners and over the course of the day, different people came and went. We met a 34 year old woman who has stage 4 breast cancer, a woman with leukemia, a woman with stomach cancer and a woman who's cancer has spread to her bones. She'll need chemo every week for the rest of her life. Boy, I could be so much worse off. My chemo is preventative. It's very humbling going into something like this when my biggest concern is hair loss when some of these people may very well die. I told Johnathan yesterday when he expressed concern over me having to go through chemo that this will not kill me. I'm not sick and I'm not in pain. I guess I have to keep reminding myself of this. We were finally finished by about 2:45 and boy were we ready to leave. It had been a very long day, indeed and I know we were both glad to see that last drip in my iv bag. Pastor Hobby stopped by as the last little bit of herceptin was dripping into my veins. What a good guy. Couldn't ask for a more caring and compassionate pastor. Funny, too. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. Don't take that for granted. Love hard, forgive often and laugh lots!

Day 1

Let me start by saying my 10 year old son Mikey came up with the title of my blog. Booby Doo vs the Cancer Monster is brilliant title for what I'm about to experience. Jan 14 began my journey. That was the day I had my routine mammogram. Later that week, I was called to come back in to have another because something showed up on the original mammogram. Long story short, I went in for an ultrasound, had the needle biopsy (lots of fun) right there and two days later was told I had breast cancer. Now, my doctor told me I had DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and recommended a mastectomy. He said unless they found something else that they were not expecting, this should be all the treatment needed. Ok, I can deal with that. I had the surgery on 2/9/10 and reconstruction at the same time. A few weeks later I followed up with my surgeon and low and behold, an invasive tumor was found in the breast tissue that was not previously detected, so here I am on the eve of my first chemo treatment. I'm nervous about how this treatment is going to make me feel. I have accepted the fact that I will lose my hair, but being sick is not something I want to tackle. However, I know that this treatment is life saving and am grateful to have it available to me. So, if anyone is reading this and going through what I'm going through, you're not alone. Have faith and be strong. As my wonderful surgeon said to me when he told me about my diagnosis, "This will not do you in." Thanks Dr. Mosokwitz.