{TRUTH} Chemo #6

Chemo #6 (8/23/2016) Taxol

I'm a bit behind in posting but I think the good thing about that is that it speaks to the fact that I am feeling so good that I am busy doing other things and I am super happy about that!

This past round of chemo was my worst infusion but it led to my best week...so I guess we had a little good and bad balancing act going on.

The bad.... 

I mentioned in my previous chemo post that doses 5-8 would be a different chemo cocktail than what I had had for doses 1-4.  As part of my new chemo routine, they pre-medicate me with a steroid (for nausea) and two medications to prevent having a reaction.  Wait!  You can have a reaction to the chemo?  How unlucky would a person have to be to have an allergic reaction to chemotherapy...come on, they are already going through chemo!

Yes, well that unlucky person was me and it happened on my last dose!

So my chemo day pretty much looks like this...

* arrive at the hospital, check in, have my port plugged in and labs drawn

* have a check up with my oncologist, review lab results, check my lungs, heart, extremities, etc.

* settle into my recliner at the infusion center, receive pre-medications and start chemo infusion

All was well up until that "start chemo infusion" part.  I knew (because of the premedications) that Taxol has a potential for a reaction, but because this was my second dose of Taxol I simply assumed that no reaction with the first dose meant no reaction.  I was pretty tired by the time my infusion began so I was reclined and basically asleep.  Within about 10 minutes of the infusion beginning I had an immediate weight on my chest that felt like something had just been placed on top of it.  I could not take anything more than a shallow breath, and even that hurt really bad.  At that same time, my back began to hurt excrutiatingly.  I immediately knew I was having a reaction so I turned to Rich to ask him to get my nurse and his eyes got large and he told me that I was really flushed - like beet red.  My nurse was helping another patient so Rich found the closest nurse and as soon as she looked up at me she knew what was going on.  Instantly there were three nurses surrounding me....one put oxygen on me and was helping me to take breaths, another was taking my vital signs and another was stopping my infusion and running saline through my IV and pushing benadryl and dexamethasone to stop the reaction.  My oncologist was notified during all of the hustle and bustle and she was there at my side until it was determined that everything was okay.

The best part?

Then they started the infusion again!

I won't lie.  It seemed pretty counterintuitive to me too but I guess by the time they pump you full of drugs to curb the reaction, you can then just continue with the drug cause your body has enough meds on board to finish out the course.  So that is what we did.

The good...

For being a bit of a crazy infusion day, I have to say that this has been my best post-chemo week yet.  Because chemo obliterates my blood counts, I generally go to the hospital the day after chemo to get a shot that stimulates my bone marrow to start reproducing blood cells (RBC's, WBC's, platelets) so that I can have high enough blood counts in two weeks time to get another dose of chemo.  This has been the only round of chemo that my counts were high enough going into the chemo that my doctor didn't have me get that booster shot the next day.  I think that that one difference is what made my week.  That shot has it's own side effects and by not getting that shot I recouped really fast and really never had a "down" day this past cycle.

So I guess we'll take the good and be glad that our week ended on a positive.

Seattle Quick Trip

With the end of summer fast approaching, the kids and I took the opportunity to join Rich on a quick trip to Seattle.  A client meeting was the reason for the trip, but we got that out of the way quickly and then we joined aunt Sheri and uncle Ryan at Madison Park Beach on Lake Washington to enjoy a perfect Seattle summer day (along with 60% of the Seattle population :)

What I wish I had a picture of was the floating dock that was out in the lake.  There were two diving boards on the dock and people would swim out to the dock and then from there they would jump into the lake off of the diving boards.  It was busy all afternoon but all of my kids took turns doing it and a HUGE thanks to Sheri and Ryan for taking J and T out to the dock so that they could do it too.

Our afternoon quickly got away from us and our next stop was supposed to be Trinidadian food at Rich's favorite Seattle stop but the location nearest us was closed so we headed the opposite direction to Issaquah where we ordered HUGE mugs of root beer (and floats) at the Triple XXX Root beer Drive In.  K noted the sign on the door and passed on ordering anything :)

Rather than rushing home that day, we stopped in Kent and got a couple of hotel rooms so that the kids could swim and stay up late watching the Olympics.

All in all it was a nice, spontaneous getaway.

{TRUTH} Chemo #5

Dose #5 (8/9/2016) Taxol

My fourth dose of chemo was really hard on me....the nausea came on hard and quick and lasted a LOT longer than any other round.  That made going in for my fifth dose really hard.  I knew that we were beginning a new drug regime but I didn't know how I would respond and was so apprehensive of having a response like the previous rounds response.

The good news is that there was very little nausea with the new drug (which I had been told was the case with most people).

The bad news is that the most common side effect is muscle aches and pains, similar to having the flu.  Yep...that is pretty much how I felt or 3-4 days.  I actually felt pretty good the day of chemo and the following day but then I had the aches and pains (and exhaustion) hit me.

For the record....at least for now, I will take the aches and pains over the nausea!

The other potential side effect is peripheral neuropathy (think numbness, tingling, pain in your extremities) and I had a bit of that but not too much.  They monitor that pretty closely because that can cause permanent nerve damage so if it gets too bad they will have to reduce my chemo dose (which means I have to have additional rounds....don't want that!)

My saving grace through all of this (well, one saving grace) is my weekly acupuncture visit. 

I am a believer!  

Call him Mr. Danger

We had to take down some tree branches last month and J and T were so diligent in getting the branches cut down into smaller pieces.

At one point I thanked T for being so willing to work hard and help, to which he replied,
"I'm not doing this to be a helper.  I'm doing it because it's dangerous."

Sounds like I need to educate him on the dangers surrounding making his bed and emptying the dishwasher :)



Capturing C

C and his buddies had an opportunity to have caricatures drawn of them at our city's Day in Park celebration.  It meant a long wait in a long line but it paid off.

C had one done of himself which I think captured his awesome hair really well!

C also had one done with three of his buddies because one of them is moving at the end of summer so they gave him the finished product for him to remember them all by.

LOVE IT!

Where's K?

The question of the summer has definitely been

Where in the World is K?

And the answer totally depends on the week...

If you asked the week after school let out, the answer was TREK...

If you asked the last week of June, the answer was EFY TACOMA...

If you asked mid-July, the answer was MONTANA...

If you asked the last week of July, the answer was GIRLS CAMP...

If you asked the first week of August, the answer was CROSS COUNTRY CAMP...

And despite being (supposedly) completely traveled out, she spent a day out at the OREGON COAST with her best friend when their camping trip was cancelled due to the rain.

I'm just glad that for the next three weeks the answer is HOME :)

Celebrating 17 years

On August 5th Rich and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.

The day turned in to a little bit of everything.

(DATE bit)

Rich had a fun idea for the two of us to take a Segway tour of downtown Portland.  We had great weather for our two hour adventure and only one of us ended up needed the first aid kit (hint...it wasn't me).

(FOOD bit)

Following our tour, we (I) waited in line for 20 minutes for a donut...only in Portland!

The trade off was that our lunch had to be a bit quicker so we didn't get to try the Cuban restaurant we had planned to try.  I guess we will have to just go back another day.

(FAMILY bit)

We enjoyed a quick visit to Rich's sister while we were in Portland. 

(MEDICAL bit) 

Then Rich took me to the hospital for my acupuncture appointment.

(HISTORY BEING MADE bit)

That evening we had friends over for dinner and to watch the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics and to kick off the beginning of our sports/TV binge that is still going strong.