Bowling experience

Things are going fairly well. My hair is growing very slow but it's at a cute length so am happy with it. Not sure if I will grow it out long or not. Wish it would stay curly but I've heard that once it gets cut, that I will eventually lose the curls. My joint pain is less these days. Still have some trouble especially when I want to bend down to pick something up off the ground/floor. A couple of weeks ago, I took my kids bowling and decided I would bowl too. What a mistake.....I could hardly bowl. I like to bend down to roll the ball but I couldn't do it well at all. I was so sore the next couple of days. I guess bowling is out for me......just can't bend down low at all. It was the worse score I've done in years. I'm sure the kids wanted to laugh out loud but they were kind enough not to laugh or make remarks. I'm sure I looked funny trying to figure out how to bowl without bending much. lol. Hope you are all doing great. My brother in law who had the prostate cancer got a good report the other day....his PSA was less than 1 which is wonderful. He is cancer free!!!!! I will be getting a coumadin level check next week plus my port flushed with heparin. The only other complaint I have had is that there are times when my breast where I had the cancer feels heavy and painful in the morning when I wake up. During the day, I have no problems. Thanks for keeping up with me and I'm sorry I've not written in quite a while. Just not much to report on. Love you....

Last Treatment

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!

Monday was a grand day for me!!! Had my last Herceptin treatment and boy, was I excited. I was to be there at 11 for Brandon had a doctor's appt. at 9:30 and I wanted to be sure there was plenty of time for his appt. Well, Brandon got in and out very quickly so there I was at 10 am and right next door to the cancer center so I called and they said I could come in early. Larry had planned to be with me while I had the last treatment. He had not seen the new chemo clinic. So, I messed up his plans but I told him not to worry for it usually takes 1 1/2 hours to have my treatment. He planned to come over at 10:30 but got stuck in his office with one of his employees and wasn't able to get away until 11. And wouldn't you know that of all days, my treatment was done in only 1 hour. I walked out of the chemo clinic and Larry was driving into the parking lot. Sorry Larry....I made chocolate chip cookies for the nurses and staff which they appreciated. Also, I talked to them about buying a fish for their tank so they told me where to go buy one for the owner of this shop cleans their tank and knows the fish that is in the tank already. I will do that soon. I always enjoyed watching the fish. After my treatment was done, Larry and I went out to lunch at Olive Garden with some friends to celebrate!!!! What fun we had. Our waitress was someone we all knew and she gave us lots of extra mints afterwards and those are my favorite mints. (Andes mint). Larry ended up taking the rest of the day off so after he got home, we spent time together playing cards. Sarah joined us for a couple of games. Had a nice relaxing day. It is hard to believe I am done with all the IV treatments. Went through 15 months of treatments. I will have to go back in a month to have my port flushed with heparin but that takes just a minute to do. Will go there when I have my next coumadin level checked since it's all in the same building. I will see the doctor on Oct. 20 after I have some cat scans. Thanks to all of you who have followed my journey and have prayed for me all these months. Thanks , Mom, for all you've done for me. God has used this journey to draw me closer to Him and to others. He has delivered me from cancer and I give him all the praise and glory for that. I know He has been there every moment helping me get through this tough time. He gave me the peace I needed to navigate through this journey. What a wonderful feeling that was to have that peace, knowing that God is with me and that He knows what is best for me even though I may not understand why I had to go through this journey. All I had to do was lean on him and trust Him for all things. I hope I passed the test....:). Love you all...... (oh, I will have a hamburger cookout this Sat. around 6 pm...welcome to come...just let me know)

Isaiah 48:17 This is what the Lord says: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

coumadin level

Psalm 145:3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no on can fathom.

Sorry that I've not written in quite a while. I had a coumadin level check yesterday and it was perfect at 2.5!!! That was the first time to have it checked a month later so again, I get to wait for another month to have it checked. I am so happy about the level check. I also had blood drawn at the cancer center. I am to have Herceptin on Monday...my last treatment. Since it is my last treatment, I want to celebrate. First I thought we would just go out for dinner but now I am thinking of having a party at my house and invite my neighbors who helped out and some others who helped out and supported us. And if any of you live nearby, you are invited too. I will have it on saturday....august 14 in the evening. I am trying to think of what I can do for a memorable favor thing. Not sure yet. I am going to bake cookies for the nurses at chemo center and I want to buy a fish for their salt water fish tank. I went to Petco to check on what fishes they have so thinking of getting them a clown fish. I would get it on Monday except my son has a dr. appt before I go have my Herceptin so wouldn't be wise do that plus store doesn't open that early. I will ask to be sure it's okay to buy a fish and then do it shortly afterwards. I am doing great these days besides my "chemo brain". I still have joint stiffness and neuropathy in toes but other than that I am okay. Oh, sometimes I have the fatigue too. The other day we went on a field trip to see some painted rocks (Indian pictographs) and when the lady was talking, I was falling asleep and this was at 10 am. I was so embarrassed for what she said was interesting but I just do that at times. Well, thank you so much for keeping up with my journey...it's close to the end. Guess I can't say it's really over until I see the CT Scans in October but treatments are ending. Praise the Lord. I will say that the only thing I regret about my journey is the fact that I didn't have good church family at the time. I went to a church for 20 years that was family and they would have been right there for me (a couple were and they did pray for whenever I see someone like at the store, they ask how things are going with my treatments). But we had left that church 3 1/2 years prior to my having cancer then we were at a small church that would have been helpful but left it 1 1/2 years prior to the cancer. The church I go to now is large and even though some knew, they just weren't there to help out except one lady but I have known her for years through homeschooling. I really wish I had been in a better church but God used others like neighbors and friends and family to be my support group and I had to rely on Him so much more too. And my out of town friends were so encouraging with words, emails, cards, phone calls, prayers, etc. It all worked out so am thankful.....Love you all.

Psalm 145:7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

Doctor visit and Herceptin treatment

Psalm 118: 24 This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I wrote this yesterday but somehow I lost all that I wrote so am redoing it today. I was too tired yesterday to redo it then. Anyway, I went to the onocologist this past Monday. Talked with his nurse practioner too. My heart test that I had a couple of weeks ago was great. Shows that my heart hasn't changed at all from the first one which is great news. However, I did have a disappointment. I was hoping to have my port taken out after the last herceptin treatment which is on August 9. But, the doctor says I have to wait until I have a CT Scan of my abdomen, pelvis, and chest which won't be done until mid October. Then I see the doctor again on Oct. 20. If the CT Scan is good, no cancer evident, then I can have the port taken out. That means I have to continue taking coumadin for a few more months...oh, well....that is okay. Since I won't be having any treatments in Sept. or Oct., I will have to go to the chemo clinic to have a heparin flush to keep the port working. Heparin is a blood thinner and is use to keep lines open. They flush with heparin after each of my treatments. Guess I will be having surgery in Novemeber to have the port taken out (at least I hope). I talked to the nurse practioner about my joint stiffness. She says it is mainly from chemo. Could be some from getting older and some early arthritis but mainly from chemo. I have the joint stiffness mainly in the morning when I get up, when I get out of a chair, and especially when I get out of the car. I am sure people laugh at me when I go to Walmart or some store, and can't even stand up straight when I get out of the car. I must look like a old woman....lol.

I also had my herceptin treatment after seeing the doctor. It was going well which was good for I needed to hurry because I was babysitting that afternoon. Well, I had a float nurse who doesn't usually work there. My medicaton quit infusing but my nurse was starting an IV on a patient. Most patients have ports but once in a while, someone needs an IV started. Well, my nurse had trouble so I couldn't get her to fix my medicatin and wouldn't you know, the other nurse was also starting an IV. Then my nurse took off (maybe to lunch) so it was over 30 minutes before I could get someone to fix my medication. I was frustrated for it only takes 3o mintues for my medication to infuse and here it was....an extra 30 minutes. Usually it wouldn't bother me but that day I was in a hurry...oh, well....there was nothing I could do. I just have one more treatment left. Yea!!!

My hair is looking pretty good these days. I am getting used to short hair...um..maybe I should keep it short. Ummm....lol. We'll see...I am just happy to have hair. That was one of the hardest things about my cancer. For a woman, that is hard. Thanks to all for you love and interest in how I am doing. Thanks for your prayers. Love you all..

Psalm 118:28-29 You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Hair

Here is how my hair looks now. This is how it looks naturally....I just let it dry on own without blow drying or using a curling iron.

Great week

Romans 5:3 We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.

This past week has been a good one for me. I had my last 2D echo heart test done this past Tuesday. I am sure all is okay...heart sounded good and I could see it pumping on the screen as she was testing my heart. Also, on Friday, I had a coumadin level check and it was great--2.6!!! (needs to be between 2.0-3.0) I finally get to have one month checks ---yea!!! I have my next Herceptin treatment on July 20 which is coming up soon. I have been feeling pretty good these days. My hair is growing and looking pretty nice these days. I am getting to like it short...nice on these hot summer days. However, I still would like for it to grow longer to see what it will look like.

The only problem is my husband's health. He's having heart spasms that occur at times and makes him faint or have dizzy spells. The doctors can't figure out yet what is the cause of these spasms. He almost fainted yesterday in HEB. Just pray that they will find the cause so they will be able to treat his problems. Every time he does some exercise or activity using his arms, he seems to have these spells. He played Wii golf the other day and now the spells. Poor guy....I ended up having to finish mowing the lawn today since he started to have a spell again. Thanks for your prayers.

I John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

Doing well

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I am so sorry that I've not posted in quite a while. I am feeling much better these days. My fatigue is even better....still get tired at times but not like it was. Praise the Lord. I had Herceptin this past Monday (June 28) and all went well. The nurse scared me though for she had trouble getting a blood return from my port. They always check to be sure the port is working by pulling back the syringe to see if blood comes out of the port. They have never had any problems with my port. So, here it is near the end of my treatments and I thought my port was acting up. The nurse decided that the needle was next to the edge. She finally got some blood back so all is well. I have only 2 more Herceptin treatments left. Yea!!! I plan to have my port taken out when the treatments are done so that means I will have to have surgery to have it removed. It will be simple and a day surgery procedure but I hate having surgery. Oh, well.....

My hair is growing. The front is finally down to the bottom of my ear lobes. It's somewhat curly in the back but I hear that it's like baby hair and will grow straight after awhile. I will get someone to take a picture of me soon so I can post it and you can see it. I am liking it much better.

We have a horse and the farrier came out last week to shoe the horse's hooves. Turns out he has rectal cancer and we have the same doctor so we enjoyed conversing about our cancer and treatments, etc. He wears a pump to have his chemo infusing all day long for 5 days in a row. He is doing this for 6 weeks. It doesn't make him sick so he just carries on like usual but he gets tired. My brother-in-law just has a few days left of his radiation treatments so I know he will be happy to have that behind him. Hopefully all is well. I think he'll have a PSA test soon but not sure about that.

I still have problems with chemo brain (so they call it) where I can't always come up with the correct word or name of things. My kids tell me that I am just getting old but I know that it is from the chemo because I wasn't that bad before cancer. Oh, well....it's not too bad so I won't complain.

Tonight is our breast cancer support meeting but not sure I will go or not. I learn some things there but really find it hard to meet people there. It's a rainy day here and I don't have to go to town, so it will be real easy just to stay home. I've been busy this summer babysitting some kids so not home alot. Thanks for checking up on me. Love you all.....Keep praying for me!!

Galatian 6:2a Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.