Much Better Day Today!!!

So today was a much better day than yesterday!

I went to fitness this morning and I have to tell you I'm getting better by the minute. I take loads of rests between each exercise and I feel so great when I'm done! I'm actually enjoying going...and that's a huge deal for me. I have been pretty sure that exercise is a necessary evil up until now but my view has been changing these last couple of weeks.

I had my blood work done today and it was all good!! That means I'm on schedule for my third chemo to take place on Thursday! This is great! I'm trying hard to stay on schedule so I can get done as soon as possible!! Dr Califaretti also noticed the tumour has shrunk a bit this week! Another bit of good news!! I got some new meds too to help with the discomfort I still have with some acid issues. The doctor explained the acid is probably due to the steroids that are in the anti-nausea medication I'm on...and since I'm loving how well the anti-nausea medication is working I'm all for finding a way to get rid of the side effects from them!!

I've had lots of people asking me if I am watching the soaps since I'm home every day...the short answer is no. When I was in University (many many moons ago), the girls on my floor in first year got me hooked on the Y&R and Days of our Lives. I haven't watched either of them in years, I'm just not a soap fan. I tried watching the Y & R with my Mom when she was here (it's her favourite!!)...but then I got all confused when Patch (well, that was his name when he was on Days in the 80s) was on the Y&R. I gave up. I'm actually more about the game shows!! And I can't wait for Oprah's final season and for Ellen to come back from holidays!!

Thanks for all the good wishes that came my way today hoping I had a better day! It worked. I did indeed!!

xoxoxoxoxo

Rough Day...

So today was a rough day. I woke up feeling crappy and it just got worse from there. I did not venture far from the couch all day...thank goodness for the big screen!!

Yesterday was a pretty big day for me, and I'm wondering today if I pushed myself too far yesterday and paid the price for it today. It didn't feel like too much yesterday...but I guess my body has a different opinion!

I'm totally bummed that I had to cancel my plans with Kim & Sharon tonight...thank you girlies for understanding and for the rain check!!

The good news is I did have some dinner tonight - besides a peach and six crackers, I hadn't eaten much today. Keep your fingers crossed that it settles!!

Tomorrow I have my blood work up done and meet with Dr. Califaretti to get the thumbs up for my next chemo treatment (currently scheduled for Thursday morning). My fingers are crossed that feeling crappy today doesn't change anything for my next chemo.

I think it'll be an early night for me! I just have to get this water in me before I go to bed...I know that'll make my nurse happy!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

xoxoxo

Time flies when you're having fun!!

You know, pretty much every day I think about updating my blog. So I spend some time thinking about what I might have to say and if anyone cares about what I have going on...and than suddenly I'm in bed thinking "Damn! I forgot to update the blog today!!". Yep...I can pretty much guarantee that has been my thought process since Wednesday (I can say that 100% since Tuesday was my last entry!!). And then tonight, I finally put my fingers to the keyboard and start typing away...feeling good about updating when suddenly I hit something I shouldn't have and lose the whole thing. All of it. Half an hour of typing and bringing you all up to date gone. I think I might have said a bad word when I realized what happened. In my out loud voice!! And than I decided to start all over again! Wish me better luck this time around...I'm not sure I have a third try in me...

I got some super cute pictures from my friend Eileen this week. I think she was inspired by my love of daisies and so she sent me pictures of their Daisy! This Daisy is a Miniature Dachshund...isn't she so cute! I'm an equal opportunity daisy lover and this one ranks near the top of my list - right up there with Gerber Daisies!! I love this picture of Ian giving Daisy some loving and wanted to share it! I'm so glad my Thom family friends are having a great summer! Hope to see you all soon!!



I received a really cool delivery this week from my friends the Archers. It was an edible arrangement made up of all different kinds of fruit. The pineapple was cut into shapes and the ones that were cut like flowers had a melon ball for the centre. It was very cute and while I hated to take it apart, it tasted even better than it looked! I'm very happy to report that it's all gone now! Thanks so much Dave, Tessa, Casey & Jamie for the healthy treat and for being so thoughtful!!


My Mom and her sister, my Auntie Maureen, came to visit me at the end of the week. My Aunt hails from Drayton Valley, Alberta (which is near Edmonton) and she was in the "East" for a little holiday and to help my Mom out with their auction earlier this week. I was very happy they could fit me into their Ontario tour and to get some healing hugs!! It was a short, quick visit...and didn't leave us enough time to get to Picards Peanuts. I have to make sure we do that the next time my Mom comes to town!!



I returned to fitness on Thursday morning and am VERY happy to report it was much better than Tuesday! I was able to keep my heart rate under control and didn't feel like I was going to pass out once! Yeah me!! I opted for the bike this time instead of the treadmill...I thought it would be good to shake it up! I felt really good after and am again very excited about exercising through my treatments to help with my energies and healing!

I have been feeling ok this week. I'm easily tired and have been a little frustrated at how much I just can't seem to do. I am not being hard on myself, it's just a learning curve to figure out what I am capable of and knowing when I can push that a bit and when I need to stop. And understanding that this changes constantly. It's a whole new awareness of listening to what my body (and mind) are telling me. I had a reflexology appointment this week that helped me a lot with relaxing (thanks Jenn!!) and I slept great that night!! I'm still struggling with discomfort in my esophagus and it totally sucks when I go to eat something I love only to find out it tastes terrible. This doesn't happen all the time, thank goodness!

I thought I'd give you a picture of me from today. I figure some of you have a mental picture of me with a bald head. Not quite yet. I still have some hair, although it does continue to fall out all the time. I have to give a shout out to my sister, Sandy, for her great idea to get a drain catch for the shower...good that all that hair is not going down the drain. Sucks for me to have to clean the tub EVERY day!! I thought about taking a picture of that for you...but decided not!! You can thank me later...



We had a great visit with our friends, Kelly & Brock yesterday. Kelly came and hung out with me for the afternoon and we were quite productive - getting dinner ready, washing my wig, and just getting things organized! Thanks for your help, Kelly! And for showing me how to tie a scarf on my head! And thanks to Brock who found me a case of my favourite water! I'm a happy girl!

Matt had a day of motocross today with the boys...and me, I stayed home and enjoyed 50 beautiful inches of viewing! Yes, I am love love loving this new TV. It is awesome to watch television on, DVDs on, and have I told you about the Aquarium channel? It's so cool! It's like we have a fish aquarium in the living room!! Since I spend so much time resting and chilling and generally hanging out in this room, having a television that is so much fun to watch is a total gift! And hey the other morning when I couldn't sleep and was up at 4:00 am, it was so great to turn on the TV and watch a recap of the Gold Medal hockey game from the Vancouver Olympics. Even knowing the outcome, I loved every minute of it and can't wait to watch more hockey on this big screen!! How many more days until the Kitchener Ranger season starts??!!!

Thanks for all the loving and support that you continue to send my way. It is amazing healing energy and I am so very grateful for it!

xoxoxxoxoxo

Just when you thought Exercise was a good thing...

So, the University of Waterloo has a Well Fit program that they run for people who are going through treatment for cancer. The idea being that exercise and fitness are a good thing to help in your recovery. I have been quite excited about this and in 100% agreement that activity and exercise will help me stay strong and fight harder. Last week I went to have an evaluation done. They tested my strength and endurance (including taking my blood pressure and heart rate several times while I was riding the bike and increasing the difficulty). This morning I went for my first class, and to see the exercises that they have picked out for me. There were different weight/core type exercises and then I finished up with some cardio (on the treadmill). It knocked me out! I thought I was doing great, got through all my exercises pretty good and did fifteen minutes on the treadmill. I am set up with a monitor for my heart rate and I have to keep an eye on the monitor to make sure my heart rate doesn't go above 120. I failed. I had a really hard time keeping my heart rate that low. When I was done on the treadmill we did some stretches, and it was during the stretches that I realized I wasn't feeling very good. Light headed, dizzy and ready to pass out. I sat down and had some water and felt the sweat wash over me. The people at Well Fit are awesome, and kept a close eye on me, my pulse and my blood pressure and after about ten or fifteen minutes I was ok to leave. Freaky. It's one of those frustrating moments during all this when you realize you can't do what you could before. When you realize you have to stop and reassess and remember what you're body is going through. Yet another learning curve for me!! I'll just take today as my starting point and move on from here, with a better idea of what to expect.

I did receive some very yummy goodies (and a great visit) from my friend Firmina today. Love love love the tortoises you brought with you, Firmina!! Thanks for coming and having lunch with me today!! And special thanks to Jakob and Lukas for the yummy cookies that came with you too!!

Special thanks to Alex for teaching me how to work the multitude of remote controls we now have for the new TV - it's awesome! And now that I know how to work all the components I'm good to go!! I like it when all the buttons work the way I think they're supposed to. And this might sound like a "girl" thing to say, but who knew HD would make such a difference??!!

My hair continues to fall out by the handful. The shower is the worse...but even just touching my head means a bunch is going to fall out. I figure by the end of the week there will be very little left. What I can't figure out is why the hair on my legs isn't falling out as quickly. I mean seriously, I am totally looking forward to having soft smooth hairless legs with no effort from me!!

I am on a mission to find myself the right head covering...I'm leaning toward a beanie cap but haven't gone shopping for one yet. Hopefully tomorrow if the energy levels are ok and I can figure out where to go!!

I want to give a shout out to some people close to me who are experiencing their own challenges and adventures right now. I know you are worried about me and I sure do appreciate all the love and support you are sending my way. Know that it is coming back to you from me as you work through your own challenges. And just like me, you will conquer!!

xoxoxxoxo

A Splendid Saturday!!

Yesterday my big outing for the day was to St Jacobs to buy some lemonade! My little friends Avery & Ian Leech, along with a couple of their friends, had set up a lemonade stand to raise money for The Red Cross to help support the people of Pakistan. They did awesome and raised around $200.00! And they didn't just sell lemonade...they had water and popcorn and freezies for sale! Of course, we had to sample one of everything!!

This is the beautiful Avery showing the pricing of their goods!!



Here is the whole group of lemonade (etc.) sellers. They were so captivating and excited to have some people come buy their wares. I hear they were even willing to do some drive thrus for those who did not get out of the car. How's that for service??



In the afternoon our friends Kelly and Brock came over. They brought me some Pretzel M&Ms (yummy) and Matt a new cookbook with menu ideas for those going through treatment for cancer. So totally thoughtful and it has some great menu ideas, whether I'm having trouble with nausea, bad taste in my mouth or lack of appetite. I think Matt'll be able to use it lots!! Kelly hung out with me for a while and the men went TV shopping!! It was so great to chill and catch up. And watch a little Glee... The men came back with a TV picked out and it's going to be delivered tomorrow. I am pretty excited about that and so grateful to Matt that he would make a big change like this now to make my recovery time more enjoyable. I do enjoy my TV!!

Thanks to Patti for finding some sugar free (non aspartame or splenda) candies for me!! I'm going to go this week and check them out. As an aside, since I haven't developed any mouth sores yet, I am still enjoying some regular sweets...nothing too crazy but enough to keep me happy!!

I'm feeling pretty good today. Yesterday I was very tired after my big trip to St Jacobs. I'm grateful the nausea is better this time around for sure. I do think I'm experiencing more fatigue this time around. It just means making sure I take the time to rest when I need it. I am struggling a little bit with a bad taste in my mouth when I eat. I know from the last treatment this will get better as more time passes after the chemo, it just stinks now because things I normally like don't taste that good. Some things are still fine, it's just figuring out what those things are!!


This morning Matt pulled the first tuff of hair out of my head. It was just a little tuff...but it is the beginning of my hair loss. I have to admit this is the part I've been dreading the most. I know I'll get used to it and it'll be fine...it's just weird to think about being bald for a while.

This lovely picture of a bouquet of daisies was sent to me from my friend Leanne who lives in Huntsville. She takes beautiful pictures for her own blog and picked these daisies for me so she could send me a photo. Leanne and I have known each other our whole lives - our parents were friends in high school!! Thanks, Leanne!

Happy Sunday to all of you!!

xoxoxoxo

Now that's much better!!

So, my second treatment was yesterday morning at 8:00 am and it has gone WAY WAY better this time around. I had just a tiny bit of nausea yesterday...but wasn't sick to my stomach once!! Wahoo! I did have a bad headache, but some Tylenol and sleep seemed to help with that. I was in bed at 5:30 last night and that meant I woke up at 4:00 this morning. Thanks to Jodi and her Glee DVDs so I could watch something on TV at that hour (otherwise I'd have been checking out Infomercials!!).

I'm happy to report that today I have no nausea (in fact I've already eaten twice today) and the headache has pretty much disappeared!

I thank Dr. Califaretti for the change up on my drugs. We have removed the Ondansetron and added Aprepitant. And we also took away the Prochlorperazine (which I could take every four hours as needed for nausea) and replaced it with Metoclopramide. I only had to take one of those yesterday!!

I certainly don't want to jinx myself and get too carried away...for those of you who sent all that positive energy and positive thoughts that it would go better I thank you. You definitely worked your magic. Special shout out to Peggy who gave me some Therapeutic Touch and Reiki after my treatment yesterday and to Tammy who provided me with some crystals to help with my journey as well! You never know how these things work...and I'm pretty much willing to try anything!!

One of the new additions we got for my journey is a Magic Bullet!! I'm very excited about this. I made myself a smoothie for breakfast on Wednesday and it was good. Yesterday we got some protein powder to add to future smoothies...so hopefully I can try that out tomorrow. We met with a lovely dietician named Margaret while I was having chemo yesterday. She was quite helpful and just reiterated the need for loads of fluids and protein. I seem to be doing well with my servings of fruits and vegetables.

My next chemo treatment is scheduled for September 2nd. So far I'm right on schedule...and as of yesterday's treatment 1/4 of the way through!

I think it's time for a nap, so I'm going to say adios!

From my heart to yours, thanks for the loving!!

xoxoxox

Ding Ding Ding...Round 2

So today I had my blood work done and went to see Dr. Califaretti, my medical oncologist. Have I mentioned how much I like her? She's lovely and helpful and reminds me a lot of my friend, Celina. So, because she looks so much like Celina, who comes from one of my favourite families in the world, I just know she will take good care of me!! Anywho, Dr. Califaretti gave me the thumbs up for Round 2 of chemo tomorrow (bright and early at 8:00 am)!! This is a good thing. We want to stay on track so that we can get these eight treatments done as quickly as possible.

I have some brand new anti-nausea medication to help with this next round. Keep your fingers crossed for me that they help. It turns out that for some people the wiring in their brain is such that they are more prone to vomiting. Nice. This explains a lot about my WLU days 20 plus years ago. Oh...and maybe some time spent in the Peg as well...

Anyway, I should have an easier time of it this round and I'm very hopeful that's the case!! I'm sure Matt is too!!

For those of you who are sympathizing with me on the sugar thing, I thought I'd add a couple more comments. It is very difficult to find a sugar free hard candy. I'm trying to stay away from bad artificial sweeteners (like splenda and aspartame - which much research shows is just evil and Matt would like to ban from his home). I think I'm ok with Stevia. If you know of some candies that would meet my specifications, can you send me an email on where to find them?? Kelly, I'm pretty sure there are no sugar free chocolate covered ju-jubes. Damn. And if there were some, I'll bet with my luck they'd be the green ones!!

To Mindy I need to shout a word of thanks! I am loving my new thermometer. It's super fast and suddenly it's not as frustrating an experience to take my temperature. Although quick funny story...when I went to buy it at Shopper's Drug Mart the lady looked at me funny when I asked her if they sold thermostats. Turns out words elude you with chemo...

I'd like to thank my wonderful co-workers for the gift I received from them today. I loved the card and the beautiful sentiments and loving!! I'll be thinking of you all with your brand new (looking) software tomorrow morning while I'm having chemo. If you get frustrated because it looks so different and things are in slightly different places, just remember I'd rather be figuring out the new software with you than sitting in the chemo suite!! :)

I'm pretty sure I will be lying low over the next few days, getting loads of rest and letting the drugs do their thing. Feel free to email and I'll respond when I can...and of course I'll be thinking about things to tell you about next time I blog.

Until then...keep happy tummy thoughts of me dancing in your heads!!

xoxoxox