Dear Diary

 Hey Friends! Apologies for not writing for a while. I've been a bit busy. Work is busy, I'm also working with a few real estate clients, and I'm driving to the city daily for Radiation (fondly known as rads, Jayden thinks this is much cooler).  When I started this blog one of it's main purposes was to share ALL the details in the hopes that if someone went through it, or had a loved one go through it, it would maybe be less scary, or at least they would feel more informed. This post might be a boring one, and a long one by the time I am done, so if you aren't into a long and boring post you should stop here..... I've had a few friends ask me 'what is radiation?' or 'how do they do radiation?'. So here is my long winded, detailed post.  I covered my mapping appointment and my consult appointment with my Radiation Oncologist (who is lovely, by the way) in previous posts. So this is about actual treatment.  The short answer is: -Change into a gown ...

 Hey Friends, I thought I'd post a brief update on my radiation news from last week.  I am still waiting for a call with a date to start actual treatments, but I did go in on Thursday for my 'mapping' session.  Note to self, if you are self conscious about people looking at your boob(s) you should avoid getting breast cancer! lol Anyway, I gained myself four new tattoos this week. They aren't very artistic, or even creative at all, but they will be with me for the rest of my life. Essentially they are just about the size of a freckle. I have one on each side, at about the bottom of my rib cage. And I have two more vertically in the middle of my chest, a few inches apart. So like I said, not very artistic.  Basically I was put onto the bed that goes in/out of the CT scanner, lying on my back. Above me was a laser that I can only imagine laid out some sort of grid on my chest (I obviously couldn't see it). The techs drew on me with sharpies, measured, wiped the sharpi...

 Hey Friends, We finally got another piece of the puzzle today! It seems like cancer is all about waiting, and now I hope most of the waiting is done. So this post is a few updates, and some new information.  It has been a while since I posted, but not really much to tell in the interim. The last couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful. I have been feeling good, and other than being definitely weaker, I feel pretty much back to normal. I have a ton of yard work to do, so that will get my strength back up I hope!  I did have my follow up with my medical oncologist last week. It was fairly uneventful other than getting my prescription for Tamoxifen, my hormone treatment drug. I'm sure I have explained in previous posts a little bit about Tamoxifen vs AI's, but I'll explain a bit here as well. As I have also said, I am opting to do a full hysterectomy later this year, and this choice affects these drugs also.  Tamoxifen is a drug used for breast cancer and has been ...

 Hey Friends, Not much to write about today, but thought I'd offer an update for those following along. In my last post I talked about being able to do my final round of chemo without Lapelga. Well, it seems to have worked!!  Chemo is still hard, and my body knows this, but it this round has been sooo much better than the rounds 2 and 3. I've still had some small side effects but definitely nothing unbearable at all. A bit of stomach upset, a bit of fatigue on and off, and some continuing bone pain seems to sum up my first week of this round. I've added in something new the last couple of days with some pretty wicked heartburn, but this too shall pass.  I am just entering into what (in my head) I am calling my Death Valley phase, lol. This is the period, seems to be 10 to 12 days where chemo tries really hard to eat me alive from the inside out. Every cell seems to get a little bit dryer by the day. As dry as the desert in Death Valley, haha. So I am back in full force of...

Hi friends...... Today is a REALLY GOOD DAY!!! I have been a bit down about my upcoming final round of chemo. I've written about it before, and in more detail in my last blog post, but each round gets a bit harder and each round I get a little bit more scared of the Lapelga injection that follows each infusion.  The purpose of this injection is to 'boost' your white blood cell count back up fairly quickly before the following round. So, I thought......what if I didn't have to take it for the final round, and just let my blood recover on it's own, with no rush to do it all over again?  Well, today was my pre-chemo appointment with my oncologist. Well, I didn't actually get to see my own oncologist, but I did get to see her resident in training and she told me that I could skip the Lapelga injection if I wanted to!!!!! Whooo hooooo!!! Best Day Ever!!!! This may seem like a little thing, but it is HUGE to me!! And such an overwhelmingly huge relief that I am actual...

 Hey friends, Thanks for coming back, haha, I feel like my posts are getting boring but I have a few things rolling around in my head so here I am again! Aren't you lucky!?!? :) I am sooooo close to being done chemo. I have this rolling marquis in my head that says only one more, only one more, only one more. Round 3 was a struggle, not going to lie about that. By Sunday I was pretty confidently saying "I'm good, I don't want to do round 4 anymore, 3 is enough". But alas, here we are, awaiting round 4, and saying only one more. Final infusion is Wednesday Mar 23.  I thought I'd post a few updates on things that happen during treatment, as I am pretty immersed in it all at the moment. But first, I want to way a big WTF to Hollywood. WTF, Hollywood??? Hahaha. I started watching New Amsterdam on the weekend (when I really didn't want to get out of bed for much). I am really NOT a big tv watcher. We have terrible internet, no cable, and there are just so many ...