An encouraging verse sent by a friend...Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Last Chemo Session

The day went surprisingly quickly. I was very happy to be able to say good-bye to many of my nurses before I started in with my appointments. We got a nice photo too. Hopefully, some of them might be able to come to our celebration, but distance and work shifts might prove problematic. We'll see!
My appt. with Dr. Choy went well. We've worked out the details of the future plans. In Dec., I'll have a chest, abdominal, and a pelvic CAT scans as well as a bone scan. They'll also take my port out if everything looks good, which we're expecting. Part of the reason for the scans is so that there is a baseline for future scans (every 3 months for the first 2 years and then every 6 months through year 5). Some of the scans can happen in Dover, but December's appts. will be in Boston.
The chemo went well, much faster than normal since it was a full dose of only 1 drug (adriamycin, the one that gets hand-pushed in). We weren't sure how my body would be affected considering that it was twice as much adriamycin at one time (rather than being administered over 2 days). This drug will not impact my kidneys, which are still a little bit revved up but on the higher side of normal. They're coming back down to normal, slowly but surely. We did find out that my red blood cell count is quite low. This might mean a blood transfusion at the end of the week. Dr. Choy said to watch the symptoms.
Aunt Carol and I got back around 8 Monday night. Lyndsey was sound asleep, but the boys were still awake. Ethan greeted me by putting his hand on my cheek and leaving it there. It was so sweet. He just kept his hand there, and when I'd start to move, he'd hold on to keep me there. (All the while drinking his bottle while in Daddy's arms) Although Ethan has done things kind of similar in the past, this was a first. When I went up to kiss Anderson good-night, he was obviously excited to have me home. Lots of hugs and kisses and things to talk about. It was really cute.
So, I'm glad to be home. I'm trying to take it easy and not overdo it. I know that poor choices could lead to nausea, in spite of the anti-nausea drugs I'm taking for the first few days post-chemo. I'm praying that my hair won't fall out again. It's actually making progress! I know that if it does, it will be OK, but I also know that God cares about my wants as well as my needs. We'll see what happens!

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