Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Treatment Number Ten

For this treatment, things returned to "normal", in that my husband and daughter were here, Max was here, and other Angels came and went throughout the week.

Treatment was on Friday, May 22nd and my Rose Angel made another visit the day before with inspirational words to support me. We've added a new drug to the regimen; this one is intended to reduce the neuropathy and hand and foot syndrome (constant throbbing) that's been driving me batty from the beginning. I'm only taking one pill a day at the moment and it's too soon to expect results... but I had some lethargy and sore throat that are potential side effects of the new drug. Or maybe I just caught a cold. Time will tell.

Jade came again the day afer treatment for a visit and another cranial-sacral session. My thoughts seemed clear after the session... although I don't generally have discomfort or other side effects until later in recovery week. And as the days passed, my pain level seems lower than in previous treatments (blessedly), with just the usual general tiredness and afternoon lethargy. I am raising afternoon naps to an art form.

For those who haven't seen me in a while, you might be surprised that my hair is growing back! They tell me it's unusual for this to happen during ongoing chemo, but that's no surprise to me, since I've had all the unusual side effects throughout my treatment history. *This* one I'm happy about. Pictures will be forthcoming!

All in all, a fairly low-key and uneventful week. Next treatment is scheduled for June 16.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day Outing

We celebrated Mother's day on Monday, May 11 with a trip to the Please Touch Museum. Daria enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland exhibit (complete with sliding down the rabbit hole and posing as the Queen of Hearts) and we all enjoyed a fiddling presentation.



Monday, May 4, 2009

Yay Team!

My next treatment (scheduled for April 28) was shaping up to be interesting to say the least. For starters, Tom and Daria were going to be away the Friday before treatment for 10 days in North Carolina to take care of our grandkids. A needed vacation for both of them and a lot of work. This was the longest I had ever been away from Daria since she was born. I missed my little girl very much. They had a great time away and we all missed each other very much.

The next thing that would be different about this treatment was that Jann was unavailable to go with me to treatment, which meant that I needed a ride to treatment and possibly home as well. In enters my dear friend Candy. She said, "Oh, I will come over the night before, stay with you and take you for treatment." What a blessing. Thank you Candy for a great night and all of your continued support. Next change was that Max would not be available to be with me at all this recovery period. Uh oh, now what? Yes, you guessed it, a revolving door of support. I arranged for different Angels to care for me all week long while I recovered from treatment.

The only thing that was the same about this treatment as all the others is that a rose and words of encouragement appeared on my doorstep the day before treatment... I so appreciated that one constant in a week of change.

Jann was with me after treatment for Tuesday evening. I am usually high after treatment from the steroids and this treatment was no different. We spent the night scrapbooking which was a lot of fun and kept my mind off of what would be soon to come.

Jade came on Wednesday and stayed until Thursday late afternoon. Jade was my doula when Daria was born, a message therapist, herbalist and a whole lot more. Jade had just recently taken a course on Cranial Sacral work so before she left on Thursday she gave me a session. Prior to the cranial-sacral work, I was feeling pretty low. Not feeling like doing anything, resting on the couch, feeling sort of blah. By 5pm that evening, an hour after she left, I was up and about and feeling great.

Thursday until late Friday afternoon was Jann's shift. When she came in on Thursday I had just had my session with Jade and she found me lying on the couch resting. We spoke for a while then I sat up and said, "I am ready to play, let's scrapbook some more." Since Jann had left her stuff her we did just that. We "scrapped" until dinner and then a while after dinner until bedtime. I was truly amazed by my energy and clarity. I did continue to experience some pain and discomfort in my body but my head and my thoughts were clear and I had great energy the whole rest of the week. I truly beleive that the session I had with Jade made a difference. I felt so grateful.

Then Friday afternoon Mair came for the evening. She stayed with me until I was ready to go to bed and she took care of Summer (our dog) for me. Put me to bed and locked the door behind her. I had a great visit with Mair becasue I was feeling like I could do anything.

My last 2 caregivers were my parents. They came Satursday morning and stayed until Sunday after dinner time. While my parents were visiting, there was more scrapbooking, puzzle putting-together, and my dad kept busy doing little jobs around the house. Handy to have a handyman in the family. Tom and Daria returned late on Sunday night and I was feeling fabulous!

Thanks to everyone who made my recovery week such a success.