Radiation -- one third done! Woo hoo!

As we grow up, we learn that people who weren’t ever supposed to let us down, probably will.  You’ll have your heart broken, and you will break others’ hearts.  You’ll blame a new love for things an old love did.  You’ll fight with your best friend, you will cry because time is flying by, and eventually you will lose someone you love.  So, take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you’ve never been hurt.  Because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back! – Unknown.

Yup, I’m a third of the way through radiation!  Sounds so doable now. 

And I’m feeling so good today.  Had my 5^th “no-wait” rads day in a row – made for a very smooth week (rads wise anyway).  Just got back from a 35-minute walk followed by a 25-minute bike ride.  It’s really windy today, which made the walk nice but the bike ride a challenge.  Feels good to have done it, though.  Gotta keep it up now.

As I said, there was no waiting for my appointments this week.  I said to Melissa (one of the techs) yesterday, “Dr. Sprawls must be on vacation this week.  Things are going way too smoothly!”  She laughed and said, “I think so.”  Hence, next week might not be quite as smooth.  But we’re not going to worry about that until the time comes.  Even then, I said I wasn’t going to worry about it, didn’t I??  Don’t sweat the small stuff, etc. etc. 

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were a bit of challenge work wise – swamped with work both days.  Consequently, I did WAY too much sitting, and my leg got pretty darn swollen.  I KNOW I’m supposed to get up and move around or go for a walk or whatever.  But when there is so much work hanging over my head, it’s hard to force myself to take a break.  I’ll try to do better next week.

I’ve been trying to hang my leg from the ceiling every night before bed.  Kenny rigged up a bungie cord and strap (nothing fancy/very simple) so I can put my foot in the strap and get my leg up pretty high.  Dr. Siragusa (vascular guy in TN) said elevating the leg is good, but you have to elevate it above the heart – not so easy.  But the bungie cord/strap works pretty well.  Kenny asked Dr. Sprawls about using the inversion table, and he said it would be great.  So we’ll have to dig that out of storage – if we can find it!  Just kidding.  It’s in there.  But our storage unit is a disaster area right now – we put so much stuff in there before we took our road trip and also a ton of stuff from the boat.  It’s more or less all just thrown/piled in there.  That’s on the to-do list (cleaning/organizing storage)…..soon…..because I’ll have to get my Christmas decorations out pretty soon, and they’re all in the back…..of course!

Monday afternoon I’ll get my chemo port removed!  That will be a good feeling.  It’s not that it bothers me, really; it’s just that it will signify the end of “an era” so to speak.  I’m DONE with chemo and don’t need that darn thing in my body anymore!  I’m not looking forward to the procedure itself, although I don’t really know what to expect.  It’s just an outpatient procedure done in the surgeon’s office, but I remember when I had my drains removed after the mastectomy.  It, too, was a “simple” outpatient procedure done in the surgeon’s office, but it was no “cup of tea.”  Thankfully I had taken a pain pill before I even went, which I’ll have to remember to do on Monday.  Maybe an anti-anxiety pill, too!  In preparation for the port removal, I had to stop my Coumadin (due to risk of bleeding) for 5 days prior to the procedure.  After the procedure, Dr. Sprawls wants me to do Fragmin injections for 7 days before resuming the Coumadin.  I hope they’re more fun than the Lovenox injections!  Not looking forward to it.  Oh, and do you want me to get on my soap box about Big Pharma??  Probably not.  Suffice it to say that they called the Fragmin prescription into Walmart, I called Walmart to see if the RX was ready, it wasn’t (drug not in stock), I asked how much it would cost -- $650.80 for 7 shots!!!!  How’s that for highway robbery??!!  I told the pharmacy technician that the drug company can jump off a cliff and don’t bother filling the prescription because there’s no way in hell I’m paying that amount of money for 7 shots that I don’t even want!!  SO, then I had to call the cancer center back and tell them I refuse to pay that kind of money.  I asked if I waited a month to get my port out if I could just go back on the Coumadin after the procedure instead of doing the Fragmin.  Meribeth (really nice nurse at the cancer center) said, “Let me see if we have any Indigen, and I’ll call you back.”  After I hung up the phone, I realized she said “indigent!”  LOL!!  That’s okay – call me indigent, poor, destitute, impoverished, needy – call me anything you want; I still won’t pay $650 for 7 shots!  Anyway, Meribeth called me back and said they had some samples they would give me.  What a sweetheart she is!  I was so thankful.  So I picked up the injections today, and she gave me instructions on how to inject myself – once again I will give Kenny the honors.  They only had samples of 18,000 IU, and Dr. Sprawls only wants me to take 12,500 IU.  So Meribeth showed me how to measure out 12,500 into another needle (which is only calibrated in cc).  Thank God this is only for 7 days. 

Well, I guess I don’t have too much other news.  I’m just happy to report that radiation is going smoothly with no side effects so far.  I was extremely tired yesterday, but I think it was more from the heavy work load this week and from juggling work and daily radiation appointments.  My skin is looking good so far – even the radiation oncologist said so.  I’ve been putting aloe on it every day, which is helping quite a bit I think.  I suspect I will get the “sunburn look” and dry skin eventually……but maybe not.

I’ll post a few pictures – two of me hanging my leg, one of Melissa and Robert (radiation technicians/therapists) with “Hal” (the zapper).  (Friday is “jeans optional day,” which is why Melissa has jeans on.), and one a joke that brother, Jeff, sent me from his daily calendar.  I would have loved to pull this joke on Melissa and Robert, but the “vault” is wired with audio and visual equipment so they can see my every move and hear my every word – they’d be onto me. 

Maybe I should explain the zapper a little bit.  Melissa and Robert are actually standing in front of the table that I lie on (or is it lay on??), and the table is perpendicular to the way it normally resides.  Not sure why Robert put it in that position before I took the picture.  It's hard to visualize how it works.  And it looks much spookier in real life!

You know you’re a cancer patient when……the cashier at the grocery store asks "Would you like to donate to breast cancer?"............and you answer......."I already did......2 boobs and 25 lymph nodes.”  (I haven’t actually had the nerve to use that line yet….but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities)

Hanging my leg from the ceiling

Leg hanging (and reading my Kindle)

Melissa and Robert with "Hal"