A couple weeks ago I came home from the hospital and found a package in the mail. I admit I was super excited, it’s always nice to receive something that isn’t bills or junk mail! I looked at the return address and it said The Get Well Gang. I didn’t know what was in the box, or how The Get Well Gang had received my address, so like a child I shook the box and tried to figure out what it was.
When I opened the box I was blown away. Sitting in the box was a couple beautiful hats, but as I took out one hat, I realized there was another hat under it and then another and another. The box had 6 hats in it!!! Each hat had a card attached with the person’s name who had knit it. The box also had a nice note that included well wishes, the groups web address, email address and mailing address.
I emailed Gretchen Huntley the founder of the group to express my gratitude and to ask permission to blog about the group and the wonderful hats that I received. She told me that the request for the hats came from my friend Krissy and she was glad I liked the hats that she picked out for me. The day that Gretchen emailed me, she told me she had just sent out 264 hats for a total of over 23,000 hats in 10 years!
If you know how to knit or crochet and you would like to volunteer, you can contact Gretchen by email: info@getwellgang.ca or phone: 613-382-4576. If you don’t know how to knit or crochet money donations are greatly appreciated. Checks can be made out to The Get Well Gang and sent to the following mailing address:
Gretchen Huntley
4767 Hwy #2, RR #3
Gananoque, Ontario
K7G 2V5
The organization is small so they do not have a charitable number at this time so they will not be able to send out any tax receipts. However it would mean a lot to me if you decide to support this group by volunteer or by donation.
Now, how about some pictures. I’m not a great model and most or all of the pictures are selfies, but I have to show you these hats!!
After I corresponded with Gretchen I gave her my blog address, as I did ask if I could blog out her organization. After she read my posts she asked me if I would like her to send me copies of her children’s book to give to my nieces and nephews. I said yes, as it’s hard to explain to them what is really going on with me. The book I received is so cute and so well thought out. It is called Mama Grog Gets Sick and is about a little family who’s mother has cancer, has to take naps, loses her feathers and then when she is better her feathers grow back curly. The book is super sweet and I can’t wait to give the copies to the kids!
I hope you are all having a good day. The sun is shining and the air is warm here!!
Like I said earlier this morning, the life of a cancer patient has many twists and turns. My surgery for today has been pushed to Friday instead. This messes things up a bit, for example Owen is off today and really needs to be at work on Friday. I can’t drive for 24 hrs after the surgery and Owen has to work on Saturday, but I also have to have blood work done on Saturday. Fun times!! However, things will work out, I will get to my appointments and Owen will get to work. This will not be the first time this week I have asked someone to drive me to the hospital, thankfully I have great friends who are willing to take my mom’s and Owen’s place when needed!
I know I promised a post about the package I received in the mail last week, I swear it is coming! The life of a cancer patient often takes unexpected twists and turns. It turns out I have crappy veins, they are deep and small and they like to roll. When the nurses try to put the IV in my arm, they tend to blow my veins (which is leaving big bruises that aren’t going away), and they have to try multiple times to get the IV into a vein that is good enough.
Chemo makes your veins shrink over time, so the doctor has given permission for me to have a port put into my chest. A port is a small device that is installed beneath the skin. A catheter connects the port to a vein. The port will allow the chemo drugs and blood to be taken from one simple poke, no more digging around for veins.
The surgery is a day surgery and should only be 1.5-2 hours long. It really is minor compared to the other surgery’s I have had. I believe I will have a local anaesthetic and some happy drugs through IV. I’m glad I won’t be going under general anaesthesia this time, the brain fog after stays with me for weeks!
I will try to post again this week to let you all know how everything goes today!
I had my second round of chemo on Monday. This treatment was only one drug (Taxol), and I’ve been feeling good since the infusion. Taxol is the drug that is causing my hair loss, so my scalp feels like it has goosebumps. My hair hasn’t actually started to fall out yet, but it probably will within the next week or two. Speaking of hair loss, I got an awesome package in the mail on Monday that I am going to blog about tomorrow!
I wanted to give you all an update on my first chemo session. The last time I wrote I said I was feeling pretty good, and I was at the time. I swear as soon as I was done posting, I put my laptop away and realized I was feeling really ill. I ended up being in bed and unable to eat for a few days. I am taking an anti-nausea drug called Zofran, so it helps me to not vomit, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling the nausea. Another unfortunate symptom is constipation, so I have to take laxatives every other day and then the laxatives give me stomach pains. Not fun at all! After spending a few days in bed last week I was really weak and found walking up a flight of stairs to be really tiring. On Sunday I begged Owen to not make me continue with the chemo (I think I was joking), but of course he said I had to keep going. But, like I said this second round isn’t bad so I’m sure I can handle feeling crappy 1 week out of every 3.
I am taking heavy doses of steroids every week before my treatments. I’ve never taken steroids before and didn’t really know what they would do to me. I’m still not 100% sure of their effect on me, but they are certainly causing me to have a very flushed face and terrible hot flashes! I have read that some people ask their doctors if they can lower the dose of the steroids, so when I see the oncologist again in a couple weeks I will check with her.
I have even felt well enough to dance a little bit around my kitchen yesterday. I’m loving this song, I hope you enjoy it!
I made it through my first chemo treatment. The nurses at the hospital are amazing and made me feel really comfortable. I was a bit nervous but once things got started I was ok. The treatment took 4.5 hrs, thankfully I was able to keep busy by writing a blog post, reading on the internet and colouring a picture of a Care Bear.
During my treatment I was a little cold so they gave me a warm blanket. I will be better prepared next time because I have received lovely blankets to take to the hospital with me. I thought I wouldn’t be cold, so I left my blanket in the car!
Receiving the chemo drugs didn’t hurt, putting the IV in to start the treatment was another story. They blew one of my veins on the first try, it hurt! Thankfully the second try wasn’t as bad, however my arm looks like someone beat me with a small hammer!
I was tired when I got home from the hospital, I’m sure it was a combination of the drugs and the long day. I was able to sleep through the night and when I woke up I was feeling ok. Not great, but well enough to get up, have some breakfast and take a handful of drugs. I even managed to go to the grocery store with my mom! My face was really red and hot, but I didn’t have a fever. I needed to have a nap late in the afternoon, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I had really bad hot flashes during the evening. I woke up through the night with some joint pain but it went away after taking a couple Tylenol.
This morning I’m feeling ok, again not 100% but I don’t feel like I’m on my death bed either. I would feel like the luckiest girl on earth if all of my treatments go this way! My next two treatments are only 1 drug and should go pretty smoothly with very little side effects.
I have said that losing my hair wasn’t going to be a big deal to me, but I lied. I didn’t lie intentionally, I really believed I would be fine. Last week I decided that I should cut my hair off to prepare for chemo. I was ok while my hair was being cut into a short pixie cut, I only shed a couple of tears. When Owen came home from work I burst into tears, I hated how I looked. Thankfully he is a wonderful husband and comforted me. He says he likes my hair cut. I hope he doesn’t get too used to it because it won’t be here for long.
I was able to see Owen’s parents, one of his sisters and her children on the weekend. It was nice to have a break from the hospital and to spend time with family. I also had a girls night at the movies (thanks ladies, it was needed)! We went to see The Host, I loved the book and found the movie to be pretty good.
I am currently sitting in a big leather chair having the pre-chemo drugs pumped into my body. I will try to blog about it tomorrow.
I have a spare hour so I thought I would finally write another post to keep my awesome followers/supporters up to date on what is going on with me. I needed some kidlet time so I went to my parents last week so I could spend time with Karston and Marlee (my sister’s children). For me it seems that no matter how bad I feel, or how sad I am the faces of the children that I love always picks me back up and gets me on my feet. I was a little down last week because I have found the back and forth between my Halifax surgeon and my Saint John oncologist to be extremely frustrating. Spending time with the kids didn’t change my situation but it did help me forget about it for a while. I was also able to have an early Easter dinner with my parents which was really nice.
*Side note – I am currently at Starbucks and am sure that the girl sitting beside me just moved to the other side of the room because I am typing too loud!!!
I returned back home in time to spend a couple free days with Owen, which was also really needed. He has been working really long hours, so most of our time together lately has been spent at the hospital. The weather was wonderful so we were able to spend time with our neighbours (we’re kind of like the Cul-du-sac Crew on Cougar Town with much less wine) and we also had a lovely Easter dinner with the Addison’s (thanks guys it was greatly appreciated).
Monday brought rain and a 24 hour urine collection (yup it’s as gross as it sounds). I couldn’t really go anywhere because I wasn’t about to bring along a jug of pee and a gross plastic hat to collect it in. I had to go to the hospital again yesterday to hand in my urine and get more blood work done. Once I got there I was told the doctor wanted to see me. Never a good sign! Turns out the oncologist talked with my surgeon and the surgeon and her team of oncologists have recommended two chemo drugs for me, carboplatin and taxol.
I will now have chemo every 21 days which will consist of both drugs and then once a week with just taxol. For the next 20 weeks I will be connected to poison that will hopefully kill any tiny cancer cells left in my body. Unfortunately with chemo it comes with a whole host of side effects that are mostly short term but will probably suck while my body is drinking up the chemo cocktail.
Very likely side effects that I will experience are:
Risk of infection – This is really important, or will really impact my life as time goes on. The carboplatin reduces your number of white blood cells. White blood cells fight infection and because of this I will have to monitor my temperature and will have to go to the hospital if I have a fever of 38C or above. I have a card that I have to carry to give to the ER staff if I go to the hospital with a fever after hours, that way I will get in to see a doctor in a timely manner.
Bruising and Bleeding – The drugs will also impact my platelets which help your blood to clot. So no contact sports and I need to be careful when handling sharp objects. If you know me personally you know that this is going to be an issue for me. I am clumsy! I fall on ice often (thankfully winter is over), I drop knives almost every time I use one and I get paper cuts more often then not! I will have to learn to be a little more careful with my body.
Nausea and Vomiting – I think this may be a side effect of all chemo drugs. I have been given steroids to take before I go in for my taxol treatments, to help with the pain and I will also be given drugs to help control the nausea and vomiting.
Fatigue – I will likely be tired, but I hope that short walks in the fresh air will help with this.
Hair loss – It’s true…in a couple weeks I won’t have any hair. I have hats and scarves and I may get a wig, but because it is going to start getting warmer around here I’m unsure about the wig. I’m already warm because of menopause I don’t think fake hair on my head would help cool me down any. I think I’m ok with the hair loss as I have had months to prepare for it. It sucks a little that last week the doctor said I wouldn’t lose my hair and this week I was told I would, but I will lose my hair for the extended living I will get to do.
Sore mouth – There is a chance my mouth will be sore, or get sores. Thankfully I drink a lot of water so this should help.
Diarrhoea and Constipation – Yup, both…gross! However I hope that it can be controlled by eating the right types of food. I know they have drugs to help, but if I can control it on my own naturally that will be much better for me.
Numbness in hands and feet – This is caused by taxol. People get pins and needles in their hands and feet and this is one of the most concerning side effects to me. This is one of the side effects that can be long term, but in most cases the pins and needles goes away a few months after treatment is complete.
Pain in joints and muscles – This is also caused by taxol and the pain usually lasts for a few days after treatment and then goes away.
The drugs are hard on your kidneys and because of that there is lots of blood work done to make sure your kidneys are functioning properly.
So this is what I am up against. I will be at the hospital a lot over the next four months, chemo treatments, doctors appointments and lots and lots of blood work. On the plus side I won’t need to have any hair appointments or take time in the shower to shave my legs!
My free hour is just about up, I have a jam packed day. I had a nice visit with Bruce this morning, my hour to write this post, lunch with friends and then off to St. Stephen to get Owen’s taxes done and St. Andrews to drop of medical documents. Tomorrow I get to go back to the hospital..yay me! But this afternoon will mostly be driving in the car…that means music!
Happy Cancer Girl 