WBC update & "Cher" Hair

I had my bloodwork done yesterday just to make sure things were headed up and also so I could leave the house. Turns out the Doctor was right, the shot just hadn't "kicked" in yet, my WBC's yesterday were 4.8! on the low end of normal, but in the range and enough to let Andy let me out of the house! I have things to do people, I can't be shut down forever!
Anyways, I continue to feel well, so well in fact, that I forgot to take my nausea meds I usually take prophylactically yesterday and I was awaken this morning at 5am with a wee bit of nausea. I got up, took the compazine and was back to bed and good to go again at 6:30pm for the day.

I realized I made a bunch of typos in the last blog, sorry. I will proof read from now on, they seemed to throw my mom off and I can't have her off, so I will be sure to be understandable from this point forward. Sometimes I just get so excited to share with you all that I just hit "publish" and then it is out of my hands. I will work on patience.

I also noticed I forgot to mention my Mother's Day present in the last blog. You may or may not know that I am part Mohawk Indian. You certainly know my new nickname is "Chemosabe". Well my husband and children presented me with an authentic, hand made by Cherokee women, War Head Dress to mark my heritage and my battle. The kids, Andy, and my parents came walking through the house, drums in hand, beating away, none of them in tune with the other to place this beautious thing on my head. I love it.It does remind me of Cher and the one she wore in her days, remember that?

 
I got out and ran errands today, felt fine. We are going to see Young Frankenstein in Syracuse tonight. Thanks for the prayers and worries, but I am going back up and you'll need to find something else to think about. Don't worry though, it is a waste of time. Live in the moment and enjoy it no matter what it is, it too shall pass and only sticks around the more you think about it! 

Shut Down & Hair

That's right people, I have been shut down!  I went in for bloodwork, as normal one week after checmo and 6 cdays after the Neulasta shot to see where my friends the WBC's were. I am feeling good and the family and Andy's office were all taking guesses about what the number would be. It ranged from the lowest at 4 (me) to as high as 7-8. I was, and still am, full of energy, how could if be lower?  well, it was. It was 1.7 , remember normal is 4-10. Yes, it is right, they re-ran the blood, there is no mistake. Guess I wanted to get Dr. Lemke's attention since she just walked by my when I was waiting for the results. With a count this low they do notify the Doctor. She still didn't come see me, she must be working to hard and didn't have time for the fun that is me, I forgive her this time. ANyways, you can give antibiotics as a preventative to not get sick, mostly would do that if you had symptoms, I didn't.


So, she just thinks the Neulasta shot is taking a bit longer to kick in, so we'll just shut me in and stay away from these guys. If I have to go out I will go out looking like this. I am not a germ a phobe, never have been, which is weird for a nurse, but I usually am pretty healthy, so it works for me, but I will try and be more mindful in my delicate 1.7 state.

Till this shut in is over, I will through down my Rupunzel wig and you can send me things that way! Cause it is on to the hair discussion which has been the changing highlight of the week!

                  H - A - I - R


I got it cut into a pixie on Thursday, TaaDaa . Didn't look as cute as anyone elses pixie i saw. My cowlick in the front was being mean to me.

Wore a Mraz hat on Saturday and it was very itchy and I kept doing pulling it out.
 I can't help it, I am a picker. scab picker, fingernail picker, even nose picker sometimes, so I picked and as  usually whenever I am picking anything, Andy yelled at me.

It seemed to slow down with it's own progress and I was getting bored with the pixie after 2 say. so we decided to shave it and Rex decided we should do a Mohawk. Why not, when am I going to do that again?

So, while in Tupper, Andy became  Antonio the Italian Tupper Barber and took me on as his first client. Full service shop, drinking and a cut.
Now I have part Mohawk in me. My great great great mother married a full blood, so a mohawk should look pretty good on me.

As you can see, Antonio was very serious and very gentle. He warmed the wash cloths in the microwave before placing the shaving cream on. He only burnt my head once as he forgot to test the hotness before placement, but that was pretty good for a first timer.

and Taa Daa,                                                                           alot of you have already seen the finished product on Facebook, but her is Sherie with her Mohawk!  So, it feels funny when you touch it. You have to make sure to rub it the right way or it is rough. It is cold with no hair. I can't believe the change in temperature with the lack of it up there. It is still falling out, but I got Rex his Mohawk, although he told me I could wear a baseball cap to his game, so seems he might not want his friends to see how cool I look! Now with the lock in, I couldn't even go to the game, so he lucked out, cause I am a rebel and might have had to show it off! 

Since most had seen the mohawk, I clearly had to shave it the rest of the way for today's blog. You needed new information. So got the kids off to school and went for it and TaaDaa, here it is. 

Very cold now and have started to learn how to wrap scarves around it. Although whenever I unwrap a long scarf I feel like Professor Snape and feel like Voldemart is going to be up there. (Thank you Harry Potter fans for getting that reference, sorry for the rest of you, go read Harry Potter!)                          

Well it seems I have to get out and tan my head, talk about white! Actually wait until you see what I have planned for next week! 

I still feel fine and I am getting alot done in the house, I have not napped or taken it easy, sorry, that day will come with the last 4 treatments, so let me be productive now! 

A full week of weeders, birthday celebrations, & Chemo #2

        HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO
Wow, how could I go a whole week since I blogged. We are settling in to a routine now and not as much is happening as quick as it was in the beginning. So, routine wise' I continue to get up early with kids and get breakfast and lunches and get them off to school. We tried me not doing this one day and everyone was still asleep at 7:30am, 5 minutes past when Rex usually leaves for school, so I am going to keep getting up early. I can nap after they leave if I need to. It is nice to keep that part of the normal routine normal for All of us. Once everyone is out of house, I leisurely do work on computer for Andy's businesses, laundry, clean, puzzle, read, sleep, walk the dog. Whatever I feel up to. Love the dinner's coming, I am usually tired & can't keep myself down by then.

      ELLEN & JILL & HELEN
The weeders came and got the front of the house weeded, they did a great job. I did visit with them and slow them down' but I did not do any work & I was feeling very guilty having them out there as I felt fine & love weeding. Their wrath was worse than my guilt at that point. Thanks ladies again for the great job, it looks awesome.

                WHO'S 46?
 Yes, I celebrated my 46th bday, hard to believe, but it is just a number. Andy & I went out for nice romantic dinner with another couple, we needed them to drive so we could get drunk, Andy did, I did not! It was good to relax and be normal. Thanks Marc & Shell! Thanks mother earth for the super moon too, that was a nice bday gift. Sunday we had a cinco de mayo birthday party with the whole family and more good friends. Thanks to Mesa Grande for the excellent food and all my peeps who brought even more food and cake, it was another beautiful day and we were able to celebrate outside. Thanks for all the great presents, a lot of hats & scarves, what's that about?

This my favorite hat I got from my bald Dad. It is a doo- rag with hair coming out the top that actually looks like my hair. You can see he already sports a similar style. I am going to color in the white with some more colors and cover up that forehead of mine, but this is a keeper! 

                        CHEMOTHERAPY # 2
Monday was chemo #2. Andy went for first part, but had to leave for meetings, so my mom was there too. Ruby ended up not feeling well, I think she wanted to come & that was her excuse, so she came along too. It went just as well as first time & time passed quick with everyone there. Ruby made a movie trailer of her experience. We are trying to get it up on the blog soon.
                                   SIDE EFFECTS
 A bit of nausea in the evening, but nothing bad. Staying on top of the meds & they certainly help. Spirits remain up. I was thinking about that and someone else asked how I manage to stay  so positive. I teach that to my patients & try to live it myself, the whole thinking positive thinking and living in the moment, but I have my days when it is harder and I break down and cry. I never really do it because I am angry about what happened, but more about how it is impacting my children and our lives. The thing I hate most about all this is the impact on my Husband, kids, parents, and sister. I can't imagine what it is like to feel so helpless and have to watch this happen to me, I have the easy part and that is what I hate about this and I am sorry to my family for that, that is why I fight so hard to make it be OK!  Of, course, now that you are all probably crying like I am, I must say, starting an antidepressant medication, Pristiq, has also helped a lot.

 I started that back in February before this even started as something wasn't right and it definitely has evened out my neurotransmitters. My Oncologist even said it is good for breast cancer because it doesn't interfere with estrogen receptors. Yeah Pristiq! This lady was bent over and sad before pristiq, now head high and moving forward. Samples welcome for the endorsement!



                  NEULASTA SHOT # 2 

I am just going to say the Neulasta shot was the same as last time, but as it was close to Cinco De Mayo, lets just say it was this instead. If I was thinking, I should have brought these in and done them with the shot. The shot process took a bit longer this time as the hospital just switched over to electronic medical records (EMR) atleast that is what they were telling me. No worries, I came with an entourage and it went by just fine, here we are shooting the time.

 Helen and Ellen didn't want me to share this cozy picture of them in my chair, but who cares, I have breast cancer and I can share what I want, so don't believe me if I say I won't put it on the blog, cause I just may. sorry. After, the shots, we had sushi, shopped quicked, and got home to get kids to where they had to go. We are all extremely devoted mothers to our children!


and hence forth, from this 2nd chemo treatment and my declining brain I will be known as CHEMOSABE

Bloodwork

I had routine bloodwork on Monday. They got it from my port. They like to check one week after chemo treatment, which knocks out your WBC's & six days after the Neulasta shot, which gets WBC's kickin again to see where you are at. A healthy person's WBC's are between 4-11, mine were 2.9 on Monday. This is about where they expect them to be.






Some people are wiped out when they are that low, some people do relatively well & just take a nap in the afternoon. I, of course, and the second kind. I feel pretty good, but I have needed naps & have been going to bed earlier. Worse yet, I haven't even felt like a cocktail, that is probably why the Doctor said I could drink cause she knew I wouldn't want to. This above written on Monday.

This below written on Wednesday.

I should apologize for taking three days to blog since these results, I know you are all sitting by the computer waiting for updates, but Rex got a new computer game and has been having wars against the Roman Empire, I haven't been able to get near it. I finally tricked him into mowing the lawn so I could get to my mail and blog. I must also admit Andy has had me busy with boy scout stuff and I have been "puzzling". I understand Rex's focus on the war because I can't get myself away from those puzzles. I am working on an Architecturally correct one right now. It is a Frank Lloyd Wright Pencil one. A friend gave it to me with the challenge that they gave up on it and it was impossible, that stirs me.

OK, so, Cancer Stuff: tired, yes. Sleeping, not so well. I am so tired and can;t wait to go to bed and then I toss and turn and can't sleep. I take an Ativan, which is for nausea, anxiety, and causes drowsiness, but not working. I am now trying a gin and tonic before bed and listening to relaxation tapes, we'll see how that goes. Mucositis, mouth sores, for you lay people. I have a few. Feels like I ate something hot and burnt the roof of my mouth and tongue, they aren't that bad. Bloody noses, I get these anyways, but I have had a few more than normal. Again, not a big deal. Numbness continues in my left axillarry area and it is kinda sore, I don't know it that is the bone pain or just related to the surgery. I do my lymphedema exercises every day and I continue to take the immunity supplements to help boost me.

I have not been out as much due to low
WBC count and the need to stay away from illness. I did go to Rex's baseball game, but I am sitting away from the bleachers, not because I don't want to gossip and visit, but the crowd thing. I am also working on not hugging everyone and Rex and I came up with the "elbow bump" as my new form of solicitation. You know, Howie Mandel has OCD and he fist pumps, so I have cancer and I elbow bump! Let's get creative with it folks!

My last excitement since the last post. I got meet and greet with Melissa Etheridge for her concert in 3 weeks! Thanks to Chris and Howard for that. Never hurts to ask the brother, of a friends brother in law, for a favor! Oh, and if I asked you to go to the concert with me and you were checking on it, too late, tickets are all taken now, sorry, but first come, first serve. You slackers will have to come up with another fun event for us to attend together.

Much thanks for the meals, they have been great and a relief to not have to worry about dinner, but come on people, the sweets are killing me, I will be 125 lbs soon! I am now having sweets for breakfast to give myself the day to work them off. You know what they say and you all must agree.......

Quiet end of the week

I continued to take my medications as scheduled, I added in a Claritin daily per a recommendation of another blogger who said that seemed to help with the onset of the bone pain. I also have been taking Motrin 800 everyday , just in case, the bone pain tries to sneak through. The most pain I have had is a small achy back and a surge of warmth in my bigger bones on Wednesday evening while watching American Idol, but maybe that was just the Queen Tribute! The Steriod, Decadron, they give 3 days post infusion was done as of Wednesday and I definitely felt a dip in energy without that. It is suppose to be for Nausea, but it definitely gave me a bust of energy all day.

 So the other excitement on Wednesday was I got my hair cut in anticipation of it all falling out and trying to get myself use to it. This cut is actually shorter than what I had anticipated, but it is all going within the next few weeks, so what's the difference. I once did a test about what Hollywood star do you look like. It came up Annette Bening. I look even more like her now, well with Red hair. I like how she always just messes it up, so mess it up it will be!
I also went fun wig shopping on Thursday. Here is a nice long one to get everyone confused, I liked it, but it is alot of hair. I tried on pink and blue, but settled on this lavender wig. I will wear it when I am feeling wild and fun and free,
                                       so probably most every day! I will fit right in at the
                                                                   Lavender Festival

Oh, So I also had a PT appointment on Thursday, after the wig shopping. It is routine after Axillary Node Dissection to be referred to PT to learn exercises to help get your lymph draining the way it needs to drain. We had a great gal, she is one of very few in the Upstate New York area who does this education. She was great and reviewed all the exercises with me that I am suppose to do daily. They should take about 10-15 minutes a day, I think I can handle that. Apparently I am not suppose to carry anymore 80 lb. bags of cement mix up four flights of castle stairs, sorry Andy, you just lost your slave laborer! Good thing you got that crane, which I can operate with my right arm!

Thursday Evening I went and watched Rex play baseball, it was a great game, although cold and wet, and they all did a great job and won. Yeah, Lakers Modified Boys!

By Friday, I was actually a little tired, so after getting the kids off to school I decided it was time for my first nap. Toshie, was a great bed nurse and watched over me while I slept peacefully. It was very nice and I guess I see why people like this napping thing.


So now, my boys are off at another Boyscout camping trip down @ LourdesCamp and I had to Keep Calm and  Call my mother to come and stay with Ruby and I. We are back on the puzzle patrol. We finished the third one this morning, I'd post a picture, but in this case, it just doesn't capture the glory of it all.

Meals have started on the meal train and have been perfectly proportioned and nice size, not too much, we are little eaters! Don't worry about condiments, we have them. When I do get tired, it is usually right around dinner time, so the meals have been a God send, thank you all for being so thoughtful and doing this for me and the family! I live in the best town on earth and have the best family and friends ever!            Totally Grateful for you all!

Shots, Syringes, Weeds, & Kick Butt Entries

NEEDLES GOING IN

Went  in today, with my Momma, to get me Neulasta shot. This is a shot they give Subcutaneously (SQ/under the skin). The nurse and the literature on it says it burns going in so they try and inject it slowly so it is not so bothersome. Here I am getting that shot. It did not hurt. This is the shoot that is going to REV UP my bone marrow to create more WBC's to prevent infections and keep me going. The worst of this shot comes 4-5 days later in the form of intense bone pain in your larger bones. We'll see.

While we were at the ROC we ran into Dr. Lemke and she was gracious enough to write my parents a note saying I was dong chemo to get them their money back on some NASCAR race tickets. See I told you they were great parents, they chose me over a race!  Anyways, she also took a quick at the Seroma (fluid bubble) under my arm and suggested I go to the surgeons office and get it drained again, so she made an appointment and over I went to see the NP, Lisa, in the office.

NEEDLES DRAWING OUT

Here you can see the seroma under my arm, no it isn't a third boob, it is just fluid that built up again from the Lymph node dissection & no I am not scared, it was my mom's fisrt picture on the Iphone and she was as steady as she should have been, she got it by the second picture.  Below you can see how Lisa stuck a butterfly needle in and got out another 20cc's. Again, I did not feel a thing as it can be numb in that area for a good 3-6 months from the surgery.
                   
     

So, other than that, I took my nausea meds as prescribed and I have not had any all day. No headaches, no pain, no fatigue. I have been up since 6:30am doing what I normally do any other day. no lie!
So now I have nothing until next Monday when I have bloodwork back @ the ROC.

So, on to the newest submissions in the Kicking Cancer in the Butt Campaign: Photo 1 is the Onodaga Girls Ice Volleyball Team - That sounds very dangerous to me, but apparently these girls are good at it and just won the championship. A good bunch to have on my campaign & congrats girls!

Now these ladies in Photo 2 might need a disclaimer, this photo was sent @ 11pm at night, so they might have been drinking, it certainly seems there is a nice bar behind them. This is not against the rules and we all know that pictures are often better when you are drinking, so for you of those who are of age, carry on, Marie and the girls are kicking butt and it doesn't appear they fell or injured themselves either.

                  KEEP THEM COMING              

                                                                                                                                                                                  

WEED PARTY - I know you are probably thinking I mean this type of weed party(pic. to right), but we know all those parties were held on 4.20.12, so since we missed that date, I am talking about something different. I started weeding in my back yard four days after my second surgery, it was a beautiful day and I was being gentle for my incisions, well my neighbor, Chuck, ratted on me to Andy and told me NO MORE WEEDING. But I always do the weeding and I like doing it. So, Ellen said, we should have a weeding party and finish the rest of the weeding for you. Rex mows, but hasn't learned the fine art of weeding, anyways, if you would like to weeding that looks more like this, let Ellen know, she is coordinating it and taking it out of my hands, very reluctantly. You may have to have a guard at each door so I don't come out to help. Ellen's email is edpdmp@gmail.com.