ER, Appointments, and Surgery- Oh My!

It is hard to believe it has been a month since my last update. A lot has happened the past month so I will do my best to update you on everything I have been going through.

8-26-13: I still wasn't feeling quite right after all of my joint pain and decided to stay home one more day. As the day progressed I noticed that I was getting increasingly cold (mind you it was over 90 degrees outside that day). Once my mom got home from work that day she grew concerned with my symptoms and decided to take my temperature, yeah it was 101.4. After a call to the oncologist, it was off to the ER- again! They didn't find much of anything after several tests, but they did determine that my Inflammatory markers were off the charts. Based on that and my unresolved joint pains they prescribed me prednisone. They also suggested I see a rhuemetologist to find out the real reason for the joint pain. Once on Prednisone I felt much better after a couple of days. I was finally able to get back to work for a few days this week.

8-30-13: Today I had an appointment with the rheumetologist to see if they had any idea what is causing my joint pain. Since I had been on prednisone for several days it was hard for them to determine what was causing the pain. He did call my Oncologist to see if they had any ideas. They decided it was very possible that my joint pain had been caused by my Neulasta shot. The neulasta shot was given to me the day after each of my AC chemo treatments. One of the side of the effects of the Neulasta shot is bone or joint pain. They decided to stagger me off my prednisone and see if the joint pain came back. I am happy to say (knock on wood) that the the joint pain has not relapsed.

8-31-13: After a few rough weeks I had a nice relaxing weekend in Marion with Jeff. We had planned to tailgate in Iowa City but due to the heat and the fact I hadn't felt good the past few weeks we decided to stay in Cedar Rapids and watch the game with some friends.

9-2-13: Today we enjoyed a get together with the Wilson family at the farm. It was nice to see everyone and the weather was absolutely perfect. Here are a few pictures from our day at the farm:

Trying to catch butterflies in Aunt Kim's garden.

Gator Rides with all the the boys.

Tractor rides with Uncle Doug!

Playing with Isaac and Warren and all the farm kitties.

It was a fun day at the farm. Little kids and Big kids alike all had a blast. It was great to see everyone. As the day progressed I noticed I was having an increasing difficulty breathing when walking around the farm. At one point I had to stop to catch my breath before continuing on. I also had developed a cough that had gotten worse over the past week. I decided I had better head into Urgent Care to get checked out but since it was a holiday had to wait until Tuesday morning to go in.

9-3-13: I headed into Urgent Care this morning to see if they had any idea why I was having trouble breathing. After an hour or so at the doctor, he basically told me he didn't have any explanation for my symptoms and I would need to go to the ER for additional testing. Really?! The ER again, for the third time in as many weeks. So off to Allen Hospital I went again. After a chest X-Ray and some more blood work they determined I had bronchitis. The doctor did mention that if I were any older I most likely would have developed pneumonia before now. He also did a CT scan to check my breathing. I wasn't breathing at full capacity and was borderline with a collapsed lung which is common in chemo patients. I was sent home with more antibiotics.

As I was in the ER I received a call from Mayo to check on my joint pain. I let them know even though my joint pain was better, I was now in the ER with trouble breathing. They asked me to keep them informed so they could determine if my scheduled surgery was in jeopardy.

I spend the rest of the week home from work. While my cough was getting much better, I was still having issues with my breathing. It got a little better each day and I was finally able to go back to work for my final day of work before surgery on 9-9-13.

9-10-13: Today mom and I headed up to Rochester for some pre-op appointments with my surgeons. I also had a chest x-ray ordered just to be sure there was no additional problems from my bronchitis and breathing issues. All came back clear and we were ready for surgery. My last appointment of the day was in the nuclear medicine department. They inject some blue dye into each breast to help locate lymph nodes for surgery the next day. Each breast received four shots and OMG! These shots were probably worse that the pain that I experienced post surgery. They say the shots feel comparable to bee stings. It has been a while since I have been stung by a bee, but wow! I think these shots were definitely worse. I was gripping the side of the bed so hard I had to have left imprints. Once I was done with that I was done for the day.

Mom and I headed to Dairy Queen for a treat and then went to check into the hotel. We ate dinner at Whistle Binkies with my mom, dad, and Aunt and Uncle. It was a nice relaxing evening before heading into surgery. I was able to call in at 8:15 p.m. to see what time I had to report to the hospital the next morning. I had to report at 5:30 a.m. Yay for me (sense the sarcasm as anyone that knows me well, knows I am definitely NOT a morning person).

9-11-13: Today was the day I had been waiting for for months. To finally get any remaining cancer out of my body. Once I got checked into the hospital, it was up to my room to get prepped for surgery. I got to put on this nice fancy gown and neat non-slick slippers. We even were able to make a quick phone call to the birthday girl to tell her happy birthday (it was my niece Addison's 6th birthday today). The plan was to access my port for anesthesia and once I was out they would find a vein to access for the remainder of my surgery. I had two different nurses attempt three different times to access my port with no success. Now we were on the plan B.

They took me to the pre-op room and it was good-bye to my parents for several hours! Dr. Jacobson came in and marked me up for the surgery and it was off to the operating room. This is the first surgery I have ever encountered and it was surreal being wheeled through the OR seeing the dozens of surgical teams waiting for their patients to arrive. Once in the OR it was everything you see on TV. The anesthesia team got to work right away on me to get my IV placed since accessing my port was unsuccessful. The IV had to be placed on my right arm (not sure of the logic behind it but hey, they are the professionals). The first tried to access a vein in my hand with no luck. Next it was on to a vein in my forearm that blew up almost immediately on contact and immediately bruised. (Three weeks later the bruise is ALMOST finally gone). They had to pull out an ultrasound machine to help them locate a viable vein to utilize for my surgery. After what seemed like an eternity they finally had my IV hooked up. Once they had the Anesthesia flowing through my IV they started to work on my spinal block. I sat up on the side of the bed as they began to prep me for the spinal block. That is the last thing I remember as I drifted off to sleep for the next several hours.....

When I finally started to wake up in recovery, I remember the nurse telling me it was 3:00. Wow! Seriously! I can't believe I was out that long. My parents said I went into surgery just after 9:00 and was finished about 2:30. As I laid in recovery I was so tired. I didn't want to open my eyes but just keep sleeping. What seemed like just a few minutes later they told me I was ready to go to my room. The trip up to my room was a blur. I remember seeing my family as they came out of my room so that the nurses could get me all settled in my room. As they got me moved into my bed I remember feeling nauseous like I was going to throw up. As the nurses got me something "just in case" I burped and the feeling went away. Strange! They also gave me an aromatherapy stick which is supposed to help with nausea. I spent the next few hours in and out of sleep. About 5:30 or 6:00 I started to finally wake up and feel better. I even ordered supper and was able to feed myself. I visited with my family for a few more hours until it was time for them to head back to the hotel for the night. My sister had her exchange surgery the next morning and also had to report to the hospital at 5:30 so they all wanted to get back to the hotel to get to bed. I had a pretty good night in the hospital all things considered. I was woke every couple of hours to get meds and check my vitals. I was trying not to use Oxycodone but I woke up about 3:30 a.m. and couldn't stand the pain any longer so I broke down and requested the good stuff.

9-12-13: My family was there nice and early the next morning to check on me. Bridget was taken in for her surgery so they all decided to come check on me. Both of my doctors (Dr Jakub-General Surgeon and Dr. Jacobson-Plastic Surgeon) and or their teams came in to check on me. They were all very please with the results of the surgery. The initial pathology looked good. Only three lymph nodes had to be removed out of my left side and none of them had cancer- thank goodness! Everything went just as planned and they couldn't be more pleased. I spent the rest of the day watching TV, napping, and visiting with my family. I also got in a walk or two. By about 2:00 they determined I was doing well enough to go home. It was about 3:30 or 4:00 when I finally got discharged. After a quick stop at Kohl's for more pillows to keep me comfortable, we were on our way home. I slept most of the way home. It was nice to finally get home and in a familiar space. Mom kept me on my med schedule the next several days which included sleeping on the couch next to me in case I needed something.

9-16-13: Today mom had to go back to work, but I had plenty of help. Since Bridget was also on leave from work due to her exchange surgery, Jon dropped her off at mom's house before he went to work each morning this week so she could help watch after me and we could keep each other company (which meant taking naps and watching a lot of HGTV and Friends!). Good times and there is no one else I would have wanted to spend the time with. Oh the memories we have created over this whole ordeal!

9-19-13: Today I had to go back to Mayo and Brenda was able to take me. We left nice and early (she picked me up shortly before 7:00 a.m.) My first appointment was with Dr. Jakub's team at 9:15. They said everything looked great and I was right on track. She guessed I should be able to get at least two of my drains out.

Next it was on to Dr. Jacobsen's team. He was also pleased with the outcome. We took off the tagoderm tape which covered both of my breasts. One of them had residue of some drainage which he guessed happened shortly after surgery as it was all dried up. Once we got that all cleaned up I got the best news of all, he said we could take all four of my drains out! This is definitely not standard practice so you can imagine my excitements when he delivered the news. He even got a hug from me. We are waiting to do a fill or anything further for a few more weeks yet. Depending on what is decided regarding radiation may change our course of action for my reconstruction. I had an appointment with a Radiation Oncologist next.

It is no secret that I really didn't want to have radiation so I was nervous for my next appointment. Obviously if that is what needed to be done to get me healthy, that is what we would have to do. When Dr. Childs came in, she was really on the fence. She had a few pros of conducting radiation and and a few cons in my case. She felt that the cons out-weighed the pros so she decided that radiation wouldn't be necessary in my case. I was completely okay with her decision although she gave me the option to move forward with it if I really wanted radiation. I respected her rationale and was excited to continue moving forward and finally being able to say I was done with treatment for my breast cancer!

A little more blood work was needed and then Brenda and I were on our way back home. Overall it was a great day with the best news I could have imagined. No radiation and all drains were gone!

9-22-13: It was another nice and lazy weekend. Brina was able to keep Chase until next weekend which will be helpful to help me allow more time to heal before he comes home. I do miss my little guy though. Jeff came to visit me at moms and got me out of the house for a while. It felt good to get out and walk a little although it doesn't take much to get me tired.

9-25-13: Another trip up to Mayo was planned for today. Both Bridget and I had appointments so mom drove us both up to Rochester. My first appointment was with Oncology. They again reviewed the final pathology with me and were very pleased with the results. We talked about being able to FINALLY remove my port. I am going to attempt to have that done in Waterloo by Dr. Duven since he is the one that put it in. They also suggested I have my port flushed since it has been over a month since it was last accessed.

Next I met with Dr. Saint-Cyr. He was my original plastic surgeon but was in an accident in July and was unable to perform my surgery on the 11th. I am still trying to make the decision as to if I want to do implants or the tissue reconstruction. Since Dr. Saint-Cyr specializes in the DIEP (tissue) reconstruction I wanted to meet with him again since the last time I had seen him was at my initial Mayo appointment in March. If I decide to go that route I definitely won't be able to do my second surgery until after the new year, which is fine. He answered the few questions that I did have and now I just need to make a decision.

Next I headed over to get my port flushed. This nurse was a little more successful in assessing my port even though she was worried she was getting a blood return. My port had not been giving blood since sometime in July so I wasn't worried but she seemed to think otherwise. She thought perhaps that there could be a blood clot in my port. She called my Oncologist who told her not to worry about it since I was going to be removing my port anyway. At least she was able to get it flushed.

My last appointment was information about a survivorship course that they offer to cancer survivors. I will be scheduling that for later in the year sometime.

My next appointment at Mayo is on October 11th where I will get a fill, meet with a gynecological surgeon to talk about a hysterectomy due to my BRCA status and a pelvic ultrasound to screen for ovarian cancer. I will update more after my next trip up north. Until that time, I will be focusing on my recovery and making a decision on reconstruction.

Last Chemo, Visit to Mayo, and Hip Pain!

8-12-13: Today was the day. I could hardly contain my excitement. My LAST CHEMO and LAST AC Treatment! I went to the work in the morning and had a lunch party with my department at work. We ordered in Carlos O'Kelly's and had ice cream cake from DQ to celebrate my last and final chemo treatment. Everyone at work has been so helpful and understanding through this whole ordeal. I seriously have to have the best co-workers there are!

After lunch I headed home to change my clothes so my mom could pick me up and take me to my final appointment. All the nurses have been so helpful through this whole ordeal and have come to know me more than just a patient. While I was hooked up my mom headed to Scratch to get some cupcakes for the nurses. I wanted them to know I appreciated them these past 5 months! She also got two extra and we celebrated my final treatment with a sweet treat. Here is a picture I took as I got hooked up for my final treatment.

The next several days I felt pretty good. I didn't get sick and was just very tired. Nothing a few naps won't cure. Several days were spent with a long lunch at home taking a cat nap so I could make it through the rest of the day.

8-15-13: Today I went in for another adjustment to the chiropractor. My neck and back has been feeling much better and I am hopeful I won't experience the sever neck pain that I had on my third treatment. Today he adjusted my mid back which is commonly associated with the stomach in hopes it would help the nausea and stomach issues I had previously encountered. The next several days will be the test to see if it worked.

8-18-13: Well I made it through the weekend without much to report as far as sickness and nausea. I was still very tired and took advantage of Chase being with his dad by taking several naps throughout the weekend. Even though I didn't get sick I was still not feeling all that great so Jim was nice enough to go with me to pick up Chase on Sunday night.

8-19-13: Today I had a long day at work planned. Not only did I have an 8 hour day scheduled, I had a meeting after work and then it was off to Rochester for my next round of appointments at Mayo. I took off mid-afternoon to get in a nap to survive the long day and boy am I glad I did. I left work about 7:00 from our meeting and then it was home to meet my mom and Rochester bound. We decided to stay at a different hotel than normal. We have stayed at the Holiday Inn every time we had been there up to that point. We decided to try the Kahler this time as it is right across from Mayo in case I was tired and needed to come back to the room to rest. We got to our room and settled in about 10:00. It definitely wasn't the Holiday Inn and will probably be our one and only stay there.

8-20-13: I woke up about 1:00 a.m. with some sharp pain in my knees. I have never experienced anything like this pain before. I couldn't get comfortable and didn't sleep the rest of the night. When I went to get up out of bed (I had to be at Mayo for Labs at 6:40) I could barely stand up. I got ready and was able to tolerate the walking a little bit more by the time we had to leave. I had one appointment after the next again today. Today they did an Electrocardiogram, MRI, Mammogram, Ultrasound, and MBI. My final appointment was in dermatology. They typically like to do a head to toe scan of your body for abnormal moles when you have the BRCA gene to make sure nothing looks suspicious. Luckily I came out great with no concerns. She did prescribe me some medicine for my scalp. Once my hair starts growing back it can cause hairs to grow sideways and get infected so she got some medicine to hopefully help prevent this should I need it.

We got done with my last appointment about 1:15 and we were both starving. We walked to Jimmy John's and had lunch and then it was back to the room for a nap (or so I thought). When I got back to the room to lay down, the leg pain was back and more severe than it had been the night before. I couldn't lay down in any position without sever pain in my knees and hip joints. My mom called Oncology to see if they had any idea what might be causing the pain. They were doubtful that the pain was related to my chemotherapy and wanted me to go to the Emergency Room to get checked out to be sure I wasn't experiencing any blood clots.

We got to the ER at Saint Mary's at 4:00 p.m. I got checked in and they took me back to a separate room to wait since I was a chemo patient. At least I didn't have to wait in the normal waiting room with the general population which was nice, but that is where the positive experience ended. We waited SIX and a half hours to be seen. Yes I said 6.5! I didn't get taken back to a room until 10:30 p.m.. I understand that emergency rooms get busy but this was ridiculous. Evidently Rochester doesn't have a strong Urgent Care system like we do here in Iowa and most things that we would go to Urgent Care for here, their population is forced to go to the ER. I felt bad for all the nurses as it wasn't their fault but waiting that long when I was in pain was just not right. In hindsight we should have drove to a smaller town or could have come all the way back to Waterloo and be seen quicker than what we experienced in Rochester. It was such a disappointment coming from all my positive experiences at Mayo Clinic. I hope they can come up with something different for that community soon.

Once I got to the room I was seen by a resident and told him my symptoms. They were ordering a x-ray and ultrasound of my hips and legs. I still waited a couple of hours in my room before they took me back for testing. Luckily I was able to talk the nurse into giving me some sort of pain meds while I waited. I was starting to get uncomfortable trying to lay in a bed so I tried to sit for a while but it didn't help either. The pain was getting unmanageable so they hooked me up to an IV to give me fluids and pushed in some pain meds as well. They finally wheeled me back for my x-ray and ultrasound testing. Just as we suspected, no blood clots. We still didn't have an answer as to what was causing all the pain, BUT they were prescribing me some pain pills so at least I could get some relief. It was about 3:30 when we left the emergency room. Both mom and I were beyond exhausted. We got back to our hotel room and in bed about 4:00. I was feeling pretty good pain wise and fell right asleep. I woke up at 7:00 and the pain was back and boy was it strong. I took some more oxycodone and tried to rest for a little while longer. My first appointment wasn't until 8:40 so at least we were able to get some sleep!

8-21-13: I was still in some pain as we headed in for my first appointment. I had only received a few pain pills a few hours before and had to drop off my prescription to be filled at the pharmacy before my first appointment. Then it was up to Oncology to review where I stand. Overall my tumor is still smaller than where it started. They won 't know until surgery if it is completely gone. They overall are pleased with my results from the chemotherapy. They do want me to meet with a Radiologist Oncologist the day before my surgery just to make sure radiation will not be needed. Until we know that for sure they want me to keep in my port. So it sounds like at this time I will not be getting my port out when I have surgery. She didn't have any other ideas related to my pain and trip to the ER. I mentioned that I have an appointment scheduled for Friday with my chiropractor and she said to keep that appointment as maybe they would be able to help with the pain.

Next I met with the Breast surgery center on Reconstruction education. Most of the information was a repeat for me as I had already heard most of it with my sister having her surgery in May. The biggest things for me to think about at this point is 1) if I want to have the Diep Flap tissue surgery or 2) do I want to do implants. The doctor that I had originally worked with was in an accident in July and will not be back to perform my surgery in September. The doctor that is doing my reconstruction doesn't specialize in Diep Flap procedures so he will be putting in expander's on the 11th. This will give me some time to figure out which route I want to go. The down side of doing the surgery I had anticipated means it will be out for two surgeries with 6 weeks of time away from work for each one.

After my time on the Plastic surgery floor I was done for a while. My next appointment was at 2:30 in the Pre-operative Evaluation center. I had an hour to wait so I went to the cafe to find something to eat while my mom headed over to her appointment at Methodist. I was still in a lot of pain and my prescription said I could take 1-3 pills every 3 hours for pain. I went ahead and took two while eating some food with them so I didn't get sick. About 10 minutes into my appointment I started to feel hot and nauseous. Evidently I didn't have enough in my stomach to handle to the two pain pills. I ended up getting a wheel chair while I waited for my mom to finish with her appointment at Methodist. About 4:00 we were finally getting ready to leave. It had been a long and literally painful trip to Rochester. It was nice to get home and see Chase even though I was still in a great deal of pain. We headed back to my moms house where I stayed the night in case I had any more issues with the pain overnight as I am not able to drive on the pain meds.

8-22-13: Today I woke up still in some pain. I called the chiropractor to see if I could get in for an appointment today rather than tomorrow to see if there is something they could do on their end. When I got there for my appointment all my other areas looked great that we had previously worked on (my neck and mid-back). I had felt great in those areas since my adjustment last week. I told him about my pain I experienced and my trip to the ER. At my initial appointment a few weeks ago, we adjusted my sacrum (tail bone area between the hip joints) as it was crooked and not properly in alignment. It appears my onset of the pain is directly correlated to that adjustment. It typically doesn't take that long to manifest pain and it is typically just on one side not both. He was able to get a good adjustment on my sacrum today and is confident I will be feeling much better by tomorrow. The pain was actually in my hips as the knee pain is just a phantom thing that happens with the nerve endings causing the pain to appear to be in the knees when it is actually the hips. Well now I know!

8-23-13: Well I tried to go all night without pain meds last night and woke up about 3:30 with some hip pain again. I guess I won't be going back to work this week darn it! I did start to feel better throughout the day. I took my last Oxycodone at 9:30 a.m. and so far I have just been using Tylenol for the pain so far. I am feeling better and the pain is much more manageable. I think the adjustment yesterday actually worked! Who would have thought with all that pain all I needed to do was see a chiropractor! Thank god he was able to fix me!

Only ONE more!

7-29-13: I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post. These AC Treatments are definitely tougher on me than the Taxol. This third round has been pretty bad. I had round three on July 29th. I felt great for a couple of days and even got in a winning golf round on July 31st in Marion. After spending a few days with Jeff in Marion it was back to Waterloo and reality. Chase was in Okoboji with his dad the entire week so I thought the amount of help I might need this round might be minimal, boy was I wrong.

8-2-13: Today I had volunteered to help at Irish Fest. I was pretty tired and worn out so I took a long lunch with a nap so that I could make it the night downtown. I felt much more energized but still worn out after my nap. After work it was down to Irish Fest to volunteer from 6-9 p.m. Besides not feeling well and the rain that was falling it was a fun time. I would definitely like to go back next year to partake in the fest! It looked like a lot of fun (for someone that was feeling normal anyhow). I was home and in bed by 10:00 and wanted nothing more than to sleep.....

8-3-13: Well after a night of virtually no sleep, and a sore neck I spent much of the next day and a half laying in bed trying to get some rest. My stomach was not feeling well, but thanks for my meds no nausea this time around (knock on wood). I had gotten nauseous in both round one and two of AC so this was a huge hurdle for me!

8-4-13: I was still not feeling well today. My stomach was just not sitting quite right and my neck was becoming increasingly sore. I was excited for Chase to come home tonight but knew there was no way I was going to be able to drive a car in my condition. My mom came to the rescue and was able to go get Chase for me. It was nice to finally have him home even though I didn't feel well. My mom helped me get him a bath and in bed on Sunday night. I was excited for a restful night of sleep with my little guy home.

8-5-13: Well we are on night number three of no sleep. My neck now hurts so bad I can't sleep. I had taken sleeping meds, Tylenol PM and regular Ibuprofen throughout the night to no avail. And of course it stormed out during the night which means I ended up with a three year old in bed with me at 5:00 a.m. My mom came over and helped me get Chase ready for daycare and took him so that I could try to get some sleep. My stomach was finally starting to feel better, but my neck was worse than the last couple of days. I had noticed that my neck hurt about a week out from the chemo the last couple of times, but this time was much worse than I had experienced in the first two treatments. I decided I had better call a chiropractor late afternoon and made an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. My mom again picked Chase up from daycare and helped me get him fed and ready for bed.

8-6-13: Now the NO sleep thing is just getting ridiculous. I know I am tired and need the sleep and I just haven't been able to! There is nothing more frustrating. I couldn't sleep all night again with my neck hurting so bad it hurt to move and lay in bed. After my mom came over and got Chase off to daycare for the second day in a row I tried to put a heat pad on my neck in hopes it would help. My chiropractor appointment was scheduled for 2:00. My mom took me as without being able to turn my neck it makes it hard to drive a vehicle. They were able to adjust my lower back and neck and I have another appointment for Thursday. He was confident that I would see results today and for sure by tomorrow. He also instructed me to use ice only, no heat. Whoopsie! My mom got Chase picked up from daycare and we decided to keep him the night at my moms house so I could try to get a good night of sleep. After several rounds of ice, I was already feeling better by bedtime and could slightly move my neck. Things were looking promising!

8-7-13: I GOT SLEEP! Last night I was able to finally get some sleep. I didn't feel like I was awake all night and I didn't have to worry about getting a little one up for daycare. I was still sore and decided I had better stay home today, one more day to rest up and get healed. By mid-morning my neck was feeling better. After several rounds of ice, I can finally move my neck! I am finally feeling myself again.

Today was the Veridian Golf Classic at work. It is the first one that I have not played in since I started at Veridian in 2004 and my health had to come first. I didn't want all the progress I had made in one short day to be ruined by a round of golf, no matter how bad I wanted to be there to play.

My mom was off work at 1:00 and came over to my house to clean. That is one thing that I just haven't had the energy to do for quite some time. Most days it is hard enough just to get Chase and I out the door. After an attempt at an afternoon nap I was excited to DRIVE and go get Chase for the first time this week! He was so excited to see me when I picked him up (and the kids called me a pirate with my bandanna on, LOL). After a haircut for Chase we headed to grandma and grandpas house with pizza. I wasn't quite up for cooking yet and my mom and Jim have been so helpful this week it was nice to take them dinner for a change.

I am excited to go back to work tomorrow and to enjoy the last couple days before my LAST and FINAL treatment on Monday!! It is hard to believe almost 20 treatments have come and gone. I am so excited to be done with this part of my treatment and to move on to my surgery in September. Hopefully my last and final treatment will go better than this third round has. The chiropractor is hopeful that his adjustments will help my treatment go better this time around which is very welcome news! Wish me luck!

Round two is a little bit tougher!

7-1-13: It is hard to believe July is here already! It seems like just yesterday I was diagnosed and it was almost 5 months ago. Today marked my first round of my next chemo treatment, Adriamycin Cytoxan (AC). All of my blood counts were right where they needed to be so away we go...... My treatment started out just normal until they pulled out the Adriamycin (or known to those in the cancer world as the Red Devil). The nurse attached the syringe to my IV and started to gradually push the drug into my veins. She was consistently asking me how I was feeling and about 1/2 way through my lips started to tingle. She kept going but wanted me to tell her if the symptoms changed. A few minutes later my lips went numb and my tongue started to tingle. They stopped administering the drug and went and grabbed on of the Oncologists. They were most concerned about my throat swelling or trouble breathing so they stopped giving me the drugs for a 1/2 hour and pumped me full of Benadryl which made me very groggy. After the 1/2 hour was up, they gave me the rest of the Adriamycin with no problems. I slept the remainder of my treatment. One of the main differences they expected with this round of AC was that it was to make me very tired and nauseous. I slept for a good 4-5 hours after treatment while my mom picked up Chase and got him some supper. I also had to start taking dexamethasone following treatment. This was the same drug that caused me to get headaches while on Taxol, but in the pill format I seemed to tolerate it without any issues.

7-2-13: Today I had to go back to the doctor to get my neulasta shot. This shot helps boost my white blood cell count back up to where it needs to be. I was very tired the next two days and somehow made it through two days of work. I went to bed as soon as Chase went down both of the next two nights.

7-4-13: Today Chase and I started off with the 4th of July parade in Shell Rock with the family. We had fun and thankfully it was not near as hot as it was last year at the parade. After a family dinner at Pizza Ranch it was back home for a much needed nap. Chase slept until 6:00! Once we were up and ready we headed to Marion to spend the evening with Jeff. We made our way downtown Cedar Rapids and took in some fireworks. It was such a gorgeous night.

7-5-13: I had taken this day off of work before I knew I'd be fresh off of an AC treatment. I wanted to do something fun with Chase before I am out of commission for surgery. Today we went to the Lost Island water park in Waterloo. He had such a blast! We went in the lazy river and wave pool one time each, otherwise it was a day spent at the kids treetop area. Chase had a blast going down all the slides and playing in the water. I really hope I am able to take him back one more time before the end of summer is upon us. Thankfully it was a good day and I wasn't tired. This momma finally saw some sun which was great! We ended the day with another family dinner at my sister's house. My brother was home and visiting my mom and Jim's new house in Cedar Falls for the first time. It was nice to have everyone together again!

7-6-13: Chase and I went to see the new Despicable Me 2 movie this morning with my brother Matt. After that it was lunch at my moms and nap time again. I just hadn't felt quite right all day long but couldn't really explain it. I had been lucky and hadn't felt nauseous at all since my treatment so I had stopped taking my nausea pills yesterday. I had gotten Chase to bed and was trying to fall asleep and still didn't feel quite right. Suddenly the nausea hit me and I spent the next four hours or so between the bathroom and my bedroom. I called my mom about an hour into it as I was worried if Chase woke up I wouldn't feel up to check on him. I finally got a nausea pill taken and fell asleep about 3:00 a.m.

7-7-13: Chase was up bright and early. My mom got him up and dressed and took him over to her house so I could try to get some sleep. I woke up about 11:00 a.m. I got some soup and crackers in me and was able to keep it down. I took another afternoon nap in preparation of Chase coming home that night. I was feeling much better by the time bedtime rolled around.

7-8-13: I was a little slow getting going into work this morning but I made it! I had a one week follow up appointment at the Oncologist today. My counts looked great and they weren't worried about future treatments. They did suggest I take my nausea pills through the entire first week to hopefully keep the nausea at bay for my second treatment. Today the Pink Heels tour was in the Cedar Valley. The pink fire trucks were in town to raise awareness for breast cancer. They even stopped at my office looking for me which was so neat! I got to sign the fire truck and they gave me a pink carnation and a coupon for a free scratch cupcake. I took Chase to see all the pink fire trucks (there were three) after work.

7-9-13: I spent Tuesday-Friday in Bloomington for work and felt great! Overall my first AC Treatment went better than I expected. Hopefully by keeping up on my nausea meds, I will do even better the next time around.

Update after MAYO

6-19-13: Today I was at Mayo Clinic for several appointments again. These appointments took a look at where I was post Taxol treatments to gage how the tumor had shrunk since my baseline testing in March. I had another MBI, Echocardiogram and MRI. It was another log day but I got them in one after another with little to no waiting between each. My mom and sister came along as well as they both had appointments. The weather was gorgeous and Bridget and I even got to enjoy a late lunch on the patio at Victoria's. Yummy!

6-20-13: Today I started off my appointments with my final biopsy at 7:30 am. While prepping me for the procedure, the technician had a hard time finding the lump to biopsy with the ultrasound so I guess that is a good sign! After my biopsy it was up to the surgical floor with Bridget for her follow-up appointment. She is doing very well post surgery which helps me feel optimistic about mine later this summer. Bridget and I then headed downtown to Thursday's on First while my mom was in back to back appointments. It was another gorgeous day.

I met with a new Oncologist in the afternoon. She was very nice and delivered the news that between all my testing done the day before and that morning, they determined my tumor had shrunk 50% from where it originally started. I guess that means the Taxol was working! Overall it was a very good visit. We talked a little bit about the next step with AC and then the surgery. I hadn't heard much about the surgery since my initial visit in March so I was curious about what the timeline might look like for the last step of my treatment. She said that the surgeons typically like to wait three-four weeks past my final AC treatment to ensure that my white cell count has enough time to climb back up where it needs to be. That puts me roughly to having surgery the first week of September at the earliest. She was going to have her staff work on the initial contact with the surgeons to see what we could come up with. Overall it was a successful visit up to Mayo. I am scheduled to go back for my last follow-ups for the Beauty study on August 15-16.

6-25-13: Today I logged onto my Mayo Clinic account to check out the appointments that had been set up for August and noticed that they scheduled me for an appointment with the surgeon on a separate day from my other appointments. I wasn't too thrilled to have to return for an additional trip (4 hours of drive time for a one hour appointment). I called the surgeon's office and talked to the secretary that I met way back in March. Through our conversation I got a lot more information about the upcoming surgery and what to expect. She was able to switch my appointment so I could be seen while I was there on August 15-16. She also reached out to the Plastic surgeon to see about scheduling the surgery. She called me back within 30 minutes and I have a surgery date set: September 11th! I am excited to finally have a date on the calendar so I can begin to plan a little for the time I will be off and away from work.

6-28-13: Today I worked my first whole entire 5 day, 40 hour work week since sometime in January. It was a weird feeling! I have been off for appointments or treatments since the beginning of February. It is nice to know I can still function like a normal adult. Monday I start my AC treatment. It sounds like this treatment may be a little harder for me, but the doctor is still optimistic that the side effects will be minimal because of my younger age. I hope they are right!

Relay for Life!

6-7-13: Today I started the day with my 11th Taxol treatment. I moved it to Friday morning as I had already planned to take off the afternoon. It made sense to be gone one entire day rather than two half days. After I completed my treatment it was home for a much needed NAP! After my nap and getting all packed up for Chase for the weekend I was headed to pick Chase up from daycare. Today was the Hardin County Relay for Life in Eldora. The Eldora Fire Department had to put together a team to walk for me as my dad has been a member of the FD for MANY years! I had a great time at the event. I managed to put on three miles with Chase. I had some tingling in my hands and feet as a result of having a chemo treatment that morning so I had to take it somewhat easy. Here are some pictures of the event.

Chase got to wear our necklace to track how many times we ended up walking around the track. Twelve beads and three miles later we called it quits!

 

Someone didn't want to smile in the picture! Me, Chase and my dad.

 

The back of our team shirts! Smoke Chasers - Kristin's Crew!

 

Heather was a rock star! She did a lot of the planning with my dad for this event. Part of her "sales pitch" to raise money was that she would wear her bunker pants for a lap - and that she did! Thanks for all your work Heather!

 

More family sporting the shirt! My cousin Aaron, Aunt Beth who is also a breast cancer survivor, Grandma Barb, and uncle Kevin!

 

Good family picture minus the kiddos! My dad, me, Chase, step-mom Brenda, Grandma Barb, niece Layla (or pink blanket!), step-sister Rachel, Aunt Beth, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Aaron!

The greatest part of the night was walking the survivor lap with my mom who is also a survivor of TNBC! She has been there with me every step of the way and will continue to do so. Here are some picture of the survivor walk and more!

Mom and me before the survivor's lap.

 

Here come the survivors!

 

Lap completed!

 

My mom, step-dad Jim and Chase walking with us for the family lap.

 

One of the luminaries my mom made. Picture taken one year prior at the Relay for Life when I walked with my mom. Little did I know in a years time I'd be right beside her.

 

Luminary that Brenda and my dad did.

 

This one was nice and I have no idea who made it. Thank you!!

 

 

6-12-13: It has been a pretty good week with all the activities going on. Everyone is amazed that I haven't let this disease slow me down. Well the past couple of days it began to take its toll. After working a 11 hour day on Monday I noticed that my ankles and feet were rather swollen. I looked like I was 8 months pregnant! After a long day at work I went home and put up my feet in hopes it would help. Tuesday wasn't any better and the swelling had perhaps increased. I went to the doctor this morning. They said it was a side effect of the Taxol and normal to retain water. I got a prescription for some water pills and was told to work from home so that I could keep my feet elevated. I have began to see some improvement so I am hopeful the swelling will be gone soon.

 

On Friday I have my 12th and FINAL Taxol treatment. I can't believe I am three months into my treatment already. Over all things have gone well and I have been lucky with minimal side effects. I am hopeful that the next treatment will be just as uneventful. I have appointments at Mayo Clinic next week as a part of my clinical trial. I will be there for two days so they can determine how the Taxol worked on my tumor to learn for future diagnosis' of TNBC. My mom and sister also have appointments those two days and will be coming along with me. I will update you again after my next round of appointments.



BRCA ain't got nothing on us!

5-30-13: Here I sit at chemo for my tenth Taxol treatment. I am officially half way done with my twenty weeks of chemo! As I am hooked up to the machine the only thing on my mind is what I have to do after I am done with chemo today.

Today is the day our family is taking the upper hand and control of the fate of cancer in our family. My sister is undergoing a preventative bi-lateral mastectomy as I type to diminish and hopefully prevent her risk of getting cancer. Our family has been through a lot in the past 4 months. A cancer diagnosis of one daughter and the discovery of this BRCA gene for many of my family members including myself. I am thankful for the knowledge and advances in science for us to even be in the know and have the opportunity to take these preventative measures. I am hopeful by the time this trickles down to generations to come that the advancement will be even better in the preventative options for both the men and the women in my family.

With that being said, Bridget I love you and will be with you every step of the way. Keep your chin up and think of all the positive things you have in your life, like your amazing husband, adorable kids, supportive friends and family and a best friend that gets to call you sister!