No news is GOOD news!

What's that old saying: Time flies when your having fun?! Well I can't believe it has been one month since my last blog post. I've had a good month and a busy one at that! I keep thinking I need to blog but I haven't been having any issues. Well I guess blogging about the good things are necessary too, right?!

4-25-13: Today was my fifth round of chemo. Dr. Singh changed up some of my meds today. I have been having constant headaches since I started my Taxol treatments. One of my meds has a side effect of headaches so it was as simple as switching to a different medicine. I am glad I said something! Dr. Singh also pulled back my dosage of the nausea meds since I haven't had many problems with nausea while on Taxol. 

5-2-13: Today was round six- I am halfway done with Taxol!! Today I went in earlier than normal as there were only late morning appointments left. When I got to the cancer treatment center there were only a few open chairs. It was a busy day at CVCC (I am usually one of a few patients in the afternoons). I brought my laptop with me to get some work done while I was there. I am glad I had something to keep me busy as I was the youngest patient by decades. :) Most patients spent the time sleeping and I even got asked by some of the elderly patients to help them. LOL

5-9-13: Today was a busy day. I had chemo in the afternoon and was preparing for a trip to Vegas! After chemo I headed to the YMCA to watch Chase at his last swimming lesson for this year. He has become more comfortable in the water and even got brave enough to get off the steps and touch on the bottom of the pool. He didn't pass as he was young for the class but made great progress. It made this former lifeguard proud anyhow! Next it was headed home to begin the task of packing for both Chase and me.

5-10-13: Jeff and I headed to Las Vegas. My friend Tracy got married on May 12th- Mother's Day! It was a fun trip and it was so nice to get away for a few days and not worry about my health and everything I have going on. It was great to spend time with friends I don't get to see all that often. I was happy that I felt well while we were there, and the afternoon naps helped too! I didn't experience any nausea other than some sporadic turbulence on the plane ride on our way to Vegas. After that it was smooth sailing!

5-14-13: As everyone has probably read or seen on the news Angelina Jolie came out revealing she had a preventative Bi-lateral Mastectomy (PBM) and is BRCA 1 positive. It was great publicity and has made a huge impact on awareness of BRCA genetic mutations and the options available to prevent cancer. This is the same gene both my sister and I have. My sister has been fighting her insurance company to pay for her PBM after their initial denial. Of all days, she got word today that they finally approved her request! What great news! She has a surgery date of May 30th! Wow! I am thankful she is able to have this procedure done to diminish the risk of getting cancer like I did. I guess the one nice thing is that she will have all sorts of pointers for me by the time I get around to getting my mastectomy. Although our surgery techniques will be slightly different we will still have the same recovery and challenges for several weeks following surgery.

5-16-13: I can't believe we are through eight weeks of Taxol already. I met with Dr. Singh today and he did another breast exam. The mass still is not able to be found so that is good news! The taxol is working and before long this will all be a distant memory behind me. We also got word that my Great-Aunt Sharon (my grandpa's sister) was tested for the BRCA gene and she was negative. At least her family doesn't have to worry about the risk for her family.

Some funny things that have happened to me recently that I never thought I would have to worry about that I just thought I would share:

1. My mom shaved my head
2. My son explained to his friends at daycare why I didn't have hair the other day when I picked him up! So cute and matter of factly might I add!
3. Researching mastectomy procedures and the pictures that go along with them (right Bridget - lots of boobie pictures LOL)
4. When telling my doctor I was going to Vegas, his only suggestion was "Don't smoke the funky stuff!" Really?! That guy is so funny sometimes.