Starting Chemo once again.

I realized that I have not updated my blog since the end of February. It has been a rough couple of months. 

After 20 treatments of Carboplatin I got C-Diff. This was the worst bacteria virus that I could have ever gotten. Not only did it interrupt me getting my chemo I was hospitalized twice because of it. This is something I never want again. I would much rather have a chemo treatment than have another bout with c-diff. It is that bad. Along with the C-Diff I had a UTI and a yeast infection. How I got all three I will never know. 

I am finally feeling better from it. I start my monthly chemo treatments on the 22nd. I am happy about going monthly instead of weekly. My body after a while couldn't handle the weekly treatments.  

I am a little nervous about it though. I know I have no reason to be. I am getting the same dosages just instead of broken up I will get it all at once. But with doing it weekly it gives me a chance to travel with Tyler and not worried about skipping a treatment. 

Stomp out Breast Cancer

#metsmonday #bckills #dontignorestageiv http://www.metavivor.org

Good news.

On Monday my Doctor drew labs to test my tumor markers.

Tumor marker results in all 3 are normal 

CA125 -10

CEA - 1.0

CA 27.29 - 28

In October my CA125 was 89 

Chemo is working!!! I am over the mood excited that the chemotherapy is working  and this put me in such a good mood on Tuesdsy. Although it was short lived. 

I was in my room doing things and got the tube caught on my bed and ripped it out. So I was off to the emergency room and an overnight stay at Duke. I didn't pull out the track so that was a good thing. 

I have my scans on March 27th so that will confirm everything. 

My appointment with the rumortologist was cancelled because of the snow so that will happen on March 11th. I am still waiting for John Hopkins to call me and let me know if they will take my case for the retropertinal fibrosis. I am really hoping they do. I would like to start to get this under control now that the cancer is under control. 

On Monday I get my nipple tattoo from Dr Hollenbeck I am also hoping that he will be willing to fix the left boob. Since the cancer is somewhat under control I can start to do things that will help with my quality of life. I finally feel like I am in a place where I will live for a very long time. I have lots to look forward too and live for. 

Ever feel like a broken record

I do! I swear my life revolves around me getting chemo once a week and dealing with these damn nephrostomy tubes. The amount of times I have pulled them out is rediculious.  Last night I pulled it again, it was just replaced on Thursday. It hasn't hurt me all day but I am pretty sure it is pulled out again since I don't think it is draining properly. 

The cancer does not give me as much problems as the tubes give me. I have an appointment on Thursday with the Duke rumortologist and have sent everything off to John Hopkins so hopefully they will take my case. I just really want to get the tubes out before I start wearing shorts. Not sure how I can do that with the tubes. It will be a very long summer in skirts or dresses. 

Today I have chemo and labs.  They are going to test my tumor markers. The only one that was tested in October was my CA125 and that was high so I am praying that the numbers go down and the other ones are not too high. I am also hoping that I get the results tomorrow also. Not sure how long they take. More to come tomorrow. 

Chemo, tests and more hospital stays

Every week I have been doing chemo and have also been getting blood transfusions when needed. 

The drains came out for almost two weeks until I once again stopped peeing and was put back in the hospital last week and had to get the drains put back in. 

I have gone from being okay with this to being very angry. I thought I was at least getting somewhere with having the drains removed and having some hope. Some sort of a normal life. I figured I could go out and meet new people, go on a date maybe? It is not fair can i get some sort of a break? Have some sort of a normal life? 

After getting out of the hospital I went in for chemo and had to get a blood transfusion too. Plus some potassium. It made for a very long day. 

On Friday I had an appointment with Dr Lipkin (urologist) he took out the three stents I had in my bladder. He is hoping that it will help me urinate better. It was very weird seeing a camera inside my bladder and taking out the stents. This though has helped with some of my pain levels. 

I still need to get all my medical records together so I can send them to John Hopkins and see what the specialist has to say regarding my fibrosis. 

I also had a CT Scan of the upper body and am waiting for the results on that. 

Tyler came home from school with a cold and of course I have now caught that. I am trying to decide what to do regarding chemo tomorrow. I am nervous about skipping chemo but don't know if I can handle it either. Decisions decisions. 

Entering into the world of Stage IV Breast Cancer

It has been a long time since I have posted on here. A lot has happened. In June of 2014 Richie and I separated and our divorce will become final in July 2015. I have full primary custody of Tyler and he will visit Richie up in New York during track outs.
Tyler and I moved into a town home in August . We are settled into the new home and Ty has been settling into his new school.

I went back to work in late September 2014 and was only at work for five days before the skies opened up on me. It was freaky how the cancer was found this time. My legs and feet got really swollen. It became painful on Sunday the 28th. On Saturday night I texted my physical therapist and asked if I could come in so she can look at them. I am very lucky that I have doctors and therapists that are very good to me. She called my breast surgeon, Dr. Greenup  since I had just seen her and she told me to come straight to the ER so I did. My blood pressure was very high.

 It turned out that I had something called  Retroperitoneal Fibrosis  after stents were put in the leg swelling started to go down. I also had to have two nephrostomy tubes put in to help my kidneys drain. These will hopefully come out this week.

With all the scans I had they found cancer in my lymph nodes in my abdomen. This time it is Stage IV Triple Negative cancer and is being treated by twelve rounds of Chemotherapy with a drug called Carboplatin.

 After that we will do some more scans and see what is going on with the cancer and where it is. 

This time I realized that I would not be able to work during my chemotherapy treatments. So far I hadbeen on short term disability and just recently that was down to 66% of my pay.The money raised on the go fund me site will go to my medical expenses and towards household bills.

I read every single comment on my Facebook, and my Caring Bridge Site .I Love all the support, prayers and well wishes. I cannot express how much your love and support has helped me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

DIEP Surgery

On 11/13/13 I had my DIEP surgery with my right breast mastectomy. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days. I don't remember much of that time. My Aunt took me that morning for the surgery and it lasted about 10 hours. I did really good and I love my plastic and breast surgeon. They are the best. That Friday my beast friend came into town to give my Aunt a break and stay with me. I love Paula. She was the one who told them to up my pain meds at night then back them off during the day so I could get around. She even helped bathe me, now that is a true friend. Richie came once when I was there and it was pretty awkward. At this point I knew I didn't want to be married anymore and had told him so. Once I came home I only had one drain in and it came out pretty quickly. I am so happy that I decided to go to Duke and have this surgery. Once I was cleared to drive I started to get around but became tired pretty quickly so I learned to listen to my body and sleep when I needed to. Tyler of course did excellent with my surgery and was very sweet with me.
The left breast got pretty damaged with the radiation so they weren't able to give me a breast that was a good size to my body so I will have to have another surgery in February with a tissue expander. So a couple of more surgeries for me but my stomach looks awesome. I am so happy with the results.
Now I just wish my personal life would come together like this did.