Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Wake and Bake!

As my sister Joanna has so lovingly dubbed my morning treatments! She’s a riot isn’t she?

As of today I have 15 treatments under my belt, and 18 more to go. Almost halfway. It’s been a relatively uneventful experience so far. My skin is starting to get slightly pinkish, and on occasion itches like a bitch, but really that’s it. The fatigue catches up with me some days, depending on what we’re doing, but even that has been tolerable.

I originally was covered in paint marks and stickers, but last week I got permanent tattoos. Nine of them to be exact. They’re tiny blue marks that help them line me up just right every time. It beats getting paint all over my clothes.

I’m supposed to avoid excess exposure to the sun, which has been hard to do in this weather. The heat has been miserable, so it’s been nicer to stay in the a/c. But I do miss being outside. So we play outside in the front yard in the shade.

We’re taking an extra long weekend this weekend, so I have to do two treatments on Thursday. One in the morning and one in the afternoon, they have to be 6 hours apart. Then I’ll have Friday off, Monday’s a holiday so that’s a freebie anyways. And then I’ll have Tuesday off, and have two treatments again on Wednesday.

We’re heading up to the U.P. We’ll be in Houghton on Friday and Saturday for a wedding of some good friends of ours. Then Sunday we’ll be heading down to Crystal Falls to hang out with family. We’re trying to get together a family shindig together at my grandma’s for Monday, so that will be nice to just hang out and relax.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Phase 3 - Radiation

Well I figured since we were starting a new phase of treatment, it was time for a new background.

I officially started radiation today. Completely painless, didn't feel a thing. The process took about 15 minutes from start to finish. It takes me longer to drive to the hospital. I'll do that every day Monday-Friday for a total of 33 treatments, UGH! That seems like forever, but I'm sure it will go by fast. I should only experience some skin irritations and fatigue, none of the other symptons I had like with my chemo, thank goodness.

The worst part was the planning they have to do. Yesterday I had a hour and a half session of laying perfectly still on my back, with my arms above my head. That was rather painful after awhile, you get the arm shakes. Reminded me of those damn arm hangs we had to do in high school gym. But it's necessary to make sure they are avoiding all of my major organs and just getting the area they need to.

This will be the last of my major treatments, so that's very exciting. It's nice to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Our summer has been good. The last few days have been miserably hot. Temps in the high 90's with heat indexes over 105 most days. I'm definetly glad for a nice air conditioned office.

Logan is growing like a weed. He's talking so much, too much some day. And he's just so much fun to hang out with. It's great to see the world through the eyes of a child, and explore new things every day with him. I'm so grateful to get to do that. This whole journey has made me appreciate small things like chasing ants and spiders on the sidewalk, blowing bubbles, running through the sprinkler, making forts out of kitchen chairs and blankets and playing with play-doh. I'm enjoying "being" a kid for awhile. I just can't imagine getting through this without him to keep me going, and Richard of course. He's really been my rock through this whole thing and I couldn't have done it without him either. I love you both all the way around the world and back again.

Hope this finds everyone well, stay tuned for more posting..........