Just Me LMJ

Today I had another treatment (well actually yesterday). The benadryl they give me makes me sleepy and zombie like for several hours. Then the tingling of my whole body starts and the steroids (I assume kick in). I took not 1 but 2 of my little sleeping aids thinking I would get some sleep….but no, here it is in the middle of the night and I have yet to go to sleep! I am suppose to go to work later today but at this point I don’t know when I will go to sleep..I guess I’ll go to work and come home when I finally feel sleepy. My tingling should stop by 8 or 9 in the morning so that will be good.

My red blood count dropped again and is the lowest it has been since I started all my treatments. Although not low enough for a transfusion (but it was brought up), they tell me it will be hard to get the counts up since I get weekly treatments. Just about the time they would come up, I get another treatment. We’ll just have to watch and see what happens. They tell me a transfusion would bring my counts up right away and the problem with the shots I get is the shots are alot slower in bringing up the counts. My white count has dropped as well but still in the low normal range. The treatment will bring this count down as well so I’ll have to be more careful about not being around people who are sick.

I hope you all had a great holiday. My side had Christmas at Dad’s last Saturday. It was good to see the family. It was a little strange with Mom not there. Christmas was her favorite holiday. The family didn’t get together last Christmas as it was so soon after her death so as I said it was a little different. Christmas day was great. My children were here. My kids would tell you that I had Grandma syndrome. My mom and dad’s Christmas tree was always packed with presents. I did tend to go overboard a little this year. I told them it was the fault of the Cancer syndrome.

Sara (Jeremy’s girlfriend) brought her Nintendo Wii over and we played it for a few hours. It was a great holiday. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you all good health and lots of happiness in the new year.

Love, Lori

On Wednesday, I began my new treatment series, 12 weeks of the drug Taxol. Saw the doctor, and red blood count is still down. We talked a few minutes about receiving a blood transfusion but elected against that. Still getting red blood count booster shots so hopeful it will kick in soon and boost my counts.

With Taxol, you can have a reaction while receiving it. I also had to be sure to have a driver because they give me Benadryl, along with other drugs as my pre-meds. I handled the Taxol pretty well. When they began the Taxol, within a couple of minutes, I had a cool, almost misting sensation in my mouth. It was a very weird feeling. The Benadryl made me sleepy. About 10 that night, my whole body began tingling, which lasted about 12 hours. At 3:30 in the morning, the steriods kicked in and I was awake. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I just got up. I wrapped Christmas presents, checked emails, paid bills, played on the computer, etc. I just had a lot of energy. I had a little queasiness but not like the other treatment (so far).

The reaction I have now is my joints in my fingers and feet are red, swollen and sore. I don’t know what a person who has arthritis feels like, but I may have some idea. It hurts to walk and move my fingers. I took Motrin this morning to see if that helps. The doctor told me that pain in the bones and joints was a common side effect. I don’t know if it will get worse or how long it will last. Time will tell. More dragged out today (steriod must be wearing off).
Plan to return to work on Tuesday and then Wednesday another treatment. I can now say I am half way done with my treatments. Only 11 treatments to go.

I’ll try to post again before the holiday but if not, I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas. I want to thank everyone again for all your support and encouragement. You all have helped me through this journey.

Love, Lori

To get in the Christmas spirit I have some Christmas lights synced to music for you all. Since I’m suppose to be the computer guy Sarah wants me to do this to my house when I get it done. I do think they are pretty cool but it might be a little to much work. Check out the videos and see what you think. For the people with slow internet sorry but you probably wont be able to watch the videos unless you are really patient.

http://multimediapcs.blogspot.com/2006/12/christmas-lights-to-music-2006.html

Jeremy

The pictures are now up. Well I missed one but you can see the others. Just click on “Jaylyn’s Senior Pictures” on the right. Then you will see an arrow pointing where to go. I think they turned out great.

Well I am almost there, I had my last nasty drugs treatment on Wednesday. My red blood count didn’t come up and in fact is a little lower so I expect that starting tomorrow (or Sunday) I will be feeling pretty dragged out. I take comfort in knowing that by next Thursday I should be feeling better.

Starting Dec. 20th, I begin my weekly treatments of Taxol, which I have been told should be better. The amount of drugs I have to take will be reduced so that will be nice. Since I am in a clinical trial, I will no longer be getting my Neulasta shot so I will have to be a bit more careful being around people who are sick. Of course, if my white count drops too much, they will start me back on Neulasta. I will continue to get my red blood count boosters though. They told me it would take a couple of shots of the red blood count booster before I felt a difference. Hope it kicks in soon!

I’ll keep you posted.

Love, Lori

Just a quick update to say I’m feeling good. I went to work on Wednesday but had a difficult time. I made it all day but was tired and feeling weak. But each day since, I have been feeling a little better and have more energy. Jeff and I went shopping a little bit Saturday evening, I didn’t last too long but was happy to get a few things done.

Today is the one year anniversary of Mom’s death and after lunch Jeff, kids, and I went to the cemetery. Dad, Sue and I went yesterday with a grave blanket, which is made with evergreens, to put on the grave. I can’t believe it has been a year….so much has happened this year. I think of Mom often, especially with my cancer battle. She was always so strong and never complained. I don’t know how she did it battling her last cancer for 3 years with ongoing treatments.

I know that by this time next week I’ll probably be feeling horrible but until then I am going to enjoy the next few days.

Love, Lori