Last Chemo and low days

Monday was my last chemo day! I remember when I started in April, I thought this day was vey far away. And it is here. I had some great nurses during my chemo time at St. Mary's. They were great.  I had amazing people who sat with me during my treatments. 

I of course could not go to my last chemo with a normal cap. I had to do something special. So the purple wig came out along with my tiara. It was my way of celebrating. 

So this means I have my last low days also. I have learned how to deal with my low days with knowing when to nap and having things to keep my busy on the couch and having food prepared to eat. So I have pieces of a quilt to pin together. I have a cap to knit for the soldiers. I have a show that I am going to binge watch ready to go. 

I know my low days will go by and I will get my energy back. Tomorrow I will run an errand to get me out of the house for a short time. I know my taste buds will come back, and my hair is going to be growing back. I have been told it might come back curly and a different color. I'm pretty sure it won't come back purple or blue. I'm really hoping for auburn and not grey.


I will have two good weeks before my surgery. Which I have started planning for. I have been planning ahead for when I am not going to be moving far from my bed for a couple of weeks. Then I have week three where I can move more, but will be tired. I know I will have appointments which will keep me motivated to follow doctor's orders and do my stretches the PT people give me. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I am excited that I have things planned for my good weeks. 

I have to drink my fluids and make sure I get my meals in. 

I am blessed. Some of you might think that is a strange statement to say because I have breast cancer. I only had one major hiccup with my chemo in the beginning. But no major complications from chemo. My Mugga scan was good. I had the best support from my friends close by and far away. I am blessed to have that support. I have great doctors who are amazing. I am blessed with a cute dog who watches over me. I choose to look at how I am blessed. 

I know God has a great plan for me and is watching over me. I know the next steps will be difficult, but God is there and will take care of me. 

My Rockstar Doctor appointment

As  many of you know I had my dr. appointment last week. After the appointment I had 3 more appointments scheduled. But more about those in a minute. 

I had a friend come with me to help me remember all that was talked about.  My rockstar doctor showed me the PET scan I had before I started chemo. This was suppose to show if there was cancer anywhere else in my body. She showed that there was a big spot on the other side of Hildi. Not the side that I found the lump. (before anyone asks, that was the only spot that showed on my body) (Which is  a great thing) Then she pulled up my guided MRI and it showed that the tiny spot we had hoped was a hormonal spot which had tested positive for cancer after the guided MRI was not a small spot but large and very thin. 

Now I have two cancer areas in two different quadrants. This means that I can not have a lumpectomy. So I had some choices to make. Do I have a double mastectomy?   Do I only have the breast with the cancer removed? Do I reconstruct? 

My Rockstar doctor said I should talk to "Plastics" before I decide. I had an appointment set up for the next day. 

I knew this would be a possibility. I'm not sad, I'm not upset, I'm not mad. I'm ok with this choice. I want to do what is best and I know this is best for me. 

I met with "Plastics" the next day. He was very nice. So when they do the surgery, I will have expanders put in and I will come in each week to get "pumped" up to the size I choose. 

I was told the first two weeks after surgery, I will be tired and not doing a lot of moving around.  Week three is better and it will take six weeks for me to feel normal. 

I will be having a double mastectomy and yes, I will have reconstruction. 

**Anytime I talk about reconstruction I can hear the words..."We can rebuild them, we have the technology, we can make them stronger and faster"  This is because I grew up watching The Six Million Dollar Man (I have the first season on DVD) and the Bionic Woman (I need to find this series on DVD). 

I will have to spend the night in the hospital. Surgery is not scheduled yet. I should hear more about the date soon. Both my rockstar dr and the plastic surgeon will work on me at the same time. 

I also met with PT. I have stretches to do the first two weeks after surgery and things to do before surgery. 

This week is my good week and it started with going to lunch on Saturday and taking a walk then meeting up with good friends on Sunday. 

Monday I had a MUGA scan. They scan your heart to make sure there is no damage to your heart from chemo. Which I have one chemo left. 

Thursday and Friday I am working the light board for Frozen Jr. I saw the opening number and it looks great. I love working the light board. It is so much fun. I am also meeting a friend for lunch. I love meeting people for lunch! or dinner! I like eating on my good week. 

I have  been busy. I became a Screencastify Genius. Any teacher out there should become familiar with Screencastify. It is amazing and easy to use. I am also working on becoming a SMART educator. I have to take some tests and because it is going to be scorching hot this week, it is my plan to stay inside and take these tests. 

Jovi is going to really glad when everyone is done with their fireworks. She does not care for the big booms at night. I'm not really excited about them when they wake me up. We are suppose to get thunderstorms some time this week. 

I have wings to grill this week. I'm hoping to grill them tonight. I love gilling out. I haven't done it much this year. I want to take advantage of my good week and grill. 

Busy, busy busy,

I have been MIA from my blog, but for a really good reason. My good week was filled with love and laughter. I saw so many friends and had a great time. It was so good to see everyone. 

I did feel like a Diva telling everyone that I couldn't go and see them and they would have to come and see me. I don't go far from Green Bay. My friends from Las Vegas and California even came to see me. (To be honest, they were in the state for a conference and to visit family). 

It was great to see everyone. 

Then Monday was Chemo day. My friend sat with me during chemo. We sat by the window again. It was nice and bright. I finished treatment and we went out to lunch. It was great to sit outside and eat. We sat under the shade and there was a great breeze. 

Then Tuesday, when I still have energy I went on a search for Beekle. Now if you are not a teacher, you might not know who Beekle is. 

I was searching Kohls Cares for Beekle stuffed animal. We have two Kohls in Green Bay. Neither had heard of Beekle or had them. So what does a Librarian do when you know Kohls Cares should have Beekle? You take to Twitter and tweet out to Kohls. They actually answered. I could order it on line and pick it up at my nearest Kohls. So I have a Beekle! 

I had prepped for my low days. I had food in the fridge to microwave and things to keep my busy that didn't require too much thought.  Long thoughts are not what I can do on my low days. 

Fourth of July was during my low days. Not good planning. If some of you don't know, Jovi was a stray from Texas. I have no idea what she went through living on the streets. She is scared of loud noises. So fireworks are not something she enjoys. 

So we spent a lot of time in the basement this week. I closed the basement door and put her under a blanket and watched a movie. She was ok once we got down there and settled. It makes me sad to see her so scared. If anyone knows why you would set off fireworks at 4pm, please let me know. I took Jovi outside at 4pm thinking it would be peaceful and normal noises. But while we were outside, loud booms when off. I'm very blessed that Jovi knows to head back to the house, she stood by the door and shook. I'm so thankful it is only once a year and I have a basement that she feels safe in. 

The whole order and pick up at Kohls was great. I went there on Friday when it was really hot. I just walked in, went to the counter, they got Beekle and I walked out and drove home and napped. It was good to get out, but that was all the energy that I had. 

On my low week, even my Propell water tasted funny, everything tasted funny. I had to remind myself to drink even if it tasted strange. I tried lemonade thinking that would be better. I was wrong, Nothing tasted good. But I drank my liquids and took my meds. and I slept. 

Monday wasn't that much better. But I have learned that even if I think Monday will be a good day for me, it won't be. Tuesday I felt better, Still a little tired. 

I asked a friend to walk Jovi for me since I couldn't in the heat and I just couldn't walk far. Jovi really wanted to go for a walk. So my friend came and took her for a walk. Now if you have met the Jov, you know she has really short bow legs. And as I said before, she hates loud noises and heads to the house. 

So I bought a stroller for her to ride in for the walks. 

The girl loves her stroller rides and feel safe in her stroller. Loud noises do not bother her while she is in there. I'm so thankful she had a good walk. 

Wednesday is my appointment with my rockstar surgeon. I have lots and lots and lots of questions about what are my next steps. I have no idea when or what is going on next. I will know more after my appointment. I know my God is already there and knows what will happen next. How happy that I am to the point in my treatment that I am talking to my rockstar surgeon and talking about what comes next. I'm thankful that I was able to do the treatments and have my tumor shrink and not have many complications. I do have tingling toes which is a side effect they are watching carefully. And I'm thankful for all the love and support I have gotten from everyone. I am blessed.