Kira's Stupid Breast Cancer

 These last couple of months have been, well, rough. I feel like I've been living someone else's life or that this has been a terrible made-for-TV movie. Including the loss of one of our beloved dogs. I will try to keep the update as brief as I can but just know that as for me and my cancer-related health, things are still going smoothly.  The last update touched on the CT scan and unhappy blood work... the CT scan of my brain looked fine, no issues with my pituitary or anything else, so the headaches are likely stress. I went back to redo my labs the following week, and everything was perfectly normal. No rhyme or reason so not exactly sure what was up the previous week. At least there were no issues... I'll take a "fluke" anytime. 2 more infusions then on to reconstruction! My hair is returning quite a bit, but these curls... ugh! I feel like a Chia Pet.... and I can't stand having hair on the back of my neck and that's right where it's residing... a...

 I know it'a been a while since I've updated here.. Life has been... challenging. I'll start with my plastic surgeon appointment on the 27th. Met with my Dr and while I've healed from the double mastectomy well, my thyroid being so far outta whack is a hindrance. That being said, my reconstruction surgery is scheduled for August 11. That should give time for my thyroid to recover so I can heal from the next surgery. This appointment was followed by my PT appointment. I've already met all my goals just by living life, so I was released from PT.  Coincidentally, my friend Shannon was having her double mastectomy this same day. It was rescheduled from it's previous date and I felt that it was a sign that I should go see her since I was in town (she lives in Richmond, down the road from where I have my care at VCU). After my appointments, I headed over to the hospital she was at. It was nice catching up with her hubby while we waited. Her surgery went well and we ca...

Just another day in paradise.. LOL At least we've started thawing out from all the snow and ice.  Today was my every 3 week visit to VCU for labs, office visit and immunotherapy infusion. Aside from my thyroid, my labs still look great. The Capecitabine does not seem to be having any effect on my immune system, thank God!  The thyroid... is gonna be my mountain thru the rest of this treatment. I know it's a side effect from the immunotherapy, but dang. Today my thyroid level was at 16... the highest yet. Even after the med increase. Ugh... I know I'm supposed to take it before eating anything, which I do, but I did not know that my multivitamin and coffee could be having a negative affect on the thyroid medicine. Oops. So, I'm to try just taking my thyroid med then wait at least an hour to have coffee and take my vitamins. Luckily, the only ones that have to be around me that early are the dogs. My thyroid number being so high explains why I've still been so tired a...

I know it's been a little while since my last post... life has been busy. We've been dumped on with snow and ice over the last few weeks and only had a day or 2 where temps have been above freezing. Needless to say, we're trying to stay warm but these temps make caring for the livestock more challenging. Until we can finish the coop and pen upgrades, I'm having to take 5 gallon buckets of water out to the critters to defrost their water bowls a couple times a day. Luckily I have ski bibs (definitely not for skiing) and thermal boots so it's not a terrible chore. Not one I enjoy, but hey.. gotta do what I gotta do. On January 23, I went back to my dermatologist. This is a local doctor and she's been keeping an eye on the rash on my leg that appeared over the summer. Since the cream doesn't ever make the rash go away, it just relieves the immediate itching, and the area has grown, she decided to biopsy it. Yay. It's known that chemo drugs can actually caus...

Things have been moving right along with recovery and trying to get things back to "normal" ahead of my reconstruction surgery. I should know more about that step in February when I meet with my plastic surgeon.  My oncologist ordered a specific blood test to be done that would test for my specific string of cancer cells. That's a send-away type of test, not something that is done in-house at the lab. Those results came back yesterday - test was negative and it was stated I'm officially in REMISSION! Praise God!! While that is fantastic news, there are just times when you want to call your mom and tell her good news. She'd have told dad and they both would have been over the moon ecstatic.  Unfortunately, for me, that's not an option. But literally, when I got the message from the doctor, I switched to the phone app and almost called her.  Today, for some reason, she's on my heart. I miss her and dad everyday, but for some reason, today seems to be one of ...

 Happy New Year! Hopefully this year will be filled with more good news than last year....  Today I had my trek to VCU. This was an EARLY day as my first appt was at 7am. Physical Therapy. No big deal. PT appt. This therapist is hard to read. She's super nice, but her facial expressions are non-existent and her voice is soft and often has no emotions in it. I do like her, she's just kinda hard to "read". She noted my huge improvement in my range of motion. I told her that's because I've resumed normal activity. I just needed the "release" to be able to move, and what I could and could not do with these expanders. I have been taking it as easy as I can because I didn't want to mess them up or anything. She told me to continue what I'm doing and even cancelled the appt I had scheduled for the following week. Just to use "tolerance" as a guide. She said a month follow-up should be sufficient. That's good news in my book! I still ha...

Yes, I'm writing on Christmas Day... It's hard this year without the normal traditions and it really feeling like just another day.  I've tried really hard this year to be in the spirit... I did some baking, shopping and even dressed in festive attire throughout the month. Unfortunately, the baking was by myself, shopping was either online or around town by myself. Christian, Sam and Ashli came over last evening and we did Christmas with them since this is their first Christmas in their new home. Non-traditional supper - spaghetti. Other than them opening gifts, it really didn't feel like Christmas, just a night of hanging out with them. I'm grateful for that time, don't get me wrong, just didn't feel Christmas-y.  Our other kids are not local to us and are spending the holiday with other family. I know they're all grown and have other families, it's just hard... and without my folks, especially my mom, as she was the one who "did up" Chris...