Kira's Stupid Breast Cancer

 CT Scan appointment.  No food or drink until afterwards.... Ugh! Let's start with the Doorways. As I had just fallen asleep last night, there was a sound that woke me up. By the 3rd ring, I realized it was the room phone. The front desk called asking if my vehicle was parked outside their door. I told them no, and they apologized for bothering me. This was at 10:30pm. Perhaps they need to verify vehicles to patients/guests upon arrival, similar to how hotels do it. That caused me to have a delay in my sleep schedule when I was really looking to get some rest after the anxiety I endured getting there. Ah well. The front desk person was nice as I checked out. They are just doing their job. And at least they are nice. As I left, I had by overnight bag, laptop bag, pocketbook, and my pillow and ventured on out to 7th Street towards my parking garage. I had to walk about a block to where I'd parked the night before. $20 for overnight parking. Whatever. I'll add it to my list of...

 So this week has been busy!  One of my oldest and dearest friends came to visit from Washington (state) for the weekend. It has been about 7 years since we've seen each other. We spent the time catching up, piddling around the house, ran a few errands so she could see some of the lake area, and lots of laughing. Monday she attempted to go back home.... constant delays caused her many issues but she made it home safely. I had treatment Monday morning. Not sure if it's good or bad, but nothing new to report about treatment. I'm still not having any issues or side effects (other than hair loss) and my labs are still looking ok. I had a different nurse this week. She was sweet.  Today, after work, I drove up to Richmond for my early AM VCU appointment tomorrow. This appointment is for a CT Scan of my lower abdomen area. I had a partial hysterectomy 10 years ago. In order to be able to do the DIEP Flap reconstruction later on, the plastic surgeon wants to see how much scar ti...

  My oncologist has ordered an echocardiogram to ensure my heart was still doing well as we will be switching my chemo cocktail in a few weeks. Pray I handle that as well as I've handled this regimen. For those who aren't familiar, an echocardiogram is an ultrasound test of the heart. It shows the heart structure and function. The technicians have the ability to freeze images and record different intervals of the scans for the doctor. This helps the doctor determine if there are any issues with the heart. When the sound is on, you can even hear your own heart beat.  Unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, the echo appointment was scheduled on treatment day. Treatment was at 8:15am and my echo was scheduled at 3:30pm. I should also say that the 2 buildings are beside each other. So Kira did a back and forth drive since there wasn't really anywhere in Roanoke to sit and work for 4 hours in between the appointments.  The echo itself did not take long. I...

I'd be remiss if I said everything has been sunshine and rainbows since last week.... I've had some internal battles with emotions and depression trying to creep in. I just keep asking God to handle that mess. I have a feeling it's because the drugs have had more of an affect on me since I'd sorta "let my guard down". By that I mean I have not done my due diligence these last couple of weeks. Life has gotten busy and I have NOT been eating properly and burning the candle at both ends (as my dad used to always tell me). My nephew and his family moved out in April, about the time I was diagnosed, and since then it's been a whirlwind of folks coming and going, us trying to rearrange things in the house, make some upgrades, deal with the normal day-to-day stuff, work full time, oh and we decided to plan a wedding. So, while I have been feeling fine physically, I guess the last couple of weeks my body is trying to remind me that I am still fighting cancer.  Kic...

Romans 15:13 (NIV)  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Treatment Day Let's start with the fact that BRCC was quite busy. Not sure if it was just a coincidence or that many new patients, but stop and say an extra prayer for those just beginning this journey and one for those still going thru it.  My quick meeting with the doctor was good. I'm still doing good handling my treatments, labs still look great, and apparently my main Oncologist had actually put in my file that I'm "handling treatments remarkably well". Not sure why that struck me the way it did, I mean she flat out told me that but I guess there's something about it being put in my file for the others to read that made it hit differently.  This was treatment #7 out of 12 for this cocktail of meds. Theoretically I should be feeling run down, potentially dealing with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, los...