Kira's Stupid Breast Cancer

Starting to feel more like myself these days... Been in LOTS of prayer asking Him to help me out of this "funk"... asking Him to help get the devil out of my head. Cried tears at the alter at church, begging for His help because I know it's the devil making me feel this way and I can't beat him on my own.  So, anyway, had to make a trip up to VCU as my new oncologist wanted me to have an immunotherapy infusion since my surgery isn't until October. No problem. Learned my way to a new area of the Massy Center at Stony Point. I don't know that I will ever get over how nice and compassionate all the staff there is. Granted, they may go behind closed doors and talk crap, who knows, but they have a fantastic ability with dealing with the public... always kind, caring and helpful. They seem to really care.  This was my first treatment at VCU so I was in uncharted territory. First I had to get lab work done. Unlike the facility in Roanoke (they pricked my finger for l...

 This post isn't an update on any office visits or med changes, but an outlet for Kira basically. I'd keep it all to myself and write elsewhere, but I said from the beginning I'd be as open and honest here as possible. It doesn't get much more honest and raw than this. I can't "talk" to anyone about how I feel because my emotions get in the way, thoughts get discombobulated, words get messed up, tears run from my eyes, and then I get expressions of "oh here we go, she's crying again". Stupid chemo drugs took away my ability to hold in emotions.  I have struggled off and on, more off than on honestly, with feeling inadequate, useless, ugly, etc. I turned to God during those times even more than normal as I knew it was the devil implanting those feelings.  Lately tho, people have been telling me about me having "chemo brain" and in examples given and  actions by others, I have really started feeling worthless. I feel like folks don...

Many people have asked what my regimen has been in addition to the chemo cocktails given at the treatment center. I decided I would elaborate more on what I've done on my own to help with my treatment process.  First, I was already taking probiotic, magnesium and omega supplements as well as a multi-vitamin daily, long before my diagnosis. I will break those down later as I have maintained taking them thru the treatment process. I added dandelion extract supplement after a study was shared with me by someone in the medical field and how it relates to my exact diagnosis. I will also share that later. Dietary changes were made after my diagnosis. While some of them slipped a bit, I have tried to do my best. After this long, I'm honestly getting lazy and just tired of eating the same stuff all the time. A basic cancer diet plan emphasizes nutrient-rich foods, a balanced intake of protein, healthy fats and carbs and staying hydrated to support the body during and after cancer treat...

 Treatment Day...Or at least that's what was scheduled.  After lots of thinking about things that happened recently, Friday I decided to talk to Nathan and get his thoughts on a couple of things. If I cancelled my Aug.11 appt with the local treatment center, I would have no way to get my lab work done and know how my immune system looks at this point. I also wouldn't know how my thyroid levels look to know if I need to continue the prescription for that. I also wouldn't know what my local oncologist's opinion was. We agreed that I should not cancel the appt. I go to my scheduled appt this morning. I arrive early, as usual. Today, they were able to get the ball rolling early so I was called back 15 min before my scheduled appt. Temp and BP look good, bloodwork took a little longer to get going. It was cold in the building and my hands were cold, so my finger prick wouldn't give her blood. Par for the course...When she finally gets the amount needed for the lab work, ...

Before I go into the plastic surgeon appt for today, let me fall back to the oncologist appt from Wednesday. We got home from the 3 hour drive back from VCU, barely getting in the door after saying hello our 7 labs that apparently thought we'd been gone for MONTHS, not just overnight. I got my stuff put in the house and no sooner do things settle enough for me to think about going pee, my phone rings. It's VCU. I answer and walk out to the garage where Nathan was with the dogs. I put my call on speaker phone and we walk back just inside the door so we could hear the call. It's my VCU oncologist. She's calling with results from my MRI....... I had gotten the written results while we were on our way home and was pretty certain I knew what the terminology said, but I knew I had to wait to get the call from the doctor to ensure I was reading the information correctly. The MRI detected no cancer! The Rotter's nodes that were in question previously were also showing nothi...

 Good Morning from Tappahannock.... PRAY FOR HAPPY MRI RESULTS!!!                                                                                             (Rappahannock River) Continental breakfast at the hotel, good coffee, crappy night of sleep. No fault of the hotel, just not our bed, not our normal pillows, not our room temps... we could adjust the wall stat but being a P-Tac unit, it's either on or off... it takes a while to get to whatever temp it needs to before it comes on, and by then, Kira was too warm...then it runs so long we're freezing...Just not home.  We worked a little in the hotel room before it was time to head over to Stony Point for the day's oncologist appt. I drove, in the rain, while Nathan wor...

Since Nathan and I decided that it'd be best to continue the rest of my treatment be done at VCU, this week is full of appts up there. Obviously last Friday we traveled there for my mammogram, Tuesday we went to the Tappahannock location for an MRI, stayed at a nearby hotel for the night, and then it's back to Stony Point for an appt with my oncologist there. Hannah (Tracey's daughter) was able to come stay at our house for the week and help take care of the critters while we were gone. Thank God for friends/family!  Tuesday's appt was scheduled for 4pm, arrive by 3:30pm. We left our house around 10:30am to give us drive time and allow for potential stops and/or traffic. We arrived in Tappahannock about 2:30. We stopped at the hotel to ensure our reservation was there then drove a little ways down the road to check out the area. We stumbled across a place called Acme Antiques which was right beside Acme Ice Cream Parlor. I really wanted to go in and check out the ice cr...

Following the recent events and conversations (or lack thereof) with folks in Roanoke about getting updated tests done and getting nothing but "slammed doors", Nathan started calling VCU to see if we could get updated tests done. I mean it makes sense since I'd already gone 12 rounds with the first chemo cocktail and the tumor couldn't be located by Dr. Merten.... Let's see where things are, right? Unfortunately they didn't have close appointments at the same facility so we had to go to 2 different VCU locations to get the tests done. No biggie. At least we'll know how things are progressing.... slow, fast, barely at all.... something.. What an Awesome God Went to VCU today for a follow-up diagnostic mammogram. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't worried that I've been overly optimistic with my current status and worried that they would find something new. The whole drive there I was hoping and praying for the best but preparing for the worst....