Chemo....moving on up!

It's been almost 4 weeks since starting my lower doses of chemo.  I'm finally up to half a pill a day.  I'm thrilled that the side effects have been pretty minimal.  The biggest hurdle has just been feeling so gosh darn tired all the time, but other than that, it's been great!

I looked at the tumors this morning after I showered and can see a significant difference in their size since the last time I saw the oncologist.  He said that I should see any further shrinking till I'm back up to a full dose, and yet he's wrong......again.  Normally you don't want your oncologist to be wrong, but in this case, I'm SUPER thankful he is.  =)

Our family has been getting showered with blessings this past month.  My parents and my brother each gave me $1000 to help with medical bills.  That pretty much got us up to date with what we owed the Dr.s thus far.  A few weeks ago some friends from high school dropped off three big boxes filled with tons of food, goodies to make chemo easier, and a gift cert for 4 full house cleanings by a professional. 

Then last week and this week our church got word of my diagnosis and people have been coming by dropping off dinners.  There is so much food in the house it's insane!  A lady from our church also knitted me a lap blanket to keep warm!

I'm completely overwhelmed by all the generosity shown to our family.  It's been mind blowing.  It's made me realize that when I'm over this life hurdle, I want to get more involved and help others as well.  Something as small as making a meal for someone can be such a huge blessing and I want to be a part of that. 

I see the oncologist on April 3rd and will report back when I've got some more info.

$300 breakfast

So yesterday was my 1st day on chemo. 

 

 

It wasn't too bad, but the nurses did say it can take a few weeks for the full brunt of the side effects to set in.  I felt a little nauseas a couple times, but that was about it.  I know as my red and white blood cells start to diminish I'll be feeling a lot worse.  In the mean time I'm going to just enjoy feeling good. 

 

I was able to get this 90 day supply of chemo pills for free.  Hurray!  My case worker at the oncologist was able to pull some strings.  I'm super thankful because this little bottle of 90 pills would have cost me $30,000.  Yep  30K!!!    Or almost $300 per pill.  I've never held anything worth that much in my hot little hands before.....seemed odd to have to be pills that make you feel crappy.  I had my breakfast followed by my expensive little pill and smiled.  I'm super thankful that I even have the opportunity to get this awesome medication and get the chance to kick this cancer's ass. 

 

 

We had a nice enjoyable Valentine's day.  My husband and I don't really exchange gifts, but he did surprise me with a small package of my very favorite candies in the whole wide world. 

 

 

It just doesn't get any better than these.  I ended up making a cheese fondue for dinner and then cut up various breads, veggies, and a green apple to dip.  For dessert I made a chocolate fondue and we dipped oreo crusted marshmallows, brownie and pound cake bites, strawberries, and bananas.  It was delicious!  I was able to eat about one bite of each dessert option before my tummy said NO MORE!  My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach.  Then we all settled around the tv and watched a movie together.  I thoroughly enjoyed my evening with the loves of my life.♥

 

 



 



Thanksgiving 5K

Happy Thanksgiving!!  I'm looking forward to spending the day surrounded by family and good food, but first I'm going to be walking/running a Turkey Day 5K.  =)  I mapped it out on googlemaps and found the perfect 5K loop.  Hubby said he'd come with me and we'll bring the lab as well.  I think this should become a yearly tradition. 

Hope you all have a nice, relaxing day.♥

1st ever family photos taken!

I've been  MIA for awhile now.  I developed a nasty case of bronchitis right before I left to go see my sister in Boise.  I had to cancel our 5K run.  I was miserable!  We pretty much just sat around and watched movies and talked.  Anything else hurt my lungs too much.  Even after I returned home I took off an entire week of crossfit to let my body heal. 

A couple weeks ago my husband took Friday off from work and he went with me to crossfit.  It was awesome for him to get to see what it's like first hand.  They let a family member try a class for free.  I know he wants to start boot camp soon.  He's itching to get involved in some sort of exercise and I think this will be perfect for him.  While there, we worked on deadlifts.  I hadn't been at crossfit for 2 1/2 weeks and during that time I was crazy sick and weak.  We worked on finding our 1 rep max.  Basically the most you can lift in just one lift.  My last 1 rep max was 160 lbs.  Meagan told me to not expect to lift that much since I've been gone for a long time and because I'd been sick.  I ended up lifting 205 lbs!!  I beat my last PR (personal record) by 45 lbs!  I was soo excited!  The WOD was awful.  I could really tell my endurance was way down. 

Last week I just went to class twice and this week I fully plan on going all three days.  It feels good to be back on the horse. 

So I hired Meagan ( one of my wonderful trainers) to take some photos of me and my family.  We've never.....like EVER....had family photos taken.  Every year my husband wants to and I decline saying that I'm too fat and that we can do it the following year.  This has been going on for 11 years.  Well Meagan posted on facebook that she does photography and I looked at some of her work and it was really good.  I went ahead, bit the bullet, and signed us up.  It was extremely hard for me to let someone take full body shots of me.  I hate sounding so selfish.....but all I could think about was how huge I still was.  I got our photos back a few days ago.  Meagan did an amazing job!  There are a few photos I'd like to banish forever, but instead I'm going to keep them so I can remember how I truly looked through my journey.  I much prefer the pictures from the waist up, but whatever...it is what it is.  I thought I'd share a few pictures...some good ones,  and one or two that make me feel insecure. 

 

An ass picture, really?!  BLAH!  It's like twice as big as my husband's.  On a good note, I had a couple people this week tell me at crossfit  that I was looking slimmer.  Hey, I'll take any compliment I can get. 

We also just got a 9 week old miniature dachshund puppy.  We named her Juniper.  She's a sweetie pie.  ♥