Saturday, March 27, 2010

"It is Finished."

My chemo, that is. Twelve weeks of weekly infusions of Taxol and Herceptin, with lots of lovely pre-meds.  Now I just have a year of Herceptin, which is a hormonal therapy. I'll be getting infusions of Herceptin every three weeks.

The season of Ostara, Passover, and Easter is especially poignant to me this year. New beginnings for me because of Divine Intervention (in the form of an early mammogram and my raging hypochondria.) I have been Blessed.

Blessings come with responsibilities; I must remember to humble and grateful, else I waste what was given to me from Above. I take inspiration from Jo-perseverance, Kristen K.-remember to be humble, and Jess's tatoo of the old Shaker song, "Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free."

By the way, when my mom took me home from chemo yesterday, I had a surprise waiting at home. CJ and Elizabeth had filled the living room with pink balloons and blue crepe streamers!!!! The loves of my life!!

Sorry for the unusually soggy and uber-sentimental nature of the this post.

OK-now I'm off to garden, heal, and grow back the half of my hair that did fall out.  

Friday, March 26, 2010

Study Confirms Pregnancy Safe for Breast Cancer Survivors

Woo-hoo! It's official. Pregnancy is safe for breast cancer survivors!


BARCELONA, Spain - Women who survive breast cancer and have childrenafterwards don't appear to be at any higher risk of dying from cancer, a new study says.
Doctors have long worried pregnancy might spark hormonal changes in breast cancer survivors that could spur the disease's return, and many breast cancer patients are counseled against getting pregnant after they recover.
In research presented Friday at a European breast cancer conference in Barcelona, experts said pregnancy in women who have been treated for breast cancer is safe and does not seem to be linked with the disease's recurrence.


Well, guess I know what we'll be doing a year from now....

So, Polly, How's Chemo Brain Treating You?

Oh......so fuzzy. But I really don't mind. (Must be a side-effect. That and not having a full-time job doing anything that requires precision.) Wheee......

Actually, so far it's not bad. I'm just....spacey. I think I seem anti-social when it hits. (Although, when it hits with fatigue, I do get pretty monosyllabic.)

Chemo brain makes everything fuzzy and OK.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

I Heart Steroids..on Saturdays

Ah...the day after chemo is steroid day. I'm totally hyper. So far this morning, I've de-molded CJ's shower, done laundry, cleaned two bathrooms. Next, I will be painting the front door. (Because we live in a HOA that has assigned colors for each house and it's a new door.)

I'm FINALLY going to put down my compost. (Now that the pile has un-frozen.)
The corn gluten is also going down on my front lawn, now that the snow is gone. (Natural way of avoiding the germination of new crabgrass.)

Now, let's see if I can get all of this done before the 'roids wear off.