Chemo Round 2!

Arrived at the Cancer Agency for 10:30am today. Phil and Abby came with me and Auntie was going to stop by around 12:00pm to see how I was making out and give Phil a break.   I was in fine form, just a bit sore from my port a cath insertion.  I have 2 incisions one in my neck (it's kinda like a puncture, you know ice pick style!) and the other is the actual port a cath.  Dr. Hiayashi set it all up to be ready to go and boy oh boy did it ever work like a hot damn!

Abby and I

Auntie and I

Sandhu and I

I was up and running within minutes of arriving and had the herceptin run first.  They ran it over an hour and then I had to have a 30 minute observation period. All went well and I felt fine. I ate some lunch and on to the cyclophosphamide.  They could have run this over 20mins but last time I got this funny nasal congestion and head zingers as I called them so they ran it over an hour instead to try and alleviate those symptoms. It seemed to work because I didn't have any symptoms.  The goal is to have no symptoms so things were going smoothly.  I had some guest visitors Kimberly came to visit she works over at the Jubilee and Sandhu stopped by too.  It was nice to pass the time and see my good friends.  Auntie came by too, but didn't stay too long as apparently I was quite popular and the chemo room wardens would only let me have one visitor at a time. Rules are rules I guess.  So they started the docetaxel last.  If you remember, after the massive reaction that I had last time they reduced the dose of both the cyclophosphamide and the docetaxel to 80% of the protocol as to alleviate me having another reaction.  They also front end loaded me with IV doses of benedryl and dexamethasone to try and combat any reactions.  I was quite dopey and comfortable and Abby came to sit with me for a bit, the drug was going to run over an hour.  I started to feel my tongue get funny and thick and didn't say anything for a couple of minutes to my nurse.  I finally decided I should say something and she came over and I was laying right back in my chair.  I had told her that last time it wasn't until I stood up that the reaction set in so we decided to sit me upright to see if it was a true reaction........and BINGO then it started....another full blown reaction with shortness of breath, chest heaviness and thick tongue.  OMG!! I couldn't believe it. So out came the big guns, curtains closed, nurses everywhere, doctor flying into area, holy crap not again!  So they fired me full of more IV benedryl, gave me a ventolin nebulizer that I breathed in, and some hydrocortisone IV.  If you wanna see dopey that was me!  It settled down within 15 mins or so but very scary. As soon as it started happening Abby jumped up and ran to get her Dad, she was ok just worried but her Dad kept her calm.  My biggest fear is they are going to want to stop the protocol and I am not going to get to have the full benefit of what I have started!  I'm in it to win it now, so I want to finish!  I'm half way through the roughest part I got to get through this.  Who would have ever thought I would have been begging to get chemotherapy?  I will see Dr. Bernstein my medical oncologist on Feb 18 to discuss all this, she is out of the country right now at a conference over seas, so I imagine she may even call me when she gets back. I am confident we can work something out but I am not willing to throw in the towel yet.  Come on body don't fail me now!
What was really nice was after 7 hours at the Cancer agency we came home to Monique and Doug having pizzas ordered and we had a nice dinner.  Then we decided to shave my head biker style!  My hair was falling out and as I called them, they were like shards so I decided to take control and not have little hairs everywhere.  Monique started the process and then my fellow baldie friend did the honours of the close shave with the razor!

Doug and I

smooth as silk

x0x

Port a Cath is IN!

I had to be at VGH for 11:00am.  Auntie picked me up and we were there jolly on the spot!  My surgery was for 13:10 and I had to check into surgical daycare.  You know what having a surgery at 13:00 in the afternoon means?  I was STARVING! I hadn't eaten or had no fluids since 24:00 last night.  I was almost ready to eat the furniture, and all I could smell was the nurses heating up their lunches! They all smelled like a roast beef dinner!  So I text Phil a suggestion list of what he should bring for me to eat when he picked me up. He thought I was crazy but didn't argue :)
I had a lovely nurse Theresa, very thorough.  She called the anaesthetist in the O.R. and asked him to order my same pre-op meds that I had for my breast surgery that kept me from barfing afterwards! She was great!
Auntie stayed with me, we read the port a cath information manual and used our funniest German accent to recite it...as the port a cath acronym is SVAD, which we thought was very German sounding so that's how we read the whole manual!! LOL We didn't realize there was a lady next to us behind the curtain, she must have thought we were nuts!!  I sent Auntie on her way around 12:00pm so she could go have lunch with Uncle. 
I managed to doze off for a bit and to my surprise I was woken up by an old clerk friend of mine from 4 west at the Jubilee. She is the clerk in the O.R now and saw that I was in for surgery and knew a little about what was going on for me in this last while so she stopped by and we had a great chinwag!  A good way to kill some time.  Even though I work at the Jubilee it's amazing how many people you still know at other sites. I knew the lab gal, the admitting clerk, and the O.R. nurse and clerk. You can never hide when you work in healthcare! LOL It's ok though people are so uplifting and have such kind words of encouragement and it is an almost camaraderie that I feel. 
They didn't end up coming to get me until 13:40 they were running a bit late, so I headed upstairs to the O.R.  I was very popular when I arrived....the anaesthetist (Dr. Terry Murphy, lovely)  arrived to have a chat, then Dr. Hiyashi came to have a chat and the O.R. nurse had a flurry of questions and then I sat and waited some more.  I got wheeled into the room and slithered onto the metal slab and got a special pillow for my head and then the dreaded IV needed to be put in so I could have my "free sleep" as I call it.  It went it with no issues and it wasn't much longer and I was drifting off.  I woke up in PAR with no pain, just a really sore neck.  They have to puncture a hole/slit in your neck and then put the catheter in your chest some how that all goes together.  I'm sure they have some choice positions they put you in and thus the sore neck. 
I feel sleepy and am going to head to bed with some pain relief and ice pack.  I'm ok though and will go to chemo tomorrow.  Dr. Hiyahsi has left me all set to go for tomorrow.
Here's the damage:

Good deals are just the best!

I love a good deal.  I think I can say confidently I am the deal Queen!  It doesn't matter the amount of the deal, a deal is a deal. I also love to share a good deal story.  Often the deals happen at the grocery store, because sadly, that's where I do the majority of my shopping. I wish it were at Aritzia or somewhere nice like that. 
Today was a little different, I had to go to get my scrub sponges to prep for my surgery tomorrow and some gravol for chemo time, so thus, I headed to the drug store. I didn't need to venture to far from home so I went to the Broadmead Pharmasave. Now I don't know if you have ever been there, surprisingly they have the best stuff! Purses, scarves, hats,beautiful makeup, lovely things for your home decor and if you look around you can get a good deal....
*The backstory:  My friend Kimberly came to visit (may I mention with her adorable french bulldog, Houston) my first week of chemo, it was a Sunday and we were just hanging out in our sweats but all I kept saying to her was "You smell so good." I don't normally smell people or have a nose for a good scent or perfume, but she smelled great. It was Juicy Couture perfume.  I don't wear perfume or scents, I think the last time I wore perfume was when I was thirteen and it was some vanilla scent from the Body Shop that made me feel like I was in an ice cream parlour all day.


The Deal
Those shiny ones look like condoms, they are the bubble bath samples:)

It's probably some weird "chemo brain" fixation I have been having but none the less I have thought about this perfume for 2 weeks.  So today while at Pharmasave, after having the greatest time with my new best friend Emma the cosmetics girl, I bought new foundation (The Balm) and lipsticks and mascara (for the last days that I have eyelashes), and then I came across "the deal!"
I had been hesitating finding the perfume to purchase it because I was anticipating a large price tag, and that it has $120 per bottle. My deal, a gift set of Juicy Couture perfume, body sorbet and bath gel all for $55.00 (regularly $90!) I was so excited, I have absolutely no need for this but bought it instantly!
It was so much fun, I spent over an hour in the cosmetics department of the Pharmasave, ran into a gal I know from my neighbourhood, picked out all this new makeup and got a great deal!  I also got freebie gifts, because remember I have a new best friend now, and she gave me vitabath bubbles and cosmetic bags (which aren't in the picture because they have already been claimed by the "who's that for?" teenager!) The best part I only need to spend another $20 and I get $20 gift card because I signed up for some Pharmasave club.

So I spent the morning at the Cancer Agency for my check in appointment, then went up to 4South for a quick visit with the gals, and had a nice coffee with the "smelly one" Kimberly.

It was a nice day to head into the next week or so for what is to come. 
Port a cath tomorrow, chemo Thursday.
x0x

Gearing up

So today was the last day before my week gears up to the second round of chemo. I had a nice day, Abby is off for exam week and we went out with Auntie and my cousin Jennifer for lunch.  We had a fairly non-eventful weekend and just stayed close to home and had a nice visit from my BF from Nanaimo.
The gearing up week starts tomorrow with a trip to the BCCA for an appointment with Dr. Battershill (GPO)  for my pre-chemo check in and to get my bloodwork done and assessed to be sure that my system is ready for another jolt.  Wednesday I will go in to the Victoria General Hospital for my port a cath insertion by Dr. Hiyashi.  It is done under a general anaesthetic, it should only take about an hour or so and then recovery time and I will be home by dinner most likely.  Thursday is the big day! Round two of chemo!  The anxiety has slightly started to kick in thinking about what is to come.  I have been told every round is different and I have been given lots of tips on how to try and make it the best possible, the most important one is I need to drink lots of fluids before, during and after the chemo. 
I start the dexamethasone (steroid) drug on Wednesday, so I will be up all night for the next 2-3 days after that, so I have got some good sewing projects lined up and will probably do some more food blogging too. 
So overall the last 8 days have been pretty good ones.  I am on a 21 day cycle and hope that I have even more good days on the next round.  My hair is starting to fall out now, from everywhere, not just my head!  Amazingly, the hair on my head actually grew back a great deal from when I shaved it 3 weeks ago.  Here's hoping it grows that fast when I start growing it back permanently!  I will be posting more frequent updates around the chemo days.
Happy Monday to everyone, I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and a great week to come. Thank you for all the positive energy and think of me on Wednesday and Thursday especially this week, I'll take all that love and use it to power through!
x0x

I can see clearly now......

Even though my head is in a "chemo fog" most of the time, I have never been able to think or see clearer than right now. Particularly with choices I  have been forced to make when it comes to people and relationships.

Here's how I really feel about it......."Excuse me for my cancer and chemotherapy, getting in the way of wanting a front row seat in YOUR life!"

Yes it is very unfortunate,  I have actually lost friendships in this last few weeks and today my daughter lost a friendship too. You really learn the meaning of self righteousness, or maybe it's  just plain stupidity, when you have a major health issue or any big life event for that matter.*ie wedding, baby, divorce.  It has never been clearer to me, who I want in my life and that it took having a major life changing event to "clean house." 

My suggestion, don't wait for times of weakness to let people prey on your vulnerability.  For those of you who know me, even just a little, know that I have a fairly hard exterior, and my "tell it like it is attitude" may seem that I'm unbreakable, the reality is my insides are like marshmallows and I'm just like anyone else, I have a heart and feelings and am actually very sensitive. 

The point of me telling you this is not to whine about my issues, rather to help people learn from this and take away what not to do when you are ever faced with someone else in your life who has a major crisis or event.  So remember this.......

• Don't have expectations that the person will still be able to operate at the same level of friendship when they are 100% or not preoccupied with their life event.  They can't do it. 
• Don't add anymore stress to their life by asking them to worry about you or your life.  They can't do it.  (This is especially important when the person is having a health crisis)
• Don't ask them for anything.... ever!

Just sayin!

I am so fortunate to have so many great supportive people in my life, and many people who have come out of the "woodwork" so to speak, and many of those who I know from afar who have sent the kindest messages and love to my family and myself.  You know who you are and thank you from the deepest place in my heart!

I just want to share the experiences I'm having to help others learn from them.

x0x

No Wiggin' Way!

The Wig

Today I went out to do my grocery shopping (and have lunch) with Auntie.  I thought I would wear my wig today, I consider that getting really dressed up.  I bought the wig a few days before my chemo started. I took Georgia with me and we got it at The Bay wig shoppe at the downtown Bay.  I really like the style and colour and was happy with my choice.

The problem is I HATE wearing it. 




The other day Oprah Magazine posted a question on Facebook :

We want to know: What would you do if you had absolutely no fear?

Here's my answer to that:

Before I was diagnosed with breast cancer cutting off or losing all of my beautiful long hair would have been one of my biggest fears.  I was so attached to this mane that I had spent years growing long with determination to get it down to my butt. The funny thing is, now I'm enduring this thing called "chemo" and I actually voluntarily shaved my head and even let my family participate in doing so.  Who would have thought? I thought I would never be able to go out in public without my long flowing locks and would have to have a wig to leave the house.  Turns out, not so much, in fact today was an "A hA" moment, when, while grocery shopping I spent the entire time trying to prevent my fancy wig from literally slipping off the top of my head, and catapulting across the store! Wigs are very
elastic-y and this one just does not want to make one with my scalp... so up up and away it slips...to the point where I wasn't moving my neck so it didn't inch it's way up any further.  I actually grabbed the stupid thing and yanked it back down right in the middle of the meat aisle! So what's the "A hA?" 
I don't need a wig, I feel my best when I'm bald and just wear a funky hat, which is really just for warmth. It's really not that scary and I had nothing to be afraid of.  Funny how what you think is your biggest fear, really doesn't even come close to it.

Have a great weekend! x0x

Sleep=Happy:)

Three good nights of sleep = happy Carla!  I have felt the best in the last three days out of the last 2 weeks since chemo round one! I am doing regular things like going to the grocery store, making dinner, cleaning up the kitchen, doing laundry, scooping kitty litter...you know all the stuff Mom does when she's not undergoing chemotherapy.  As Vinnie said to me yesterday:
Me: "Vinnie, don't you know Mommy is tired? I'm sick you know!"
Vinnie: "You're not sick, you're fine, look at you!"

I guess I don't get any special treatment....LOL...I look fine!  All in all, I feel good enough to be normal and do normal things, I am almost....(just almost) a little happy about doing regular things. 
I had anticipated having my head in the toilet and feeling like crap for the duration of this journey, and am pleasantly (if you want to call it pleasant) surprised that I am not nauseated and vomitting 24/7.  I certainly have had my share of other issues...clearly, it appears I am through the worst of it and can enjoy the next week as I wait for my port a cath insertion the second round.
So what should I do....I am sewing lots, I making clothes! I am taking advantage of this cancer vacation, as I call it, and doing things I would not be able to fit into my life if I was managing work and kids and all the rest that life brings to the table. 
Tonight we are having Monique night, she is bringing dessert and we are going to have a nice evening of visiting and she gives the kids some special one on one time.
Thank you for all the well wishes and I will take all that positive energy and apply it to my upcoming chemo, I'm going to need it!
x0x

A visiting day

Today was a great day! I felt good today right from the time I woke up. I slept great last night, not sure why, don't care, I'll take it!
I had a Doctor's appointment with my GP (Dr. Ferg) today for a pre-op exam for my port a catheter insertion. Kinda a waste of time, other than the fact that I had a nice visit with her, they told me I gained 14lbs since my last weigh in (holy shiza), and I had to dodge the disgusting sick people in the waiting room......
The best parts were I had a lovely visit at Alma & Allan's house with baby Luz.  I went to Nicaragua with them in February 2010 to celebrate their wedding (Nicaraguan rock star style) and I worked with Alma on 4west at the Jubilee (back in the day!) It was such a great chat and catching up so nice to sit drink tea and eat giant cinnamon buns (hence the 14lbs! LOL) I'll work on that later....
Then I arrived home to have Georgia tell me that Tracey was going to be dropping by with "food." Tracey and I met in grade 6 at Lakehill Elementary, we go way back. We have connected on and off for the last 10 years and this is just one of those relationships that you are just so very thankful you ever met them! A friendship you cherish, even if from afar at times.

So her cheerfulness Tracey, came over and did she ever bring food... what a fantastic meal russian chicken, with all the fixings.....I am now starting to think I need to collect some recipes from all these chefs in my life......and apparently you people eat way more gourmet than this house! Oh ya, Tracey brought beautiful gifts too!
I'm so blown away by the kindness and pure thoughtfulness, of everyone.
Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

Headed into week 2 of cycle #1

I hope you had a great weekend.  We kept busy this weekend.  I was feeling relatively like a human. I have my ups and downs with mood and feeling really tired and sometimes just downright yucky.  I am having heart palpitations that are quite uncomfortable but were to be expected with this chemo.  I reported them when I was into the cancer agency last week and will tell them about it again when I go in next.  The skin on my face is covered with blemishes and little sores, I look a wreck, but feel ok. My hormones are affected with this as well, so that's why my mood is up and down (mostly I just get really irritable.)
Saturday was a beautiful day and Phil and I went for a walk, not to far, just around the park and through the small forest near our house. It was really cold, but I'm sure that's what made me have a good day. I felt pretty good and we went out and got some groceries and then went out to the "W" ( Whitespot) for dinner, just the Vidalsix.  My Saturday craving was poutine! The "W" has lots of poutine choices. I only tried poutine for the first time at the Irish Times pub, the week before my chemo, and now it seems to be my cancer craving!! Too funny....
Sunday was beautiful as well, Stella had a swim meet so we all met at the Howard Johnson for breakfast with Auntie after the meet, and
then Abby and I went downtown to look for a new scarf for me. I saw a girl wearing the most beautiful scarf and she said it was on sale at Oscar and Libby's downtown, so off we went in search for the beautiful scarf. Well, I didn't get it, too much of a rig-a-ma-role to get to the store so after a valiant effort we ditched and headed to fabricland instead.  More sewing projects on the mind......

I came home and made homemade wonton soup, chinese lettuce wraps, and chicken chow mein for dinner.....good weekend I'd say.

Here's to a good week.

TGIF.......

I do like Friday's! Phil has weekends off so it is nice to have the weekend together and we often get tasks done around the house and try to do some kind of activity or outing with the kids. 
I stayed in bed this morning.......I had to be up and out so early the last couple of days I needed a
lay-in.  I have taken to pinterest (cherrypop66) and online shopping! OMG! This cancer vacation is going to cost me a fortune! I'm actually not that bad, but I imaginary buy lots of stuff, and if I was thin....oh dear, I would have so many new outfits! I think that's why pinterest is a good thing, I can just pin it to a board instead of "adding it to cart!"
I went for Baan Thai for lunch, delicious! Apparently you can have "chemo cravings", kinda like pregnancy cravings I guess, I haven't had any weird ones, like pickles with peanut butter, I just want specific foods that I love.  It's a whole lot better than throwing up, that's for sure!
All in all a good day.
A huge thank you to angel Tricia, and the Smith family for the fabulous Japanese chicken dinner last night.  Deeeelicious!

Feel so loved.....

So it has been a couple of days since I have posted, I've been really tired by about 18:00 which is when I usually write.
So where did we leave off?  Wednesday night.....going to the Surgeon's office for porta cath insertion consult in the AM.

Thursday Jan 17 - Dr. Hiyashi, general surgeon appt 08:30!! OMG is that ever early to get up, get the kids out the door and get accross town to the jubilee.  My angel husband Phil, managed to get everyone organized and we were in the car enroute in fairly good time.

We ended up waiting an hour to see the Doc, not surprising, but he was lovely and took one look at my veins in my arms, laughed out loud, and said I'll get you in ASAP.  A port a catheter is a centrally inserted catheter in your upper chest into a central vein. It will allow for drugs & IV fluids to be given and lab work to be drawn very easily.  I am a "tough stick" with my "skinny" veins!
By the time I got home from the appointment I had an email with my date of surgery Jan 30/13.  So this is GOOD! It will delay my chemo by one day but that is not the end of the world, they can delay chemo up to one week if necessary and your bloodwork is good.
The rest of the day was good, the home lab came and sucked out some more blood, I'm a bit of a pin cushion, but it was non-eventful.
I went out with Auntie for lunch, I had a craving for pizzeria prima strada (I'll write about this in my food blog) it did not disappoint. 
I got a bit weak and tired by about 14:30 while we were at Thrifty's so she dropped me off and I came home and sat on the couch and watched Ellen.
At 16:00 goddess Emily arrived with a full on chicken dinner with all the fixings & dessert too! She had told me the day before she was bringing it so I was so thankful I didn't have to cook tonight.  Well, were we ever spoiled it was amazing and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you so much Singh Family!
At 17:00, her loveliness Monique came over with more dessert (ice cream & brownies) and enjoyed our chicken dinner with us, cleaned up, did homework with Stella and Vinnie and then rubbed my head and gave me an amazing shoulder and neck massage.......seriously.....I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  It's amazing how much negative energy I'm carrying even though I try really hard to be limber.
The evening was great and I was exhausted and we all went to bed with our bellies full and feeling very loved!

I made it a whole week! Well sort of.....

Well all was going swimmingly well up until 19:30 last night. I mean I was almost feeling too good! I jinxed myself...BOOOOO!
I took my neupogen shots at 17:00 as per usual (these are the ones that are to boost my white blood cells(WBC) to fight infection off) they go by injection into my belly x2, I have been taking them since day 3 post chemo.  The side effects of this drug is bone pain, because what it is doing is creating a whack load of new WBC's which are literally churning through your bone marrow. 

You have the most bone marrow in your lower back, hips, and femur bones. So at 19:30 the neupogen side effects reared their ugly heads and I ended up in writhing agony in my lower back not able to sit, lie down, walk....nothing it was horrendous! So I had some pain medication (Dilaudid)  that was prescribed to me on Monday while I was at the hospital for the allergic reaction and swollen neck, so I took the recommended dose. It did nothing! Didn't even touch it.  By 02:30am I called the oncologist on-call and he upped the dose significantly and told me to take it every hour until the pain was under control......well that was 10mg of dilaudid later and 05:30 I finally fell asleep.

I had 3 calls from the cancer agency yesterday. Two were follow up calls re:how was I doing with my allergic symptoms from Monday and what they wanted me to do to keep them under control. Then at 17:00 I got a call to come into the cancer agency for today because my blood work was showing significantly low WBC and neutrophil and platelette counts. So Dr. Battersill who saw me Monday, wanted to reassess me and do another set of bloodwork.

I had to get up to the hospital today this morning for that follow up visit and lab work and in the meantime this neupogen reaction in my back had happened! It's really a minute to minute deal.

What's the verdict?  Well both Dr. Battersill (General Practicioner ONC) and Dr. Bernstein, oncologist both saw me today and discussed what the future chemo treatments will look like.  They stopped the neupogen shots immediately for the remainder of this cycle (which means I miss 2 doses) and they have put me on Cipro (an antibiotic) to keep me from getting infection.  Dr. Bernstein still feels this "cocktail" of chemo is the right one for me, and stated how badly she felt that I had been through everything and was very reassuring that she had no intensions of my treatment to continue with all these issues! She is going to reduce my chemo dose to 80% of the protocol and she says the efficiacy will stay the same (meaning it is still worth it to do it) and hopefully this will be the solution.
So I slept all afternoon, as I had no sleep for 2 nights, and have been up to have dinner and seem to be in the land of the living.  Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow.......I have my consult with
Dr. Hiyashi for my porta catheter (permanent central catheter) insertion and they are having home labs come to my house to take lab work tomorrow.

Sorry no cupcakes to report, it all sounds a little depressing, but I'm going to be ok, it's just a process.  One day at a time!  x0x

Almost a week post round 1chemo!

GOOOOD day today!  Well, as some of you may have seen I was up all night and created another new blog, I am really loving this blogging thing, and was as high as a kite on dexamethasone steroids due to my "lasting" allergic reaction to my chemo drugs.  So no sleep last night, but got tonnes done and feel very productive.
I even sewed a tablecloth this morning and started making "booby" bags for the breast health centre at VGH.  The "booby" bags are a savour to anyone having had breast surgery, they go under your arm and keeps your arm from rubbing against your body.  Mine was permanently attached to me for over 4 weeks, it was kinda disgusting at times!
I bought myself a serger and a sewing machine as a feel sorry for myself present when I was diagnosed and they are coming in really handy...stay tuned for some awsome future projects I'm gonna pump out!  Pink Popcorn is just getting started!
So where am I at, so the cancer clinic called this morning to follow up on me, I am to take claritin during the day for this allergic remnant nonsense and benadryl at night. No more steroids, for the meantime, so maybe sleepy town for me tonight, and I am to take just my normal anti nauseant rescue drug and my daily white blood cell booster neupogen shot in the bellyx2 for another 5 days.
 
So went to Japanese Village for lunch, yes, I did 2 bowls of rice with steak sauce and had the teryaki salmon, yummo!
I would say a good day all in all........we'll see what tomorrow is gonna bring!

BBQ pork chops with baked potatoes in the oven with garden salad for dinner, who's having chemo??

Baby steps .....

So what are we now..day 5/6 post 1st chemo. Seems way longer than that....that I can assure you of. I spent today at BCCA (BC Cancer Agency) in the triage area in a nice room on a stretcher for most of the day.  Turns out, me and 2 of the chemo drugs I'm taking don't get a long so well. 
One being the cyclophosphamide (which when you think about it just sounds like poison) is making me vomit and nauseous.  The second, Docetaxel, I am allergic to which I had a massive reaction on the day I went for the intial dose, it seems it is lingering around now and having a "lasting" effect on me.  Fantastic!
So I woke up this morning feeling like my throat was closing in, my tounge was like a wet sponge and my neck was seizing up like nothing I've ever felt before.  Holy....seriously.....well I called BCCA and they had me come in right away...again fantastic medical team.
So on went the big girl undies and off to the cancer agency we went.  We, being Phil and I.  They started another IV, my favourite, you know what they tell me....I have "skinny" veins.....see I knew I was skinny somewhere inside this big body of mine! So needless to say, it was a couple of tries for the IV and some more pokes to get lab work and in went some fluids and medications. 
I was successfully in sleepy town, population 1. 

So on goes my trials as a chemotherapy patient, but as they say I'm in it to win it now....so bring it on!

Day 3-4 post chemo - round 1

So nothing good to say at all. Yesterday (Friday) I started getting pains in my lower body through my hips knees and ankles. It's a side effect of the chemo drugs but oh my god it is awful.it moves through what feels like my muscles and through my feet ......it's like a flu ache x 100! I can't walk or support my body weight so it's difficult to get around.
I went to bed with a dose of Tylenol and that was all I could have. I'm off the 3 day prescribed anti- nauseates and only have a rescue pill for nausea.  Well at 4 am all hell broke loose and I was in a mess. Nauseated on the toilet...a real pretty picture i know....but agonizing pain in my lower body.....holy hell.....
I woke up this morning and called the doctor to see what I could do it was unbearable by this point. She was nice and gave me some orders to take some more anti- nauseant and steroid and I could take Advil for the body pain instead of Tylenol. Thank god!
I'm not nauseated right now, I sat outside and watched Vinnie ride his bike for a bit to take in some sunshine.
That's about all I can muster up the energy to do today.......better day tomorrow hopefully.

1st day after Chemo round 1

So I was up all night!  I am taking 2 kinds of very powerful anti-nausea medications and 1 steroid drug to keep me from hanging all day with my head in the toilet!  Well, it's working......the only downside is the steroid is keeping me pretty full of energy! I'll take no sleep anyday over throwing up! So working on 4 hours sleep...if you know me, that's no where near enough for me, I'm a minimum 8hour girl!

So today I headed out with Auntie to Costco! Boy oh boy, I usually go through Costco in the normal fashion of following the "loop" not today I must of zig zagged back and forth from one side of the store to the other like a ping pong ball! Auntie was having a hard time keeping up! 
I told her going in, I'm no where near rational today don't let me make any uneccessary purchases...overall pretty good only a $90 bill....not a bad day.  A new duvet cover was the only "bonus item" I got......
Came home to a secret prezzie of Red & White roses with 2 huge Cadbury's chocolate bars.  I later identified the giver, my lovely friend Emily

I had a hot bath at 4pm and climbed into my freshly made bed and was gone instantly! I crashed and burned. I woke up 3 hours later, had some dinner (home made soup.)
So overall, good day. No nausea/vomitting which is my biggest fear. Just hopped up on steroids and a few other little things.
Hope you all had a good day too! x0x C.

Chemo----Round 1

 

Chemo - Round 1

 

So I got to the BC Cancer Agency at 8:30am.  I was having 3 kinds of chemotherapy drugs administered today, as I will every time but today they had to run them all separately so they could see if there would be any kind of allergic reaction to any of the chemo drugs.

 

My first drug was the Herceptin which is the drug that is made specifically to target any HER2 cells that may have escaped from my tumour into my bloodstream landing possibly somewhere else in my body.  It only kills those cells, and only works when given with a standardized chemotherapy regimn.  It needed to run through the IV for 1.5hours and then I was going to be observed for 1 hour following that drug administration. 

 

All went smoothly and we went onto the next drug called Cyclophosphamide.  It is one part out of two of the standardized chemotherapy drugs.  It was run over 1 hour through IV into my bloodstream.  I had some side effects during adminstration my nose got a tingling sensation like a sinus clog and some funny zinging pains through my head.  Nothing to noteworthy.  All was good.

 





              Next came the third drug called docetaxel. It is the second part of the standardized chemotherapy and again administered through my IV into the bloodstream. It was run over 1 hour and I had no side effects during this time.  It wasn't until the last couple of minutes on the last drug that I started feeling my throat get large/tight and my upper chest having pressure or squeezing. Well needless to say a furry of activity took place with nurses and doctors and you name it, within a minute or two and I was on my way to a sleep induced state of anti-histamine - steroid-ventolin nebulizer you name it!! They got it under control within a few minutes but scary...oh I can't even tell you how scary that was.  I have never had any kind of breathing problems in my life and I hate choking on anything so you can only imagine this episode!! None the less, it landed me an extra hour of observation and we did not get home until 6:00pm!! It was a LONG day.

 

So my next cycle will be in 21 days.  I have 4 cycles of the standard chemo with Herceptin.  Then continued to a  full year of just Herceptin.

 

Overall a good day. Lots of chatting with lovely people around us, and my Auntie and I managed not to get into too much trouble. Phil and Auntie were there all day taking turns in the visitors chair. I also had a special visit from Kimberly which was really nice.

Herceptin drug administration

Tired after a long day in the chemo chair with a multitude of drugs being poured into me. Wowzaz!

HEAD SHAVE DAY!

 

Mo -Carla - Diane

So my two friends, who are sisters (Monique and Diane), when I told them I was going to shave my head before I went for Chemo, asked if I would like to do a ceremony/celebration and we could do a big dinner fajita night and make it a festive event for the whole family and my friends.  BEST thing I ever said YES to!  It was soooooo much fun and made this experience the least grief ridden it could be!  Diane is a brilliant photographer and offered to take pictures of it all for me and Monique planned the food end of everything. I cooked the food up and we served a fabulous dinner!  I wish I could have invited everyone......just know you were all there with my in my heart and with your spirits.

The Vidalsix!

Then it was time for the main event....


Everyone wanted in on the action

 

 Saved the pink for last! Braided the pink....
 Take a close look and you can see the remnants of the pink hair dye disaster. This is Monique scrubbing it off my bald head! Finished product

                                                                                                               The Scar reveal....another story for another day!

My Bald buddies  Doug and Sandhu

                                                                                                   My beautiful painting from Sandhu! 

 

Thank you to everyone! 

 

MUgA Scan (Heart Testing)

MuGA Scan

It was a long day to say the least, I had to go to VGH to have a MUGA Scan which is a Nuclear medicine test to scan and take pictures of the left ventricle heart function. The type of chemo that I am going to be having has a high risk of decreasing this heart function and therefore they need a baseline to see what it was like before chemo starts. Believe me getting all these tests organized....a full time job in itself.  It took 3 hours in total most of it waiting around for injected dyes and solutions to mix into my bloodstream and then 30mins of pictures of my heart.  All in all, fairly uneventful, and so I took a little cat nap on the table!

***I just have to say that I have an excellent team of physicians and nurses who are caring for me, that being said you have to remember when it comes to your health or really anything for that matter you have to be the driver of your own bus and advocate for yourself.......ie. follow up with appointments for tests and things that you are told you are going to need or be having, medications, whatever, don't wait for them to call you all the time you are allowed to know what is going on with your health schedule!

I meant to take a picture of the machine, but forgot because I had to pee so bad by the time I was finished I only had one thing on my mind...getting to the toilet!!!!
I have to go again so I will remember next time.....so any of my VGH nurse/clerk/staff friends I will let you know when I am there so we can get a coffee maybe..:)

What is the "C" word?

To my dear friends and family and all who come here to be supportive......THANK YOU!  I hope you enjoy my posts whether they are positive or negative, because believe me, I'm not somebody to paint a picture of rainbows and cupcakes! For the most part, I try to stay positive and not dwell on the negativity of my circumstances, because after all that's what this journey is....a circumstance!

So, if you are reading this you have followed my link that I have posted somewhere or emailed to you telling you about my blog I am writing throughout my journey that I embarked on
September 27, 2012. 

So what is the "C" word? Well, for me it's one of my favourite profanities, I lived in Australia for a year and the "C" word is so commonly used you would think it was part of their vocabulary!  I just think it does the trick, when necessary, it makes a statement all by itself. 
In this case though, it is not meant to be a profanity, even though it seems like one, rather it could be a reference to Cancer, Chemo or even Carla!

So visit me often and leave me comments, just know that any comments/communication is uplifting and reassuring that I am not alone in this fight.

x0x Carla

Think PiNK!

 So I consider myself to be pretty daring but not so much that I actually coloured my hair permanently to a bright colour such as fuschia pink!! I have added bright red clip on extensions for fun but never permanent. So I had a "moment" on Saturday Jan5th to use the hair dye that we got for the girls a few months ago and go pink.....what the hell...it's just coming off anyway why not have fun.  So I started the process and got right into and discovered I had NO GLOVES for the project, so guess who decided to dye her hair fuschia pink with plastic bags on her hands?  Yes, that would be me.....needless to say I got it EVERYWHERE and in the upcoming head shaving photos I will highlight for you the results of not having proper equipment while dying your hair fuschia pink, or any colour for that matter!


So I cut all my beautiful hair off on December 30, 2012, seen below and never looked back!