I still can't feel my fingers....

It has been a almost two weeks since I posted anything, I can't believe it!  I took a bit of a break . So settle in this might be a long one.
I have outrageous neuropathy in my fingers.  It feels like the pads of my fingers are going to explode because they are so nerve aggravated. My fingers are pretty swollen, they look like sausages, I am retaining some fluid from something, not sure what.  Typing is a huge challenge, along with buttons, chop sticks and anything that requires dexterity.  Otherwise I carry on as per usual.
The days after the last chemo left me very "weak in the knees" so to speak.....I had very poor stability and sometimes for no reason at all, my knees would just give out on me and I would nearly collapse.  So I spent a few days shuffling around, Phil says I remind him of Tim Conway as the old man from the Carol Burnett show (I loved that show, I used to skip junior high school in the afternoons with my friend and we would watch the reruns of the Carol Burnett Show!)

I had a medication plan that was supposed to combat most of the pain, neuropathy and nausea and vomiting.  I can say that the plan was sort of successful.  I took Dexamethasone (steroid) for a week everyday in the morning to help with nausea and neuropathy.  It helped with the nausea, I didn't feel sick at all this last round!! YAY for that.  It did absolutely nothing for the neuropathy and pain.  So I ended up taking a regime of Advil, Tylenol and Dilaudid (narcotic) to manage the intense pain.  The pain is not a separate ailment from the neuropathy, the pain comes with the neuropathy.  The best way to describe it is throbbing pins and needles (x100)  in my fingers(tips) and in my legs from the knees down.  It is a constant feeling and slowly my legs have "defrosted" and my feet are feeling better too.  It is only really in my fingertips now and they kinda feel like dog paws! I manage though and continue on like normal, well really because I kinda have to. 

So by day 6 post chemo I was ready to get out of the house and we left for our spring break trip I had planned.  We stayed in Nanaimo with my best friend Kirsten and her family for 2 nights and checked out the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre.  Kirsten and Clint had to work so we got to take "little Miss" as I call her, their 4 year old daughter.  We had the best day with her, we went swimming, and then White Spot for lunch and then I promised Kirsten a homemade mexican dinner.  I made traditional Mole with all the fixings, spanish rice, refried beans, guacamole with tostadas.  It was delicious and I was so happy to do something nice for my friend, that I know she always enjoys.  Little Miss had so much fun with the kids and it was sad to leave, I wish we had more time with them.  We left on Thursday morning for Tofino, to the same place we went back in February, this time we stayed for 4 nights.

Tofino is fantastic.  There is just a calmness about it that I feel no pressure to do anything.  The worst part about it is the drive up! Poor Vinnie succumbed to the windy roads and barfed just as we were coming into Tofino.  What a frantic scene that was!!! Quite funny after the fact, a nightmare during the chaos!
Otherwise we just go with the flow.  I love it there, so does the rest of my family.  Friday was absolutely so awsome I couldn't have asked for a better day.  I found a groupon last week, before we left, for surf lessons (Tofino Surf School) for the kids and yesterday they had their lessons! The guy (Jeffro) was so great with the kids and he was so easy going.  Phil got suited up too and went in to help with the kids and he even tried getting up (on the surf board.....) a few times too!  Getting into the wetsuits was almost as much fun as the actual surfing!  At least it was for me.....I wasn't trying to squeeze my big ass into one of those things.  Jeff had to get Phil a "ponch suit" as he called it......I would hate to know what he would have called a suit for me...HAHAHA.........a whale skin!
It was the most glorious day ever, blue sky no clouds the beach was amazing.  He took us to  Chesterman Beach which is in between McKenzie Beach and Long Beach.  I am attaching pictures.....
On Saturday our friends from Comox came up to stay as well.  We cooked them a big dinner and had a fabulous visit and hot tubbed talked until midnight.  On Sunday we had asked them to show us how to geocache.  They have been doing this for a couple of years and I knew the kids would really enjoy it.  It is kinda like a treasure hunt, on much larger scale.  We looked up how many "caches" were in Tofino and there were over 300 or something crazy like that!  It was so much fun and we found 6 in total.  We found some in town and on Monday morning we had a beautiful walk on the beach and the kids and Dad's found one at the end of the beach on a little island.  So great for the kids.  I do have to mention that we discovered another foodie place Big Daddy's Fish Fry!  We had the best coconut prawns ever!  They were huge and crispy and oh my god .......yummilicious!  We went on Friday before surfing and it was so good we had to take Cathy and Roy there on Sunday when we were out geocaching......soooooo good!
We hot tubbed 3-4 times a day and ate yummy food and walked on the beach and discovered new trails and had a really relaxing time.  It was just what I needed.

We came home on Monday, the drive went well, not car sick episodes, and we made it home in less than 4 hours which was really good time.  So we are back into the swing of things , kids back in school. 
Tuesday(26th) I had my appointment with Dr. Smith, the radiation oncologist. She did have some good news, I will probably only have to have 20 rounds of radiation now as opposed to the 33 she originally ordered.  I had my CT scan as well for the mapping for radiation, and they gave me my "tattoos" which are permanent marks that they make to line up the radiation beams every time I go in.  I will take a picture of that and post it so you can see (the radiation set-up, not my booby tattoos!)
I have a busy week next week, so we are going to have a nice Easter weekend.  I bought a 27lb turkey so we are having turkey dinner here and the family will come.  We are going out with Phil's family for a nice Easter lunch on Friday. 
I have another round of chemo on April 4, the herceptin only, and radiation starts on April 8. There are labs and another heart scan in there too!
So there's my verbal diarrhea of what the last two weeks has been for me.  I have also seen lots of people and enjoyed some nice visits with friends as well.  I hope you all have a great Easter and I will be back to posting more regularly now, so keep checking in!
x0x