Crazy Sexy Cancer

Did anyone watch "Crazy Sexy Cancer" on TLC last night? Kris Carr did a great job putting that film together. For those of you that don't know Kris was diagnosed with Epithelioid Hemangio-endothelioma (EHE)Stage IV. EHE is an extremely rare vascular cancer. There is no cure and no definitive treatment for EHE. Kris was diagnosed on Valentines Day, 2003. 4 years later she is still living with cancer. I also bought her book; "Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips". She has been a great inspiration to me. My mom and I are actually going to see her on her book tour in San Francisco when she is here. This book is wonderful for people who have cancer or someone who knows someone who has cancer. Check out her website www.crazysexycancer.com

I went and met with my primary today. He said that it is not urgent that I get my gallbladder removed but I should definitely do it soon. He set me up to meet with a surgeon on September 11th. She will go over the procedure and I can decide from there if I want to move forward now or later.

I have chemo tomorrow so I wanted to give everyone an update. Hope all is well. 2 more days until my mom, dad and Pete (their dog) are here!!!
xoxo

Back to the ER

I woke up around 2:00 Monday morning to more pain. I tried the pain pills that I got on Friday, but they weren't working. So by 4:30am or so I was back at the ER. This time it took the doctors 5 times of giving me pain meds before I had no pain. The ER doc had me wait until I could get an ultrasound done. The woman who did the ultrasound said she did see a gallstone in my gallbladder. She said it looks to be a couple of centimeters. So next in comes a surgeon. He said we could operate today if I wanted him to. I declined the surgery until I spoke with my Oncologist and my Primary doctor. I don't want this to mess up my chemo treatments. Can't I beat one problem before I have to deal with another? I spoke with my Oncologist and she said that if my gallbladder is giving me issues because of inflammation then I should proceed with the removal of it. If it is just acting up and I can change my diet and use the pain pills I have then I could probably put off the surgery until once I'm done with chemo. She said to meet with my Primary doctor and go over a plan of attack. I have an appointment on Thursday to meet with my primary. That's all the news I have for now. I will keep everyone posted as to what my primary says.
xoxo

What a crazy week!!!

I'm sorry it's been a while since I have been on. It's been a pretty crazy week for me. Earlier this week I met with my new Oncologyst. I was having such a hard time understanding my previous Onc, that I felt I need to make a change. My new doctor, Dr. Tomika is wonderful. She went over all my tests from day one. We reviewed my initial CT and PET Scan and we talked about what to look forward to. It was a great visit. My old doctor was in Stockton and my new doctor is in Modesto, so I took advantage of being in Modesto. I met up for lunch with my friend Sabrina that I haven't seen in ages. We went to the mall and had lunch at Sweet River. It was pretty good.

On Friday, I was feeling pretty bad. I had such bad pains in my stomach it was making me double over. I wasn't sure if I should call my primary doctor or my Onc. I got a hold of my Onc. office and they told me to go to the ER. So off I go. $100 co-pay later, I have no answer to what's wrong. At this point in time, the doctor believes it's tied to my gallbladdder. The ER Doc gave me a shot of Dilaudid. WOW, that did the trick...before I knew it I was feeling much better. He also did an onsight ultrasound but since it was a traveling ultrasound machine, it didn't pick up much. So this week sometime, I will be going into radiology for an ultrasound. He did sent me home with my own bottle of Dilaudid.

On Saturday, I received another beautiful boquet of flowers. This time from very good friends of mine in Fresno; Lupe & Patty. I can't tell you how much they made my day. I've been a bit emotional lately and they couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you Lupe and Patty!

Only a week until my mom and dad are here!!!! I can't wait to see my family. My brother and his family will be here in about a week and a half. Oh yeah, I turn 30 in two weeks. I can't beleive how time flies. I feel like I was just 21 yesterday! Life can sure sneak up on ya. I will try to post more this week!!

xo

IMS Financial Services

After Chemo yesterday I wasn't doing too well. I was as white as a ghost and I felt so tired and out of it. I usually try to come home after my chemo and try to work on files, but yesterday I could barely sit in the upright position. It was pretty much straight to bed when I got home.

I wanted to share the beautiful flower arrangement that was just delivered to me from my broker in North Hollywood, CA. IMS Financial is the only office I am processing loans for right now and they have been so supportive through this whole cancer process. The doctors appointments, the surgeries and the Chemo treatments. I am completely blessed to have them in my life. Thank you Ali and the whole crew at IMS, you guys are the best!

xo

It's that time again

I just called my nurses and my white blood count is good for Chemo tomorrow. I'm very excited that having 7 days versus 10 days of Nuprogen shots worked out. The less I can get poked the better!! I also got news that my grandfather is going to be flying from Tennessee for my birthday. Not much else is going on right now. I just wanted to drop in and tell everyone the good news. It's almost time to pick the girls up from school.

xo

First Day of School & New Haircuts

Today is the girl's first day of school. I think Hailey was up before the sun was. She got up, got dresses, brushed her teeth, made her lunch and was ready to go. She didn't care if Taylor was ready or not. I'm so glad to see she is so excited. Taylor on the other hand moved a little slower. Taylor is a little nervous. This is a new school, and she has to make new friends. I'm sure they will both do fine. Me on the other hand was balling before I even left the school. I cry every year on the first day of school. I can't believe how big my babies are getting.

Yesterday, the girls and I went and got new haircuts. Taylor just got hers trimmed up. Hailey and I went a little more extreme. It's going to take me a while to get use to mine and to actually know how to style it.

Not a lot has been going on so I havn't been online in a while. I get my bloodwork done tomorrow for Chemo on Friday. This will be Cycle 2, Day 15. I'm actually looking forward to Friday. One more treatment down, and hopefully only 8 - 12 more to go.

I am so excited for my family to be here in September. We are planning a trip into the city (San Francisco) on the 8th. Some people who will be here have never been. Josh knows his way around the city like the back of his hand. He doesn't know it yet, but he is going to be the tour guide. lol I can't wait. I haven't been to the city in months. I'm having withdrawls.

Anyway, I need to get some work done, but I promise to write more often. I hope everyone is doing well. Love you!!

xoxo

Long Time

Today has been a awesome day for me. Some very special people that I haven't talked to in a long time made contact with me; Arian, Jared, Sandra and Terry. I can't tell you guys how much I have missed you and appreciate your support. The picture above is from Taylor's birthday last year. Look at all those smiles!!! I love it!

As many of you have noticed, I haven't been online very much. Well that's because my modem took a dump. Verizon has been such a pain in the ass to deal with on replacing it. I finally got the new modem yesterday and they sent me the wrong power adaptor. Luckily the old power adapter still worked. I had been down since last Thursday. Thursday evening I was running around with my head cut off trying to find an Internet Cafe of something so I could finish up on some files before my chemo on Friday. I finally found this quiet little cafe that had kiosk's and free wireless connection. Grabbed the ol' laptop and worked at the cafe for a couple hours. It was actually very relaxing and the coffee was good too!

So Friday, was Chemo #3. It's actually considered Cycle 2, day 1. Each cycle has two treatments; day 1 and day 15. I met with my Oncologist before my treatment. He said that we will do another PET Scan and CT Scan at the end of my 4th Cycle. Which puts me at the end of October. From there he will decide if I will be doing 2 or 4 more cycles. He said the Nuprogen that I was taking put my white blood cell count through the roof, so instead of 10 days, we will only do 7 this time. I had a different nurse this time. Her name was Victoria. Her and Judy (my nurse the first two times) are so funny. They crack jokes with each other the whole time. I love it. They really know how to make the patients feel better.

I got the book "The Secret" from some great friends in Idaho this weekend. Thanks Bob, Maddy, Lilly, Bunn and Mom #2. I practically lived at their house when I lived up in Idaho. If I wasn't home, I was there. My mom had gotten me a copy of the book too a while back. It's great cuz now I have one for the side of my bed and one for my Chemo bag. I also used my gift certificate from Barnes and Noble to purchase the CD's. I downloaded it onto my Ipod! http://www.thesecret.tv/home.html

Debbie came over on Sunday with a box full of goodies. She had a beautiful centerpiece made for me and surprised me with a gift certificate so her and I can go get pedicures. She also got me the Sharon Osbourne Autobiography; which I am going to try and start tonight. On top of all that she got me a Flag for my front yard. It has a beautiful saying about "Miracles" on it. I love it!!

For those of you who don't know (I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet or not) My 30th birthday is coming up and my mom and dad will be here for two weeks, my brother, his wife, my neice and nephew will be here. My Aunt Carol and Uncle Paul are coming from Arizona. My grandfather is probably coming from Tennessee. I've also heard that Tina and Jeremy from Idaho will be here and possibly Sandy and Larry from Idaho. I hope I didn't miss anyone. We are probably going to have my favorite resturant cater dinner; La Villa's in Tracy has the absolute best mexican food. Not quite sure of all the details yet but I will let everyone know.

Gonna run and make some dinner. Hoope everyone is doing well.

xoxo