Update on my Health issues
I want to start this blog by saying, “Thank you” to all the generous people in my life and in my family’s life.
We are still receiving cards, prayers, emails, texts, Snapchats, Facebook messages, phone calls, and the yummy food from the great cooks around.
The last time I blogged about my breast cancer journey, I told you that I only had three more rounds of chemotherapy left.
I finished that.
Along with the chemo I was taking 200 milligrams of a cancer blocker called Herceptin.
The Herceptin is given for a total of a year.
My year is over in November.
Normally when you finish with the chemo you continue with the Herceptin until your year is up.
Instead of going in to the cancer center every week, they triple up the dose and you go every three weeks.
In 8% of patients that have gone through this whole scenario you swell up everywhere including your joints and this causes some terrible joint pain.
I happen to be in the lucky 8%!!!
So I am off from work for now until this subsides.
I am not supposed to be on my feet for more than 30 minutes at a time or lift more than 5 pounds.
So, this little fella and I have done a lot of hanging out!
Isn’t he sweet!
I’m not complaining about this, just an update.
Since I am off work and not making any money, I am selling some extra goodies that we have lying around the house that we don’t want to move to the new house in a few weeks.
I will be adding a bunch of stuff every day for the next few days.
Okay, on to the rest of the story, as I have mentioned before, I have two different kinds of breast cancer.
One is called HER2-positive metastic breast cancer.
They have just come out with a new chemotherapy for this cancer that also has a blocker with it.
It is called Perjeta.
It has been used for stage 4 cancer patients for a while now and has recently been approved for stage 3 breast cancer patients, which is what I am considered.
My doctor has recommended that I do 4 rounds of this every three weeks.
Back on the chemo……………………..
I have had one round of this so far.
I can not express to anyone how hard this is on the family of a cancer patient.
It has to be way worse than anything that I could go through.
I love you all!!
More later……………….Sally
Share this:
Just An Update
I thought I would update everyone on my health issues.
I have finished my first round of chemotherapy.
Four rounds of the “NASTY RED STUFF”.
It was tough!
I am on my next bunch of chemo, which consists of 12 weeks of 2 more medicines on every Monday.
I only have 3 left!!!!!
I just have to say it……….. Nearly everyone looks better with hair!!
There are exceptions, that’s why I say “nearly”.
Such as Michael Jordan, Bruce Willis, and of the course the famous, Brent Burke!
Now women with no hair, I haven’t seen a woman who is bald that I would consider attractive.
I look at that picture that I just took and say….. still the same woman, just bald, swollen, tired, and getting better everyday!
Just keeping it real.
Thank you for all of your love.
It is greatly appreciated!
More later………………….Sally
Share this:
Chemo
First round of chemotherapy is over, now I am just dealing with the side affects.
It took about three and a half hours to finish all my bags of medicine.
It wasn’t too bad.
Mainly because I had my loving husband, whom I affectionately call Large, and my prayer shawl that my cousin, Kathy made for me to wrap up in!
Thank you so much Kathy!!!
More later……………………………………..Sally
Share this:
Breast Cancer Sucks!!
I have an update for everyone on the breast cancer issue.
Last week I went to see the oncologist to talk about our plan of attack and this is a summary of what he said.
First of all he said that the cancer that I have is coming from two sources.
One is estrogen. One is HER2.
The HER2 is a very aggressive cancer and is what causes the rapid growth in the tumor.
The size of the tumor ended up to be 2.7 centimeters.
The surgeon took out nine lymph nodes, which is all the nodes in your armpit.
They were all cancer free!!!!!!!
Now, back to our plan, we are doing chemotherapy using 2 different medicines starting this Monday.
We are going to do this every other Monday for two months.
The next step is a different chemotherapy medicine every week for 12 weeks.
Like the title of this post says, “Breast Cancer Sucks!!” .
I again want to thank all of my friends and family for all the love, support , phone calls, texts, instant messages, food, flowers, letters, cards, and visits!!!
I could not do this alone!
Of course, I am never alone, I have Jesus in my heart, the Holy Spirit by my side, and the Good Lord leading the way!!!!!!
More later………………………………….Sally
Share this:
Fellowship
I just arrived home from the doctor’s office for my follow-up visit after surgery.
The decision of a lumpectomy or a mastectomy was an easy one to make.
The cancerous tumor had already grown from a stage 1 cancer to a stage 2 cancer in the 2 weeks that we have done all the testing on it.
So, I had a mastectomy last Friday.
The outpouring of love and support has been so overwhelming.
My post office friends, where I work, sent this awesome lantern with the Angel of Light in it.
I love it!!!!!
I am so very blessed to have so many friends and family to lean on.
The doctor gave me the best news possible today!
He said that the nodes that they removed during surgery were cancer free!!!!!!
That means that the cancer did not spread to any other place in my body!
Thank the Lord!!
Now I have to heal up, then chemotherapy.
I will keep you updated.
More later…………………………………..Sally
Just Resting Up 