Chemo update

Hello All
Me again, of course who else are you expecting????

I go to get my IP port put in on Wednesday the 13th. This will make for a fabulous Valentines Day but what the heck!? I'm the forst one on the dockett for surgery Wed. Then I recover for a few hours then they slam me with my first chemo treatment. They say the chemo day 1 is a 7 hour day! They put in drugs via IV for about 3 hours then put in 2 liters of fluid into my IP port and then make me lay on my left side, then my right side then they tilt me so it goes to the top of my abdomen, then they tilt me kind of standing up so my guts on the bottom get soaked. 2 LITERS! I'm a fairly small gal so they tell me I may be uncomfortable with some bloating. I think more like I'm gonna look 15 months pregnant! (Have you ever seen a 15 month pregnant woman? HUGE!!!!) :) Then they will send me home. They say we will be able to do it in one day. Drive over, get treatment and then drive back. I'm sure it will be a fun trip home for two hours in the car! So this is day 1 of week 1.

Day 8 or week 2, I get JUST IP chemo. I guess its not the gut washing experience of day one and it is only supposed to be about three hours, then I get to go back home. :) YEA!!!

The next week I will have OFF! I will be recovering for the next session of gut washing. They will monitor my blood levels every Friday here in Bozeman. I will also get one of those Neulasta shots on day 2 (after the gut washing experience) and I can do that here in Bozeman too. Guess how much ONE of those shots costs??????? ...don't fall over, I almost did....... $4,000.00 FOR ONE SHOT! I will need six of them. I guess this is why we pay so much for health insurance!!!

I will do this three week dance for six sessions. If my blood work gets bad they may have topostpone a week or so. I've already made up my mind that my bloodwork will be ok and we'll get through this right on schedule. I have my life to live and I want to get this part over! Also my hair will start to grow back once I'm done with the chemo. Yes, I'm probably going to lose my hair! I have a breakfast date tomorrow morning with three gal friends. We are going to eat then go try on wigs. I won't actually buy one tillI start losing my hair. They are expensive and who knows, I MIGHT not need it! Bob seems to think I'm not going to lose my hair. The doc says very, very, rarely do people not lose their hair, but you never know!

I'm not too thrilled about going back under the knife to have this port put in. The Doc didn't think I needed it when he did the surgery (this is a good sign) otherwise he would have put it in!
I think its the thought of having some foreign object in my body for a while tha creeps me out. But if this is what it takes to make me live,.......BRING IT ON!!!!!!! I CAN handle it!

My Oncologist feels sure I will only have to do the six sessions, remember, he is out to cure me!!
They have great anti nausea drugs now and I'm gonna take full advantage of them. I need to keep an appitite and eat well and not get sick with any colds etc. OK.

We are going to talk with Fischer more about this whole thing this weekend. This part is the most scary for me. How do you tell your 4 year old that you are really sick and are going to go through hell and that everything is going to be ok? You just do. Because it is. He is an awesome human being and a very compassionate child. I know he will have some difficulties but I think this is going to make our family so strong to work through this. Just imagine what is going to be on the flip side!!! (I can't wait:))

Guess I'm rambling now. I'll be soliciting rides from all of you who live here in Bozeman! Wanna take a Tuesday off and drive on nasty icy roads while someone is complaining of a bloated belly??? Just email or call me to sign up! I also have friends, you all are my WONDERFUL friends, coming up from Colorado and other parts of the country, Boston, New York, to help out. My sister has already made her reservations for April! (Thanks Stacy!)

The meal train is rolling, We received a wonderful gift certificate for cafe couriers, I'm getting flowers and iTunes gift cards ( great for downloading chemo music!). You guys all rule! I'm going to pay it forward BIG TIME when this is all done, just you wait and see!!!

TTFN,
I Love You All,
Katie O