Chemotherapy Begins...YUCKY

First off, totally unrelated to my topic, the Oklahoma State Fair starts today.  I love the fair, my family loves the fair.  And just as predicted the high today will be 62 degrees and rainy.  This is truly great fair weather.  The next 2 Saturdays I will be at the fair with my family. I can't wait.

Now for the YUCKY part.  Yesterday I received a call from my oncologist asking me to come into her office to meet with her.  That is usually not a good sign.  If it was good news she would have told me over the phone. 

My Absynnian Banana is about 6 foot tall.  It likes the shade. I must throw in a few pictures to keep this blog beautiful..lol 

My Oncotype DX test results were in.  Oncotype DX is a diagnostic breast cancer test that looks at the activity in 21 different genes in my breast tumor tissue.  The test measures the chances of my breast cancer returning and the likelihood of my benefiting from chemotherapy.

I scored a 23 on the test.  The scale runs from 1 to 100 with 50 and above being the worst case.  I thought a 23 was very good but it is considered marginal.  My doctor recommended that I take chemotherapy but the decision was left up to me.  She said there are no guarantees with any of these treatments.  The cancer may return even if I take chemotherapy and radiation.  Also the cancer may never return even if I don't take chemotherapy.  It's a roll of the dice.

I planted my miniature banana in the ground this year (verses leaving it in a pot).  It loves being out of that pot!  It has produced bananas in the past that I could eat. 

I talked to my husband.  I made the decision to take chemotherapy.  If the cancer were to return at least we both would have a peace of mind that we did everything possible to prevent it.  So again I am thinking about losing my hair and all the other horrible side effects that come with this treatment.

The chemo cocktail that I will be taking is a combination of Cytoxan and Taxotere.  I will take 6 treatments, one every 3 weeks ending sometime in January.  Then I will start 6 weeks of radiation.

This cocktail causes 5% of the patients to develop leukemia.  Hopefully I will be part of the 95% that it doesn't effect. 

In the next week I will have a port inserted into my chest.  This should help save the veins in my left arm.  Since I had lymph nodes removed in my right underarm I can never have blood drawn or blood pressure taken in that arm again. 

I have chemo class next Tuesday then chemotherapy starts on Wednesday September 21. 

Please remember that I am putting all of this information into my blog for my own reference and for anyone else that might be interested in my journey or is going through the same treatments. 

I am not usually a "Debbie Downer" but I plan on documenting this whole process on my blog.  Never ever feel obligated to leave a comment.  I promise this will NOT become a depressing blog. 

The saying in our family is "It's All Good".   

Thanks everyone for caring. 
Until next time,

100 Degrees Again?

What is up with this weather?

I took this picture of our local weather man on September 1.  At that time I thought we were at the end of the hottest summer ever.....BUT Noooooooo.....today it was 104 degrees at my house.

BUT the State Fair of Oklahoma starts on Thursday which means rain and cooler weather is coming.   The weathermen are forecasting rain for Thursday.  It is so funny that it rains every year during the fair. 

It has been a while since I posted any pictures of my cats.  Today Nosey will be my model.

Behind Nosey (where the blue garden hose is) used to be nice green grass.

  It has all burned up in the heat. 

Guess I didn't use that blue garden hose enough.

And you can tell Nosey is sitting in a dry birdbath.  No birds for her today!!

She is sitting on top of the grandkids playground set, about 8 foot high.  She has a very good view of the garden from here. 

That's all for now.  Until next time,

Monarchs Are Here

Today I was working in the garden and Oh My Goodness, there were Monarch butterflies everywhere.

I plan to get back to my normal blogging theme with health updates thrown in here and there.

Right now I am in a holding pattern like this Monarch.  The doctors haven't decided where I should land.

Last week I was tattooed for radiation.  Radiation was to start this week.

Then I found out I must take chemo before radiation if in fact I need chemo.

We are waiting for a test result that was ordered 3 weeks ago.  It looks like insurance slowed down the authorization process for the test but it has been approved.  This test will tell us if I need to take chemotherapy. 

I hope to land on that beautiful flower soon and I sure hope that flower is called radiation.  If it turns out to be chemo then I will have landed on a ugly weed....lol

Until next time,

Get Well Cards and Garden

Today I am a little sad.  I found out Wednesday that I will have to take radiation.  It will be starting in the next 2 weeks.

The bone scan is next Monday and it along with another test will determine if I need chemotherapy. 
Todays headline in our local newspaper, The Oklahoman, says "Chemo drug shortage stirs fears for cancer patients".  Let's hope I don't need the chemo since it sounds like the drug is in short supply. 

Look at all of the get well cards I have received.  Simply looking at these cards lifts my spirits and snaps me out of my pity party.  Thank you everyone for the cards and well wishes.

Today I was feeling well enough to walk out on my back yard deck and take a few pictures of the garden.  Woohoo!!  It feels good to do something that is part of my "normal" life. 

I took these pictures at mid-afternoon, temperature was 102 degrees, bright and sun shiny.  The picture quality is rather poor but you can tell that my automatic drip irrigation system is doing it's job.  My plants are surviving just fine without my assistance. 

The potato vine LOVES the heat and is taking over the yard!! 

The castor beans are a beautiful color and they too love the heat.  This one is a little droopy during the heat of the day but it will look much better during the evening hours.

That's all for now.  Until next time,

Flowers and Plants I Have Received

Hello friends,

These are the flowers and plants that I received while I have been convalescing.  At the end of the calendar year I always print a book of my blog so I am posting pictures primarily for myself so I can look back and remember. 

In the hospital my sister-in-law and brother-in-law brought me the get well candy bouquet.  I am still munching on the sprees.  They also gave me a gigantic box of assorted chocolates.

Friends of my husband in Tulsa sent the center bouquet, the hospital volunteers gave me the single Gerbera daisy.

My friends, Kellie and Joe sent me the lower right bouquet while I was in the hospital.

My BFF Jamie sent the center bouquet to me while I was in the hospital.  They delivered this bouquet just as I got into my room from recovery.  I was on so much Morphine that I didn't even realize I had received it until later.

The plant on the left is a schefflera and it came from the ladies I bowl with on Thursday mornings.  My bowling days are over for now.  I hope to be able to bowl again in 2012. 

The peace lily on the right is from my other sister-in-law and brother-in-law. 

My friend Freda sent me this candy bouquet.  We attend Sit-n-Sew every Wednesday at our local quilt shop.  The bouquet is covered with delicious chocolates and chewy taffy.  I am still munching on this one also.

Needless to say I do think I have gained a few pounds since surgery. 

Wednesday I will find out if I have to take radiation.  I will post again Thursday with the results.

Until next time.

Thank you for the Shawl and Quilts

This week I am feeling soooooo much better.  I wanted to send out a few posts thanking people for their prayers and their kindness.  It is overwhelming how many people have offered to do anything for me that needed to be done....cook, clean, drive me to appointments, pray and simply be there as a shoulder to cry on if needed.

First my husband has been by my side doing everything, cooking, cleaning, doctoring my wounds, driving me to doctor appointments, and wiping my tears while he tries to work his full time job.  I love you so much hubby.

My Mom and my daughters have also cooked dinners, drove me to doctor appointments, cleaned my house and been there to cheer me up.  No pity parties here.  I love you all so much. 

So far I have not been to a single doctor appointment by myself.  I am truly blessed with a loving supportive family. 

I also have friends and strangers that have been very generous with their time and their talents.

Look at this beautiful shawl my friend Elisabeth knitted for me.  Elisabeth lives in Sweden.  She had posted a blog entry about this shawl (click here to see it) and I thought it was absolutely gorgeous.  The tears were flowing when I received a package in the mail and it was that shawl. 

Thank you Elisabeth for the shawl, and the chocolates and the card from Ake.

This week I was surprised to receive this quilt from the Karring Quilters of Emmaus Baptist Church.  People that I have never met made this quilt just for me.... talk about tears flowing again.

 It is a prayer quilt.   It is beautiful.  A life long friend of my Mom's attends this church.  She had told the prayer quilt ministry about my cancer.  They read my blog and knew I was a gardener and a quilter.  They chose the perfect fabrics, very colorful and cheery.  For some reason I have been cold since I have been home from the hospital and this quilt is already getting a lot of use.

What makes this quilt so special are the ribbons with the knots.  A complete stranger said a prayer for ME and then tied a knot in the ribbon.  There are 53 knots.  Praise God for "Karring" people that will take time out of their busy days to lift me up to our Lord and Savior for healing. 

And look at this....they made one for my Mother also.  Hers has appliqued and embroidered flowers on it.  Just beautiful.  I didn't count her prayer knots but isn't that nice that they would also pray for my mom. 

I love the Karring Quilters statement "It's not about the quilt....it's about the prayers". 

Thank you to whomever made these quilts and lifted prayers up for us.  I hope to meet some of you in the near future.

For now I will end this post.  In the next few days I will be showing plants I received and Get Well cards.

Until next time,



I am Recovering

It has been a few days since I had surgery so I thought I should send out a health update.

Surgery was last Wednesday.  It lasted between 5 and 6 hours. I spent one night in the hospital and was released at noon on Thursday.  At first I was on morphine and now I am taking a milder pain killer so my mind is a little fuzzy.  For now I opt for fuzzy mind over the pain. 

On Friday we got the pathology report.  It was good news.  Stage 2 cancer but no cancer was found in any of the lymph nodes.  Tomorrow I met with the doctors.  I will find out if chemo is still needed. 

Thank you for all your prayers.  Prayer and God's grace got me through this. 

That's all for now.
Until next time,