I'll never capitalize cancer

I have alot going on in my life, more than just cancer and chemo. Sure it's a big part of my life right now, but it's not the most important part of my life. You will never see me spell it with a capital "c".

I'm a Wife and Mom. I love my Family. I have good Friends. We do fun stuff and dumb stuff and sometimes we argue and then we laugh again. We go to work and to the grocery store and we go swimming and have birthday parties and get ready for the first day of school.

I keep saying that I don't want ovarian cancer to define me, but sometimes I just can't help it.

A good friend put it this way for me "cancer may be defining your life for the moment, but it is not your entire life. You seem to just make time for it." That made me feel better.

If you want to see it from the beginning, my cancer story begins in March.

The rest of my story is happening now.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Feeling Great!

It has been a while since I updated this, so here is a quick post.

I had my 3rd chemo treatment Wed and things went smoothly, kinda becoming a routine now. I am feeling fine, no nausea. Went to Abby's Field Day today and am finishing up getting things together for my garage sale this weekend.

I have been planning this garage sale for probably a year now. I can't belive how much stuff we have in boxes that we had forgotten about. Baby girl to 4 toddler all going to a new home for someone else to love on.

Good news from my Doctors last week. I was having one of my "Oh, woe is me" days. I told Dr Schmeler at MD Anderson that I wanted to teach my daughter to ski and take her on a cruise on the Big Red Boat and I was worried I was not to going to be around to do either. She told me to go ahead and plan on going skiing next Spring but I should wait until next Summer to take the cruise. And to quit reading the magazines in the waiting room.

Dr Lavalais at the Julie & Ben Rogers Cancer Center here in Beaumont told me that my blood tests were looking good. Especially the CA 125, which is a tumor marker. Normal people who do not have cancer will have a test number of about 30. When I started chemo, my number was 365, now it is 81. That means that the cancer cells are not reproducing as rapidly and are not producing the fluid that was causing problems before. Also, my cysts and other stuff (tech term) are shrinking. Mostly it means that I am having a positive response to the chemo therapy.

Other things keeping me busy - Abby's end of the year school programs and rehearsals for her upcoming dance recital. And we are getting a ton of mail. The bills are coming in and I have to be sure that we keep it straight. I am filling out aps for financial assistance and arranging payment plans.

Keeping my calendar is really important now. Drs appts, rehearsal schedule, payment deadlines, playdates and family visits ...

To add to it, there is a condition called "chemo brain" where you tend to lose focus and forget things. Yes, even more than usual!

That's the quickie version. Thanks again to everyone who has been checking in and keeping in touch. Give me a few days after the garage sale and I will try to have more and include some pics.

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