The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, I've had two chemo treatments, kidney stones, quit my job, and sadly lost a friend this week.  

February 2 - 2nd chemo.  My dear friend Coleen came with me.  She's always good for entertainment - one of my favorite times with Coleen was when we were wedding dress shopping (she was one of my bridesmaids) and we were in a very prim and proper store and I'm trying on a dress and there are brides and moms of brides.... EVERYWHERE and Coleen is yelling, "just pick a dress, we need to be at the church by 5!)  Gotta love someone that can crack you up when everyone around you is in tears... Love that girl.  Great chemo date.  My dear friend Molly decorated my door and brought us a delicious dinner.  My Aunt Diana and Uncle Keith (although I'm guessing she did the cooking) made us delicious chili on Friday) I feel so spoiled with all the love I'm getting. 

After my 1st chemo, I noticed my urine was really dark (sorry, probably TMI) so I had an appointment with a urologist, including x-ray, which showed Kidney Stones; go me.  My oncologist and urologist are in agreement we will want to treat these until I'm done with chemo - enough is enough. 

On February 7, after 2.5 years at Wireless Advocates I quit my job.  I will miss all the amazing people I've gotten the pleasure of working with over the years, and will also miss eating at Tom Douglas restaurants on a regular basis as well as lunches with MA, Gina and Liz in Seattle :(

My last day is this Monday, and then I will be starting my new job, still a Payroll Manager at TrueBlue.  My main reason for the changes was the commute.  I am driving 3-4 hours a day, and will take this down to 1 hour a day.  That's 2-3 hours of my life back each day, which is priceless.  I am really excited to start with my new team, as they all seem like really good people. 

February 17, 3rd chemo - they can't get my port to do a blood return.  They put medicine in the port that was supposed to fix this, but it didn't.  My Dr. decided to go ahead with the chemo after a couple hours and just took blood from my arm (one benefit of having the port IMO is to NOT have to do this).  Then when the chemo was 1/2 way done, before I got my stylish fanny pack of poison to go, I went to get a x-ray with dye so they could see what was going on with the port.  Before they even did the dye, the Dr could see the problem.  Where the tube should be going straight down in my chest, it is curved to the right which is the issue.  So, I have to go back for surgery Thursday to correct this. My awesome friend Barbara spent a LONG day with me Thursday and made us an amazing dinner and not one but TWO deserts.  I told you she was awesome - all straight from Pinterest.  How cool is she?  When I got home, more love from my ladies - they know me so well. 

Sadly, I lost a friend this week.  I have known Bill for about 10 years since joining St. Johns. Bill played the trumpet when I walked down the aisle at our wedding.  We've hiked and chatted many times over the years.  I admired Bill's intelligence, integrity, work ethic and enjoyed his sense of humor greatly.  We shared a love of our dogs, his meant everything to him and I was so happy to hear today that someone, bless their hearts, has adopted his dogs.  Such a relief to me. Bill had a massive strove on Monday and didn't survive.  He was 53.  I will miss you Bill.  

Dear Diet Coke

You know my unending love for you. I have stated on numerous occasions you are my only remaining vice and I will love and defend you against others that try to stand up to your amazingness (side eye diet p and store brands), but for the last two days, anything cooler than warm is like razor blades in my throat thank you very much chemo. I can't fathom drinking you warm, but who knows, desperate times and all..... I <3 you and will see you again soon. Promise.

Did I tell you

that I have the best friends? Today we came home to this love of family and friends on our door as well as a basket of goodies. Chemo went well, we were there for about 4.5 hours. It was a little emotionally overwhelming but the nurses were great. A couple friends that work for Swedish stopped by too which was really nice. The door message is from Martina McBride's song I'm Gonna Love You Through It (click the link to watch the video)... Bring your tissues.

PS - I got the over the shoulder bag, not the fanny pack. But you should still probably dig out your fanny pack, because if I have to wear one, you have to wear one! See, great friends!

No go

Got a call that due to power being out at the hospital, chemo was cancelled for the day. They will call in the morning and let me know if we are on for tomorrow.

We lost power last night about 7, it came back on at 11, then was off this morning when we woke up and the house was COLD so I'm guessing it had been off for awhile. It came back on around noon, then off again around 1. Back on again around 4. We have so many trees (or used to) that every time a branch broke and hit the house it scared the bejesus out of me and the dogs.

If you don't have a Boy Scout, or at least a backpacking stove, I'd highly recommend getting one. And some Starbucks Via. Power or no power, Mama needs her coffee.

First chemo tomorrow...

A little nervous because my chest still hurts where they put in the port, so the idea of poking a needle through there is a little scary. My friend Joni who works at Swedish thought weather wouldn't postpone it, and no one called today to reschedule so I guess we're on.

Did you hear it snowed in Seattle today?

I was able to work from home, so didn't have to drive in it.

Have you heard of Pinterest? I love it! Shoot me an email or comment if you want an invite.

I am so inspired to be crafty.... I saw this:

And after my first trip to Hobby Lobby - I made these:

I thought they turned out pretty neat. PS - now is the time of year for one of my favorites, cherry lovers hearts. Go get you some!

Here we go....

I had a endoscopy on Wednesday because the PET scan showed some areas in my stomach that my oncologist wanted to have a closer look at. There were a few areas that they biopsied but nothing they were concerned as being cancerous. Friday I had a Port-a-Cath put in, which was is a little bit uncomfortable, but I should feel better in a couple of days I'm told. We went in at 9am and were out by 2pm. I was exhausted and didn't remember much after being splayed out of the table with the nurses prodding me for what seemed like FOREVER and me finally saying, "would you PLEASE knock me out?!?!?" They got the message.

Things are a bit fuzzy when I woke up. Apparently I ordered an egg salad sandwich (What the HECK? no idea) but I did take a picture of the plate and cover it came in for my 365 project which I found on my phone today. Or someone did and is playing tricks on me. Not sure.

First chemo is this Thursday 1/19.

Thank you so much for all the kind words and love I have been shown by so many. They really are what lifts my spirits and makes me smile on a daily basis. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans

We met with the oncologist last week and he informed us that there were some additional tests that came in after the initial tumor board that are making them reconsider whether or not I should do Chemo. This came as quite a shock to Joe and me as we thought we were past this.

On Friday we spoke to another oncologist as Swedish that was recommended by a couple of friends and he agreed with the first doctor and recommended that I do the chemo.

Wanting an opinion outside of Swedish, we went to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance this Thursday and the consensus was the same. He also asked if anyone had talked to us about the spot in my stomach that was visible on the Pet Scan. My surgeon told us there was an area they couldn't see well on the pet scan and he looked at it laproscopically during my surgery, but I don't recall hearing more about it after that. Nevertheless, this Dr. is recommending checking it out further with a scope.

Which brought us to yesterday, and our final oncology appointment back at Swedish Issaquah. We really liked this oncologist and we love the facility. I have a couple of friends that work there so it just feels right to me. His opinion was the same as the first 3 and he also mentioned the stomach and showed us the Pet Scan.

So, bottom line - I'll be doing 6 months of chemo after all. As my friend Sheila told me, no one wants to be the idiot that gets voted off survivor with an idol in their pocket. So that's how were looking at this. Insurance. Because I'm told if the cancer comes back, it comes back as stage 4 automatically, so if we can do anything to prevent this, that's what we need to do. I love the saying Live.Laugh.Love - heck, it was our wedding them. So now it's time to focus on the Live.

So, I am having a scope/scan of my stomach this Wednesday, and if that is all good, my chemo port goes in Friday and I start chemo 1/19. It will be every other week and takes about 5 hours to administer I'm told. I then go home with a device in a fanny pack (seriously?!?!) that I have to wear for 48 hours that continues to pump in the meds. After that, I go back to the hospital and it gets removed. Rinse and repeat 12 times over the next 6 months.