Half-Way Done! Praise The Lord

Let me just start out by saying that yesterday was my mom's 55Th birthday! For this treatment, my mom and dad took me up to St. Louis and we had a GREAT time. My birthday had been last week so we decided to wait and celebrate as a family while we were in St. Louis. We enjoyed eating a great lunch at Fitz's on the The Loop Tuesday afternoon and that evening we took The Metro down to Laclede's landing for some sight-seeing of the arch and a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Asia. I think since my trips to St. Louis have begun I have eaten there at least 5 times....maybe more! They really do have great food! After we got back to our hotel, we walked down to The Majestic Cafe and enjoyed Apple Pie and French Silk Pie. I have never been so full in all my life! My excuse for all the eating is that I won't eat much for the next week! Yesterday morning we headed back to The Majestic Cafe for blueberry pancakes and biscuits and gravy. Then, after chemo, we ate at the Wild Flower Cafe where we enjoyed BLT's and soup and salad. Yes my friend, we ate like Kings on this trip! It would have been a bit more enjoyable had we not been there for a chemo treatment, but needless to say, it was a great trip!



Well, Yesterday was my 4Th Chemo Treatment which means that I am officially half-way done with my treatments and all done with the first set of drugs. It really was a huge milestone. I have climbed the hill, hit the peak, and am now racing my way towards the finish line!!! Yea! I did meet with the doctor yesterday and there was a little bit of confusion. Throughout my entire treatment I have thought after the first four rounds my next four rounds would be with the drug Taxotere. When I was talking to the nurse yesterday she said that with Taxotere I would be put on an every three week schedule because the body cannot tolerate every two weeks. Of course when she said this I was devastated because I was counting on my last treatment to be November 19Th. In addition, Dr. Ellis had made no mention of this when I first met him back in August. He had clearly stated that I would be on Dose Dense Chemo which means that my treatments would be over the course of 16 weeks in two week intervals with a total of 8 treatments. The nurse was a little confused as to why Dr. Ellis would be giving me Taxotere rather than Taxol. Taxol is in the same family as Taxotere but works differently and can be given every two weeks. Since we were all confused, Dr. Ellis came in and cleared things up. He greeted me a great big hug and kiss on the cheek and proceeded to tell me I look beautiful. Everyone seems to be surprised by how well I am doing through all of this and I credit God 100%. Anyway, I will be taking Taxol every two weeks rather than Taxotere every three. Thanks Goodness....I'm back on schedule! So, if all goes well with the Taxol, my last treatment will be November 19Th. Yea!!!!

The negative about the Taxol is that it is administered over a period of three hours. The first treatment will actually take 5 hours. They administer it so slowly the first time to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction, which is rare, but could happen. The side effects seem to be less than with the first drugs I had. There is little to no nausea but your hands and feet can go numb for long periods of time. Weird. I guess there is no way to know how it will affect me until I have my first treatment. I hope you will all join me in praying for minimal side effects and no allergic reactions. My good friends Hilary and Doreen will be taking me to my next treatment so as least I will have some good entertainment during the 5 hours! Doreen is a nurse so that is an extra plus! I couldn't ask for better!

Before I left for treatment on Tuesday morning, this is what I saw when I walked into the bathroom. I thought I would share this with you! I think Charley could pass at Rambo's daughter. By the way, she put all those hair bands on herself!






Check back later for another update of my special surprise from Ryan and Charley when I returned home!