Cancer can kiss my @$$!

Good day and thank you for stopping by to share in my anger! Anger isnt necessarily a bad thing and in this case its bad for Cancer cause I'm madder then a cat stuck in a pool. So I have good news and I have not good news. Ill start with the not good news.

Many of you have already heard but some have not, that Benson was attacked by this horrible disease and did not make it. I'm not going to go into details but will say that it was a little over two weeks from the time I found it till the time I had to let him go. He spent his last weeks eating like a king and surrounded by love. His final moments were at home in my arms and it was as compassionate and loving as anyone could hope to leave this world. He was my best friend in the whole world and I miss him immensely but I am glad he is out of pain.

By the way, we are going on the working theory that he took the cancer from me, for me. He took one for the team. Thanks B, love you buddy!

Looking at that picture I can see its plainly time for a pedicure too!

Ok on to better things!

I was vague in my update last time because my blood test checks two cancer markers and I was not happy with the results. These essentially look for specific proteins associated with my type of cancer in them and measures those proteins. The chemo before this one those markers were a bit concerning. However the Dr told me that we are looking at the trend, not one specific result. Non the less I was a tad concerned and decided to wait and see where they were this time before I shared them and unjustly worried anyone else. Thankfully they are now headed in the right direction and I hope that this will continue to be the "trend". Before my surgery my CA125 marker was 24 and my HE4, S was 43. The next time they tested them they were 17, and 87 respectively, at my last chemo they were 17, and 71. The one that I was most concerned with was the 43 to 87, but it is headed back in the right direction so its GOOD news. Ultimately I will most likely never see these numbers at 0 but I would like the CA125 to be under 10 and the HE4 to be under 30 or 40 at least. Those numbers would be considered as close to cancer free as the next girl.

My visit with the Dr was very positive and she was not at all concerned about the numbers. She said my liver and kidneys both look good, and my heart and lungs both sounded good. The only numbers worthy of some concern is my Hemoglobin, hematocrit and MCV. All 3 of these numbers are associated with anemia. I have a slight case of anemia anyway and chemo causes anemia so it is making it a little worse. I was hoping that with the extra break from chemo they would have returned to my normal rate, but they did go down slightly (down is bad in this case). If they continue to fall at the current rate, I will be fine. However, If the rate that they are falling increases then they will have to give me a blood transfusion to do chemo. They say this like its changing a pair of socks instead of my current supply of life sustaining fluid in my body , but either way we are aiming to stay above the cutoff where I would not require that.

The chemo treatment itself was as the others have been and nothing earth shattering there. The after effects this time seemed to be less then the last time. I'm not sure if this is because I had more time in the middle to recover or if my body is just getting used to the poison. It was still not a fun trip, but it was way less difficult then the one before. So also good!

Oh the nurses loved my chemo shirt and said they had never seen a pink one and that they really make their job easier. I will say it did make it easier on me as well.

On another note, I have been pretty happy to have not lost my eyebrows and eyelashes but I noticed today that my eyebrows each have decided on max exodus and I know have about 5 hairs left in each brow. That being said the importance of hair has drastically been downgraded so I could really care less. Ok.. I care a little, but its all relative!

My work is going back to the office a minimum of two days a week so after talking with my Dr we are applying for ADA accommodations to allow me to continue to work remotely due to my immune system being severely compromised and having frequent intestinal irritation. Hey it took me quite some time to come up with that term.

My next treatment is the 21st of this month and I am in the process of trying to adjust the insurance to cover the last treatment as it has moved dates, so it falls out of the previous approval. Unfortunately they wont schedule it till its approved, and the wont request approval until my current approval has expired. Seems a bit counter productive, but Ill stay on top of it and do everything I can to keep everything on schedule from here out.

With the adjustments to my treatment I plan to be able to start to return to my old pain in the ass self somewhere around late October, early November. The normal time to start to recover from chemo is 6-12 months. However I will say I saw a big improvement when I had 6 weeks between treatments as opposed to 3, so I hope to be able to be spry for 2023!

As always I want to thank everyone for all the support. My mom, brother, friends and even strangers have all been so much help. From an unexpected inquiry as to how I am, to putting up with my moaning, to bringing me food, cards, rides, and not the least all the hugs. Thank you all very much, I appreciate it!

Also I just want everyone to know I am now famous. I was able to attend the opening of the an exhibit where a piece I did was displayed. Well, truth be known it was an exhibit for several non-profits including Cancer Support Community of Arizona, so the talent level required for entry was having cancer and participating in community art classes. Wooo hooo.. nailed it!