The Beginning

Today was my first day of chemotherapy.  Chemo for me will be approx 18 weeks, at once a week.   The doctors want to give me a round of chemo as an "insurance policy".   I had my surgery to remove three masses on September 20th.  One mass, surrounded one of my ovaries and the other two were found in my abdomen.  The mass in my ovary was cancerous.  Of the two masses in my abdomen, only one had a small nodule of cancer.

Blessing#1:   All visible disease was removed on Sep 20th.  ALL.
Blessing#2:   Mine is a low grade cancer.
Blessing#3:   It is also the most common kind of cancer.  The kind that actually is attracted to the chemo drugs.

Usually when you hear ovarian cancer, the words "silent killer" might pop into your mind.   And when I was in the ER room at Newton Wellsley hospital on Labor Day, and I heard the words ovarian cancer, I thought I might have two months to live.   I know what ovarian cancer means, and the outcome is usually a more fearful one.

But this is where my Turning Point came.  When I turned my life over to Him.  I knew that I know longer was  in control of my life.   I have always felt in control and capable.  But on Labor Day I knew it was out of my hands.

It was time to give my life to Him and let Him be in control.   And when I did that, everything changed.  Everything.   I was given the 3 greatest blessings as noted above.

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I'm getting tired now,  but I want to give you a data dump for the day today, my first day of chemo.  First we got Anna and James ready for their exercise program that started at 7:30 am. at school   From there, we went to Dana Farber Cancer institute.   I had blood drawn through an IV that was placed at 8:30a.m.    After that the fun began.    Nick and I headed to the "wig"shop!    I looked at a few different options of hair that looked similar to mine.   And then I looked at some really cool pink and purple ones!

I realize this may sound funny, but I'm looking forward to possibly having a bald head!   Nick and I will be bosom buddies.   I don't have to have a heavy pony tail all day, and I simply don't have to do my hair regularly.  Why not embrace it and have fun with it?!

I bought a few caps, including one for sleeping.   My friend Chrissa who has Alopecia, has helped guide me a bit.  She thought a sleeping cap would be a good idea for the winter months.  She may come over at some point soon, to hang with the kids.  She plans to take off her own wig, casually.  This way the kids will have their first exposure to someone else.

The lady at the wig shop told me of a place in Florida that will take your existing hair and sew it into a nylon cap.  Then all I do is throw a cap on and I'm done.  Voila!   Instant hair that was mine to begin with!
I will be exploring that option.

After that we met with the oncologist who went over the possible side effects of the drug.   And then off to get the infusion.  They weigh you a number of times and measure you to make sure they give you the right amount of the chemo.

I came in at a whopping 107lbs.   Down 11 pounds from when this all began.   And the bummer of it all is I can't engorge on refined sugar treats to bring my numbers back up!   My no read meat, dairy or refined sugars diet, doesn't alot for many calories.  So hopefully I can get through this without too much more weight loss

After the vitals were taken (for the 2nd time), I was taken to my private infusion room.  They hooked me up with some Benadryl to try to minimize the reaction to the chemo drugs.    While the infusion was going, I was talking with a social worker who gave me some great back packs for the kids filled with silly putty, markers, drawing pads, stuffed animal, and a book about having a parent with cancer.   I took that out and will review it soon to see how were are going to share the info.

A woman came around with books to offer. Selena my neighbor recommended I read Pillars of the Earth the day before. Surprisingly enough when the book lady, Mary, came around I asked her if she had it on her book shelf and she did!  She said in her 3 years of being the "book lady", that she has never had the specific books that people asked for.   She was so happy to pass this off to me.

Then the food lady came by offering sandwiches, popcorn, fruit, cookies and water for free!  It is not only free for the patient but also for anyone else in the room.  So for those of you who will join me for an infusion, your lunch will be taken care of =)

The Benadryl made me sleepy during the infusion, and continues to do so, but other than that, I'm feeling great!   I had no serious reaction  to the drugs in the hospital.  

Okay, I have to get the dinner on the table (compliments to Susan Lemeuix the chef for the evening) for the kids and then get them off to a birthday party.

Love to you all,
Renee