Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Half way through Radiation

Hello Everyone, I am now half way through my radiation treatments!! The skin around my breast is starting to show signs that it's going through something!! It's got red spots all over and I have 1 area just below my armpit, by the scare where they took the lymph nodes, that was being irritated by some undershirts that I was wearing, causing it to be real red and itchy. I'm using a special cream on that area and not wearing the undershirts anymore and it seems to be getting better. I'm happy to say that my mouth seems to be healing well. The denturist won't make any adjustments to my new teeth until I've healed up some more, as the gum shrinks with healing. So the new teeth are not fitting well, especially the bottom ones. But I am now able to use some stuff called Cushion Grip that helps hold them in place. Because of this I was actually able to eat some mashed potatoes and little bit of corn last night without it hurting. I don't think my stomach knew what to do with some what solid food. I've been living on mostly liquids for 12 days now!! Soup, cream of wheat & oatmeal-thin enough that I can just drink it, yogurt, pudding, Ensure, etc. I went to the grocery store yesterday to get the cushion grip and it was pure torture, seeing and smelling all of the foods that I cannot yet even beging to eat. I'm starving for some really good food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow (Thanksgiving) should be interesting, but hopefully I should be able to eat my favorites, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with roasted marshmellows on top and hopefully my most favorite--my mom's stuffing that she makes special for me, cooking it seperate from the turkey, getting the tops and edges crispy . . . oh yum, it sounds so good. Wish me luck!! My hair is growning in more and more, although still barely noticable, but I am seeing more dark hairs, so there is hope!!
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Keep Smilin' Wendy

Sunday, November 16, 2008

New Teeth, radiation and hair update

Hello Everyone,
Well, I'm a hurting puppy this morning!! I got my teeth pulled on Friday. All is going as well as can be expected except that I slept way past time for taking my pain meds this morning and I woke up hurting pretty good!! I'm still waiting for them to kick in . . . . it's not a good thing to get behind on the pain meds!!

Radiation is going well, I start week 3 tomorrow. I had a quick visit with my radiation oncologist on Thursday and he said my radiation area is looking great.

I've noticed that I'm starting to get some dark hairs mixed in with the white one's on the side of my head!! So, I guess there is still hope that I won't be totally gray or white. But I can see that this whole hair growing out process is going to be a long one. Especially with light colored hair, it doesn't show up near as well as dark hair, so it still looks like I'm bald!! Oh well, believe me that not having hair has become a very small issue in the realm of all things!!

Well, I've got to get a warm towel and lay down with it on my face . . . it's supposed to help the swelling, which should also help the pain . . .I hope, I hope, I hope!!

Keep Smilin'
Wendy

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

2nd week of radiation

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note before I head out the door for more doctor appointments!! I made it through the first week of radiation and I'm now in my second week. It's really a very quick and easy process. They schedule people every 12 minutes and no where I've ever been before runs exactly on time like these folks do. I guess there is really nothing that happens to delay or prolong the treatment, so no reason for them to be running behind.

The folks that do my treatments are really nice and very helpful. I had some questions last week about some new medicine I'm taking and if it would be any problem with having radiation and as soon as I was done with treatment they got me in to see the nurse so I could talk to her about it all.

Last week was a little rough. The new pain meds the doc put me on caused me to have some pretty intense itching for a few days. Got that changed and it's much better now and I'm on antibiotics for a sinus infection.

I had one day this last weekend where I felt really, really great. It was kind of weird to feel so good and be totally aware of it after so many months of feeling like crud.

My hair is starting to grow back in :) Yeah . . . . . but it's seems to be coming in whiter than it was before!!

I have oral surgery this Friday to get my teeth pulled. I gotta tell you that I'm more nervous about that than any other type of surgery I've ever had. One one hand I'm pretty scared about it, on the other hand I'm looking forward to getting it done and over with.

OK, I better run . . . going to be late.

Keep Smilin'
Wendy

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I received a gift from The Pampered Chef today

I received a gift from The Pampered Chef today. It does not say who sent this gift to me. I'm hoping that the person who sent it reads my blog because I want to say a great big THANK YOU ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

The only clue I have to who this came from is a phone number on the packing slip and although I don't know who's it is, it's from a Colorado area code.


The gift is a set of large cups and a set of clips with magnets on the back for hanging things on the fridge, etc. The cups are pink with white polka dots on the outside and a pink ribbon on the inside bottom of the cups. The clips are in the shape of a pink ribbon.

These are really awesome and again . . . . THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Keep Smilin'
Wendy

Monday, November 3, 2008

First Radiation Today

Hello,

I had my first radiation treatment today. They had to do some more measuring and a couple of x-rays to make sure they radiate the right spot. They drew all around my breast area with a permanent marker and when they had everything just right, they gave me 3 tiny tattoos. Each tattoo is about the size of a freckle and I have one in the middle of my chest, one on my right side and one on my left side. Just FYI those are sensitive little area's to be getting poked with a needle!!

They gave me 2 tubes of special lotions that I have to put on the area twice a day. These lotions help to protect the skin so it doesn't get to "burnt" from all the treatments. I will be getting a total of 33 treatments with the last one being on Dec 18th.

I see my regular doctor tomorrow about my ankle that is still swollen and hurting. My muscles are still hurting and I have a rash on my back that has spread to my neck and is starting to itch A LOT!! Oh, I also have a sore throat and I think I'm getting a sinus infection . . . oh the joys!!

Well, that's about it for now. I hope you are all doing well.

Keep Smilin'
Wendy