A Very Special Walking Dead Xmas starring Tiny Daryl Dixon

Just me playing around while trying to stave off the pre-Chemo anxiety. Hope its fun for ya'll

SO yeah haven't updated in a while...

so yeah..

 1st off this happened ...which sucked

Douchebaggery with auctions & stuff

I will probably re-list the auction this week , if I get the chance.

2nd I hit my mid way point on Chemo Treatments ...so YAY! only 3 more to go!

3rd got hit with the information that my Radiation treatment will be 6 weeks long, EVERYDAY (except weekends) which kinda hit me like a ton of bricks... its about an hour for me to drive there and and hour back. So now I need to look into rides to and from. oh and theres a cornucopia of side effects for that too... but hey... I'm getting good at negotiating them.
AND I get at least two tiny tattoos out of it... which may or may not convince me to get my tattoo at the end of all of this.

4th they had another summit on my situation with the lymph nodes. Neither of my Oncologists were involved in the original hospital wide summit so they wanted to know why the decision had been made and to voice their opinion. So the new decision is that the Cost is more than the Benefit of removing all the lymph nodes... I fall in this really weird voer 40 but not menopausal group there have been numerous new studies on...so the standard of care has changed. So yay no more surgery, no drain in my arm for 33-6 weeks, lower chance of lymphodemia  ... but

you knew there'd be one didn't you?

There are no blood tests that can be done for breast cancer, yearly mammograms are standard of treatment, they don't do yearly CT Scans or anything like that because they don't show up anything significant, and probably aren't good for you that often. So basically one now lives with the sword of Damocles over ones head for the next 5-10 years.... because

and you knew this was coming didn't you

IF breast cancer comes back somewhere else (metastasized) you are pretty much fucked. 
They can control it , and manage it... but yeah your cure rate drops.  sooo..fun times

SO I don't want to end on a down note!! No surgery seems the best option, and as a painter it was 
worrying to up the risk of not having use of that hand! My other meds seem to be helping with side effects
although depression has been an issues.
People love me and are sending me things that make me happy

Tiny Daryl Dixon still comes to Chemo with me... the nurses look a little funny at me but the hubby actually said "Wheres TDD, you did bring him right?" and pulled him out of my bag for me. The Hubby loves me   He also shows me pictures of my tiny new nephew he knows to distract me


things are getting better
now if Norman would just follow me back it's
@wickeddollz I'm like the easiest person to stalk on the web :P

Yesterday was Chemo Day #1

One down five to go!

So the process it pretty much what's expected I suppose

Arrive, get checked in talk to various people like intake nurse, social worker, dietician.
Then I get taken to a private place to get the vapor-lock catheter what-cha-ma-dooy thing inserted into my arm. They put the tourniquet on & wrap your arm in heating pads, find a good vein and then stab you...

The nurse was trying to calm me down by talking about "going to your happy place"..like a beach with warm water...my barin was saying FUCK JUST GET IT DONE WITH... I hate the happy place thing...  it doesnt distract me, but is probably good for most people.

Next time I'm bringin headphones Rob Zombie, Skrillex, AWOL really lound and "Tiny Daryl Dixion" who will shoot bolts at anyone who is pissing me off

                  see more Tiny Daryl Dixion on my flickr account if you are interested

Then it's off to the group room to get hooked up to The Machine that goes Bing... I mean the infusion pump. It's not terribly painful, ut I did say OUCH every time it got turned on. First they start you on some saline, then your pre chemo meds ( they didn't tell me whats in that but I think they got I wanted the FLIGHT super power not one of the stupid ones like controlling the animals of the sea)  I'm doing FEC which is a combination of 3 different drugs. Two of which are "pushed" by a nurse becuase it has to be done very slowly, I think it total it took maybe 1/2 he to 45 mins of her having to sit with me pushing the giant syringe of BRIGHT FUSHIA ( ok more red than fushia , but I like fushia better) liquid then another clear one. Then they put the bag of whatever the other chemo drug in that doesn't need as close monitoring.... finally they flush you out with more Saline ( I gain 4 lbs without eating anthing all day that day...I think it was all the fluids)

The the over worked pharmacist showed up, I assume he's over worked because he look fed up and was pretty much all about speaking as quickly as possible about what to take when and get out of there, told me the basics and sent me home. We ended up back at the pharmacy where I had originally gotten my prescriptions to straighten out all the details.

Most of my meds are for nausea, and seem to be working. It comes & goes but so far the meds have staved off any actual vomiting.
Other interesting side effects noticed so far are:
*Tingling arms..like you slept with them under you & cut off the circulation
*Extreme fatigue
* some weird pains
*Metalic taste
* BRIGHT RED PEE ( well this is dissipating quickly & expected. I'm suppose to drink 8-12 glasses of liquid a day..and it cant all be coffee)

All in all I was in the chemo center from 11:30 am till 4:00 ( ish) pm
My second day has been relatively good so far.

OH AND MY BRAND SPANKIN NEW BABY NEPHEW WAS BORN @4:30AM MY FIRST DAY OF CHEMO... I am never gonna forget this kids birthday

                                      Maclomb Jeffery Gary Hunt 7lbs 6 oz