Cancer Treatment

  Almost a week of this chemo thing under my belt, and still feeling like quite the rookie!  They say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?  We can feel that in a few ways this week.  The chemo itself didn't hit me very hard, but the "sugar" they use to build your immune system back up, was a whopper!   Monday got off to a tough start...not for chemo, but for my family.  While I slept Sunday night, my husband, Kent, ended up taking our son to the hospital, because he'd been throwing up all night and his muscles were convulsing, like a seizure.  They hooked him up to an IV for a while because he was so dehydrated.  My frazzled sweetie woke me up around 1 am, so I could keep an eye on Zach, while he ran to the pharmacy to get an anti-nausea prescription.  (I have three anti-nausea drugs for chemo in the medicine cabinet!)  I put my game face on and went to work, feeling a little sleep-deprived, but pretty normal, and knowi...

  It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm feeling pretty good!  Chemo started Friday at about noon.  We were done by about 3pm, and went straight from the hospital to pick up our daughter, then up to Heber to watch our son's basketball game.  Felt totally normal.  Slept great, then woke up Saturday with my taste buds a little numb, but feeling better than I expected.  We had an early volleyball scrimmage to watch, and the normal sports shuttling Saturday events...and just as we were trying to decide what to make for lunch, cute little Debbie Worthen showed up with her daughter, delivering hot homemade potato soup, with fresh made bread, brownies, and even a jar with fresh honey from their bees!  Perfect timing, and a wonderful treat for the whole family!  A nap, then quiet evening at home...still waiting for bad stuff to happen.   I'm keeping hydrated and eating small meals, and so far, no nausea or big pain.  My taste buds are still a little num...

  There is too much to learn about chemotherapy!  Simply explaining it to my kids becomes a science lesson, that I think I understand...but in all honesty, the realist in me thinks it's pretty much a crap-shoot!  Two long appointments with the oncologist helped us decide which path to take, and that journey begins this Friday morning!  The poison will drip into my IV and flow through my bloodstream in hopes of killing any stray cancer cells.  In the process it also kills a lot of healthy stuff too (collateral damage.)  The chemicals specifically target growing-oriented cells, like hair, skin, fingernails, and soft tissue.  Maybe my kids can follow me around with a vacuum cleaner?    We got to see the chemo room and meet some of the people who will be guiding us through, which takes away some of the mystery, but we know there are more surprises along the way.  I wonder if anyone would mind Skrillex cranked on my Ipod?  (Okay- only a ...

My husband and I met with our Oncologist Monday, and I was surprised how much I was looking forward to the appointment!  I don't like not knowing what's next, and now we do...we will start Chemotherapy on Friday , January 20th .  I will continue to use "we," because it really is a team situation.  My husband and kids, my huge immediate family, my work family, and my wonderful network of friends are all going through this with me!  While I don't want any of them to suffer, I know they're there beside me in spirit, and I feel the strength.         Now for the nasty news: because my tumor was "triple negative" for hormone receptors, it puts me in a more rare category for therapy (less than 15% of breast cancers are triple negative.)  They can't use tamoxifen or any of the hormone blocking chemos, so they are recommending two chemo cocktail options including Taxotere, Cytoxan, and possibly Adriamycin.  Adriamycin comes w...

  I honestly think I stressed more about revealing my cancer news than I have about having cancer!  Great people stepped up to help edit, produce, fix, blog, laugh, shoot, and call, so things would go the way I wanted them to.  I hated the shots of me tearing up, and I hate being the center of attention, but other than that, things went well, and I'm glad it's over! I'm visiting oncologists today and Monday, so hope to know more about my treatment soon.     The best news is that my doctor told me their screening center had tons of calls for women scheduling mammograms!  That's what we were all hoping for.  I don't want anyone to play favorites though... Everyone needs some kind of screening, not just for breast cancer.  Men, don't put off your blood pressure, cholesterol, and prostate screenings.  Men and women, don't put off your colonoscopies and annual exams.  One doctor told me that people take better care of their car check-ups tha...

It's New Year...when the optimist in me says, "Let's make it the best year ever!  This is the year things will go great for all of us!"  But this year, that optimist is sharing the front seat with someone who's scared of what's to come in 2012.  Cancer will do that.  Even though my cancer was caught early, and I'm healthy to face chemo and radiation, cancer is scary. I don't want to feel weak. I don't want to lose my hair. I don't want my family to have to take care of me. I especially don't want to share all of this with a lot of people I don't even know...but it's all going to happen that way, because it has to. As a news reporter and anchor in Utah for more than 20 years now, I have to see sharing this as an opportunity to tell a story that might save someone's life.  Funny...doing an awareness story saved my life!  I did a mammogram story late in October thinking that by seeing how easy it is for me to do, others will follow...