Random Thoughts

• Yesterday's game was AWESOME. When I posted the picture below, it had been during the 1st quarter when the Raiders were leading. By the 2nd quarter they had turned it around, intercepted the ball and kept the Raiders from scoring again. We won 34 to 3. I tell ya, I'm not a big fan of football, but I'm glad we went. I had a great time! Ruben was conflicted and regretted going at first, but once the Saints picked up their game he was glad to be there. Reggie Bush had a good game scoring two TD, and Deuce McAllister led with 65 yards. We had a guy sitting next to us that had flown out from Oakland to see the game and man was he in a pissy mood, though I can't say that I blame him cause he shelled out a chunk of change just to watch one big loss!
• By time we got home we were tired, but ran out to hit the store anyway. When we got home we watched some of the Cowboy/Cardinals game. I tell ya, from what I've seen Romo just sucks. They blame his performance on Jessica Simpson, but he choked when he dated Carrie Underwood too. The dude just can't hold his wad. I was surprised to learn they had made a comeback and tied it only choke again in overtime. Poor Lora!
• Once we finally settled in for the night my ankle was throbbing with pain. Something about my right knee and left ankle, still isn't right after injuring them over 4 months ago! Guess I will need to see the ortho doctor once again.
• I see my medical oncologist this Friday and I am on pins and needles! I so hope he did not change his mind and that my blood tests came back ok. I really do not want to do chemo and I'm hoping he sticks with his original idea. With October being National Breast Cancer Awareness month, our local news is featuring breast cancer stories all through-out the month. The one I saw today has me thinking about asking for genetic testing. I may be the first in my family to have breast cancer, but according to today's feature, women who are in their 30's that get breast cancer is often due to the mutated BRCA gene. I'm curious if I am a carrier as that will affect Natalie. So come Friday I just might have to ask my doctor about the blood test. Before I always thought that there was no way I could or would have it, but now I wonder as this story made it sound like it is a big possibility.
• Also, on the news was a story about how the New Orleans arena football Voodoo terminated their operations. That really bites cause we have lots of fun going to those games. Hmm, I wonder what the ol' perv's gonna do - he's always there taking pictures of the Doll cheerleaders.
• Oh, I woke up this morning feeling sick again. My nose was all stuffy and my throat hurt like hell. Though my throat coulda hurt from yelling yesterday. I'm going to have to check around to see where Nat & I can get our flu shots at this year. I've been so sick off and on over the last month that I want to make sure to I'm protected from the flu.....especially if I do have to do chemo, cause then I really can't afford to get sick! My throat hurting might have been avoided had we remembered to bring this loud horn thing we have with us. It's some thing you blow that has like 4 horns on it and it's one of those annoying things that's like super freaken loud. Other than a game, I can see no other use for it. The thing is so annoying we had to hide it from Natalie, so I guess that's why we always forget it! In any case, I think my throat is wishing we had remembered it yesterday!

Calgon Take Me Away

There is never a day so bad that a 60+ gallon jetted jacuzzi roman tub can't take away.

Things here have been pretty good. I'm finally getting over my head cold, though I am still somewhat sad about Ruben's mom leaving and the upcoming anniversary of my mother's death. Radiation has been good, no problems there - just tired of driving in the traffic! Although one thing did happen yesterday that called for Calgon......my weekly visit to the lab. UGH! I have the worst veins ever and am limited to one arm, since my right has no lymph nodes in it. This lady was having a hard ass time hitting my vein, and fished for it. Then she was surprised when she couldn't get even a spoonful out of me. So she had to stick me again in a different spot. Now I have a nice bruise where she popped my vein. I so hate these weekly test, but I will be having them done all through radiation and well into chemo. YAY, not!

After my visit to the lab I stopped into Dr. B's office to schedule an appointment and find out what his plans are for chemo. I don't know if I can do both at the same time, but if I could I think I rather would - though I am not really looking forward to losing my hair and have decided that I will not shave my head this time, but rather wait and see how much I lose. I have extremely thick curly hair. If I only have to do 4 sessions like last time I'm hoping there's a chance I can keep most of it. I'll find out more once I see the doctor at the end of the month.

Last night after a nice relaxing bath I pondered cutting bangs. I still can't quite decide. On one hand I believe that it won't matter as soon I will be bald, on the other I think there are new combinations of chemo out there now and my next one might not have that side effect, and do I really want to suffer through another grow out period? I say suffer because I have been in a grow out period for a year now cause last summer I decided to cut all my hair short. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Shortly after I did it I wished I hadn't, but the heat of summer and the increase of hot flashes drove me to doing it. Now my hair is jest finally long enough to make a small decent ponytail, and I wish it longer even though it's hot and humid. I guess only time will tell what I am left with after chemo - I can do bald if I need to, but I would rather not!

Well I have a few hours before it's time to get ready, so I think I'm going to go play some Guitar Hero Aerosmith, as I have not played it yet - and tomorrow I will be leaving early so I can run by an AT&T store and pick up a new iPhone......oh I so cannot wait for it!!!

Oh, and I am sad to say that the little bunnies I had seen in the previous weeks have not been around and I worry that the gators got them. Poor things. Also, it's STILL raining here!

The Night Before

Well here it is, the night before the big day. Things have just not went well the last few days!
Tuesday I had an MRI schedule so the surgeon could get a better idea of what to expect before she cut me open. Well after getting to the hospital, filling out the paperwork, and waiting forever, I find out that I can't have an MRI done as long as I have these expanders in my chest. You see these expanders hold a small piece of metal in them - that's how the doctor finds the spot in which he puts the needle for the saline injections. So with that plan shot, I called the doc to find out what's next. Her staff hauled ass to get me an appointment today for a CAT Scan of my chest.
So today I went back to the hospital for my appointment with Radiology. It took a bit to get things rolling, but I will have to say that they had this one person who just rocked the IV. It's the first time I can ever recall not having to be poked twice - and I handled it all without a shot of lidocaine! Plus I really have to say that having the IV and getting the contrast was a million times better than drinking that crap they usually shove down your throats! Once I got on the table it took no time at all. So after I finished up, I headed downstairs to get something to eat. When I was done and I was heading to the car to leave, I noticed that my cell phone was missing. I panicked bad! Radiology was closed, so I couldn't check there until a Security Guard came to open the doors. Well it was no where in there to be found. I ran back downstairs and found it under the table I ate at. Oh thank goodness! I checked and found I had a missed call from my surgeon's office, but it was past closing time. I called the emergency number, where they told me that she wasn't on call. I explained to them that I had no idea if I was supposed to have surgery tomorrow or not. Luckily they got a hold of her and called me back. She was able to get the results from the CAT Scan and scheduled surgery for 9:15 am. However I did not get a chance to go over the scan results, so I'm not sure if we will be able to stick with our original plan, but I'm sure I will get to talk with her tomorrow before surgery actually begins at 11:30.

Also I found some articles I wanted to share, but time is just getting away from me and as it is I will have to shower in the morning before going. There just isn't enough time in the day - that and I just have too many thoughts swimming in my head. Like I never told you that the week before last Ruben was rear-ended. Luckily his truck is alright, but man did the women ef up her car. And she slammed into him right in front of the cops! She was driving while on the phone, so what can you say. I also have pix I wanna share from Nat's special dress days at school. I also need to scan in her spring school picture. but it will have to wait till another day. I'm tired and ready to call it quits.

Oh and one more thing, did you see A.I.? I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad David Cook won. ok well I will check back in after my surgery when I am feeling up to it, till then be good = )

Treading Life

Sorry I haven't blogged the last few days. I had doctors appointments both Thursday and Friday - and devoted much of my evenings to watching season premieres (yes I watched Grey's and I so loved it!) I've also spent plenty of time resting from all the chaos that goes along with seeing my doctors - the driving, traffic, waiting, forms, filling rx scripts. UGH! Currently standing, I already have 5 doctor appointments for October, as well as an appointment at the salon. I'm sure I will likely pick up a few more appointments before October is over.

Oh, I'm also happy to report that we bought all the needed things for Halloween, all kinds of decorations, costumes, and candy to give out even though we won't be here. We ran around shopping today, since our original plan of going to see a movie was shot once we got there and found out that nothing appropriate to see with Natalie was playing. But I think the big news of the day is that, after days of talking with Ruben about exercise and such, it finally hit me, and I broke down and bought a treadmill. Last year Ruben bought a weight machine that works the arms and legs, the year before that we bought an elliptical machine. Ruben had wanted a treadmill, but I insisted on an elliptical, as it had always been my favorite machine at the gym - but now I finally see the benefit of the treadmill......walking in the air conditioning while watching your DVR'd TV shows! We now practically have a home gym (especially with all the Pilate's stuff I've acquired), we just need to start using it! I figure that even IF my plastic surgeon continues to restrict my activities after I see him on the 3rd, that I can still at least walk on my treadmill at a normal pace. It isn't like the elliptical machine that also works the arms, or the weight machine where I fear that lifting weights with my legs may inadvertently cause me to tighten or pull the muscles within my chest. I figure walking is relatively harmless, or at least it is if done for short periods of time through-out the day. Besides, this way I can walk off those pounds they keep pumping into me each time I go into a hospital - especially since I cannot resort to my previous ways of dieting (at least for the time being.) Prior to surgery they gave me this packet of things I could and could not have. It strictly forbade the use of diet pills (both RX and OTC) along with lots of types of herbal supplements. It seems that those things can prevent blood from clotting, and wounds from healing. So I need to get on that treadmill - bad - and if for no other reason so I can at least balance my ice cream addiction! LOL! Oh wait, I forgot that I have to use it to get my moneys worth out of it too. Speaking of money, let me tell you the sweet part. The treadmill was on sale for $699, and to make room for new stock they marked it down 30% - and since it was a floor item we were getting an additional amount off. They agreed on 10% on top of the 30%. So the lady rang it up, not knowing that the computer had already taken off the 30%, she proceeded to give us a 40% discount off the already clearanced price. After all was said and done, we paid less than $320 for it. What a deal, eh? I seriously can't complain about a price like that. So here's to shapelier legs and hips!

This here is my new baby. Ain't she pretty? Now our HUGE bedroom is just a tad cramped!

Holiday Weekend Update

Boy, it sure feels like it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy this past weekend. Friday I met with my new pain doctor. He's changing up my meds, starting me on a new regimen, and had someone come by today to give me a RS-4i Stimulator for my back & to fit me for a Spinal Orthosis lower back brace. The Stimulator is one of those machines with the sticky pads that deliver electrical pulses to the areas in which the pads are placed. It's a pretty cool machine, and it's mine thanks to my insurance. On Saturday, I woke up fairly early (7 am) which is rather odd for me. So I woke Ruben and we all got ready and spent the day at the movies. We had already seen Spiderman 3 on opening day while at Disney. So we checked out Shrek the 3rd and Pirates 3. Both good flicks, but all that theatre time was hard on the ass! Sunday we drove to Houma with the plan of going to Home Depot to stock up on brick pavers, weed block, and lava rock to re-do some of the yard, but decided to first get estimates for concrete curbing instead. At least that way it will take away half of the hard work. Besides, I need to get someone out here to lay concrete in the back yard to extend our patio. Instead we ended up at Office Depot and bought a new 37" LCD HD TV for our bedroom. Now Natalie's room is the only room (other than the guest room) that doesn't have a HD TV. Afterwards we continued on to Lowes were we finally found all the lights for the baths, once we start that remodeling project....of course that is one project the contractor will be doing - once I find one! For Memorial Day we just stayed at home indoors and chilled out. One of the new meds the pain doctor has me on causes drowsiness, so I ended up napping most of the day which spoiled our plans to work in the yard, which is fine by me! It's going to take me a few days to get used to this medication. Somehow it's supposed to help with the effects from chemo and the chemo agent I take daily (my Femara medication) but so far it seems like it only adds to the effects! Today was a big day. I saw my Plastic Surgeon this afternoon and we nailed down a date for my surgery. We set the date for July 23rd so I can fly my mother-in-law out here for the week to help out with Natalie. My little brother-in-law will also be coming out and staying for a month. Now aside from getting ready to have surgery (which I am having on both sides, as I am having my other breast removed), I need to find furniture for our guest room so Ruben's mom has somewhere to sleep. Of course I also need to get estimates for concrete, tree trimming, bathroom remodeling, and also go to another dozen doctor appointments. It's going to be a busy, crazy summer - just hope I have enough energy to stay awake to get it all done!