Well I’m sitting here in the chemo chair for my sixth round out of eigth treatments. Just sent Linda (my buddy) to Starbucks for a refill and I’m about to get the fourth bag of STUFF added into my body.  I get a lot of random texts saying “hope today is good” and “I’m thinking of you” and “you’ve got this.”  Thanks for all of them. I really only have a few days – maybe 6, of feeling bad after chemo. Then I feel like my normal self. I’m always taken aback from those kinds of texts when I’m having a good day. It’s like “why wouldn’t I be feeling good??”…

My hair is growing back!! I thought I may have been imagining it, but I definitely have peach fuzz, and a few telltale ingrown hairs. (joy). Now I just hope it comes in all over my head and not just in patches. So, I’m ten days past my first round of my new kind of chemo – Taxol and Herceptin. Taxol I will take until September, Herceptin until next June. Both are considered a lot easier on the symptom scale. I’m feeling great. I had a day or two of emotional upheaval, and a day or two of bone pain that required me to keep moving, but then once that…

Well it’s been an interesting week for me. On Wednesday I found out that the AC chemo (the shittiest chemo – the one I just finished four rounds of) has done some damage to my heart, which explains the shortness of breath and chest pain. It’s unknown as to whether that damage is reversible or not, but I guess we’ll find out over time. The new chemo I’m on (taxol) doesn’t harm your heart, so that’s good. Unfortunately the magic juice (herceptin) that I’m on until next June does, but a different part of your heart, and from all accounts that part is reversible. So it looks like heart issues…

I posted this a while back on my Facebook and it’s so good I wanted to share it here. A friend of mine posted this in one of the support groups I’m in and it’s so true!!! Enjoy.  “What’s it like to go through cancer treatment? It’s something like this: one day, you’re minding your own business, you open the fridge to get some breakfast, and OH MY GOD THERE’S A MOUNTAIN LION IN YOUR FRIDGE. Wait, what? How? Why is there a mountain lion in your fridge? NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. RUN! THE MOUNTAIN LION WILL KILL YOU! UNLESS YOU FIND SOMETHING EVEN MORE FEROCIOUS TO KILL IT FIRST! So…

This week has been one for the bucket list!! I’ve lived in Victoria for 25 years and have never been up to the Sooke potholes. Having grown up in the land of lakes, rivers and beaches, the idea of swimming in city lakes disgusts me. But THIS!! this is awesome! Two little girls were swimming by us when one loudly proclaimed “she must have had lice. I’ve heard some people have to shave their heads when they have lice.”  I looked over and Aidan and said “man, I wish I had lice!!” It’s funny, you know… I have never been much of a spontaneous person. I always overthink things, to…

Last night I went to my son Brendan’s grade 7 production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was really nervous, weirdly enough – I had had a rough day, and I was worried that I would be embarrassingly emotional in front of his friends, but I did ok!! It was the typical grade 7 awkwardness that you would expect while quoting Shakespeare. You know, the kid with a crown on his head speeding through his lines at monotone, just trying to get through it all. The plot lines that are difficult to follow because you can’t really hear what they are saying, between the mumbling, the giggling, and the unenthusiastic role…

So it hasn’t been the best past few days for me. I spent a lot of Saturday in the ER with trouble breathing, and then yesterday I spent the whole of Father’s Day feeling sorry for myself that I couldn’t be a better wife to my husband on his day. Don’t get me wrong, he had a great day. I just didn’t get to partake it in. I woke up this morning and realized that even though this really really sucks – all of it – it could be so much worse. I managed to get myself to a place where I actually feel thankful for what is happening with…