On one hand, it's so hard to know that the next cycle begins tomorrow and that I'm not going to feel so great for several days after having such a nice week off. On the other hand, I know that starting another round of chemo gets me that much closer to killing off those cancer cells and hopefully getting this out of my body for good. I had an ultrasound today in preparation for my oncology appointment tomorrow. I was very apprehensive, in part because I was back in the room where I received my original diagnosis (bad memories) and also because I was very nervous about what they might see. The news was fairly positive, however. Although they really couldn't get any measurements of the tumor (yes - it's so big that it's hard to measure and blends too much with my other breast tissue), they were able to tell me that the two lymph nodes that they originally diagnosed have definitely shrunk in size and now have other "healthy" characteristics. They also still don't see the cancer in any other nodes. To me, the lymph nodes are the scariest part of this whole diagnosis (since this is how the cancer travels) so I found that to be positive news. Hopefully my oncologist will agree when I meet with him that these are all signs that the chemo is doing its job. I'll post tomorrow if I have any other updates after I meet with him. This is definitely a roller coaster in so many ways - so many ups and downs. But I'm hanging in there as best I can and trying to keep life as normal as possible. And I definitely look like the warrior that I'm striving to be with my lack of hair. Owen seems to have adjusted to this, however, and I'm doing pretty well with my many hats and many hair styles.
In other news, I did manage to have a very nice "off" week. Despite not having much of a voice (thanks to a bad cold) for much of the past week, I still worked every day and had several rounds of good meetings with my manager and new co-workers. I also had a fun movie night out with my friends on Friday, took the boys on a playdate with a friend on Saturday, and took them to a holiday movie event hosted by my mom's group on Sunday. Yeah, not much slowing down for me! And tonight was Owen's holiday concert at school. I was in full super-mom mode, insisting we get there almost an hour early to stake out good seats (hey, it worked....we had the best seats in the house!). It was adorable. Colin was so excited when they sang jingle bells that I was afraid he was going to run up on stage to join them (he has a holiday show at school this week, too!), and Owen performed his special part perfectly in "Must be Santa". A few pictures posted below from our fun week.
A few final tidbits to wrap up this blog post. My dear friend who had her surgery on Friday is doing great, which I am so thrilled to hear. Also, I was completely touched to receive a huge basket of incredibly thoughtful goodies from all of Ed's students at UW Oshkosh today - I am still amazed by how kind and supportive people have been of all of us. And last, my new kitchen appliances finally made their appearance on Friday - a little late for Thanksgiving but boy are they nice!!
 |
| My boys - dressed up for Owen's holiday concert tonight |
 |
| Owen and his buddies |
 |
| Colin....just being Colin! |
5 comments:
You're doing so well and you are going to kick this cancer's a%^! I think you already have!!! Those pictures are SO adorable. PLEASE post more on FB!
That sounds like very positive news! I'm very happy to hear it, so thanks for letting us know!
Hope your chemo week is off to a good start, Amy. Love the pics of the boys and the bit about Colin wanting to jump on the stage to sing Jingle Bells. :)
Rooting for you in round 3!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOu are so so weel this round will go just the same. Ryan was in the group that sang the Finale at the Lakeview Concert. HE was happy to be singing with his old elementary school! I heard the whole concert was awesome!
Post a Comment