Steroid surprises

When one wakes up at 5 am after chemo and full of steroids, you have no idea where you’ll end up! I had a random stray volt idea that I could drive to Rockford, IL that’s7 hours away with no problem! So I packed for a week and was out the door by 6:00 am. I did call my mom to make sure she was aware of my extended plans to surprise the family. Then my eldest sister, Karen, FaceTimed me and asked where I was driving so I decided to tell her and the next thing I knew, she decided to drive in from Milwaukee to see me and spend the night! 

My first stop was a surprise visit to my sweet sissy, Lissy, who I knew would be floored and blown away to see my face at her front door. 

Before I knew it it was a surprise visit to my sister, Paula’s, and then all the sisters were all together for the first time in a year!! What a blessing to be with my sisters with such love. I got to see my nephew, PJ, brother in law, Dan, and got to get hang with out mama and my dad. We even got to share some ice cream! Lots of pictures here of the day! Next stop to see my Aunt Ro and my nieces! Shhhh, it’s still going to be a surprise for them!! 

Chemo Day #3

Taking steroids the day before, during and after chemo made for waking up at 3 am today! Out the door by 6:15 and on the way God gave me this beautiful sunrise. 

I got to use my new chemo day bag for the first time that held everything in one place instead of 2 bags plus a cooler. And it’s so pretty. Makes me happy to see it. 

Started the day with a PT appointment, then on to the labs to access my port and blood draws.

Met with radiology for a follow up from my palliative radiation treatment on my rib from a few weeks ago. They were tickled pink that my pain is gone. Everything I explained to them was clear that my healing is definitely happening. 

Next, I met with my medical oncologist, Dr Sudheendra, who was thrilled at all the progress I’ve made since first seeing her when I was on oxygen full time and could hardly breathe. We discussed any current symptoms I’ve had these past 3 weeks and how I manage them, or not, and expectations for the future. She’ll do another MRI of my liver and a PET scan in 3 months to see the changes. I did ask her about taking steroids after the initial 3 days to help me not feel so cruddy on days 4-6. She approved a smaller dosage with a fair warning of potential side effects. But she approved it and I’m very hopeful this will help me to not feel as awful in week 1. 

Lastly, Chemo infusion time. I did get 50 mg oral Benadryl which didn’t make me sleepy for almost 1.5 hours but then I did nap and have felt drugged and groggy all afternoon. Between the drugged sensation and the extreme tiredness from being up at 3 am and receiving all those meds and having 5 appointments, this girl is spent! Slept off and on all afternoon. Made rice for dinner because I might have a little gastric distress starting already. 

I have a big praise for a miracle that happened today. While getting my chemo medication‘s, and before the Benadryl kicked in, I was able to do a little administrative personal business. John bought a Haven Tent hammock a year and a half ago and for some unknown reason, the air mattress developed several little pin holes and it doesn’t hold air now. I reached out to the company and asked if anyone else has had these problems and could I get a warranty replacement. They said because it’s been over a year the best they could do is offer me a 30% discount on buying a new one which is over $100 for the air mattress alone. I decided to share with them the situation I was in  medically and explain that I’m no longer working and wondered if there was any better discount they might be able to offer. Here is the email response I received that put tears in my eyes and I have to put in a plug for the customer service and the compassion that they showed  in offering a completely free new air mattress so long as I pay $6 for shipping! God is so so good to me!

Good night to all my prayer warriors and caring family and friends. Thank each and everyone who has shown me such love. I don’t take you for granted and I pray a blessing over each of you tonight! 🥰

Happy Birthday to My Son!

Today I honor my son whom I gave birth to 29 years ago! Everyday I’m here, the Lord fills me with Gratitude and a Million Little Miracles, including him! 

I actually started my day with some anxious thoughts about my upcoming chemo tomorrow. Thankfully, I quickly was able to mentally shift my thinking to one of recalling God’s words to ‘Have no fear’ and ‘Be anxious for nothing!’ Then I read in the Bible in the book of Romans and was reminded of this:

This beautiful day I was served and loved on by my friend Liz who helped transplant some of my abundant zinnia plants while LillyMae watered them. Then LillyMae and I took to the bike path and rode the Rails to Trails starting in Waynesville, OH. It was lush and green and we took several plants and flower photos on my app called Picture This and learned the names of several wild flowers. 

Unfortunately, while eating lunch I crunched wrong and broke a temporary crown off and had to head back to the dentist for a repair. Oh how thankful I was for nitrous to spare me from having a shot!! I may look goofy, and indeed I felt goofy, but it is a life saver using laughing gas!!

Finally, the evening ended with dear friends who had a birthday dinner for my son! Sure do love these people, Mike and Andrea are long time friends with great big hearts and a deep love for Jesus!

Today there were many many miracles that happened that continues to put me in a space of profound gratitude once again. David S finally was released from the hospital and is now home in Texas after almost 100 days! Also, my brother in law and sister had a friend exonerated after decades in prison. All these are just a couple of the million little miracles!! 

Tomorrow morning John and I will be up at The James for my next chemo infusion by 7:45 am. 

A Day to Nest

Another day where life seemed normal except for not working. It’s strange waking up every day and not going in to work when I don’t feel sick. Then I got a call from The James Stephanie Spielman Cancer Center reminding me of my infusion appointment in 2 days where I’ll have multiple hours of labs, oncologist appointment, PT appointment and the infusion itself. Thanks for the reminder that life really is different now. However, I choose to live each day with such gratitude for all the little and big miracles. Until I went without something like my health, I realize how much more I appreciated it and will never take it for granted.

Today was like nesting before a baby is delivered. I ran the dishwasher twice, did all the laundry, changed our sheets, vacuum sealed meals, prepped some food for Friday and picked up the house like visitors are coming. I know next week might be challenging as I recover from chemo so I want to be ready. I don’t have any plans for friends to be here (which I don’t think I need anymore anyway) so I want to be as ready as possible. 

Tonight I had the joy of hanging out with the Pieniazek kids while Liz and Jake had a date night. LillyMae, Zoey and I decided to write a little story about our names and read it. They are the sweetest kids! 

Finally, Liz and I got to read our Psalm together. This was one verse that stood out to me. 

Mid-week Normalcy

It’s Tuesday night. Late. Just now realized I didn’t even blog yesterday. Today started out lovely with a bike ride with my hubby at John Bryan State Park. We got in one trail and it was magical. Our intention was to do that trail plus my favorite one called Frankenlight, however, at the end of the first trail I realized time had gotten away from me and I had a lovely lunch date with a dear friend awaiting for me. We cut the ride short and headed back home. Jordan and I headed out to a restaurant where she treated me! She requested I not show her actual photo but was ok with a little Tricia editing. This is the best I could do! I appreciate this young woman’s desire to please the Lord and fight for her family and fiancé. She and I enjoyed sitting be a little waterfall and I was blessed to be physically able to breathe, walk, talk and feel normal. 

The rest of today was relatively uneventful. Except for the incident of chemo brain! I couldn’t locate my Visa credit card for a few hours as I desperately tried recalling the events of my day yesterday. Finally I traced it back to the USPS where I accidentally forgot my card in the credit card machine yesterday. Thankfully they had it and were just waiting for me to call. I will say that I’m keenly aware more and more of my forgetfulness due to chemo brain.  

Tonight I binge watched Alone. It’s as close to Wilderness camping that I’m going to get anytime soon. However I’ll never camp where there are grizzlies! But I can live a little vicariously through them for an hour or so. 

I did receive a call from one of my dearest cousins who lives in California. LuEllyn loves the Lord passionately and she is such a great role model for me to always always see my life in light of God’s purposes. She never fails to honor Jesus as she acknowledges His working in our lives to glorify the Father. Thank you, Lord for so many family members that live You and share their faith so freely. The bonds between us is doubly precious! 

Today I pause and give thanks to my Lord and Savior once again for my miraculous healing and improvement! So many answered prayers! 

My Sabbath

Sundays used to be going to church days but I really don’t want to be in a building with 300 people crammed into one room exchanging germs, hugs and hand shakes. So Sundays are more of a private time for God and me. Today I rode my mountain bike by myself for about 45 minutes in the woods at John Bryan. Sacred time. I am humbled and so grateful.

Afterwards I met up with my son, Jonathan, and my friend, Sarah Marie where we rode a rails to trails bike path for about an hour. I’m enjoying these days of feeling great. Choosing not to let this upcoming Friday’s infusion stress or worry me. Like my friend Karen says about her hubby’s chemo, it’s liquid sunshine! 

A few people have asked how long I’ll have chemo so I thought this might be a good time to recap. Currently I am being given three drugs through my port. One is a legitimate chemotherapeutic drug called Taxotere. The other two drugs are antibodies called Herceptin and Projeta. They are specifically for the H.E.R.2+ protein found on the breast cancer cells. I will continue to have the first one for six more sessions which is equal to 18 more weeks. The other two I will have ongoing the rest of my life. Thankfully, the one that I will stop taking in October is the one that causes hair loss and most of the yucky side effects. The other two don’t have as bad of side effects. Unfortunately, I will have to continue taking these medication‘s either for the rest of my life or until a cure for breast cancer is discovered. As much as I hate the idea of having to do this for the rest of my life, I am so very thankful for the progress and improvement that I have seen in the last month! And because the breast cancer was seen in my bones in several places, I am getting an injection every six weeks of a drug that is supposed to help strengthen my bones.

I’m looking forward to this week where I’ll get outside as often as possible, ride my bike daily if possible, continue enjoying reading in the book of Romans and staying positive & grateful. 

‘‘Twas the Week Before Chemo”

Let me start today’s blog with ALL thanks and praise to my Healer, my Comforter, my Maker! Today I felt 100% normal and healthy! Breathing continues to be full and effortless! Ribs have zero pain! No coughing and plenty of energy today!! These last several days before chemo can be so good that it doesn’t “feel” like I have any health concerns. I am so thankful!! I loved a sweet time of reading Scripture and prayer this morning with my sister. We read a few Psalms and verses in the New Testament and loved reading the first 6 chapters in Romans - The Passion Translation! So so good!  

John, Cindy and I got to enjoy a nice canoe paddle and hike over to a waterfall in Caesar’s Creek Lake. I’m very grateful I have friends that do some of the crazy things I love to do, whether they personally love it or not, JUST SO I can find joy with my friends and hubby! 

Cindy returned home to Indiana and John and I worked on our WonderVan…dreams can come true. Miracles happen. I’m living proof!! These will be the best years of our lives! And I have you all to thank for your many prayers, love and support!!