Every day is different

In my last update I mentioned that I started feeling nauseous a couple of days after the last chemo treatment.  Unfortunately that nausea continued for over a week until 12/14, but it's finally gone.

The biggest problem I now have are my feet.  One of the side effects of the oral chemo (Xeloda) is Hand/Foot Syndrome. HFS (palmar plantar erythrodysesthesia) is a dermatological side effect and  occurs when small amounts of medication leak outside of the capillaries and cause damage to exposed tissue.  My hands are affected a little bit, but the feet are in bad shape.  They are all callused and hot...imagine the bottoms of your feet with a massive sunburn. 

Now think about how that would affect your day.  What shoes do you wear?  Do you really want to get up to get that [insert anything] right now?  I also have several pinched nerves in my feet, which prevent me from walking barefoot.  So I need to either wear thick socks, which warm my feet up and make the HFS even worse, or wear flip flops.  Flip flops sound good, especially because they don't soak up the heavy cream that I apply throughout the day, but my flip flops have small indentations on them, which create friction on my feet, which hurt.  This frustrates me greatly because I just started feeling normal, and now I can't walk!  I literally can't walk.  

This started to get bad last week, so I told my homeopathic oncologist about it when I talked to him last Tuesday.  He recommended a couple more supplements - high dose Vitamin B6, Sea Buckthorn, and a homeopathic Calc Sulph 6x. I started taking them Friday night after staying home from work because I literally couldn't be on my feet.  By Sunday, things started feeling a ton better, but then my pinched nerve kicked in.  I told my local homeopathic doctor about my pinched nerve when I saw him yesterday and he sent me home with some Silica, so hopefully that will kick in soon. I've also made an appt to see my podiatrist on Wednesday to get a shot for my nerve, since I went through a series of shots earlier this year to treat my pinched nerves.  Let's hope that helps too. Plus, I'm hoping he might be able to clean up some of the calluses on my feet from the HFS while I'm there - I mean, he IS a podiatrist, right????

My MoMMa got here on Saturday - yayayayayayayayayaya!  There really is no substitute like the comfort of one's mommy. We've been preparing for the arrival of "the kids" - my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews get here on Wednesday.  I really can't wait!  I know it's gonna be interesting having a full house and two boys full of energy, but there's something about having all your family together for the holidays that just feels right.  I can't wait!

I went shopping at this awesome toy store over the weekend.  You should've seen me hobbling around slowly, very slowly.  It made me laugh to see my parents walking ahead of me and then slow down to wait for me "Don't worry about me.  I'll catch up!" This toy store wraps all your presents for you.  They put a sticker on the present for you to write the To and From names on, and they even put a Post-It note on it labeling what's in the box - BRILLIANT!  And they do this year round!  I love places that provide this level of service. I'll definitely be back to Toys & Co. 

My next chemo treatment is on 1/3.  I go back on 1/10 for my CT scan and MRI.  Then, I return on 1/22 for the results of the scans.  The best news ever would be that the tumors in my liver have shrunken a bit and there are no new tumors in my body.  That's all I want for Christmas :)

Merry Christmas and Much Love to all!

Sarah xoxoxo

Chemo #3 Update

Sorry for not blogging in a while.  No news is actually good news since there's not much to blog about that it's just normal stuff.  I had a few visits from some very dear friends - some friends (and previous colleagues) came up from Atlanta for a day/night.  We juiced together - exciting stuff for a Saturday night!  And some other friends from London came across the pond for Thanksgiving.  We did the traditional eating and drinking too much (I didn't cook - thank you to my stepmom, who's also a vegetarian but can still cook meat like no one's business!).  We laid around all day on Friday and watched a James Bond marathon and I fulfilled their cravings for BBQ with some St. Louis ribs from Midwood Smokehouse (now I'm hungry).  Good times!

I also had a quick trip to San Francisco for work.  I didn't get to enjoy the city much since I was either working from my hotel room at 6am (9am ET) or working from the vendor's conference room the rest of the day, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the food that this amazing city has to offer.  I had three great dinners - Beretta's in the Mission, Le Colonial in the Tenderloin (or Union Square) and Frances in the Castro.  My favorite was Frances - I had a smoked beet salad over cottage cheese and bacon beignets to start (OMG heaven!), this amazing mushroom soup with apple and duck confit (duck confit is my favorite meal in the world), and some beef medallion entree that I was too stuffed to really enjoy. And of course I eft room for dessert - a chocolate torte with rum butter pecan gelato.  I seriously gained 4 pounds while I was there - and totally worth every ounce!

I got in late Wednesday night and we left early Thursday for Duke.  My stepmom drove me this time instead of my dad (thank you!) and I specifically scheduled a later appointment so we didn't need to leave super early (left at 7am).  I had some cream to put over my port this time to numb the area since you can imagine how it might be a little uncomfortable for them to stick a big ole needle into your chest.  I was shocked at how much it really helped this round, especially since I actually saw the needle this time - OMG scary.  It's a little over an inch long and about the diameter of a sewing needle. They just stick that sucker into my port and tape it down - it's attached to a short tube that the IV plugs into later.  I don't mind needles, but I wish I could unsee that needle!

I was surprised at how little I had to wait for the doctor given that my appointment with him was at 11:40am.  I've come to learn that the later the appt, the more likely the wait will be long since he will take as long as necessary with each patient, especially new patients.  Once we were called back the nurse told us that we might be in for a wait since he was seeing a new patient, but it's wasn't more than 20 minutes - in my opinion, not bad for a doctor's office.

The doc told me that I didn't need to come back in December for a chemo treatment.  He said that it would be right in the middle of the holidays and that there is not reason not to push it out another two weeks to January.  He said I was doing really well and he's still very optimistic with my prognosis because I've been tolerating the chemo so well.  My biggest complaint was this Hand/Foot Syndrome which is like a sunburn on your palms and feet.  I've got some callouses on my feet that grew overnight (no joke!) and the skin on my hands feel very thick and sensitive.  But truthfully, that's not much to complain about.

So I'm now enjoying the idea of spending a totally normal holiday with my family.  My mom is coming down from Chicago and my brother, sis-in-law, and two darling nephews are coming from Bozeman, MT.  And my dad and stepmom are already here.  We will have a full house for 10 days - and I can't wait!

The treatment was uneventful.  I took my homeopathic anti-nausea meds immediately to prevent nausea and that seems to work very well.  The neuropathy in my hands kicked in immediately and along with the cold aversion.  And there's another side effect that was more prominent this time - my hands would lock up.  This is a very scary and odd sensation, and fortunately it only lasted 24 hours.  I can't imagine what people with Parkinson's (or other neurological diseases) go through since it's your body doing things that you can't control - that's just not cool, man.  Not cool at all.  But like I said, it only lasted 24 hours.

Fatigue was the biggest side effect this time.  I slept 14 hours Saturday night and laid on the couch all day Sunday watching football/napping (one of my favorite past times!)  I even took the day off on Monday since I just didn't have the energy or brain power to work much (although there were meetings that I ended up taking since I just couldn't reschedule them).  Tuesday was better on the energy front, but I actually felt a bit nauseous in the afternoon/evening.  I took my homeopathic pills but didn't have my Zofran with me, so maybe that had something to do with it??

Regardless, I'm feeling a lot better today. I've got some energy and I'm not nauseous.  So I'm off to start my day!  I've got my company Christmas party on Friday night and my friend from Charleston is coming for the weekend, so I can't wait until I feel 100% normal again - maybe that'll be today???  Lots to look forward to during this holiday season - and lots to be thankful for...like all of you who continue to send your love and positive vibes my way through this journey.  I'm thankful for each of you :)

much love,
Sarah xoxo