Almost There - I Can See the Finish Line

As I sit here writing this I find myself excited to go to chemo today.  I know – I am one strange cookie huh?  I asked my friend Hana on Saturday who is also going through breast cancer treatment if I was weird for feeling this way and she said no not at all (thanks for the encouragement HanaJ).  I told her I start feeling a little excited as my next treatment approaches because I know that it will be another one down and I am getting closer to the end.  After today I will only have one treatment left.  Hallelujah!!!  I am so over this chemo thing. J

The girls and Bella showing the mug they made for me - thanks Irene!

This last treatment I had on May 31^st was an adventure to say the least.  Since I had done so well with my first Taxol treatment two weeks prior, my nurse felt comfortable increasing the drip time of Taxol in my IV.  Due to that Taxol was entering my body much faster than it had with the first treatment.  Hopefully I am making sense here and haven’t confused you all.  Since my body was taking in Taxol at a faster rate I unfortunately had a reaction to it which was pretty scary.  I was sitting in my nice comfy chemo chair talking to my friend Hana when all of a sudden my chest starting feeling tight and I couldn’t breathe very well.  My face turned red hot and I started sweating.  My eyes began to water partly from the reaction and partly because I was scared and had started to cry.  As soon as she saw me, Selena my nurse rushed over and quickly adjusted the drip and within five minutes I felt fine again.  Those five minutes though were very scary but having Shawn and Hana there to comfort me was a huge blessing.  There is no rushing Taxol this time. J

Shawn and Karyssa waiting for their turn to bowl

I did go to my hydration appt this past treatment and it did help the side effects.  I also started taking glutamine powder which helps minimize the swelling and redness of my hands.  The bone and muscle pain only lasted about three days so overall I had more good days than bad days.  I haven’t experienced any nausea with Taxol which has been great.  To be honest, I will take being tired and muscle and bone pain over nausea any day! 

The girls and I before the Stawberry Festival kids run

On Saturday I went to a luncheon that was hosted by the Young Survival Coalition of San Diego www.youngsurvival.org/sandiego .  It is a non profit organization that helps support and encourage young women dealing with breast cancer.  It was such an incredible time of meeting and connecting with other young women who have or were currently going through breast cancer treatment.  It’s amazing how many young women are out there who have been diagnosed.  There were a few women there who had been diagnosed in their twenties and there were some who didn’t even have family history.  More than half I would say had already finished treatment and were on the survival road.  One woman had been diagnosed in 2000 is doing just fine – healthy and strong.  I left there feeling so hopeful, happy and encouraged – such a blessing!

Celebrating Kyle's high school graduation - a year early!

My sweet beautiful girls

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this.  I continue to rest peacefully in God’s powerful and healing arms daily while being uplifted by your prayers and support.  Thank you - I can’t say it enough!!  

Love to you all,

Kelly