Moving Targets

Hello everyone!

My army of buzzed blondies! 

I know we have all been waiting for an update. Unfortunately we did not get much of an update. Wednesday started off with a trip to the Cancer Clinic. We started with some blood work and a dressing change. Dressing change days are my favourite as everything is clean and tidy again J The staff there are a lot of fun and we talked about my beautiful charm bracelet and the new charm that I got  Wednesday from a close family friend.

Our serious faces!

After my dressing change we met with Dr. Sami. This was the first time my parents were able to meet Dr. Sami. We reviewed the impact of my first treatment and came up with game plans for some of the minor road bumps I had found.

It's a jungle out there...

When life gets bumpy... get a helmet!

We then discussed the bone scan. The bone scan showed that there is a suspicious lesion in my spine and we will require a bone biopsy. Unfortunately it is not an easily accessible area of my vertebrae and will therefore require a “special” biopsy which takes longer to co-ordinate. However they have me scheduled for Tuesday.  Wow!  It will take another 2-5 days to get the basic results but they are going as fast as they can!  As soon as we have results our doctor will discuss with us what it means and what the new game plan is. Mean while we will continue with treatment as planned for today as the chemo is still somewhat effective for metastasized cancer and will do no harm to my treatment.

On Wednesday evening my sister Shannon and her 2 boys came over and we shaved Nates head and Josh’s Mohawk disappeared! We had a wonderful evening.

if all horses were this easy to clip!

... it was the movie... not my unfinished clip job!

pictures are worth a thousand words... but this picture doesn't do justice!

Thursday I spent the morning on the phone with the EI program. I have to say they sure make things quite difficult to get things going. On the bright side I finally got paid from my job (as some of you know it was a bit of a run around) but am still waiting on an ROE and until then no EI for me. GAH! So frustrating! Fortunately one of our friends who happens to know a thing or two about legal stuff offered his services free of charge; I signed my will and power of attorney as this is something I’ve been neglecting for a number of years. He was incredibly generous with his time and expertise!  Upon arriving home my two cousins Becky and Marla had arrived with a gift from Clan MacDonald! Yet another ubber gift! It was jam packed with awesomeness!!!! Kelly got some rawhide bones, Drizzt got his favourite Temtpations Cookies, and Steve got some pretty great goodies too! So much awesomeness was in the basket that I can’t even begin!  Clan MacDonald has struck again! Opening all those gifts got us pretty hungry and we all went for lunch! After lunch I had a nap and off we went to Mykah and Mikes birthday party!

Clearly we are not related!

Keeping busy during all this waiting has been really helpful in not getting too fixated on any one idea. I also have been blessed with 2 beautiful new charms one from the OHagan family and one from Mike and Roland! Thanks so much everyone! I get to carry your support with me every day!

properly kitted up to fight like a girl!

Wake up call from this crew...
and Josh' surprise shirt! It was all his idea!

So this leads up to Friday. How do you spend your pre-chemo morning? Playing video games and watching  Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 with some pretty special guests!  Then mom gave me my “Free Spirit” charm which happens to be a silver stead (horse)!!!  And off to chemo we went. We got there a bit early and the phlebotomy lab(where they take blood samples) was still closed. So we got comfortable and Ashley showed up for a few minutes to cheer me on! Then I went to check in 15 min early for chemo and time started passing slowly. Big shout out to my friends on Snap Chat who kept me entertained. I have misplaced my kindle and burnt through most of my cell’s battery on snapchat. Thanks guys! You kept me smiling! An hour after my treatment was supposed to start my blood work had still not come back. Finally they came out and told me my count was too low to proceed with treatment. What does this mean? In my best attempt at the “short story”... Chemo kills all fast generating cells in the body. This includes the cells in the body that fight infection. About a week after treatment is when your cell count is lowest and then it  slowly builds back up over time and in general my counts should be back near normal ranges by week 3. In other words just in time for my next treatment. 

Today I was just below normal ranges. My oncologist was not in so the decision went to the Doctor covering for him. He decided to err on the side of caution and wait till Monday. So we prepped to leave. We decided to take a copy of my blood work, because I like to have copies of everything. While we were waiting for the copy to be made my nurse got a hold of my info and called the doctor back. As she is more familiar with my regular oncologists practices she came out and explained the situation and said that normally they would proceed with treatment but the other doctor was being precautious.  Therefore  I could choose to proceed with my scheduled chemo on Monday or proceed with my scheduled chemo that was 1.5 hrs ago. We chose to bully on and get treatment today. Thank goodness I am a decisive person because these on the spot decisions are tough to make. There were implications, pro/cons etc for both choices. My two major ones symbolize the balance that cancer patients all likely have to face. Treatment/Life balance. If I move my treatment that impacts my scheduled life. It also had implications for my surgical bone biopsy on Tuesday. On the bright side we got a private room as it was so late in the day and it even had a pretty great view. Woot woot!

still have no idea how to get this setting, only my parents can do this.
 but it is fun to have! My scenic view during treatment!

As we were walking out of the house the postal guy delivered this gem! A pink and white broncos hat!

Then we wandered home and had supper. After supper I had a much dreaded shower. Honestly if you have ever tried to bath a cat... that is how much I was trying to avoid it. You see my hair started shedding a few days ago but the intensity got pretty strong today. Showering however makes it much more prevalent. When you shower your pores open up, freeing access for the hair to come out. Now my most interesting challenge is that I have so much damn hair! Even shaved its insane. Honestly we were pulling out clumps of hair today, there was hair everywhere and it clogged up the shower drain! So I had a post chemo shower in which Steve was plucking my head like a chicken... any normal person would be bald. But no... I now look like a freshly hatched bird..... hopefully tomorrow will be better. After emerging from the shower looking like I had just clipped 3 rambunctious horses and covered in little 1 inch hairs we pulled out the lint roller. It started on my arms etc.... and then we discovered it worked great on my hair. So no word of a lie.... Steve lint rolled my head and it worked great!

oh dear.. this is happening.... 

All in all it was a typical day in my treatment.... go in with one plan, come out with another! We just gotta keep rolling with the punches. Lay anchor and ride the storm!  And icecream, we can eat ice cream! Have a great weekend!

in case blizzards weren't tasty enough...
now they come in a waffle cone!

So we just keep left footing and right footing,

Steve & Alyssa