Summer Fun!

Hello everyone!

Today we have a guest blogger! Everyone say hello to Kaylyn! Kaylyn and I are “chemo tanning” in the back yard today! What is chemo tanning you may ask? Well I’m not supposed to be in direct sun light but it is too nice outside and Dad and Steve have done too good a job of the back yard to not use it on such a gorgeous day!  So Kaylyn and I are stationed in a lounge chair each basking in the warmth of the day in the shade. 

Chemo tanning and blogging! By this point I've scrubbed off all makeup from my face....

Unfortunately we had a massive glitch when my eyes decided to rebel against life and it was all Kaylyn could do to keep me from digging them out of my face! I have never been in so much pain! Apparently my eyes are a little extra sensitive to sunscreen. Or maybe the brand I had is exceptionally bad. But none the less I was literally blinded with pain! Yikes! After a precarious jaunt to the grocery store and me stubbornly insisting I was fine and it was going to go away I finally gave in and we went to the pharmacy where I literally took Benadryl and eye drops before I even paid for them. Let’s just say there were a lot of people staring at the bald girl with a crazy henna tattoo big sun glasses and tears’ streaming down her face.... the pharmacist was lovely and helpful! Ever efficient I was also able to pick up my lupron injection!

So after a nap and a cold cloth over my eyes in the dark we were able to continue on with our chemo tannin.  Kudo’s to Kaylyn for just generally kicking butt and entertaining herself during my “time out”. So we are now lounging in the back yard with my beasts (Kelly and Drizzt) drinking sparkling water and raspberry juice... I call them spritzers. I don’t think that is their name but that is what I call them.

Chemo # 3... done like dinner! 

Anyways, I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks. My apologies all is going well. I have completed my third treatment and am over the “rough part”. Each treatment seems to hit me a bit harder but all in all treatments go pretty smooth. This go around the sores in the back of my throat got pretty severe. When I started tearing up every time I tried to eat I decided I had to buckle down and get the prescription to help with that. Other than that it was business as usual.

In other news Kaylyn and Drizzt had a breakthrough in their friendship and had another cuddle outside!

creative juices are clearly flowing

One thing that I haven’t shared with you is my activity limitations given to me by my doctor. So as you know they have determined that they don’t think the “spot” on my spine is cancer however they have not concluded anything further. Therefore they don’t know what it is and until they do they must assume my spine is in some way compromised in that spot. Therefore I am on “couch potato” duty. I have been outright banned from the saddle and am not allowed to jog as I am not allowed to jog “aggressively”... but I look like I would be an “aggressive runner” so no jogging, only walking. I got a kick out of that. I have however been cleared to do yoga...but for some reason have not been organized enough to start. Needless to say I am pretty devastated that I can’t ride right now. I have a brand new saddle and some spiffy new stirrups that I am itching to use!  None the less in a few short months I should be cleared to ride. I am pushing for sooner but that may be a pipe dream. Luckily I am blessed with an amazing barn family and have been able to spend entire days immersed in “horseness” at the barn, enough that I almost forget I can’t ride right now.

Some of my students! You guys rock!

This upcoming week is going to be quite busy Monday has me at RUH GETTING MY PORT PUT IN!!! Woot woot! The port is similar to the picc line but is under the skin this means showering will be far less complicated and I can get in my sisters pool. And I may or may not do some wake surfing J this summer, wake boarding will likely be too high impact. Wednesday has me meeting with my oncologist and getting my bloodwork done. This is where I need to instill urgency on two matters 1) I need to get some genetic testing done and 2) they need to sort out my spine stuff and give me a better reason to not get in the saddle than “just in case”.  And Friday is Chemo day #4... this means I will be at my HALF WAY POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So now it’s time to start ruminating on my surgery options. I am pretty excited to be half way done. I will admit I am leery of a whole new set of drugs for treatments 5-8 but also curious to see the difference in side effects. Thus far my eyelashes and eyebrows have hung in there so I’m hoping they stick around for treatments 5-8. More great news one of the drugs that I am supposed to take was not covered by the health care system so I was looking at about $15,000. Luckily the drug companies actually have an entire department that lobbies on behalf of patients to their insurance company for coverage. And the drug is now covered! Hurray! So now I will be going to the fertility clinic to get my lupron injection, the cancer centre for 2 chemo drugs and a private clinic for another chemo drug.

Protein, carb, fat... a "balanced" diet! Tonight's dinner.

Other than that there is not much to update on. We hope you guys are enjoying the summer as much as we are!

Left Foot’n and Right Foot’n!

Alyssa & Kaylyn