THE BEST THING EVER!

Actually, three things.

1.  Tuesday is my last chemo treatment!  Yay!  I am so excited to be done with that nonsense.

2.  I TOTALLY exceeded my fundraising goal for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day (thank you to all my awesome and generous peeps).

3.  This is the best, but allow me to do a little recap.  I adopted the "Honey Badger" as my mascot because it

helps me to visualize the chemo as an aggressive creature eating all the cancer cells.  I got the idea from this youtube video Honey Badger.  So the lovely Carol Lange (one of the nurses at the Healthline) made this for me.  Yes, it's a Honey Badger cross stitch.  Can you believe it?  BEST.  THING.  EVER.

Thank you everyone for all of the love and support.  I'm so excited to put this all behind me and move forward.  I feel so blessed to have had such an AMAZING support system from day one.  XOXO

Thank You

I cannot even begin to thank my supporters enough.  As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I've signed up to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk.  It's 60 miles in 3 days and I am SUPER excited to be a part of it.  I put the word out less than two weeks ago and as of yesterday I've raised $2,680-surpassing my goal of $2,300.  Un-fricking-believable!

So many people donated to help me and I am so humbled by your generosity.  I promise to not forget your kindess and will do my best to pay it forward. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!



http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2012/SeattleEvent2012?px=6481243&pg=personal&fr_id=1769

Whoever Said You Lose Weight On Chemo LIED!

How shallow, right?  Who would care about a little weight gain in the midst of cancer treatment?  Well, this Chiquita Banana is obsessed with it.  It was all fun and games when the doc TELLS you not to lose weight and they practically do backflips when you put on a few ounces.  I tend to be slightly competitive and figured a few ounces was nothing, how cool would it be if I put on a few pounds?  As of this morning...14.  OMG!  STOP! 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know now is not the time to be concerned by such trivial and vain things.  I think I wouldn't be if I hadn't just spent the last year of my life working my ass off (literally) at boot camp-five days a week.  I know I'll be back to my old/new self in a few months and muscle memory is my friend.  It's such a bummer though!  I should be out walking and eating only organic veggie smoothies and fish, but I want comfort food dammit!  My most recent obsession; chocolate covered marshmallow hearts.  Yep, sounds disgusting to most of you.  I am, however, like a pregnant woman and cannot get enough of those little lovelies.  Jeff gave me five of them (yes five) along with a giant tub of red licorice for Valentine's Day.  Can you say enabler?  Kidding.  It's not his fault and like any other crack addict, I'd drive to the store at 2am to get my fix if need be. 

On the bright side, I only have one more round of chemo left.  I'm figuring it'll take me about 10 days to get over that and then back to boot camp for me.  Get ready Peri-Lyn.  I'm counting on you to whip me back in to shape.  I'm doing the St. Patty's Day Dash in  March, the Susan G. Komen 5k in June, and the big Susan G. 3 day in September.  I'd better get training! 

This last round of chemo hit me pretty hard.  More fatigue than I've had before and very unpleasant body aches-mostly in the legs.  My Oncologist-bless his heart-gave me a scrip for Vicodin and they are my favorite thing in the whole world.  I'm feeling better now and still have plenty left to get me through my last round on February 28th.  AHHHHHH!  I cannot WAIT to be DONE!

In case you all need a reminder and a laugh watch this;  my official mascot the honey badger.

One more thing I SWEAR this was made just for ME-  http://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live/season-6/videos/honey-badger-gets-nasty-with-the-housewives

I'm Going For A Walk

60 Miles in three days. I CAN DO THIS! Will you help me?

We're On The Home Stretch Now Baby!

Yay!  Round three is done!  I saw my Oncologist before my infusion yesterday and every single one of my labs was normal.  Which means...no crappy Neulasta shot and no anemia for me.  What a relief!  My body seems to bounce back really quickly from the chemo-probably because of my year of hard work getting into shape.  Reason number 7,850,000 why I love Snohomish Boot Camp.   

I got to the infusion fully decked out.  Pink from head to toe (basically) including pink glitter nail polish my nursey friend Linda gave me, which matches my pink glitter Tom's.  I had my new Honey Badger head piece to get the party started (thank you Peg! You are so sweet!), and my entourage were at their best.  My nurse for the day was miss Chanel as in Chanel No. 5 and she was DREAMY.  Joining me were my mom, my aunt, Jeff, his dad, and his mom.  It was busy in there yesterday (sadly enough) so my crew had to take turns visiting, but it was fun.  Yes, I just said my chemo infusion was fun.  It's so great to know I only have one more of these suckers left!  My doc said a week after my next infusion I'll meet with the Radiation Oncologist to set up my radiation treatments.  There'll be a total of 33 of those puppies, five days a week until they are done.  Everyone I've talked to says it's a piece of cake compared to chemo so I'm banking on that. 

So far post treatment I'm doing ok.  Things definitely hit faster after each time.  The horrible taste in my mouth is back at it's worst and I'm super tired.  My stomach feels ok though.  I expect to have some body aches from the Taxol in the next few days, but hope after about five days I'll be on the upswing again and feeling great. 



Nurse Chanel



Once again, thanks for all the love and support!  I have to give a shout out to a couple more of my nursey peeps; Laura who sends me the cutest cards for each treatment (you are the best) and Cindy, who has also taken the time to mail me little bits of inspiration.  It totally makes my day to get happy mail like that. 

Have a wonderful day people.  Go Honey Badgers! 

It's Good To Have Props

As you know, my war against breast cancer has been titled "Operation Honey Badger". Well, someone sent me a key prop for this fight...a Honey Badger head piece. I love it! Whoever you are, thank you. I will be bringing it to my third treatment today.

Expanding My Vocabulary

I watched the movie "50/50" the other day with Seth Rogan.  It's based on the true story of Seth's real life friend who battled a soft tissue cancer of the spine when he was just 27.  The movie was actually very funny and quite touching at times, I definitely recommend it.  While watching the movie I realized something.  Cancer patients have their own vocabulary.

I guess it's similar to anyone with a very specific skillset in their job, words you use on a regular basis that have no business in your normal everyday life. 

As a breast cancer patient I've become intimately familiar with the following words/terms:

Regimen
Diagnosis
Counts
Port
Neutraphil
Hormone Receptive
Invasive
Infusion
Prognosis
Treatment
Metastasis
Lymph Nodes
Biopsy
Oncology
Hematology
Staging
Tolerate
Survivor

...and many more I can't think of right now because I have chemo brain (that is totally for real BTW).  The last one is my favorite.  Watching the movie I could relate so much to some of what he was portrayed as feeling.  What I thought was the most true to my experience was the moment he was being taken into surgery and he broke down.  It's so easy to be all "I got this" and "I'll be stong", but when it comes down to it, we're all terrified.  I broke down too when they wheeled me away from my family for my surgery...it was just too flippin' real.

I do find so much comfort in the fact that there is a whole community within this cancer crap.  I love hearing about other people and their experiences.  A woman came up to me in the mall and asked me if I was a breast cancer patient (I don't know if it was the bald head and the pink glitter shoes that gave it away, but I'm assuming so).  She was a fellow survivor and we instantly struck up a conversation about our specific diagnosis and treatments etc.  What was unfortunate is the fact she is currently battling Lymphoma (which they think was brought on by the chemo-lovely huh?), but she was so sweet and optimistic and I was so glad to meet her.

I'm doing really well, although very tired this week for some reason.  I have my third treatment next Tuesday (yay!) and my biggest hope is that in addition to tolerating it well, my Neutraphils are up.  At my last appointment they were down from 19,000 to 2,000.  Yeah, total bummer.  The doctor told me if they don't decrease, I won't have to get the shot of Neulasta.  I was also told I was borderline anemic, so they'll be keeping an eye on that.  The good news is that means the chemo is doing its job.  

As time goes by I'm getting very anxious for the next couple of months to move quickly.  I can't wait for spring and summer and I can't wait for my stupid hair to grow back.  Bald is acceptable, but I certainly don't feel beautiful.  Nobody gives me a hard time, but I am self conscious and people do stare.  I also plan on walking in the 3 day this September in Seattle, which will be a big undertaking but I'm up for the challenge...anyone with me? 

That's all for now!

Go Honey Badgers!!!!!