It is Monday and Chemo day. I went into work for an hour to pick up some things to do while I was sitting in the infusion lounge.
The oncology office is well designed, one side for office visits and the other is outfitted with about a dozen black leather loungers, each with its own flat screen TV and warm blankets for the asking if the chemo makes you cold.The front office has an interesting Alaskan decor, wood carved fish and bears. Antler framed couches and a large marble carving of salmon spawning.

Brian always go with me to start off my treatments. He is my second set of ears and also asks good questions, questions I might not think to ask. He sees that I have something good for lunch like split pea soup and keeps in touch just in case I need something or someone. I am so grateful for him and love him for his attentiveness and support during all of this.
Today I had some blood work done and saw the doctor where we discussed the side effects of my last treatments so he could tweak my medication which he did because I had such a blazing headache last time. I have been drinking water like a fish, they suggest 2-3 quarts a day to lesson the intensity of the nausea and other side effects. I also plan to go to the lab to get hydration infusions if I don't keep up on my water.
The nurses are kind and efficient and attentive. I was able to get my paper work done during the 4 hour infusion and didn't fade until they hooked up the 48 hour pump and the last chemo.
Brian picked me up and I went home to sleep. I looked green. After resting a few hours, and eating bananas and peanut butter I am feeling like an 8-9 on a scale of 10 with 10 being normal.
Let's hope the rest of the week I feel like this.

This has been a good week. I have felt almost normal, though I still get tired easily. On Wednesday they put in the groshong, an access point to my veins so they don't have to put in an IV every time I go for chemo or poke me anytime they need blood. That was a same day procedure at the hospital. The Chemo must make your veins weaker, they blew three of mine, which has never happened before, trying to find one for the IV for the surgery, however the hospital staff was really nice about it, they took turns, no one wanted to try twice. I was only having a local anesthetic so they gave me something to relax. I was out before they finished giving it to me and didn't wake up until they took me to recovery. I spent most of the day sleeping and I really felt rested after that, more rested than I have for awhile. I am trying to get my 35 hour work weeks in as much as possible and so far I have succeeded by working on Fridays, a day I use to take off. I have Chemo every other week, this week will be the full dose. I go in on Monday and leave with a pump which they take off on Wednesdays. I wonder how that will affect how I feel? I have enjoyed the reprieve from the side effects this week. And
two of my grandaughters arrived. Hurray!! that should help keep my mind on other things.

Interesting that clay needs to be fired....I am wondering how hot the furnace is going to get before I jump out and say I have had enough. I know Someone is watching the refining process who is wiser than I and will let me know when that point comes.This week is better than last and should end well, but more fuel will be added to the fire next Monday and I am not looking forward to that. However the doctor says the side effects are easier to handle if I consume large amounts of water, 2-3 quarts a day. Hmmm pouring water on the fire, does that make sense?

The cancer had spread. It had escaped the intestinal wall and was found in my lymph nodes and my liver. Not a very good prognosis, especially if the cancer is poorly differentiated which means it is aggressive.
Chemo anyone? That is the dreaded word no one likes to hear yet a sweet friend of mine who has been through it commented that the chemo club is a very select club....hmm that doesn't mean I want to join it. In fact I have searched high and low to find a different club and there are certainly a lot to choose from.
But I have been pulled kicking and yelling into the chemo club....I think that is one of the requirements to join.
If I hadn't learned about md anderson cancer clinic and surgery for liver resection I would probably not have joined the club. Dr. Curley, my surgeon there who knows liver resections like I know how to make wheat bread, said that with chemo and the surgery I have a good chance of having at least 5 years maybe more.
Md anderson changed the pathology report from poorly differentiated to moderately differentiated and that certainly made a lot of difference in the way my doctors looked at my treatment, especially my oncologists. Now the chemo is really going to be toxic... got to search out and find all of those baby cancer cells that are running around my body and destroy them before they find a place to live and start a family.

My first chemo session they were only able to give me part of the treatment because I hadn't had my port put in they were using a pic-line and after half of the treatment it was done. I have to admit I was relieved. I didn't want to experience all of the side effects that first week, if I had I might not have returned for the next treatment. Oh well, one down and five to go! I can do anything worthwhile even if it seems like it is going to kill me for 6 times, right?

Nausea, if you drink lots of water it is supposed to help....drinking water, or anything else for that matter, is not very appealing to me when I am nauseated.... I did nurse a can of coke one day, warm coke, because I can't have cold drinks or ice, neuropathy, your throat feels like it is swelling shut, just one side effect of that darn chemo.
Fatigue, just feeling tired most of the time, another side effect, and you are supposed to exercise in spite of that tired feeling.
My eyes and my ears are more sensitive to light and sound, I am understanding the sensory kids I work with better.

Meanwhile every morning I get up and eat my asparagus--- four tablespoons, drink my Essiac tea, my carrot, broc, and wheat grass juice and breakfast if there is room. Every night I eat my asparagus and drink my tea before going to bed..... I stay away from dairy and I eat meat sparingly. When I feel like eating I push the veggies and fruit, especially the veggies.
The food I find satisfying is food I ate when I was a child, oatmeal with raisins and tuna sandwiches with pickles and toast. Simple foods.

One nice thing about major surgery is that you probably don't really remember how hard it was because of the anesthesia and how long it takes your body to recover from it. I do remember and felt the love and support and prayers and thoughts of so many friends and church members. My room was filled with flowers and notes and visitors. I wasn't able to have any food or water for the first three or days, by mouth, so my colon would heal. You are waiting anxiously to "pass gas" as the magic sign that you can begin eating real food. And when you begin eating that food make sure it is liquid and then very soft for several days, also pain medication causes constipation so you may want something to help move things along. Chewing gum which contains sorbitol and drinking liquids from a crazy straw are supposed to help make the colon heal faster and I think they worked for me. I was released from the hospital after 5 days. One of the possible side of effects of colon surgery, and I think it probably depends on where the tumor is removed, is not having normal bowel control, but very loose and frequent bowels. That was something I wasn't made aware of, I guess I didn't ask the right questions before the surgery.
However surgery was not to be the end of my cancer.

April 21st Surgery for colon cancer. I had been in good health all of my life, never been in the hospital for anything except to have my four babies. Hadn't been feeling quite like myself for a couple of years. Then about a year ago I started craving ice. I would stop at the gas stations and buy a huge cup of ice several times a day. It got so bad that one night while my husband and I were at the movie and I was downing by large cup of ice and he was eating his large bag of popcorn the gentleman in front of us turned around and said, "I don't know what you are eating lady but I will give you $20.00 if you will stop right now." I was so embarrassed, I vowed never to eat ice again.....while at the movies. I learned that craving ice can be a sign if anemia, and I was tired too. So I made an appointment with my doctor and took my list of symptoms and went for a visit. First a blood test, you have anemia, in fact I don't know where you get your energy, your shouldn't have any energy with as low as you blood is. I was given 2 units of blood and I felt much better but still not well. A colonoscopy, a barium colonoscopy, and an endoscopy later I visited with the doctor. After all the tests, stool samples and blood work, we can't find anything wrong sometimes there is something called an intestinal bleed,you are good and healthy. But the nagging feeling wouldn't go away. I really felt there was something they were missing. I asked my husband for a blessing and was told in the blessing to return to the doctor and tell him all of my symptoms and so I did. My doctor listened patiently, wrote down everything and then said there was one more test he would suggest, a CT scan. A few days later the test was complete and the results were in I had an apple core shaped tumor on the right side near the top of my large intestine, a good place to have a tumor if you are going to have one but obviously a hard place to find. A few days later I was heading into surgery. Scary what do you do if you have colon cancer and what are the side effects of the surgery?