Well, well, well

Hidy Ho folks. My goodness. A lot has happened since my last post.  Let's see...Mon 1/9 I went back to Dr. Turns out I needed a drain. Bummer. But hey no big deal. It'll just make me start feeling better quicker. I'll just keep taking my antibiotics and pain pills and before you know it I'll be running the streets again.  No way Jose. Wilbur kept better bigger, redder and more infected. really gross looking. I wouldn't even show Troy. By my follow up appt Thursday poor Wilbur was in terrible shape. I had even been feeling so bad I had to call my cousin Angie to bring me dinner. I was in major pain and just feeling bad. How the heck is this happening? I was doing so good. So, anyway, the follow up appt. I'm told to keep taking antibiotics. It takes a bit for them to kick in and the drain was working. I go home to veg and wait it out. I'm bound to start feeling great once these darn antibiotics kick in. The pain meds were a joke but I'm tough. Well, Sat I was talking to my gal Julie and told her that the redness kept spreading. Lucky for me, not only is Julie a great friend but a part time doc(not really). She insisted that I call the on call doc. I did after the whole run around with Jules that I had just been to the doc and there was no reason to call. The on call Dr, Dr. Kelly, said to go straight to the ER. Troy had the boys and my cousin Joey was over helping instal new windows. So, I call the dad taxi. We get there and Dr Kelly had called before I got there so they took me back right away. Turns out I needed to have Wilbur cut open to clean him out. Poor little, by now HUGE Wilbur was full of puss...freaking gross. Little pustules all over the top of him. But no biggie. I'll just go home lay on the couch and let everyone cater to me. Once again, I was mistaken. I'm getting admitted. Lucky for me Dr Kelly had told me to pack for a couple days just in case.  So, being the great listener that I am I brought a comfy blanket. I get room 429. nice single room with state of the art TV. By this I mean it's a cube with a remote that only goes up. no reverse.  Well Monday I am scheduled for surgery to help clean WIlbur up more. It's called debridement. I'm already hooked up to IV meds.1250mg of Vanco. And I get pain pills every 4 hours. Lucky, I don't need the pain meds to often as I am no whiner. My nurses were awesome. I got to know them pretty well and we had lots of giggle and Diedre(friend and radiologist associate) brought me flowers on Monday and a sign with a spider and a pig..."Radiant Pig". She strung it up for me. Every time I looked at it I smiled. Friday I had another surgery for more clean up. By now, Wilbur has gotten smaller. He had just days ago been a full C or possibly D cup and now he was smaller than 3 months ago. He also looked pretty sad. Monday the 23 I was transferred to retreat hospital in the fan for "wound care" I always referred to it as Wilbur care as it sounds much nicer. I started hyperbaric chamber treatment the day I got there and hydro therapy the following day. By wed afternoon I was released and put on oral antibiotics. Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!! I still go Mon thru Fri from 1 -4 for hydro and hyper. On the upside by the time this part is over in 5 weeks I'll look like I'm 20. I'll try and post pics from my Sr year in high school That way those of you who did not know me then will be able to recognize me :) So, all is well. Hopefully in 4 months all of this will be a distant memory. I'll post more of the funny stories that happened while I was in lockdown but for now just wanted to give everyone the DL. XOXOX

Yikes

I had my 4th treatment last Tuesday. Easy pleasy. Shot the next day. Piece of cake.  Back hurt over the weekend a little but not too bad. Hurray. I'm more than halfway there. Tuesday I felt good enough to go to gym. Walked 4 miles with my pal Davilee. It felt so good to get exercise. So, I went again Wed and walked another 4 miles. Man this chemo stuff is easy. Who knew? I should have knocked on wood. Wed night my bro and mom came for dinner and games. 6pm comes and I'm hitting a wall. Well, I must have just been pushing myself too hard. I'll take it easy. Wilber was a little sore but I thought it may have been due to some of the and exercises I did. It should pass by morning. I dint sleep well but never do so ... Thursday I woke up and Wilbur looked like he had gotten a boob job. He was swollen to twice his size. Shit. Radiation recall is back. Suck it up. I slept good ambien and a nyquil kicker did the job. I slept like a rock. Only to wake up the am to being more sore. I decided to call the radiation onco to get an appt for pain meds.  Well, what do you know...it's an infection. WTH? how do I get an infection almost 3 months after the radiation balloon was removed? It happens. I got heavy dose of antibiotics and pain killers. So glad I went to the doc today. I wouldn't have made it thru the weekend without an ER visit. SO here's to me!!! I feel better already. 1 that I'm not just being a baby and 2- the nucynta is awesome. here's to being able to play tomorrow on a beautiful weekend. As long as some of the swelling goes down. But at least I know what a C cup looks like on me.  :)

A month since the last post...

My gosh time flies!!! Thanksgiving already gone. I think I may have been in a food coma since then :) Things are going really well. The skin reaction and radiation recall have subsided greatly since the initial treatment. I still break out but no where near as bad. Someone thought I just had a little too much sun :) I'll take it!
What else is new...I started back at the gym. Ran 3 times and walked once. I was with a friend so we just chatted but I did 4 miles.  My times suck but whatcha gonna do?
I had a huge warm fuzzy at the beginning of the month. Tammy and Suzie brought over tons of hats and cards from lots of friends. It was a little overwhelming, in a good way. So now my head and ears are warm 24/7. The only time I don't wear a hat is at the gym or when I have my wig on.  They are so toasty.
Also- my hair is growing...no not new ones but the ones that didnt fall out are getting longer.  It's cute. Troy gets so excited. I'll end up looking like the house keeper from scary movie...the guy with the "little hand".  Hopefully, all the front and side hair will start growing back after treatment is over. So by 4th of July, if I don't shave it, I will have a sweet as mullet!!!

Ughh

Turns out back pain is another side effect. I was hoping that last time it was from over exerting myself. It hit again this am. Last Time it hit on Sat.  So, I'm hoping that it is getting less severe each time.
Upside, I had all my parties last night.  :)

What????

It's 70 degrees out? Time to get my lazy butt our of bed and go for a walk before I go get the white blood cell shot. Cousin Ang is taking me. Gives her a chance to check out the latest doo. Maybe she can even cut off the rest? Because at the rate it's coming out the name Patches Taylor will start taking off. I do like it more than chrome dome but...

sleepy

Dang. Tired but can't sleep. Took ambien at 11 turned out lights and TV. No luck. I guess steriods and stuff is kicking in. Glad I don't have anything to do early

2nd treatment

Today went as good as the first time. Tanya came over and we went for a walk. Then off to chemo. Took longer than I thought so Troy came and picked me up at 520. Then off to Asian Galaxy for dinner. Watching Dexter and we are up to season 6.

Hopefully off for another walk tomorrow maybe a light jog at the gym :)

Hair mice evicted

For 11/11/11 Troy and I had family game. Everyone came over, played games and after we did a shearing. The mice are gone. It's not bald but it's definitely a buzz cut. It'll prob all out by next week anyway.

Sat. we went to a house warming in Powhatan. I wore a nice scarf and only had to slip ups. Sat night I went to a jewelry party and sported a hat.

Today was the big day...we went down to Va Bch and I went around without a hat at all, well, until it ot chilly. Then, I put on a ski hat. At the Walmart, I actually got a compliment on the hat.

Hopefully, this Spring lots of bird nests will be made of my locks. I'll be able to tell because the nest wil be salt and pepper :)

Hair Mouses

Free hair mouses to anyone in need of that special holiday gift.  No 2 are alike. These are only available for a limited time!

Wig day

Wilbur is starting to heal up and so is my face. Last week had a couple rough days but on to a new week.
Today, I hop in the shower and during the conditioning stage of the shower, I realize that my hair will definitely be thinning, at least. It was starting to come out. Not in big clumps or anything but is definitely noticable. Normally it looks like a small mouse today it was like monster mouse. Maybe like a mouse and a cupabarra had coupled.

 The transformation is continuing. My super power is yet to be determined but not long now.  I went to Dr today blood work is good. THen went to DMV. I lost my lisence months ago and figured I better get a new one b4 my hair falls out.  The woman took a couple pics trying to get the best one. I thought that was really nice as I'm pretty sure they usually try and give me the worst one. When the DMV lady looked at the last one she said she couldn't believe someone actually let me keep it...lol.

After DMV was wig hunting. I hit 2 places and tried on several ones. I'll have to call the insurance co and see how much they will cover. Wigs are not cheap. Nor are they especially good looking :) But after wearing the wig cap, I realized I do not have a pretty head.

Lemond drop kid to zitty mczittamus

Well, as luck would have it I have 2 rare conditions. radiation recall triggered by chemo. Wilbur (my sickly boob) did fantastic through radiation. no redness no burning, nothing. he was a trooper. Turns out the chemo triggered a reaction. He's now red as a beet, just where the balloon was so only a small part. This is very rare so they didnt mention it. No biggie. I would have still done it. It will get worse until sat or Sunday then should start getting better. It will prob come back after round 2 but shouldn't be so severe. Hopefully, it won't come back after that.

Condition 2...dry face and zits. Also very rare and I have a severe case...They gave me a steriod and antiboitic. I have never had sever acne so this is crushing. I don't even want to leave the house. I look like shit.

I feel bad for being so vane about it. Here I am so lucky to have felt so great through everything and am all upset over dry skin and a bad breakout. No joke like 8 bumps and a rash on my face..

Oh well....

Fat Tire

Well, I must be feeling a little better. I actually opened my beer.  My face is still a hot mess. Ughh. Oh well, it is what it is. Hopefully, it won't last the whole time.
As for the pot roast...not the hit I was hoping it would be. All the boys bitched about it.  I told them fine. For every meal from here on out would be Tomato soup. Breakfast lunch and dinner. I would return the Frankenberry cereal  and they wouldn't get the pudding I made for dessert. About an hour later they were asking for the potatoes and carrots. This was after they asked their dad if they could have pudding. I nixed that quick. After they had apples and more veggies I et them have dessert.  I thought everyone liked pot roast. Lesson learned.

I got in just in time for the preteen/teen years....the joy.

Off to sand my face and rub dry ashes on it

lemon drop kid

The Dr says the dry skin is likely hormones and not to worry. They asked if i was using moisturizer...wtf. Am I an idiot. No, no moisturizers. I rub sand on my skin at night. I use tons of moisturizer and no luck. If anyone knows of anything that works please let me know. Bad enough that Troy's kids told me those jeans make your butt look big. Now, my face is red blotchy, peeling and breaking out. Might as well grow a wart on my nose and call it.

On a mo betta note: I went on a leisurely 3 mile walk with Tanya at rockwood. It was great. My mom brought over lots of salad stuff. So for lunch was a great big salad.  I started a pot roast before I left for my walk so it should be ready just in time for dinner. The boys will be here and we will be eating by candle light. That way they can't give me grief about my face :)

early to bed early to rise

Not sure whats going on. I feel like a million bucks....except that my face is so dehydrated. I'm drinking tons of water. using lots of lotion and my face still feels puckered and is feeling a little.  Wilbur is finally showing signs of sunburn from the radiation trail. they said it may take a few weeks and it did. So, i'm wondering if that is causing the rest of me to dehydrate quicker. I even slept with a humidifier on in the room...no help.  I'll call the Dr. today and see.  I bought a 22oz Fat Tire last night and didn't even have the urge to open it. Something is wrong :)

Other than Wilbur's burn and my face feeling like the cartoon drawing on a lemon drop box I'm 110%.  Gonna go for a nice long walk with Tanya today.

Ready for Monday

slept most of the day. my backs still out of whack. went to the mall and CVS. got some Doans and am feeling better. I probably overdid it last week and back is just bad timing. getting old is a drag. gonna lay around the rest of the evening and tomorrow to hopefully be ready to trick or treat with the kiddos.

transformation on hold

back is killing me. It started hurting some yesterday but i didn't worry too much about it. I knew there may be some achiness. So, I suck it up and play on. Maybe a really stooooopid idea. It hurt to sit so when I went to parties I stood. I think tonight was the first time I ever left a party early. Poor Troy. He spent so long working on his costume just to have me want to leave. Came home and have been on the couch, popping a pain pill. I'm not sure if it hurts because of the WBC shot or overdoing it this week. Maybe a little both. Oh well, I may have to track down my old walker :) That thing was bad ass. Basket, handbrakes, seat.

Thanks, Mannon!! You're party was great. Next year, I promise to close it down...again :)

the transformation....bwhhahahhahaha

I have noticed my hearing and sense of smell are way more sensitive.   My super hero transformation must be in the beginning stages. I can't wait to see what will happen next....

Friday nights

Wow. Chemo is definitely taking it's toll.  I went out with friends for wings and beer. I didn't really want the beer....this must be the end...lol. That's a first.  The wings were awesome, though.

Today will be spend napping and getting finishing touches on my costume.  This is perfect napping weather :)

to fish or to sleep?

Troy was home today and wanted to go to the beach and go fishing.  Is he out of his mind? It's like 55 degrees.  So, easy choice for me. Sit inside and watch Dexter episodes.  Soon, I  may even take a hot shower and rebrush my teeth.

Last night/ this am. I did have some weird dreams.  Troy and I were in TX or someplace like TX.  Rattlesnakes were in tight balls with bone/horn on the sides. When they woke up all you could see was their reptilian eyes.  At the same time I was watching guys practice high jumping/diving. They would even have harnesses for the beginners. It was pretty fun to watch bc they were jumping off a really high plank.

I have no idea where that stuff is coming from.  The clean living I have been doing lately in clearly getting to me :)

Cat naps

My gosh. Amazing how doing nothing makes you so tired. Thank gosh for Tanya. I would have stayed in bed all day. Instead, I got up. She treated me to a mani/pedi. If you saw my feet at the beach you know how much I needed one!!! Then a little Wallywolrd time to get costume stuff. Now letting my grill cheese digest while laying on the couch in the sun. After a much deserved nap...lol...I'll help Troy with the trees. He almost took the house out yesterday. A man and a chainsaw= destruction.