Treatment #2

Well, I survived the first 3 weeks of treatment.  All in all it went pretty well.  After listening to everyone at the doctor's office talk about how week #2 was the worst, that is not really what I experienced.  I would say days 2-6 after treatment were the worst - tired, nauseous, no appetite, mouth just felt "off."  But after that it gradually got better.  The first cycle my worst complaint were mouth sores.  Those came on about a week in and I ended up with about 10 big, and very sore mouth lesions.  They did eventually give me some mouthwash that helped ease the pain for little bits of time, but I was stuck with them for a bit.

On Tuesday, June 10th, I had chemo treatment #2.  All went pretty smoothly.  I did have a slight allergic reaction to one of the drugs this time, but a little extra steroid and dose of Benedryl did the trick.  Next time they will just give me the benedryl with the drug and that will help.  So 2 down, 4 to go!  I'm getting there!!  

This time they gave me an anti-viral drug to help with mouth sores and it really helped!  I only had one swell up under my tongue but it was not painful at all, so I can't complain!  So much better!

 On June 16th, I decided I had enough with the hair thinning and falling out.  I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror without something on my head.  I was hating it.  Do it was time for it to be cut off!  I wasn't sure when I would feel ready, but my mom told me I would know - and I did!!  Dave was cutting the boys hair that night, too, so I just got in line!  It was hard at first - I felt like I was holding my breath - but as more came off, I felt like the nerves were lifting.  Do I like being bald?  Absolutely not.  But I knew it was coming, I can't change this fact, so now it's just done.  I'm still getting used to how I look in scarves and my wig - right now it's pretty hot to wear my wig, but I'm getting more used to this new me.  Luckily the boys have handled it all very well and honestly they don't seem to like my wig much - probably because they haven't seen it much yet, but it doesn't really look like my hair so it's different.  I figured they would handle it with ease and they have.  

So we just keep moving ahead!  My 3rd treatment is already coming up next week, which will be half way - woo hoo!  This week I feel really good - mainly tired, but with no mouth sores it is so much better!

The good news is we were able to go on our planned vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN!  We weren't sure we'd be able to do it with my treatments but it all worked out and had a great week!