BAG BALM

This is kind of cute. When I was at the clinic getting my burnt hands looked at, the oncologist told Fred to go to a store and buy Bag Balm to put on my hands. Fred found it.

On one side of the jar, it reads, "After each milking, apply thoroughly and allow coating to remain on surface."

On another side of the jar, it reads, "For use on cows, thoroughly wash treated teats and udder with separate towels before each milking. To avoid contamination after each milking, bathe the udder with plenty of hot water, strip milk out and dry skin. Apply BAG BALM freely and massage gently with this proven ointment twice daily."

And, on another side it reads, "Since 1899 BAG BALM has been the farmer's friend helping keep dairy cows from becoming chapped from the harsh Vermont environment. It's like having another hand on the farm or a helper around the house."

So, there you have it. It is breast-related.

Today Things Feel Normal

I've been told by family and friends that the third week, just before the next treatment, I'll start to feel good. That would be today. I feel the air again and can hear the birds. I'm not hot - cold - hot - cold. Just kind of balanced. The next treatment is 8/9 and that will be the half-way mark for the chemo. Almost half way there. After this adjustment in the Taxotere, I don't expect anymore dramatic side-affects. There haven't been any problems (allergies) to the Cytoxin yet.

Back to the NV Cancer Institute - Chemo Backfired!

Sunburns, who would have guessed. Both hands started burning on the sides. It started itching and burning but I didn't scratch because who knows what could come from that. The heel of my left foot swelled up and burned like heck. Luckily, I had two ice packs and used them for a couple days. Then, my left cheek started getting sunburned. Then, the right hand started blistering. Even my expensive Clinique yellow moisturizer didn't work.

So, back to the clinic. This time, the oncologist wanted to see me vs. all the other assistants he usually has me see. Turns out, I was getting much too much of the Taxotere chemo. There's Taxotere and Cytoxin. They're separate drips. They measure by 1.00 - 2.00, and he's been giving me 1.70 so he's dropping it to 1.00 and said it won't interfere with the effectiveness but it'll stop the burning and itching.

Don't know if I blogged about the stuff creeping up my shins or not. Had to go back to the clinic Tuesday for that. Simple shot glass or two of Benedryl childrens elixir at night has that clearing up. It was an allergy to the Taxotere.

I feel much better today. And, of course, they always toss in another drug to take at night. Supposed to stop the feeling of tingling in the hands and arms.

I guess this is how it goes. We just tweek and tweek and tweek. But, the good news is the next treatment will be the third of six. Most of the symptom stuff wil be worked out.

I really had a much better clip to put at the top but it wouldn't transfer from my file.

COFFEE, CHOCOLATE CHIP FRAPPUCCINO

It's worth every penny and every pound. It tastes like heaven, not like snot and not like metal. There are just enough chunks of chocolate chips so I don't feel cheated. I don't even know what it costs, who cares.

Had to Get an IV Drip Yesterday

I felt like I was going to constantly faint yesterday and, fortunately, had already scheduled an appointment with Dr. Milne for a 1-1/2 hour drip filled with tons of vitamin B's, amino acids and minerals. I kept feeling better and better and better. Today, back to the faint stuff. It may be lack of water. I haven't been drinking gobbs of water like I ususally do, especially in this heat.

It's about 9PM Wed night and I feel much better after a couple bottles of water. I recall "them" saying that chemo dehydrates the body.

I FINALLY WENT TO A SUPPORT GROUP......

Big wow.

I went Monday night.

Just forgot to blog about it. The excitement must have caused a power outage in my brain.

There were probably 10-12 women there. Only 3 of us who belonged. The rest were post-chemo by 4-5-7 years. I'm trying to get into my head why, after surviving chemo, would you stick around. Possibly it's due to the pills you have to take for up to 5 years to drain the estrogen and get a totally clean bill of health. That's all I can think of. There must be better things to do every first and third Monday night.

There were all different stories. Lots of advise. Only some dry cookies to eat. Some really bad stories.

Bad stores about bad doctors, bad husbands, and one lady has just about given up because she got such a bad mis-diagnosis, and actually two women who were led down the wrong path by their doctors who told them them were clean, "Hey, ya still got your tits!", and it turned out after coming to Nevada Cancer Institute and being examined, they indeed have breast cancer.

All along this way, I've been told by people from out of nowhere to grill my doctors. I pretty much have and did run into an arrogant prick. I went the opposite direction.

I'll go back one more time to this group because it's only a couple minutes from home. BUTTTT, I'm so not into the "sisterhood" bullshit that they try to get us into. I don't really care to swap spit with a support group. IF you've ever watched "FRINGE", the TV show, I just care to enter that world through the currently available portal, listen and learn, eat the dry cookies, then find the portal out and leave.

24 Hour Fitness after Treatment #2

This training routine was challenging before Chemo. As I understand, Chemo builds. #2 makes everything more challenging and, apparently, #3 is when I'll hit the wall. At that point, I'll go to Dr. Milne for a lengthy injection of vitamins and minerals.

I almost hit the floor many, many times yesterday morning. Chris, my trainer, is very smart. He's paying attention and switches things around when it looks like I'm in bad shape. I do 3 repetitions of each exercise. After rep #1, he made me sit for 60 seconds. Then, I'd do rep #2 and afterwards sit for 30 seconds. After rep #3, I'd sit for 10 seconds, then on to the next exercise. It worked very well, however, I could tell that the first workout after a treatment, causes a lot of energy to rise from the dead. The energy starting to flow again is what causes me to get unstable. That loss of energy from a treatment and the flu-like symptoms that follow is huge.

Today, Saturday, the workout should be more energetic, then Sunday's pylates class should be good too. Next week should be just fine, as energy will be flowing again.