Hey everyone. SO so sorry it has taken me so long to post this. I was fairly sick after this last round and it really took a toll on me.
Radiation is DONE, after 31 treatments. I received a certificate and everything for completing it all! The nurse told me my arm would get worse before it started to heal, boy was she right. For the first week and a half after I finished treatment I could barely even use my left arm. It was so tender and bright red. Compare it to a REALLY BAD sunburn. The skin was weeping, peeling, and swollen. It is now starting to heal and I can actually start bending and straightening it. The Dr told me I may need physical therapy but I'm trying my best to move it as much as I can.
Cycle 10 went as well as could be expected. I had some great company that week, my mom/Sean, step mom, brother, friend Courtney and my Aunt Patti came down from New Jersey. Thursday was the off day. I felt so sick and actually had to stick my head out of the window on the way to the office. Needless to say the nurses gave me some great drugs and I began to feel better. On Friday, after chemo, Sean decided we needed to go and find out about the cost of our wedding rings. Good thing I sucked it up and went. It takes 6-8 weeks to make a custom wedding band and we had 7 weeks until the wedding. Somehow Sean misunderstood how long it was going to take. We had to give them my ring for a week so they could make the mold. I'm so glad that we are going to have wedding rings ;o)
The week after chemo was a different story. The whole week I just felt awful. I scheduled my dress fitting for Tuesday and one of my former bosses came down to go with me. We had a lovely lunch and she stayed for dinner, but I wasn't feeling all that great. We had a lovely time and my dress only needed minor alterations, thank goodness! I had scheduled a blood transfusion for Thursday and my labs on Wednesday showed that I also needed platelets. During the transfusions I began to run a fever and my left hand started swelling. The nurse said the swelling was from the radiation and was nothing to be worried about. When I left the hospital it had reached 100.0. If I ever have a temp of 100.5 or higher, I have to call the on-call Dr. At 430, my temp had reached 100.8. I called the Dr, she told me that it was probably from the transfusion and to take Tylenol. The next day I went back for more labs, I waited in the waiting room for over 30mins, watching all of these people who came in after me get their blood drawn. I finally asked what was going on and apparently because of my fever the night before, they wanted to get blood cultures to check for infection. I wish someone had told me about this, but what can you do. I wasn't running a fever at the time, but my labs showed that my platelets hadn't recovered, in fact they had gone down. So I needed another transfusion. I also showed the nurse practitioner my hand and she was worried about the swelling and ordered a scan of my arm. So I went and got the scan done, everything was fine, then I headed to the hospital. When the nurse took my vitals at the hospital, my temp was 101.0. I couldn't believe that in just a few hours my temp had risen that much. So, the nurses at the hospital called the Drs office and they decided to put me on IV antibiotics. We were supposed to leave for Florida on Saturday, but now I had to go to the office and get antibiotics all weekend.
I messaged Sean that we weren't going to be able to go to Florida and he was fine with the change in plans. He said my health was more important than anything else so getting me healthy should be our priority. What a guy, huh? He decided to keep the week off and spend it at home with me and the pups. By Monday, I hadn't had a fever all weekend and Dr Spira said I was on the mend. He blamed my arm for the fever/infection.
We decided to go down to Charlottesville to visit Sean's parents for a few days this past week. I decided to keep Thursday and Friday off and enjoy the mountains. Although we didn't get to go to Disney or see the beach down in Florida, it was a nice week with my hubby-to-be and he took such great care of me. Since Sean was home, we decided to go and get our marriage certificate so he wouldn't have to take another day off work. The process was so simple and I'm glad we can check that off of our list of things to do. I also went and picked out the flower girl dress and fabric. Linda Boggs is going to make the dress for our flower girl who is coming all the way from Germany. She is the daughter of my former exchange students and I'm so excited she is going to be a part of our special day.
Wedding is only 34 days away. Only little things left to do. One more cycle of chemo this week and then I'm off until after the wedding. I'm going to need this time in order to feel well at the wedding. I'm glad that I will have this time off even if it means it will take me longer to finish chemo.
So many great things to look forward too, hope you will continue to follow me through them!
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