Jessica's Journey

  CHEMOTHERAPY WEEK 6 Today was my sixth treatment!  This entry will be short and sweet because everything went so good.  My port access didn't give us any trouble and my medications didn't cause any reactions.  It was a good day!  We were there for around five hours.  We're home now and gonna take a nap.  I also received the cutest wig from the Brown Cancer Resource  Center.  It's adorable and I love it!

  CHEMOTHERAPY WEEK 5 Today was my fifth week for chemotherapy.  FIFTH!  Moving right along.  The infusions were so smooth today and I'm so very thankful for that.  My port gave the nurse a little trouble again.  They're telling me my port is a little deeper than usual and they are having to get different needles to use with it.  It's still a standard port needle, just a bit longer.  Other than that, things went well.  I was very tired during chemo today, due to the Benadryl.  I dozed off and on.  David said I was snoring at one point.  I was very comfortable.  We are back home and resting now.  My legs are doing something they've never done before.  They feel weak when I try to walk.  I'm going to just ride it out and see how I feel tomorrow.  Afterall, my body has been pumped essentially with poison today.  I hate to use that word because I know it's there to kill the cancer, but it's also killin...

  HEAD SHAVING DAY Today marks a pivotal day for me on my journey.  I made the very difficult decision to shave my hair off.  It was time.  My hair has been falling out by the handfuls.  As a woman, losing your hair is such an emotional thing to have happen.  There are certain things in life that define who we are as women and our hair is definitely one of those things.  I decided to let my husband shave my hair off.  It was just the two of us, as I wasn't ready for it to be a family matter.  It was something very private for me.  Yes, I shed some tears.  Tears for what was happening.  Tears for why it was happening.  Tears of grief.  Tears of pride.  Tears for my husband.  The emotional side of losing my hair during all this is definitely overwhelming.  However, as I said before, I'm ok with it.  It is part of the process.  It is temporary and it will grow back.  I will continue to push ...

 Bye Bye, Hair Well, the time has come.  My hair just keeps falling out every time I touch it.  I'm leaving little trails of my hair all over the place.  Am I sad?  Of course.  However, this is temporary.  Losing my hair is minor when it comes to fighting for my life.  When a person is faced with losing something so precious as life itself, it changes your mindset.  My eyes have been opened.  I cherish every minute of every day, and I find myself really taking in whatever is happening all around me.  Life is so short and so precious, and it can change in a minute.  I never expected to find myself in this place in my life.  But here I am.  Fighting to live.  Fighting this scary thing called cancer.  They say you don't know how strong you are until strong is all you have.  That is so true.  I've been thrown into this situation, and I must be strong to push through it.  I intend to give it everyt...

  CHEMOTHERAPY WEEK 4 I had my fourth chemotherapy infusion on Thursday.  I was really anxious about it because it was also my immunotherapy day.  I receive Keytruda every three weeks for my immunotherapy and I always get nervous wondering how my body will respond to treatment each time.  I prayed to God to give all my worries to Him and to feel calm.  He answered!  I had a great infusion and felt very calm and relaxed the whole time.  The only hiccup this time was accessing my port.  They had to access it twice due to the first time not being in there correctly.  I'm thankful to have another week crossed off my journey!  Another punch thrown!  Side effects have been minimal so far this time and I hope it continues to stay that way.  

 CHEMOTHERAPY WEEK 3 Well today was my third infusion!  One more punch I got to throw at this cancer.  We arrived at 10:30 for my appointment.  We were there for over five hours.  It was a long day.  Everything seemed to go well though.  However, I did have the same reaction today as last week when they started to infuse the Taxol.  I got really hot and my heart rate was climbing.  They stopped the medication drip until my symptoms subsided.  They decided to do a slower drip with the Taxol.  Instead of the infusion taking one hour, they increased it to two hours.  That seemed to work just fine.  My symptoms were gone and I tolerated it well.  The Carbo infusion took about thirty minutes with no problems.  We were very glad to get home today.  Thank you to those who read my blog and stay updated.  I appreciate all your prayers, your support, and your love!  

 RESULTS DAY! Whew, has it been a long, excruciating weekend waiting for test results from my full body bone scan and CT.  I'm so happy to share the great news with everyone that my scans (according to the results in my chart) look clear of any metastatic disease!  My CT impression stated:  no findings to suggest metastatic disease in the chest, abdomen, or pelvis.  My bone scan stated:  Whole-body bone scan is negative for skeletal metastases.  This means my cancer is still contained to my left breast.  Praise the Lord!  God is so good!  I'm so grateful for this news today.  

  BONE SCAN DAY Today I had my bone scan and CT scan.  I had to be there for my appointment at Jewish around 10:30.  They got me right back and started my IV to inject the radioactive tracer into me.  I had to wait 3 hours for the tracer to absorb into my bones before they could take my images.  Both scans went very well and I was on my way home.  It was a good day.  The worst part is now the waiting.  Waiting for results of the scans.  Everyone keep me in your prayers and pray for clear results on my scans.  

  CHEMOTHERAPY WEEK #2 Today was the second week of my Carbo/Taxol chemotherapy treatment.  In general, everything went as expected.  I was anxious, as always.  The team at Brown Cancer Center is wonderful.  They all helped ease my mind before we began.  First they got labs from me and we had to wait for those to clear.  They gave me pre-meds through my port, which consists of an anti-nausea medication, a steroid, Benadryl, and Pepcid.  I didn't have to have any Keytruda today, as I get that infusion every 3 weeks.  I had a minor hiccup when they started infusing the first chemotherapy drug.  They told me in the beginning to tell them if anything felt strange or different once we began.  I started feeling very hot in my head and neck and my heart rate began to climb.  I got my nurse and immediately she, along with three other nurses, came to my side.  They stopped the medication and took my vitals.  They watched me fo...

CHEMOTHERAPY DAY 1 Today was my first day of chemo.  I've been so anxious about this appointment because I didn't know how my body would react to it.  Luckily they gave lots of pre-medications.  I was given a very strong anti-nausea medication through my port, as well as a steroid and a strong dose of Benadryl.  The Benadryl caused me to feel very sleepy.  This actually helped with my anxiety.  Today begins a 12 week treatment with two different chemo drugs, along with Keytruda.  I'll be on Keytruda every 3 weeks for the next year for my immunotherapy.  I will be coming for treatment oncer per week for the first 12 weeks.  After the 12 weeks, I will have an additional 8 weeks of chemotherapy.  The second half of my chemo treatment contains the Red Devil, also known as Doxorubicin.  I will likely begin losing my hair within the next few weeks of my current treatment.  I'm ok with that.  I'll do anything in order to beat thi...