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today, we met with the transplant oncologist at george washington university hospital cancer center in dc. the plan is for me to start chemo (eshap) on monday at loudoun hospital with my original oncologist and then go to george washington for the stem cell harvest & transplant.
unlike my last chemo (abvd), this one is administered in-patient over the course of 5 days. hopefully 2-4 cycles will put me in remission. each cycle will take 4 weeks.
once i’m in remission i’ll go back to dc for the stem cell harvest and transplant. i will spend 2-3 weeks in-patient at george washington. this will likely not happen until after my sister’s wedding in november.
my standup2cancer team has already raised $2,730. we’re even listed in the “top 50″ teams now! this fundraising effort is so very important to me in a time when i feel most helpless. please continue to help my family and me as we once again fight this horrible disease.
nugget is in no mood for me to be blogging, so away i go. goodnight, friends.
i need a new blog project! in my head it seemed original, but come to find out it isn’t. no, not one bit.
on facebook you can find a bunch of bloggers telling su2c what they stand for. shown here is brad from cancer is boring. (brad, i very much agree.)
nevertheless, i’d like you to send me your pictures – here’s the twist – of you in your standup2cancer t-shirts telling me for what, whom or why you’re standing up. i’ll add your photos to the help me make a stand page, much like the locks of love page, and pimp your blog, store, cd release… you name it.
so, go on, get busy! go to the su2c shop at cafepress and order your shirt. then send me your photos of you in said shirt with your sign and whatever info you’d like published alongside your photo.
and remember, cafepress fulfills su2c orders at a 25% discount, enabling su2c to direct the discounted monies towards cancer research!
today is the day i start my journey on the road to battle, my second battle, against hodgkin’s lymphoma. i’m asking you, my friends, my family, my neighbors, my husband’s co-workers, my best friend’s school, my stylist’s salon, my doctors and nurses, my blogosphere cohorts, my readers, to join me. walk alongside me, hold my hand and help my family as we once again stand up to cancer.
in my previous post, i mentioned the su2c.org team i started. have you joined yet? have you donated? did you help spread the word?
i’m asking for your blog posts, your tweets, your plurks, your stumbles and diggs. email everyone you know. i need you to. you. i need your help.
i’m making these harvest napkin ties right now. my dear friend michelle has sucked me into some serious acorn crafting this season.
my in the fight t-shirt from stand up to cancer finally arrived yesterday and is in the washer right now! i’m looking forward to wearing the hell out of it over the next month and then moving on to another one. perhaps one like this?
last year at this time our family probably wouldn’t have sat in front of the tv together watching this fundraiser.
i’m one of those people to your left or right. i’m one of those people that you can stand up to cancer for.
here’s what i have to report after yesterday’s appointment.
well, it’s either stage 2 or stage 2a. the a or b is determined by the presence of systemic symptoms like fever, nightsweats, etc. the majority of the nodes involved are in the left side of my neck and in my chest, nothing beow the diapragm. the marrow biopsy was negative but the pet scan shows that the spinal section near the affected area of my chest might also be involved.
i’m tentatively scheduled to start treatment on thursday. i don’t have to. my doctor said if i wanted more time with nugget i could have it because this type of cancer isn’t going to change in just a few days.
i have an appointment today with the oncology nurse practitioner to go over a bunch of things, kind of like the way they do it at the reproductive endocrinologist (ivf clinic). my mom is going with me this time because she hasn’t met the oncologist yet. i’ll decide when i’m going to start treatment after discussing our schedules with the nurse.
the first treatment will take the longest because they have to go slowly to check for any allergic reactions. after that each session will take around three hours.
i’ve ordered two books, anthony bourdain’s the nasty bits and lewis black’s me of little faith, but i’ll definitely be needing to download a bounty of new podcasts to help pass the time. i’ve been in the treatment room once before, but it was mostly filled with older people who all seemed very into their various magazines and healthy snacks from home. somehow i don’t see them providing me with hours of entertainment.
well, i never made it to the movies. i didn’t think i’d be able to keep my eyes open through it! the vicodin and ativan are keeping me drowsy and just a little loopy.
i have two incisions from the port insertion. both were completely covered with large steri-strips, which i’ve had before with no problem. yesterday, the skin at the edges of the strips started blistering, peeling and oozing. my mom, an rn, decided i really needed to call my surgeon. i did and thankfully he returned my call quickly. he said i needed to go ahead and take off the strips. so, while he was still on the phone i began the torturous task.
as the strips came off, so did the scabs over my incisions and the blistered patches of skin (and then some). holy hell, that hurt! the larger incision bled. when i peeled the last strip all the way off, it was still attached to a flap of tearing skin. i grabbed my eyebrow scissors and snip-snipped. ick. nugget daddy ran to the store for some dressing supplies
by this afternoon it had finally stopped oozing, but it’s still nasty and painful.
tomorrow is the come-to-jesus meeting with the oncologist. i’m really, really nervous. we’ll find out the results of the bone marrow biopsy and pet scan. we’ll know what stage it is and what nodes are affected. he’ll tell us what treatment he thinks will be best, when i’ll start and how long it will last.
i can feel myself shutting down more and more with each tick of the clock closer to the appointment time. nugget has been nursing like crazy today. my precious baby girl… i’m so scared for her.
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