We made it through round 4 of the AC treatments! Those awful days are now behind us. Praise Jesus! The doctors told us, and I read over and over, that with each treatment, recovery would take a little longer. And new side effects would present themselves each time. Ding-Ding-Ding They were right on the money. (The other day I saw Revenge of the Nerds was running on some channel, and I had to watch a few minutes of it…who doesn’t love Lewis, Gilbert and the gang?) It made me chuckle when I realized the new side effect with this last treatment…GERD. Yep, you heard it right. GERD (You can’t help but sound like a hick when you say this word!)

I’ll be honest, getting through round 4 was tougher than I thought it was going to be. I went back the day after chemo, and then again the next day, to get IV fluids in hopes of preventing those massive headaches I was getting. Luckily, it worked, and I didn’t get the headache like I had gotten before. However, the nausea and overall feeling of unease was just as bad as, if not worse than, round 3. Then…just as I thought I was on the upswing on Sunday, I started feeling a little puny. By Monday afternoon, I was really puny.

I started having esophagus spasms Monday night. If you’ve ever had them, you know the pain. If you haven’t…it literally feels like you’re having a heart attack…sharp pains in the center of your chest that roll up and down, with little relief. I’ve had them before, so at least I knew what was happening. But they kept me up almost the entire night. By Tuesday morning, I was miserable and exhausted. Then after drinking some water, I started throwing up. Good times, right?!?! This led to another call in to the doctor, with a call in to the pharmacy with more meds. As if my stomach and gut haven’t already been through enough! I steered clear of any type of food that could aggravate GERD, took my meds and tried to be a good patient to give my system a chance to calm down. Finally, by Friday (9 days after treatment), I was feeling much better…in time to take Sara to see Aladdin. (Such a cute movie!)

I only go to the actual theaters to eat the popcorn during the movie. Well, like I said in my last update…cancer sucks. The popcorn tasted like metal! <insert whiny face and crying emoji> It took away my only valid reason for paying $70 for tickets and concessions to see Will Smith dancing around like he did back in the 90’s.

We spent this past weekend alternating between resting and actually going out on the boat. We all definitely needed to catch up on our vitamin D. I learned a valuable lesson this weekend, though…I must apply sunscreen to my head, no matter how much shade I think I’ve got it under. OUCH! My head got sunburned, which has made it impossible to wear my wig right now. LOL So, imagine people’s surprise at work this week when I’ve either been in a head cover or just plain bald. One of our CFO’s didn’t even recognize me until I started talking and even then it took him a minute. Bless his heart… I should also add…I have a big head – BIG. But floppy sun hats (or any hat for that matter) don’t fit even big-headed people like me when you don’t have hair!

Now that my AC treatments are complete, I move to the next phase of chemo. This involves 12 weekly treatments of Taxol. I’ve been told, by my doctors and other patients, that this is much easier on the system. I’m crossing my fingers and toes that this is the case! So, starting on Friday, I will do chemo every week through the middle of August. After which I will have surgery, followed by 35 radiation treatments. We have a long way to go, but we are done with the first phase!

Thank you to everyone that has been thinking of us, praying for us, reaching out, etc…it means a lot. Speaking of which…in one of my next updates, I’ll share with you some of the amazing things people have done for or shared with us! More to come on that! 🙂

Proverbs 31:25