9 of 12

It kind of seems like time is flying by.  The days are already getting shorter, as we've passed summer solstice, and I don't feel like I've had much time to enjoy summer yet.  BUT it also means that the chemo's are moving along.  When I ripped off the chain link today, I left only three links.  Wow!


My labs are about the same.  
Hemoglobin 9.7 gm/dL 
Platelets: 99 thou/mcL 

WBC: 2.9 thou/mcL
Abs. neut: 1.9 thou/mcL

My chemo companion today was my friend (and Mt. Mary co-worker) Laura:



It was great to see her and to catch up on work stuff, and family stuff, as Laura has two adorable little ones (1 YO and 3 YO). She also brought some fabulous Ghirardelli brownies, which hit the spot after a long afternoon of chemo!

This was actually my second visit to the cancer center this week, as I woke up Monday with a subconjunctival hemorrhage (red spot in my eye).  They had to check my blood counts, which were normal (for me, on chemo), so all's fine now, but it was just "one more thing" to deal with--since once you're diagnosed with cancer, you can't assume that anything is a small thing.  

I decided to do a medical appointment count again.  Today's visit brought me up to 57 appointments since this all began.  Mind-boggling.  I cannot imagine what this would be like for someone who did not have health insurance.

Speaking of health insurance, they are still refusing to pay for my genetic testing--only covering BRCA1 and BRCA2 but not the other 15 genes known to be linked to breast cancer.  I don't know what will happen, as I was assured that I'd be informed if my portion of the cost was going to exceed $100, and I was never told that it would.  Meanwhile, I just keep getting EOBs with denial of coverage.

I still have the minor annoyances associated with chemo.  I notice greater exhaustion each week (I'm already in bed, writing this at 7:00).  My eyes and nose are still running.  My fingers and toes hurt from the neuropathy.  My vision is still blurry and I'm sensitive to sunlight.  My nails have started to grow out and you can see what horrible things the AC chemo did to them, as there's a line above which the nail is ridged, curved, and yellowish-blue.  My eyebrows continue to drop and my eyelashes, too.  BUT my fuzz on my head is getting even longer, and I see some stubbly black hairs poking through my eyebrow region, too.

I hated to even mention that I'd noticed the return of the cording, because I thought I could handle it myself with the exercises I had last time.  But it's gotten steadily worse, and my whole right arm and shoulder are hard to move.  So I got a referral, and I return to OT tomorrow morning at 7:00 am.  You know I appreciate what OT can do if I'm willing to wake up early enough to make a 7:00 am appointment!  :)  I've missed Audrey (the OT) and she gives amazing massages.

~~~~~

I've done quite a bit of knitting this last week.  I finished Trav's socks:

And I've made good progress on the Noro sweater--even into the lace pattern at the top.  And look--there's sleeves!  I just love these colors.

And today at chemo I finished one washcloth and started another.  

I need to start another pair of socks and get them past the difficult part so I can knit with company again.