And The Fun Begins

So I am OFFICIALLY on summer vacation....FINALLY!!!  It was a rough ending to the year but I'm very happy I was able to get through it.  To see all the tears (all the parents) at graduation last night, and being soo proud myself of the 12 kiddos that are leaving us to go on to Kindergarten made pushing myself to go back when I did more worthwhile.  And while I'd love to say I'm looking forward to the next 6 weeks off I know that they are going to FLY by...

Next week (Tuesday) I have my usual appointment with my orthodontist, I am trying to stay on track with those appointments because it is getting me that much closer to having them off.  It was originally predicted 18 months of treatment and we are now officially in 22 months of treatment.  The next "expected" date of being done is the end of the summer.  I discussed some concern with one of the oncology nurses this week about the possibility of mouth sores as a side effect of chemo and she said there were things they can do from the beginning to try and keep that from happening which makes me feel better.  Dr. B offered to take them off for me until I recovered from all the cancer stuff and then putting them back on to finish my teeth treatment, but I want to try and see this through to the end if at all possible.

Wednesday I have to have an EKG done on my heart.  One of the side effects of this particular chemo is cardiovascular damage.  They need to get a baseline of my heart and make sure there aren't already heart issues before starting the chemo.  Then they will monitor for changes from the chemo.

Thursday I will have outpatient surgery to have the port placed.  I've decided to have the port placed so they don't have to find a vein every time that they go to administer chemo.  Plus with the toxicity of the AC it is safer this way, bad things could happen if I blew a vein and it leaked out.  I'm semi nervous about the surgery, I know it's routine, but for someone who's had nothing more than wisdom teeth removal on her surgery card having to go through 2 surgeries in 3 months is A LOT.

Friday morning I start chemo.  I had to go to OSU's breast clinic on Wednesday to receive my Zolodex injection, and since there was some wait time involved the nurse was great at answering my questions and trying to give me an idea of how Friday is going to go.  They spend a lot of team teaching and talking to you throughout the process so we will spend probably a good 4-5 hours there, even though they say the treatments run about 2 hours total.  I'm nervous about starting chemo, but only because it affects EVERYONE differently and I just want to know what to expect.  Brian is scheduled to work the entire weekend for his MOD shift so I hope that I will be able to hang out there with him.  Those weekends have typically been very relaxing for me.  I tend to lay around reading, watching TV, or working on small projects....I get to eat lots of yummy foods and sometimes even get to take a nice soaking bath!

If all of this isn't crazy enough I've decided to give up my apartment.  Brian and I had already discussed plans to move back in together when our leases were up (October/November) but he's been living with me here since just before my surgery and I think financially it is silly for us to continue to maintain 2 separate spaces when we are already living together in 1.  It seems like an expensive storage unit.  I talked to the rental office about whether or not I can break my lease early (as they don't have that option built in to their lease) and they said under the circumstances that shouldn't be a problem.  I need to seek final approval from the property manager and may be out some money, but not as much as it would cost us to pay rent for the remainder of the time.  So with everything else going on, Brian and I are going to go through both places and weed out things we absolutely don't need anymore, and then after putting what is needed at his house I will moving the rest into storage.  I know this seems like a huge undertaking at this point, but I'd rather work on it now at the start of treatment, especially since they tell me that the treatments will build on each other, so I may not be tired this time, but will start to feel it more  with treatment #2 and could be just exhausted by treatment #4.  Besides it's summer and I have access to more people to help NOW than I will in November when I really do have to get out of the apartment.  And I am blessed that my friend & coworker Barb has offered to help me with the task of weeding through and packing up my place.  If I get to a point that I am not able to physically do it, she's willing to do the labor while I let her know what to do with the stuff.  I am optimistic that this chapter will work out for the best.

I know many people have offered to help in anyway they can through this whole process.  I have been so grateful for the things done so far, but once we know how I will respond to the treatments then I can get a better idea of how I can be helped.  So I will be calling on many of you who have offered to help when I don't have the energy to do everything myself.

In the meantime I am trying to plan and partake in some fun things while I know I'm still feeling up to it! Tomorrow I get to go dress shopping with a friend of mine who is getting married!  And I'm also going to Dayton to see a local band play and hang out with the girls there!