Back on Track with Chemo

Thank you to everyone that prayed for me over the weekend for my counts to come back up. Your prayers combined with the Neupogen shots made my ANC come up to 3800 - woohoo! We are back in the range of a healthy person. 

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The Neulasta shot I had taken previously to help with my white counts really did me in the days following the shot with bone/muscle pain. It always felt like I was hit by a truck. I spent every day after the shot in bed on serious pain meds. The new daily shot at home, Neupogen, has given me very little side effects and I've felt much better on it. I'm pretty stoked about that. Hope that continues!

I slept pretty much the whole time at chemo today. It was lovely. They give you Benadryl to help decrease the risk of an allergic reaction to the chemo and it knocks me out. I came home around lunchtime and then slept until 5pm. Thanks Mom for pulling a "12 hour shift" today helping out. 

During the first round of Taxol, the chemo nurses had me stick my hands and feet in bags of ice. It was super duper painful. The idea is that it decreases the blood flow and theoretically decreases the most talked about symptom of Taxol - nueropathy - pain, numbness, and tingling in fingers and toes. This round the nurses said that there had been studies that disproved this. So you ask a sleeping Ashleigh if she wants to wake up to go through an hour of pain and there is data that says it won't work...you can probably guess what my answer was. I'm going to need to do a little homework before the next round and see what studies have been done. I really don't want permanent neuropathy for the rest of my life. I can't imagine trying to type on a keyboard (for my job when I return), run, and take care of little ones, without feeling or worse, pain, in my hands and feet.

Tonight after my day of sleeping I went to the Beacon of Hope cancer support group I previously mentioned here. I really enjoyed it again. Everyone there is so positive and, just like the name would indicate, full of hope! Tonight a family came and spoke about a non-profit they started that helps families financially going through tough times. The gentleman that spoke talked about how he had lung cancer and was given 6 months to live. Then one day he went in for a scan and all the cancer was gone. This was 7 years ago. Stuff like that happens- so crazy. It would be so awesome to have a miracle like that in my life. I would totally be game!

Lots to be thankful for tonight. I'm really happy to have chemo back in my bloodstream again. Love me some chemo! I'm so happy that my immune system is doing so well and responded well to the Neupogen shots. I'm so thankful for my Mom being available to watch David and take me to and from chemo today. And I'm thankful for the encouragement I received from the Beacon of Hope meeting. Now if we can just get these pesky tumors and swollen lymph nodes to melt away in the next 11 weeks that would be wonderful!

I'll leave you with a video of me and the boys rocking on the front porch last night. The weather is finally getting a little cooler here in Texas and it feels great being outside in the evenings.