Chemo Delay

Wednesday I went in for my second round of Taxol and my white blood cell counts (immune system, ability to fight infection) was too low (at 400, needs to be above 1500 ideally). So they sent me home and told me to come try again next Monday.  Booooo. 

I love chemo days because I love having something in my blood stream fighting the cancer! (And because I get to chill for 3-4 hours and watch HGTV with a warm blanket, and because there are no kids crying for milk, and because they get me cold ginger ales and snacks. Okay, let's be honest, there are lots of reasons I love chemo days.) This is the first time we've had to delay chemo because of my blood counts. I wish there was something I could do, like eat a certain food or exercise more, that would help boost my immune system.  The doctors keep telling me the only thing I can do is not get sick. So I went to Walmart and Noah's daycare yesterday...both of those activities should help me not get sick, right?  I promise I had my mask on the whole time!

David and me at walmart, bonus points if you can spot the baby

In an effort to get my counts to rebound faster I have to do steroid shots again. Previously I was able to take two weeks' worth of steroids at one time in a single shot the day after chemo.  However, since I'm now getting weekly chemo, I have to switch to smaller daily injections of the steroids so that the steroids won't interact with the chemo.  So guess what came in the mail today- an overnighted package of 'riods! and a ton of needles- eeeek!

Did I mention I hate needles and am a total baby about them?

On Wednesday when we realized I wouldn't be getting chemo, the nurse trained me on how to inject myself with the drugs. There were about a million steps. In hindsight, I probably should have video taped her. On the plus side, I'll be a total pro if I ever get diabetes or decide to take up meth.

On Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning there was a big debacle about getting the prescription filled. Walgreen's wanted $3000 for five tiny doses...I should do the math on what that translates into per ounce. Then, once I convinced my insurance it was a life or death situation and that I had two little babies they did an override. Then, Thursday morning I went to pick it up  and Walgreen's said they didn't even carry the drugs- come on. 

Due to that drug debacle I had to go back to the clinic to get Thursday's dose, but it all ended up working out. I attempted to do the injection on my own while the nurse told me when I had missed a step. It probably is for the best that I had to come in so I could get a second lesson. Today the insurance/drug company overnighted the drugs to me so now I have steroids for the whole month - weeee!

One upside to chemo being delayed is that I have felt really good this week and got an extra couple days of not being totally wiped out. My life is really pretty great right now. Since Brad does the overnight feeding with David, I get a full 7-8 hours of sleep straight. I get up with David and Noah in the mornings and get them fed/play with them. It is really fun.

Breakfast with the boys. Note the million cherrios on the ground.

We go on family walks almost every night. Walks at night are especially good if I haven't felt super hot during the day and have taken one of my epic 5-6 hour naps (is it a nap if you sleep for 6 hours? or is it just another night's sleep, but during the day?). I always feel so good after an evening walk - it's just nice to get out of the house and spend time as a family. The doctors/nurses always get so excited when I tell them I exercise 5-6 days a week. I guess that is a good thing to do even with chemo so I'm going to keep it up! 

I try to run a few days a week in the morning with Noah. Noah is a good running partner! I'm still working on getting my mileage/speed up. Right now we are doing short and slow runs. I figure, at least I'm getting out there!

Noah and me out for a morning run!

Delaying chemo has also allowed me some time/energy for projects around the house. One of my friends suggested I focus some energy on decorating to take my mind off of things. Great suggestion! It has been super fun getting the house put together. I even started painting yesterday.

Do you like my blue wall?

Life is pretty great right now. If it wasn't for the life-threatening cancer, I wouldn't have a thing to complain about!

If you are praying for our family, please pray that my counts would rebound very, very quickly and be crazy high by Monday so we can get back on schedule with the chemo. I need this chemo to work like whoa so we can have a pathological complete response, clear margins, and no evidence of disease with no distant recurrence ever. That would be ah-mazing!