I have to add to my just finished blog--something I've been waiting and waiting to blog about!!
RACHEL IS PREGNANT!!
Finally!! (I mean finally I can tell everyone!) Most family found out this weekend, but I haven't been able to tell everyone yet. I"M SO EXCITED! I'll be a 45 year old grandma!!!!
The baby is due on Thanksgiving, altho with diabetics they usually like to take the baby a little early. Just in time for me to be done with chemo! Pray that I'm not too sick to spend time with my new grandbaby as soon as its born! I'm a little worried about that! More importantly, pray for a healthy baby and momma! Rachel is doing such a good job taking care of herself, and she will be the BEST momma!
So--my list of reasons to kick cancer's butt just got longer! Baby in Nov., wedding in May('10), graduation in June ('10), and of course with graduation comes seeing my baby go off to college!! i am soooo looking forward to the next chapter of my life with my husband! Woo-hoo! Its gonna be good folks!!
Love!
Tina
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What wonderful news, and the timing - well, it's His will. That's for sure and for certain. No doubt. THIS gives you even more reason to take care of yourself (note to Tina - CALL YOU DR ABOUT SLEEPING PILLS!!!! This is totally normal for chemo, and they are waiting for you to say the word before they hand out the RX.) and to take the time you need to heal. It's super important to take time for you, and to allow your body to have what it needs to rest up and get better. Moreover, it needs the energy to kill those rogue cancer cells.
ReplyDeleteSo, congrats, and remember that you need to take this time for yourself. Pretty soon, your world is going to revolve around a baby, not cancer.
It's a good life we live, isn't it?
Hi Tina-
ReplyDeletefirst of all, congratulations! It sounds like you all have a baby on the way in the family. Awesome news and something definitely to look forward to.
Just read through your blog. It seems that what you are going through is very normal.
Some of the things I learned early on was to request a change in the steriods because they are what cause you to have sleeping issues. This happens especially if you aren't used to taking alot of medicine.
I realized that I was receiving a bag of steriods, Aloxi (a new breakthrough drug for nausea), Emend and Ativan for my pre-meds and then taking steriods for 3 additional days.
My oncologist back off the milligrams of steriods in the bag and gave me Emend to start my chemo and it did the trick. I no longer struggled to sleep.
I am easily nauseated so they also provided me with Zofran to take home, in case I needed it. I found in the beginning I didn't use it as much but as time went on, I did. No sense trying to be "big" stuff and miserable.
I was always worried about taking so much medicine and was miserable until my Oncologist told me that if I kept on top of pain, nausea, etc. with medicine...it would make a world of difference and it did! As soon as I would feel nauseated and think I was going to get sick...immediately in went the meds.
Also, I found out later that lemon drops help with nausea. I thought it would be something minty but in fact, lemon drops are the thing. The hospital where I go for treatment, they are a large hospital and treat approx. 150 or more per day so they've seen just about everything. Once they told me to try the lemon drops, I was amazed how it really did help.
I am a big reader but I had trouble focusing, such as you've indicated on here. It must be very normal because I've heard others say it too. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. I know that I lived through all the guilt feelings, etc. but soon learned that I needed that energy to get better.
Our church provided dinners for us every day but we kept refusing because it seemed like they were doing so much. My Pastor finally told me that this was how we as Christians are blessed. It wasn't for me to figure out how to repay them but that God's blessings were much more bountiful and that we didn't need to interfere. We didn't feel that we needed that much food, so they brought food everyday during my chemo weeks for 8 months. It was such a blessing to our family.
Receiving from others was the hardest lesson I learned in this journey. I am by nature a giver so I had to learn to step back and let others step in. In the end, people feel more connected to you, relationships thrive and God's love shines through as you've never seen.
I have a wonderful family, a husband who spoils me, wonderful church and work....but the only way to get better is by going through the process of chemo and leaving the rest up to God.
God Bless...keep in touch, I'll be glad to help in anyway I can.
Leah