My Journey with Triple Positive Breast Cancer

  Is anyone super-duper bored? My Christmas tree has a slight problem with its lighting. No worries, I've already ordered string lights to replace them. Pre-lit trees are great...until they aren't.  Some days it feels like this cancer thing is a bit of a racket. 😶 No, I'm not knowingly perpetrating fraud, I just received several gifts over the past couple of days, which can leave me feeling a bit weird. I mean, I know how much I enjoy gifting people cards and unexpected items, but I feel somewhat overwhelmed when I'm given the same.  This last week was a toughie. For some reason, I found myself at loose ends multiple times. Perhaps it's because the brain fog and nausea were worse than anticipated after having a better Round 3 than I should have. (This is according to two nurses and the oncologist, whose eyebrows went up when I told them that Round 3 had gone better than Round 2 - I love shocking medical personnel - in a good way, of course.) So today I decided to t...

  Remember how I bemoaned having 13 vials of blood drawn? Ha! 13 is for beginners! This time they took 18! Hubby and I had a rather early "date" on Thursday; it was to get my blood drawn. How romantic, right? Well, considering that it was raining proverbial cats and dogs and I was as pleasant as she-bear just out of hibernation...no. It wasn't. 😖 (I'm solar-powered, remember? 😎) I had an appointment to have my blood drawn at the Edmonton Kay Clinic for several special tests requested by Dr. Sun, my hematologist, as the Edmonton Kaye Clinic Lab is the only lab in the city that runs them. (I was also booked to have blood drawn an hour before my oncology appointment at the Cross on Friday, but I called them and they were kind enough to fax over the requisition so I could have these tests done a day early and only need one poke in 24 hours, not two. As someone who bruises very easily, the fewer the number of pokes, the happier I am!) I apologize if you're squeamish;...

  The Soda Shop in Hinton is adorable! Pollyannas have off days too. Perhaps not as many, nor as dark, but some days I cry. 😕 Today was such a day. I didn't have a good night's sleep last night, thanks to some wacky dreams, and I awoke feeling blah. I'm not sure what tipped me over the edge; maybe it was being in Hinton and having overdone it the night before when I drove one-third of the way. (Don't worry - it was between Niton Junction and Hinton, where the most common observer was of the wildlife variety, and I don't mean oilfield workers! ) Maybe it was Week 2 chemo side effects, such as super sensitive skin, bowel complaints, and a sore mouth with wonky taste buds*, but with less to distract me, I was just not feeling like myself. 😔      * Bad news! Doritos are no longer delicious. Now don't freak out, they're still worth eating, and still my go-to when my weight starts to dip, (please ignore that last phrase, my dietitian sisters-in-law 😬) and they...

  Today I'm thankful. Yes, I know, everyone is thankful this weekend. At the very least, everyone is trying to come up with at least one thing for which to give thanks. This year, my thanks go deeper.  There are the usual reasons to be thankful: great family, no physical needs (not to be confused with wants), good health...oh, wait. 😬 Right. We'll get back to that.  Frankly, this year I'm just grateful that I have an opportunity to celebrate! When I think back to how close I came to heaven after my surgery (you can find the blog posts about that experience  here  and  here ), I'm just grateful to be spending this Thanksgiving with my family. Here. On Earth. I have no doubts that Thanksgiving in heaven is glorious, but I have no burning desire to partake of it there just yet. 😊 So, what else am I thankful for?  A beautiful  autumn. It's a common complaint among Canadians that we basically have 2 seasons, summer and winter, with a 2-week transitio...

  Just a few of the things I got done while on my steroid high. 😊 So "chemo day" begins the day before, which doesn't really make sense, but stay with me here, it's all about the drugs. In preparation for the chemo infusion, I start to take steroids (Decadron or dexamethasone) the day before. They are taken twice, in the morning with breakfast and at 2:00 pm with a snack. They must be taken before 5:00 pm and 2:00 pm is as early as they allow; they definitely interfere with sleep. I take them again on chemo day and the day after, using the same dosing. This is intended to reduce any adverse reactions to the actual infusion. They also help ease you into the side effects, as they help combat those as well. But, they also give me a burst of energy and I turn into the Energizer Bunny! I take full advantage of this effect and plan accordingly. The house is never so clean, nor the baked goods so prolific as the weekend before a chemo infusion. 😁  MAR and meds are ready to...