Sunday, July 27, 2008

Chemo begins

Noon tomorrow will be my first chemotherapy. For those of you in the know the drugs I'll be given are Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin. I looked them up on the internet to see all the fun I'm in for and if you're interested you'll find them on www.chemocare.com/bio Mike, Shannon and I went to a chemo class last week and I chose Mondays as my treatment day so that I'll be feeling good by the weekend. Treatments will be every 21 days with December 7th being the last one. Each treatment will last about 4 hours. We were told in class that the first few days can be rough, but by day 4 or 5 I should be feeling pretty good, and if I don't have too many side effects I could even do a little traveling on the second or third week (NYC here I come!) Dr. Litton said he has a patient who goes skiing after therapy, and other patients who are positive he is trying to kill them. He said, "I'm not saying this isn't real......for them", but he suspects I'll be somewhere in between although I'd like to think I'll be up for skiing! Dr. Allred was able to remove my drains on Monday and Dr. Anderson gave me thumbs up to start using my arms on Wednesday so I've been in heaven these last few days as I can finally shower, dress, and do my own hair. It was also great to be able to go to church for the first time in weeks today. The priests in my ward have been bringing the sacarament to my home and while I have considered this a wonderful blessing there is nothing like fellowshipping with the saints, and feeling the spirit there. The Lord has blessed me abundantly with loving, caring family, friends, neighbors, and ward members whom I love dearly. I can't say I'm grateful to have breast cancer, but I am grateful to have my eyes opened to the tender mercies of the the Lord because of it. Once again, thanks for your love and support. It's been great to see so many of you, and I look forward to more visits.










Thanks to Dawn and Kristen for posting pictures (I have no idea how to do it). The girls had such a fun time while they were all in Utah. I had to pass on the activities until Wednesday when Dawn and I took Zoe and Tatym to Liberty Park.







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shirlene,
Wow! I just read the entire blog. You ROCK! What a great attitude! No surprise there. :-) What does surprise me is that you didn't pick the white wig. Come one...you looked like Marilyn Monroe. :-) jk.

I wish we could come visit, but we are still far away in MN. I am sure that today was a bit rough starting chemo, but tomorrow will definitely be better! I know you will make each day better the the previous.

Your grandkids are gorgeous! It must give you both great joy to see them often and watch them play together.

We continue to pray for you and Mike. Thank you for being brave enough to share all of this! I know this will strengthen all who read it. As always, you are still serving others in a unique and personal way. Take care!
Love,
Jenn & Mike Anderson

Anonymous said...

hi shirlene,
i hope all went well today - it's always scary going into the relative unknown. i'm usre these next few months will be a challenge, full of highs and not-so-highs - but what a wonderful thought that it will all be but a memory by christmas!

with love, sharon.