The Milestones!

OK. It's time. As you know I had chemo #3 last Thursday and that was followed by the Neulasta shot on Friday. The two things combined basically leave you feeling like you want to crawl under a rock and curl up for awhile.

I did find out from Dr. D. a little more about the thyroid issue. He said the cells they found, and there were multiple, were aggressive, dangerous cells that were a potential problem. They were not, at this point, malignant but probably would have become malignant and the accepted treatment is surgery to remove them which is what they did. So, that is a huge relief. It is amazing to know that if all of this other hadn't happened, this thyroid issue would have probably gone undetected for a long time. Even with the PET scan, the sonogram and the biopsy, the cells on the left side were undetected. But THEY'RE GONE. Hallelujah. And, I probably won't need any additional treatment for that.

So, it was full speed ahead and I moved on to my regularly scheduled treatment. Thanks to Marilyn for coming down and sitting with me through this so that Ken could keep his obligations at Morningside. The current chemo I am on leaves you tired and light headed so I can't drive myself. Thanks too for bringing dinner over that evening. Your help and the help of so many others has been such a blessing.

But, I have basically been hibernating since then and today it is time to raise my head and try to crawl out from under this rock. I have things to do that can't be done from here. For instance...

My grandaughter, Keisha, brought me a Valentine-o-gram from school on Friday on which she added the message, Get Well. How thoughtful is that? Well, today is not only Valentines Day, it is her 12th birthday, and we have celebrated her birthday every year. This one shouldn't be any different. Today should be about her, not me. So, they will come over later for a small family gathering. I made a commitment back on December 22, when I had my first chemo treatment, that I would celebrate and enjoy Christmas as usual, in spite of any side effects and the same for New Years. We never know when a particular event will be our last. That is true for any of us but I am particularly cognizant of it now. So I am celebrating all milestones as they occur to the best of my ability and today is Keisha's day.

Speaking of milestones, in about a month and a half, Ken and I will celebrate our 40th anniversary...not in the way we had originally planned, thanks to a bend in our life's road that changed Plan A to Plan B (don't even know what that is yet) but celebrate we will!! And, in between here and now, all three of our kids will have birthdays (isn't that amazing?) and we will celebrate the lives of each of them in turn.

And, another milestone...my next chemo session, currently scheduled for February 25, will be the last in my first round. Because one of the drugs is known to potentially cause heart problems, I will have to have another MUGA scan before proceding to round two to check for any damage. Once that is done, I will move on to the next phase of treatment which is supposed to be a little less aggressive but does bring with it it's own list of potential side effects. I must admit that some of them make me nervous, but how uplifting to know that I am now that close to moving upward and onward. We'll just keep taking things one step at a time.

For now, it's time to get off this computer and wrap a couple of birthday gifts. Hope you all enjoy your snowy Valentine's Day!

Later.