Feeling like a little vacation

We had a great weekend down in Mt. Vernon with my friend and her family. Marcel and I bought a couple cruiser bikes at Fred Meyer. We are looking forward to using them at the rotary trail and around town. The weekend was pretty good, on Saturday afternoon I didn't feel so great but had a nap and felt a little better.

Looking forward to the next week and a bit, today I am going for a pedicure. It will be my last one for a while as I am not aloud to have them during treatments. Then on Thursday Darcie and I are going to Whistler for an overnight sisters trip Spa included :). We will be home Friday night.

Then next Thursday Marcel and I are taking off to San Francisco for his birthday. I can't wait I have always wanted to go to San Francisco. We will be home on Sunday night then I start chemo the week of Sept 8th.

Enjoy your long weekend coming up.

Liane

6 down, now time for a little R&R

I finished my last radiation treatment yesterday. Everything went well, afterwards I met with a pain and symptoms specialist to discuss how I was feeling. He prescribed me some medication to deal with the trouble I am having with my left arm. (As I type my left fingers have pins and needles)

I am officially having some R&R for the next couple weeks. Tomorrow morning Marcel and I are taking our trailer down to Mt. Vernon to stay with my friend Andrea and Andrew for the weekend. Then we come back and on Thursday my sister Darcie and I are heading to Whistler to go to the spa and an overnight trip. We are planning to go to the PNE on August 30th. Marcel and I are also taking a trip to San Francisco from Sept 4 -7 for his birthday weekend and before I start chemo.

Chemo is going to start the week of Sept 8th. Not really looking forward to it, not that anyone does. But it is even harder when you have been through it once already. These trips are going to be a great way for me to keep my mind off of it for a bit.

Cheers,
Liane

One more...

Well I thought I was finished radiation today....nope one more tomorrow. That's ok 6 is my lucky number so 6 radiation treatments it is :)

It's been a busy week already I had radiation on Monday and today one more to go tomorrow and then I am done with that for awhile. I saw my oncologist today she says I will start chemo the week of Sept 8th. We are hoping these treatments knock this cancer on its ass. Sorry for the language :) I get to see my grandson tonight they are coming over for dinner and to meet his great Oma and Opa.

Tomorrow I have my last radiation at 8:30am then I meet with a pain and symptom specialist at 9:00am then I am off to Whiterock for 11:30 for a celebration of life for my Great Aunt Grace. Then dinner with my sister and Melissa. Looking forward to seeing everyone then a relaxing weekend away in Mt. Vernon with my hubby and my BFF and her family.

Take care be a Warrior not a Worrier!

So many things to be thankful for

I am thankful this week is over and I get to enjoy the weekend with family and friends. I completed my IV bone therapy on Wednesday and wait straight downstairs for radiation which went well. Until I went to leave and they asked me who was driving me home. "Umm I am why?" then they proceed to tell me that they radiate a portion of my stomach when radiating my back and that could cause nausea. Awesome, so they send me on my way with a little puke bucket just in case. Lucky for me no nausea on the way home which ended up being a detour to my sisters then home. However 4am rolled around and the nausea hit me...yuck. I got up and took a gravol and went back to sleep.

When I got up on Thursday morning I was still feeling very sick I ate some yogurt and Breanna came over so we could go to the H together. We got about 2 min from my house and I had to pull over and get sick. We made it to the hospital and went to see Jennifer up on the maternity ward she was in early labour. We hung out for a bit and then Breanna and I went to chemo teach and then to radiation. B got to see and learn about everything I am going to go through. I was feeling very ill all day after radiation I saw a nurse and got a nausea medication. B drove me home from the H and I went to bed pretty much for the rest of the day.

On Thursday Aug 14th at 7:28pm our grandson Jaxtyn was born 7lbs 14oz 55cm long. We didn't go and see him that evening as I was pretty tired and not feeling well. On Friday morning the medicine had kicked in finally. I met Marcel at the hospital and went for radiation, Marcel came in and saw how they set me up for my treatments. After my treatment we went upstairs to meet our grandson. We visited for a bit then Marcel left to go to work and I stayed a little bit longer. I was lucky to get to watch the nurse give him his first bath.

I am feeling better today the medicine is working we are going to the Giggle Dam with my family tonight for my brother in law to be's birthday. Then tomorrow we are going to the Mierau bbq. Enjoy your weekend.

Luv ya!

More tattoos....

Super busy day yesterday. I started off going to Chilliwack hospital for some blood work (pregnancy test lol.) Of course they didn't have the requisition. So I left a message with the radiation dept. They called me back and I told them I would go to Abbotsford to have it done instead on my way through to Ft. Langley. Got to Abbotsford lab and guess what...yep no requisition. So I went down to the Radiation dept and got it myself and then had the blood work done. Guess what I'm not pregnant lol.

So I headed to Ft. Langley to meet Dr. Parmar at the Integrated Cancer clinic. We talked about my cancer and what else we can do. Long story short I need to cut out all sugar and flour from my diet and we are going to look at doing some treatments in conjunction with chemotherapy. Just trying to figure out what we are doing exactly. I am also going to take a few supplements like Melatonin and Vitamin D.

After Dr. Parmar my sister and I went for lunch at Wendels books in Ft.Langley then I headed back to Abbotsford for my tattoos. Unfortunately the tattoos I get are not very decorative. We have added 4 more little black dots to my body. I have one on each upper thigh below my hips, one above my belly button and one on my right pelvis/hip area. I am officially all ready for radiation tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow I have IV therapy for bone strengthener at 1:00 and radiation at 3:00pm. On Thursday I have chemo teach at 10:00am and radiation at 11:48. Then Friday I have radiation at 10:36.

I am looking forward to going to the Giggle Dam on Saturday night with my family. On Sunday we have the Mierau bbq. It should be a great weekend.

Enjoy your week!

And so it begins again...

Busy week coming up on Monday I have to go for blood work to confirm I am not pregnant to do radiation. Are you kidding me I have been on hormone therapy for 2 years and am pre menopausal. Pretty sure I am not pregnant lol. Anyway So blood work Monday then off to Fort Langley for 10:30 to meet with the Integrated Cancer Clinic to talk about alternative approaches and naturopathic help. Then to Abbotsford at 2:30pm for radiation markings for my lower back and right hip.

On Wednesday I have to go for IV therapy in Abbotsford at 1:00pm then at 3:00pm I get my first of 5 radiation therapy. On Thursday I have chemo teach at 10:00am and I will have my 2nd radiation therapy and on Friday I will have 3 of 5.

Then we will relax on the weekend and back at it next week. I will keep you posted on how things go this week.

Have a great Sunday!

Ahhh Shooot!!!

I went and met with the Radiation Oncologist today. He had my PET scan results and unfortunately the results were not fantastic. He told me the cancer is in 5 major spots and is also in some of my lymph nodes in my torso. Shoooot!!! not what I was thinking at all.

He informed us that it is in my lower back the L3 which we knew already. Then he said it is also in 2 places in my right hip one of the tumours in my hip is 3.5cm. It is in my upper back in my T3 and is also back in my left armpit where it originally started.

So the plan is to treat my lower back the L3 as that is where it has been sore and is sore and we are also going to treat my right hip with radiation. The radiation treatments should start in the next week or so just waiting for a call with dates. we are going to do 5 treatments one a day for 5 days. Then we will attack the rest with Chemo.

The oncologist said that in his experience the people who are positive through it all fair the best. Its a good thing I am stubborn and positive :)

Have a great weekend enjoy time with your families.

Love ya
Liane

PET scan complete :)

I went to have my PET scan yesterday at the Cancer agency in Vancouver. The experience itself is much like going for a CT scan. The take you into a room first and hook you up to an IV then they inject a radioactive glucose dye. Once they inject it then you have to stay in the room for 45 minutes and relax. No reading or looking at your cell phone etc....but they do let you listen to a cd of your choice. I chose Luke Bryan, time goes so slow.

I asked what the difference was between a PET Scan and CT. Basically the difference is the glucose dye they inject for the PET scan goes in your body and the cancer loves sugar so it attracts it to the different places the cancer may be in your body. Then they do the scan and the idea is that the spots all show up on the scan. The CT scan is more for your organs etc.

So the scan is done and hopefully tomorrow I will find out the results of the scan when I meet with my Radiation Oncologist to find out the plan.

Thanks Dad for coming with me to Vancouver and being my co-pilot or HOV partner :)

Cheers
Liane