Blood Counts and other news

When I woke up this morning, I was really nauseated and my hips were just aching.  The good news is that my blood counts were up yesterday, so I started the study drug again last night.  They lowered the dose so it doesn't slam my immune system like it did last month.  It felt like I spent half the day there at Huntsman.  They did the blood draw, then you wait for the lab to post the results, then you wait for the study coordinator to give the OK to the pharmacy, then you wait on the pharmacy!  It's a process, but I had Regena with me, and together we make things fun.  😁

I was at Huntsman 3 times this week.  I had an awesome visit with Annie, my social worker.  She just has a way with helping me process this wretched situation I find myself in.  We talked about ways to make the most of the 3 month cycles I have, between my CT scans.  I want to try to get away with the family often, even if it's just a weekend.  The most important thing for our family right now is making memories!  I want to work on projects around the house, get the darn place painted, get the floor in the kitchen taken care of, and a few other things.  I just need to stay as busy as I can, so I don't think too much and let cancer overwhelm me.  If I can keep my life as normal as possible, cancer won't get the best of me.

This week was also the breast mets support group.  They are such a great group of women!  Every one of us is traveling a tough road, but we keep pushing forward.  The conversation did get kind of heavy.  A pharmacist there talking about drugs for metastatic breast cancer, she had them all nicely organized on a graph, which ones treated which types of cancer, what their side effects are, etc.  It was inevitable that we would also talk about what happens when drugs stop working.  They stop working because cancer cells outsmart the drugs (thus the scans every 3 months).  Toward the end, Dr. Buys suggested we leave on a lighter note and had us each tell the group about something we are looking forward to.  I was SO excited to share news about our EPIC SUMMER ROAD TRIP!  I left feeling happy and uplifted, despite the heavy conversation before.

I went to Shayla's funeral on Thursday, which in and of itself was very nice, a great tribute to a great woman!  I was so sad to find out what is happening with her kids.  They're being split up.  Hasn't there been enough trauma???  My heart is broken for them and I pray that God will watch over them.

Last night was Make The Magic, Camp Kesem BYU's biggest fundraiser!  Kesem has been such a blessing to our family.  My kids have attended this weeklong summer camp every summer since 2010.  They go have the time of their lives, make awesome friends and have fun, fun, fun!!!  The camp is completely free to families affected by cancer.  How could I not support?  It was a great night, great food, great friends, and they raised enough money for 50 kids to come to camp this summer!