Today was chemo treatment number 8 out of 16 – half of them
are now behind me! And to celebrate, one of my oldest (we’ve been friends for
almost 25 years!) and dearest friends in the world was in town from Houston and went with
me. Thank you Ting! I know it took effort to arrange for your mom and hubby to
watch the boys – so thank you to them too. I now have 4 A/C (red devil)
treatments behind me, as well as 4 Taxol treatments. Taxol seems to be an easier drug
to tolerate, although the side effects are different. I’m losing eyelashes and
eyebrows, and the ice is not much fun during treatment (which helps prevent neuropathy
and my fingernails/toenails from lifting). Eight more of these to go! I’m so glad medical science has the anti-nausea meds and steroids figured out, which I receive along with the
chemo, that help prevent side effects and keep me feeling ok for a couple of
days. And I am back to my routine of getting a shot to boost my white blood
cell count the day after each treatment, so that hopefully I won’t have to
delay treatment again. Fingers crossed!
That’s about all I have today. I’m wiped out and going to
try to get to bed early! I still can’t believe how generous everyone has been,
bringing us so many delicious dinners. I can’t wait to pay it forward when I
get through this and have friends and family that I can help out. Thank you to
each and every one of you who has made our lives easier with these thoughtful
gifts!
I am going to try to remember to end each entry now with
a quote. Today’s is from my brother’s sweet friend Kelly (thank you so much for
the package!): “Enjoy the little things,
for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” It’s so true. I
think about this all the time when Stella is learning another new word for the day,
when I see the smile on her face as she goes down a big slide for the first
time, or when Ben comes home from work telling me what a great day he had. We
never know how much time we’ll have on this earth….but I want to savor every
moment. 
