1ST Chemo Treatment
Well, Monday was 2 weeks exactly from having gallbladder surgery. I recovered well and given a choice to wait start Chemo treatment for at least another two weeks or go ahead and start.
I went ahead and started my Chemo treatment, received first one Tuesday and next one is tomorrow.
The choice was mind to make, as was advised about losing all my hair and some patients during the summer don't like treatment because change their appearance during summer months. We only have one more trip planned, and it's this weekend. Besides, my treatment is for precancerous cells found during my last biopsy.
To me stopping the precancerous cells is more important than looks to me, and not wonting to put off that could lead to possibly fast progression.
The 1st treatment made me only feel tired for two days with no energy, am thankful no very bad vomiting as I was told could lead to lots of vomiting with other issues as the treatment affects each one differently.
I'm still here, just taking care of myself more. I am putting my health first and foremost from now on and not putting things off. I have lost to many family and friends to cancer, one including my sister in 2001 at age of 26 (that still hurts today when I think about how she never got to have a family of her own and when she wanted children of her own). It is not a wise decision to ignore health issues or possibility of full-blown cancer and thankful with new improvements to healthcare that can detect early precancerous cells to try avoid the disease becoming full blown cancer.
Everyone have a good rest of week and finish out strong with your online endeavors along with having a good weekend.
Recent Comments
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Jannette, you have been through so many health challenges. I admire your positivity and strength to carry on. I can relate to that. I, too, have my health challenges with chronic MS. Thanks for sharing your story. It is encouraging me to keep going in a positive direction. I am glad you are getting the chemo treatment. It sounds like it's a wise decision. Yes, we must take care of our health, not ignore it. My late husband did, he refused to go to the dr too late, he had stage four Pancreatic cancer, and he's been gone for almost seven years now. Losing our loved ones is painful. I can relate to that very well.
We are on the other side of this. My wife finished her 6th treatment 4 months ago. They told us it would be 6 treatments 3 weeks apart. But her treatment attacked her blood as well and in a couple of cases it took almost 2 months for her blood cell count to return to a level where they could continue with the treatments.
My advice is, to follow the path but don't get discouraged if it takes longer than they tell you. And make sure you follow all of their advice for pre and post treatment. Keeping yourself hydrated seemed to help a lot too.
Prayers to you Jannette I know exactly what you mean about being tired for days. I had cancer 3 times growing up and I am 38 years old currently.
My first treatment was when I was 4 and the last when I was 21. I kept relapsing with leukemia and we could never figure out why. My whole family is as healthy as a horse so unfortunately we may not like the big guys plan but obviously he did it for a reason. We will come out stronger than ever!
I have all the faith in the world that you will be a warrior and if you have any pointers or advice just message me I am free to answer or give any advice. Best thing is stay hydrated and find a low sodium diet that is easy on the stomach. I never felt like eating and my favorite was Campbells chicken noodle soup and a ton of rest.
Kevin and Son
Very good advice, I cut out all sodium intake, sugar, anything that causes cholesterol over six years ago. Basically, eat just fish and vegetables with no seasoning at all.
Mediterranean diet is awesome. When the had me on a drug called "Prednisone" I crave salt like crazy and would sneak some pizza or something and boy I would regret it. I would swell up and I looked like a chipmunk because it was a steroid pill.
Kevin and Son
Hi Jannette
Thank you for sharing your journey. I have not been treated for cancer personally but have had my share of losses and scares. As you rightly say, it's not wise to ignore health issues - good for you for taking this head on!
Sending prayers your way and encouragement to stay positive. Our minds truly are incredibly powerful and what we focus on makes a difference in the lives we lead.
Someone very interesting to listen to online is Dr Caroline Leaf, she speaks about neuroplasticity and has had incredible results working with the brain. I am working through her book "Switch on your brain". It's well worth reading ... quite hard going in places (for me, at least) ... it will give you good things to think about and focus on through this period in your life.
Hope this helps you.
Louise 🤍
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Janette,
Nice that you have such a great attitude. That helps so much in any chemo treatment, or anything in life that requires one to not dwell in the bad, and just have a more laissez-faire attitude. Not so much complacent, but moreso, carefree. I noticed that immediately from your profile, that you are a woman who doesn't worry about much, even when bad stuff happens: and bad stuff happens to everyone! It's how we deal with adversity that matters most.
I know firsthand, I had a brain tumor. It was discovered back in April, 2021. I went to the hospital after having a type of headache I'd never had before in my life. It felt very strange, mostly on the left side of my head, over my ear. It felt not so much painful, but felt as if something was moving under the skin, yes, like a worm of sorts. Just felt far too unsettling to NOT get it checked out. Even though I have a family history of migraines, this definitely felt worth checking out at the ER.
Turned out it was good I went in that night. It was discovered from a CT-scan that I had a left-frontal lobe mass, or tumor growing. Apparently, after further examination at MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) the Drs there told me that it was a very slow growing tumor, not aggressive at all. So, it had likely been growing for 2, maybe 3 decades. I'm only 48 now, so it was likely growing since my early 20s. Just goes to show you, you can't take anything for granted in life. One day here, next day... gone. POSSIBLY gone! I had it out the next month. I had the best neurosurgeon possibly in the entire world. Being at Mass General as a Dr, already makes you one of the best doctors in the world, but as a neurosurgeon specializing in all things tumors, even of the brain, he had to be one of the best, ever.
I was super confident in his abilities. I had a few questions, that were zoom, because the pandemic was in full swing at that time. Everything was basically in lock-down at that point.
Long story short, 8 hour long surgery, including intra-operative MRI, and here I am, 100% cancer free 2 years later. The tumor was taken out with 100% accuracy. I'm sure that he had to 'dig' in there to get out any remaining cancer cells, but the inter-operative MRI is perfect for 'seeing' what's still there multiple times, before closing up my skull. Two thin titanium plates, and 12 titanium screws later, and I'm as good as new!
I've been cancer free now for over 2 years. Perhaps too soon to say this, but the prospects of me being cancer-free for life looks amazingly good. Especially that the tumor was better than most he'd seen, in that the size was about the size of a jelly bean, and no contrast went into it at all. So, it was just sitting there, on top of my brain. Doesn't make too much sense how it got there, and there is no definitive reason tumors start to grow. Could have been from an injury I had back in 1995 when my head went through the windshield after a pretty horrific accident, of which I walked away from. I remember it like it was yesterday, the words from a passerby saying, "Wow, you're walking? You shouldn't even be alive! Look at your car!" It was mangled, all crushed up in the front. Crumple zones? What crumple zones? The entire car crumpled. lol
Anyhow, enough about me, this is your blog. I seem to be attempting to hijack it! Believe me, this was all written out in about 10 mins time, on the fly. I write a lot, all the time. Anyhow, I'm sure you'll beat this just as I did. Your cells are precancerous, and that's good, but getting rid of them early is key.
Be strong Jannette T, I know you can do this! You WILL do it!
Most cordially,
Adam P