Ok, 8 months over!  Chemo #15 was horrible.  Just horrible, I can't say much else about it.  Lots of pain, lots of tears- the worst chemo I have had since my very first one.
I took the GRE yesterday- I needed to get a score of 1000 and I got a score of 1180.  Not wonderful, but good enough and pretty darn good for someone who has been having chemo for the past 7 1/2 months! 
I am having a CT Scan on Thursday morning and then I have a doctor's appointment that afternoon.  I have a good feeling I may be done with chemo.  Pray, cross your fingers, sacrafice a goat, just do what you need to do to help me be done!!  I may do all of the above...
My dad and I forgot to take pics at the doctor's office, but I am going to post some pics of my pump so check those out if you want to know what it looks like.  I will post again on Thursday.

I had chemo #15 yesterday.  It has been pretty rough so far- I am tired but having a hard time falling asleep and my stomach has been pretty upset.  I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and I am taking the GRE on Monday the 29th and having chemo #16 on Tuesday the 30th.  That is about all that is going on with me.  I had some requests for some more recent pictures of Mo so I am going to post some of him in his "bat" halloween costume in the photo section.  At my next chemo session my dad is going to take some pics of me getting chemo so I can look back and shudder in a few years- look for those in about 2 weeks!

#14...ugh, it is painful to write.  So far I have been feeling pretty cruddy...what else is new?  I am having a catscan tomorrow and should find out results on Thursday at the latest.  Last time I was feeling pretty postivie...this time I am feeling pretty negative.  I kind of feel like my doc is giving me this catscan to hummor me since I threw such a fit last time.  However, if I do have more chemo I am taking another week off (so chemo #15 will be in 3 weeks) so that I can take the GRE.  I hope my brain is up for the challenge.  Well, I will post when I get some results.

Chemo #12 was today- it has been pretty rough so far.  Just in a bit more pain and feeling a little more "blah" than usual.  But my spirits are high as I am praying and keeping my fingers crossed that this was my last chemo. 

As I mentioned before, I am having a CATScan on Wednesday.  My doctor is going to be out of the office Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  He is going to review my results on Monday and I have an apointment on Tuesday to discuss what we are going to do next.

I got an eye infection this weekend probably as a result of a low white blood cell count.  I woke up on Sat and it looked like someone had sluged me in the eye.  The swellling went down but it was still really red and itchy and weepy.  I was so worried we were going to have to postpone chemo because of it  (give it a chance to heal).  I told my cousin Ashley about it last night and we both agreed that we would pray for it to go away overnight.  And it did!!  It is still a little red, but hardly itchy at all and my doctor said it was already healing so well that he didn't think I would need any antibiotics.  So thanks for your prayers Ash!   

I guess now all I can do is eat Smuckers Uncrustables pb&j sandwiches (my 1st craving of the week) and wait.  I'll post when I know more and email everyone whose email I have as soon as I find out.

Once again, not much to say about chemo #11.  My doctor is on vacation until next Monday so I will not get to talk to him until then.  Too bad, I was hoping to get some good news yesterday.  Oh well, I'll post on Monday and let everyone know what he says.

I don't have much to say about chemo #10...just the usual tired, blah feeling.  Didn't hear any new news from my doc either.  I started my online classes and I am really enjoying having something to keep me busy.  I will post again when I am feeling better and have some more to talk about.

I had Chemo #9 earlier this week than usual so that I would feel better on Saturday which is my friend Jessica's Wedding Shower.  It will be my first time to not be at home for that first weekend after chemo.  I am a little nervous, but I think I will be able to survive it. 

I met my new nurse yesterday.  She is very nice and everything went well.  Lanita was there when I got there so she got me all set up and "plugged in;" the new nurse just changed my IV bags the rest of the day.  She seemed a little frazzled, but I would be too if it was my first day and I was all by myself! 

I also talked to my doctor.  He said he "finally" looked at my chest x-ray from a month ago (not the kind of thing you like to hear your doctor say) and my chest tumor is still shrinking.  I am having another x-ray tomorrow and the plan is still to keep going with chemo until the chest tumor no longer responds.  It is good to know that it is still responding, but it really stinks to not have a date I can pin down as my last chemo.  If I did I could be like "ok, only 1 month left- I can do one more month!  1 more month is easy!" but instead its like I'm in limbo.  I was so dissapointed when I wasn't done after 4 months, I'm scared to assume I'll be done after 6 months just to be dissapointed again.

Well, I'm leaving for Dallas on Friday and I will be there for an entire week (woo hoo!) including my birthday and my online classes begin next week as well.  Hopefully all that activity will make this chemo go by super-fast!   

Hello everyone!  I had Chemo #9 on Monday (instead of the usual Tuesday).

Well, if I had only had to have 4 months of chemo, I would be done right now- so depressing.  I am sure everyone is anxious to hear my bad news- My chemo nurse, Lanita, is quiting.  Ok, to everyone reading this I am sure it doesn't seem like terrible news and you were probably imagining something a lot worse.  However, I really love Lanita and I am really going to miss her.  It is going to be strange having a new nurse because I am so used to how Lanita does things.  I guess it is hard to explain unless you have been there and every time I try I just start crying, so I'll just leave it at that.

My red and white counts are low so I am getting both of those shots on Thursday and I am also getting another hormone blocker so it doesn't seem like this is going to be a very fun chemo.  When I got home from the hospital today I felt really terrible, like I was gettinng the fll- achy all over, chills, couldn't sleep.  However, after forcing myself to get up and drink tons of water and eat a big meal, I am feeling a lot better.

For now all I can do is look forward to August 12 when I will see Curtis again and we are going to see Josh Groban in concert- fun stuff. 

I had my 8th chemo today- check out the Treatment Updates for more details.  I did get some bad news, hence the title of this article.  I also posted some new pics of my doggies in the photo album.

Well, I had chemo #7 today.  As a lot of people know, I went in to it thinking that I would only have 1 more chemo after this one since my doctor has been suggesting that since May.  Sadly, I was inorrect.  My doctor said that he presented my case to the Methodist Hospital Lymphoma Board and they all agreed that I should continue having chemo until the tumor stops responding completely, which could take up to 8 months (so I could possibly have 9 more- It could stop responding sooner than that, in which case I would have less than that).  I know I posted last time that it looked like my chest tumor had already stoped responding, however, at closer inspection, it turns out that it did shrink in size by 20%.  I'm just sad because I was so looking forward to being done and now it turns out that I may not even be half done.  The good news is that it seems the doctor who looked at my pathology in Dallas incorrectly diagnosed me as having the most agressive kind of Hodgkins when I really have a less agressive kind.  Also, radiation has a lot more internal side-effects that chemo does, even though it is less painful for me, so I think in the long run I will be glad I had less radiaion and more chemo.  Although I am upset, I would rather have more chemo now than start radiation and find out when the radiation is done that it is not gone and have to start chemo all over again.  All I can do is go day by day, continue to trust God that I am not suffering in vain, and know that one day this will be over.  As my old High School VP used to say: "Its a great day to be alive!"

Hello everyone!  I am done with #6...it wasn't too bad.  I was more tired than I have been before and the side effects stuck around an extra day or two, but nothing I can't deal with at this point.  Curtis is in Houston and will be here until I have #7.  We are just hanging around, eating a lot of ice cream, and watching a lot of movies.  I did have some excitement today: I got a puppy!!!  Check the picture page for some pics! 

I had Chemo #6 today.  So far everything is going as usual...just tired and blah feeling.  I also got to talk to my doctor.

First he said that my white and red count were both very low this week so I have to have both blood cell boosting shots when I get my pump disconnected.  I asked him about my 3rd x-ray and he said there wasn't much of a difference between the 2nd and 3rd.  I also asked if he had made a decision about how many more treatments I would have.  He said that there have been recent medical reports saying that  "bulky patients" (that would be me because of the big bulky tumor in my chest) respond better to a combo of chemo and radiation.  He said as soon as it seems like the tumor in my chest is no longer responding to the chemo very well, he is going to switch me to radiation.  After my next chemo I am going to have another CAT scan and maybe even a PET scan and, hopefully, I'll only have one more chemo and start up on radiation.  (That one more chemo thing isn't for sure- it's my hope and guess since the 3rd x-ray already showed the chest tumor not really responding as much)

I will post when I find out more.  I'm going to spend the rest of the week sitting around and watching unlimited movies from blockbuster for $25/month!

#5 was better than #4.  I didn't have that white blood cell booster shot this time and I think that had a lot to do with it.  I may have to have it next time though.    Curtis came to visit for a few days and some of my family from Atlanta also came for a few days so I have had some nice distractions.  Now I'm just going to relax and get ready for #6!

Chemo #5 is over.  Nearly half way done!  Just feeling tired and sick to my stomach.  Not much else going on.

I think the worst of #4 is over (I hope so anyway), and it seems the chemo is starting to catch up to me.  A lot more aching, a lot more nausea, and it really hung around for a while.  I also had to have a shot to boost my white blood cell count- it forces your bone marrow to produce more white blood cells- and that caused me to have shooting pains that would start in my hip bone and move up through my back bone and into the back of my head.  My doctor said that was normal and that some people have bone pain from that shot that is so bad that they have to take codine...I guess I'm lucky...

I also had another chest x-ray.  My doctor said he was studying my other x-rays and my CAT scan and estimates that the tumor in my chest was the size of a football before I started treatment.  He said he didn't realize it was that large before, and because it is so large he is leaning more towards radiation.  So...perhaps I am already half way done with chemo?!  It's too exciting to think about.  I'm going to keep on thinking I have 8 left so if I am done early, it will be a nice surprise. 

I am enjoying the rest of my week in Dallas. Yay!  Pumping myself up for #5.

1/3 of the way done!!!  Yay!  So far I have just been tired which is expected. 

My doctor and I did go over the chest x-ray I had a few weeks ago.  It is hard to explain without a picture of the x-ray, but I will try my best.  The x-ray that I had before I started chemo showed the tumor in my chest nearly expanding my entire chest cavity.  My heart is not visible at all because the tumor is blocking it.  In the new x-ray that I had after 2 chemo treatments the tumor expands about 1/4 of my chest cavity and it is no longer hiding my heart.  And that is after only 2 chemos!!  It is probably even smaller now. 

We talked about my future treatments as well and he said "Well, we have at least 1 more month of chemo"  which makes me hopeful that I wont have to have all 6 months...but I still don't want to get my hopes up! 

The worst of treatment 3 is over, and it was not that bad.  My stomach was upset for a few days and I was pretty tired, but other than that I was good.  I did have to get a red blood cell booster shot because my blood was low in iron, but I like those because they give me an energy boost.  It is exciting to think that after my next treatment I will be 1/3 of the way done!  Now I am just struggling to keep myself entertained.

Today was Chemotherapy Treatment #3.  Treatment #1 was bad, and treatment #2 was good so there is no telling how this one will go.  So far I've been tired and a little sick to my stomach, but nothing too bad. 

At my last doctor's appointment, my doctor said he could no longer feel any lymph nodes in my neck.  Yay!  I had a chest x-ray so we could see how the nodes in my chest are responding to the treatment, but I haven't heard anything yet.  He said I may only have to have 3 or 4 more months of chemo which would be awesome.  His biggest concern is that, if I have less chemo, I will have to have more radiation; since the radiation would be concentrated on my neck and chest, there is an increased risk of me getting breast cancer.

For those who don't know, I shaved my head a week ago.  My hair started falling out 2 days after my second treatment.  It was a huge mess and it made me very sad to watch it happening so I had to take control of the situation.  I am glad I did it; I just wish I didn't have to.

As of now...3 down, 9 to go!