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!