CT Scan

This afternoon was my CT scan of my head. Pretty uneventful. A needle to give my some contrast die, moved into a machine and lay still for about 10 minutes. That was it. I will hopefuly hear something before the long weekend.

I have asked to cut my steroid pills in half and see if they give me the same amount of relief without the side effects and the long weaning process when I get to stop taking them. The doctor said to try it but if the headaches came back to return to the original dosage. So far so good.

I am off scrapbooking to Pincher Creek this weekend. Nice way to put cancer behind me and focus on pictures from a time when cancer didn't rule my life.

I will write with my test results as soon as I get them.

Next Thursday is my appointment with my medical oncologist and Friday is Chemo/Herceptin day. Hopefully this one comes with no side effects. Knock on wood!!

With love,

Carolin

Cancer is a headache

Yesterday I followed the familiar trail to the hospital to get an opinion on my growing headaches and nausea. Despite not having an appointment people did their best to fit me in. My radiation doctor asked all the expected questions and made me do some balance tests. He put me back on the steroids (boo) that inflate me like a balloon (double boo) and moved up my head CT scan to next Tuesday. He refused to be drawn into speculation about what was going on.

The steroids are doing their magic and this morning I feel the best I've felt in days. I can't stay on them forever though because of side-effects. But this weekend is looking a lot better now.

I asked the doctor about the lack of stubble on my noggin. Hair seems to be reeaaaaly slow coming back this time. He took a look and said that he would have expected more "peach fuzz" by now. I'll just have to put "chrome dome" on the bottom of the list of things to worry about. I'll get to it eventually.

Your support is appreciated

This is a thank you to everyone for their wonderful support and Emails lately. I am always amazed how many people still read this blog to stay current on my progress and take the time to write to me. It certainly brightens my day to know that so many people care. And I want you all to know how much those Emails mean to me. Each one is read and re-read.

The tiredness and nausea are getting better. However I am not sleeping that well and am getting more headaches. I have asked if they can move up the head CT scan to prior to the 6th of September. There aren't that many days between then and now (plus there's a long weekend) but I'd like to know if there's something going on "upstairs".

I have healed up from my walk and only have a few more Thank You's for donations left to put in the mail. Again thank you. If you're reading this, you're one of the diehards.

With love,

Carolin

Tough weekend

A limp dishrag had more zip than I did last weekend. I had serious nausea and major fatigue. On Friday night and Saturday the only thing that got me out of bed was guilt that I was still in my 'jammies at 3 in the afternoon. Sunday was a little better with the dog getting walked in the afternoon but not too much else. Sandy is making me drink those yukky meal replacement shakes because I'm eating so little. Today (Monday) was much better and I got some of the chores done including getting Jess to her lessons. The afternoon nap was still more mandatory than optional. Still the trend is good.

What caused all of that? I'm betting the chemo therapy is the culprit. I didn't have any bad reactions on the first treatment three weeks ago but still it's the sort of thing that is suppose to happen when they pump that stuff in me. Hopefully the cancer is having as bad a time as the rest of me is.

Herceptin/Chemo Day #2

This afternoon was treatment #2. It was long - 4 1/2 hours but the port meant no digging around for a vein. I used some numbing cream that made the needle poke less painful than last time. They gave me the anti-nausea, steroids, 3 chemo "pushes", Herceptin and then saline. After that I had to go have a chest x-ray to make sure my port hasn't moved. (AFTER two chemo rounds ???) I made it home around dinner time. Feeling fine so far - just tired.

Hopefully this round will be uneventful.

Love Carolin

Day #2 of the Big Walk - **UPDATED**

Today went well. Sandy took my friend Karen at the crack of dawn to begin the 25 km left go walk on Sunday morning. I stayed home to get a few extra winks of sleep. Around 10:30 am Sandy drove me down to a school that was the lunch pit stop. The first thing I did was go to the medic tent. They drained my two blisters and wrapped them up with moleskin and waterproof bandages. We had lunch and then we started walking. Karen's knees were hurting and I was alternating between running shoes and sandals. Neither one felt great. I only walked 12 km. The last few kilometers were hard. I had an additional 2 blisters. There were some wonderful citizens of Calgary offering us freezies and ice cream cones to keep our spirits up and cheer us on. We finally made it to the Stampede Corral. All the walkers that had finished before us met us making a long parade for us to walk through cheering us, clapping hands, hugging, crying and making our journey complete. They had a wonderful closing ceremonies. They brought in all the walkers wearing navy blue, all the survivors wear pink and all the crew and volunteers wearing white. Again there were many tears and hugs.

It was a hard thing to do and I only accomplished just over half. We couldn't have done it without the support of the crew and volunteers - everything from fixing blisters, cheering us on, providing food and drinks, giving chiropractor/massage services, making our tent city etc.

I don't think I would walk again next year but I would certainly like to offer my volunteer services to make this walk a little easier for someone else next year. Just to let you know they have added Edmonton as a walk site next year.

Love Carolin

Saturday's Walk

Today was a beautiful day. Sandy dropped us off at Stampede Park at 6:15 am. We had breakfast, stretched and then had an emotional opening ceremonies. By 7:15 am we were walking out into a sun-shiny day with no clouds. We walked and walked and walked and walked. It was really well organized and there were rest stops every 5 or so kilometers. We weaved up and down Calgary streets in the north until we arrived at our lunch spot right down the hill from the TOM BAKER. Like we haven't seen enough of that place!! The group I was walking with (my friend Karen and my two friends from my support group: Joanne and Michelle) grabbed our lunches and kept walking until we reached the second cheering station. That is where our families were. We had lunch with our loved ones, rested our feet and were off again.

I stopped walking at the next pit stop which was about after 22.5 km. I had blisters on both feet and knew that if I wanted to walk on Sunday that I had to stop. A shuttle bus took me to base camp were the nurses at triage drained my blisters and applied moleskin. They still hurt but wearing sandals rather than running shoes made a big difference. I also had the opportunity to have a 10 minute massage, visit the chiropractor and wait at the end of the walk for the rest of my friends to come into the finish area. They walked the whole 35 km and I'm so proud of them for toughing it out, tired feet and all. I wish I could have walked to whole way with them but it wasn't meant to be.

Tomorrow we start again. It is supposed to be about 22C but with 40% chance of showers. Maybe it will change by morning. I plan to do the best i can.

Well time for me to sign off. Put up my feet and hope that they heal some over night.

Thanks for ALL the well wishes. I certainly appreciate them.

Love Carolin

The Big Walk

The big walk is this weekend. It is supposed to be cold and rainy so the plan right now is to finish the Saturday part of the walk, stay at the tent-city for dinner and some evening entertainment and then have Sandy come pick Karen and I up and take us home for the night.

For those who want to come cheer us on here is the information that we have been given:

Cheering Stations for The Weekend:

Saturday, August 13th

1. Confederation Park

Cheering between 9:00 am - Noon
Corner of 25th Avenue NW & 9th Street NW (on grassy area)
Street parking available along 24th Avenue NW and 8th Street NW

2. Green space between Crowchild Trail Overpass & Memorial Drive Pedestrian Overpass.

Cheering between 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Grassy area on south side of Memorial Drive
Street parking available on Broadview Road NW and Westmount Boulevard NW
Walk south over Memorial Drive on pedestrian overpass to get to grassy area

3. Green space on Westwood Drive SW between Waskatenau Cres SW and Sarcee Trail SW, north of 17th Avenue SW

Cheering between Noon - 5:00 pm
Street parking available on Waskatenau Cres SW and 47th Street SW


Sunday, August 14th

1. Glenmore Athletic Park

Cheering between 7:30 - 10:00 am
19th Street SW & 50th Avenue SW
To view Walkers, be on the fields facing 19th Street SW
Street parking available on 53rd Avenue SW and in Facility Parking lot

2. Haysboro School

Cheering between 8:30 - 11:00 am
1123 87th Avenue SW
Parking available at the school
To view Walkers, be on the field facing 89th Avenue SW

3. Windsor Park Community Association

Cheering between 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
5304 6th Street SW
Street parking available on 53rd and 52nd Avenue SW
To view Walkers, be on the field facing 5th Street SW

4. CLOSING CEREMONIES

4:00 pm: The Corral, Stampede Park

The Closing Ceremonies are open to all friends and family to come celebrate the walkers accomplishment. There is parking available on the Stampede Park grounds at a daily rate of $8 with no in-out privileges.

Compassionate Beauty

Back in March 2005 I had the opportunity to be part of a special project here in Calgary. We have a new spa in Calgary called "Compassionate Beauty" devoted to women going through cancer treatment. They basically offer 3 services - wigs, mastectomy products and pedicures/manicures. Anyways, my friend Tammy and I are part of the ad campaign. Each of the services has its own ad. The one for wigs shows the bald head of one lady, the one for mastectomy products shows two balds heads together to look a set of breasts, and the one for pedicures and manicures shows 5 bald heads to look like 5 toes. I am the third toe and my friend Tammy is the baby toe. It was a wonderful experience to be part of something like this. Tammy and I indulged ourselves and went to have pedicures at the spa last week. It was like a little touch of heaven. They take extra special care in the creams they use, they send you home with the tools that they they have used on you (sterilzed first) and the staff has special knowledge in regard to people with suppressed immune systems.

Here are the ad pictures and a picture of us ladies at the grand opening of the spa.



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Getting excited about being a street walker

This weekend is the one I've been training for. I haven't been able to stick to the walking schedule that they recommended but I know there will be lots of people there to help if things get to be too much.

I promised Sandy (among others) that I wouldn't hurt myself. Really I won't. Now if the weather will cooperate....

Hospital trip

Well we had a nice weekend in Edmonton and attended a great wedding. We arrived home about 5:30 pm on Sunday. By 6:30 pm I was feeling sick, throwing up and sitting on the toilet.

At 9:30 pm we called an ambulance. We had to get the "outflows" stopped. It was an awful night. The ambulance driver was able to get an IV in my hand but the lab tech in the hospital ended up taking blood from the top of my foot. That HURT!! I stayed in the hospital getting IV fluids and anti-nausea drugs until 9am the next morning. I slept the whole next day. Today is Tuesday morning and I am feeling better. My tummy is still complaining but it hasn't seen food for quite some time. I will start with some toast and apple juice and see how things go from there.

Love Carolin