On Our Own!

Well, Dad and Mom left on Wednesday morning for Michelle's wedding in North Carolina. So we're on our own now. No more sleeping from 10pm to 7am; no more laundry being done; no more yardwork taken care of; and no napping whenever I feel like it. We were really spoiled!
Thank goodness Tolan is a great baby. He's so sweet and good natured. He wakes every three to four hours at night for a bottle, and then falls back asleep. We have all the bottles filled and ready in the fridge, so at night Craig will get up to warm a bottle while I change Tolan and then feed him. It's a good system and works for us! The kids have some added chores including rooms that they are in charge of to clean each night. I always feel better when the house is neat and tidy.
I've had a mostly good week. Some ups and downs, but mostly ups! I'm sad I couldn't make it to my sister's wedding today, but glad I got frequent updates from Mom, Dad and Michelle to keep me included as much as possible. Congratulations Michelle Lockerman!

Drug #2 Round 1 of 3

I went in on Thursday to start my first round of the next chemo drug, Cytoxin. It feels pretty much the same as the other stuff I was on. The appointment went great, but my emotions caught up with me as I sat in the chemo room, thinking "I just had a baby, and I have cancer!" I needed a night away from it all, so when I got home I asked Mom if she could take over the kids while I left. I drove over to Germantown and shopped at Saddle Creek. There was a store clerk at one of the shops that came up to me and said, "Are you on Chemo?" (I guess the hat tipped her off!) I said yes, I have stage two breast cancer. She was full of energy and said, "Oh, honey, I had it eight years ago and let me tell you -- you're gonna be fine!" She briefly told me about her experience and then she went on to tell me about the store sales going on! It's funny - I think I really needed that. Someone to sympathize and yet move on and not dwell on it. I had a good time shopping and then Craig took me out for a nice dinner that night.
Craig's parents came up for the weekend. Tolan will be blessed at church on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Alana!

Alana turned three years old on Saturday! What a big girl. I haven't figured out our new camera yet, so pictures are soon to come!

My 4 Children!

We took a trip to the mall yesterday to see if we could get some pictures taken of the four kids. Wow -- four kids! It's hard to get them all to smile great at the same time, but they did a good job. I love my family.
I've been feeling mostly fine this whole week. My side effects are showing up again - dry flaky skin, weird bumpy inside of my mouth cheeks, and tired off and on, but all very manageable. I'll take these side effects compared to what others I could have any day!
Oh, I forgot to mention -- Bryce got braces! He's sporting a new chrome smile with blue rubberbands! And he loves them!

A weeks worth of doctor appointments!

We had a different doctor appointment every day this week. Tolan started us off with his pediatrician check up on Monday. Everything looked great. The doctor said that whatever was troubling him in the NICU at the hospital in the beginning is now gone. He checks out to be a normal, healthy newborn. Tolan also had his foot looked at on Tuesday to make sure his scab is healing from his IV infiltrate.
Wednesday I had my obgyn appointment, and the c-section is healing well.
Thursday was my chemo day. I met with Dr Schwartzberg to assess how things are going. My tumor has shrunk substantially, and is barely detectable now! And that's after only the first three treatments of the first drug! He's pleased with how things are going and decided not to pile all the drugs on me at once this summer. So Thursday I had my last round of the Adriamiacin (which is what I've been receiving so far). Then I'll go back in two weeks to start my rounds of Cytocin. I'll take that every other week for three weeks. Then I'll start a series of taxo-something and Herceptin. Craig and I lost track of the schedule by then, but we think I get four rounds of that every other week. Anyway, I'll be drugging up for while! The side effects are different with each chemo drug, so we'll see how I react. So far so good.
I went in on Friday for a shot to help my body produce more white blood cells so we can accelerate the treatments to every other week instead of every three weeks like I was doing before. I won't get that third week for my body to recover.
Emotionally I'm doing well... now. I was enjoying my new baby and taking time to heal and not really thinking about the cancer, until Wednesday night, (the night before my next treatment). Then it hit me again. I had a tough time that night and the next morning not knowing what was ahead for me this summer. But going to my appointment and meeting with the doctor and getting my regular treatment all went well so I'm dealing with it fine now. One day at a time....
Mom is still taking over Tolan at night so I can sleep - yea! We're trying to make my sister's wedding invitations during the day which is proving to be a monumental task. 300 homemade invitations is quite a lot of work! Bryce and Jared wrapped up a great week at a Tennis/Golf/Swimming day camp at Windyke Country Club. They loved it and came home exhausted every day!