Groundhog Day

The movie Groundhog Day would be a great way to describe what we are going through right now.  It feels as if we are going through everything we went through last fall all over again.  Dr.'s visit...wait...scan...wait...biopsy...wait...diagnosis...wait...you get the drift!  As for what is going on right now...I got my port put in yesterday.  The procedure went really well and was home yesterday afternoon.  I'm a little sore, but the pain meds help with that and I should be ready to start chemo on Monday!  The plan is for me to have chemo once every three weeks and have another scan after 4 to 6 treatments to see how I am responding.  Chemo will be a cocktail chemo mixing 2 different types of chemo...cisplatin and taxol.  When I first did chemo I was on cisplatin but a much lower does.  These doses will be very toxic...which they have to be to beat it this time around.  I will lose my hair soon after the first treatment and have already bought a couple cute hats!  I've also bought some big earrings to wear with them, as I've always felt that I look like a guy in a hat.  I will be getting a wig sooner than later, but am just having trouble deciding between the Lady Gaga pink one, or a blonde curly one! :)  Seriously though, I will be meeting with a cosmetologist at Estabrook Cancer Center who will help me with all of this...thank goodness because I've only been bald once and that was for the first two years of my life.  I have always wondered what I'd look like without hair though and figure if Demi can pull it off...I can too!  Besides the hair loss, chemo will more than likely cause some pretty bad nausea and vomiting...nothing I haven't been through before though and hopefully for only a couple of days and then I'll have a couple of weeks to enjoy and regain my strength.  Also, my chemo schedule works around most of our summer plans this summer, so that is a good thing.  We are hoping to still get to Chicago for a good friend's wedding and then North Carolina for a family vacation with my mom's side of the family.

Again...the outpouring of support we are already receiving has been amazing!  Everyone wants to help and do something and at this point you can all help by continuing to think positively and pray...easy enough, right?!  A couple other things I've thought of would be maybe some company during chemo and the days after.  Chemo itself will last 8 hours this time...so someone to bring Jerrid lunch or even just sit with us for a little while would be nice.  Also...the few days right after chemo are probably going to be pretty bad for me, so I was thinking maybe people could come sit with me so Jerrid and Brayden could get out of the house to go to the zoo, pool, and park.  So if you're up for any of that...let us know! 

I'm anxious to get these treatments started and start beating this thing again!  I've done it once, I can do it again!  I defied the odds by even getting this disease so I can defy the odds again by beating it!  Thank you for following our journey, supporting us, thinking positively, and praying!  We'll never be able to thank you all enough!

Meighan, Jerrid, and Brayden