Hey hey hey

Tomorrow is chemo day. No it’s not that I’m excited about chemo and it’s effects but the tumor is getting smaller and there is less pain. So if I have to put up with being sick a few days to get results, I’m ready. For 2.5 months I’ve taken 800 mg of ibuprofen in the morning, 2 max strength Tylenol at lunch time, another 800 mg ibuprofen after dinner and still I’d wake up around midnight in pain and have to take 2 more Tylenol. Today I took 400 mg ibuprofen at 7am and 2 Tylenol at about 3. It’s still there, but it’s not like it was and that’s awesome! I’m not even sure I’ve told you where it’s located. It’s in my left breast, on the outside by my arm and about 3 inches back from the nipple! The reason we are doing chemo instead of surgery first is because it’s very close to the surface. In order to do surgery AND reconstruction there needs to be a margin of healthy tissue all the way around the tumor and there wasn’t. So as it was told to me just before my first treatment, it was the size of a small lime. Now I would say it’s smaller than a golf ball. BUT I’m not a doctor and my estimate could be wishful thinking. I just know it’s smaller and the pain has been way less than it was. As for the 4 to 6 limp nodes that were showing signs of cancer from the MRI and body scan, that’s the other reason we went with chemo first. It’s our hope that the chemo will get rid of the cancer in the nodes. One of my biggest fears is lymphedema. I’m sure you’ve seen people with the compression sleeve on their arm or the sock on their legs. Usually people who have to wear them have had lymph nodes removed and it causes swelling in the extremity near the area where the nodes were removed. I don’t know this for sure but I’ve been told there is no cure for this problem and I don’t want to risk lymphedema if I can do something to possibly prevent it.

Did I tell you when we first got the diagnosis we looked into other treatments. Natural treatments because radiation causes cancer and chemo kills everything. Who wants that? We didn’t! We even looked into go to a clinic in Mexico that has a treatment for cancer that the FDA doesn’t allow in the US. Only problem was I would have to be in Mexico for 6 to 8 weeks and the treatment started at $45,500.00. The treatment included room and board for myself and a companion but who can go away for that long. No one! Then we heard about a treatment in Switzerland that had great results. Price tag was $100,000.00 and 3 months and I would be alone. I made several phone calls and talked to my regular doctor and I asked her who would she go to if it were her and that’s who I went too. Besides the ridiculous cost for the other treatments, I couldn’t find anyone to talk to in person who could tell me about their experience. No one to tell me it was 100% better than what we have in the US and if you’ve read any of my blogs you know I think they have a cure for cancer and other diseases already. But if I have to have cancer and I have to have treatments then I have to have my family around. I need them and they need to see that I’m alright. So we move forward and we pray that God Almighty Hand will protect me and cure this demon inside me. AMAN!

Tomorrow Joey will be my companion. I’ve already warned him that it’s boring. We’ll do some catching up and Mel will bring us lunch! I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow night. I love you all!

My blessing for today is this massive thunderstorm we’re having. Kaboom!

Be blessed,

Diana

#standbyme