Taxotere #2

No allergic reaction to my 2nd round of taxotere. The nurse told me that the reactions generally come with the 2nd round. Thank goodness the chemo went without a hitch. My eyelashes are getting spotty - wah!!! - and I'm tired, tired, tired, not sleepy, just very fatigued. I was told my blood counts are low enough for me to have a blood transfusion, but I said I'd wait and see. Might have to go in and get that so I can have some energy. Pulling myself along by my fingernails is no way to locomate. While I was on the steroids, and had some energy, I went to the half-price book store and stocked up on novels. Nelson DeMille (thank you Mark Morley)- Lion's Gate I think the title is, and still have Wicked to read. Jodi Picoult is a good, easy read and am almost finished with the 2nd book. Have read "Vanishing Act" and am halfway through "Keeping Faith". So while I'm tired, I can at least lay on the couch or sit on my deck and read.

I'm ready to put all this behind me, grow a headful of hair and go on vacation.

Thursday, April 22, 2010
12:20 pm

Easter in Lake Geneva

The trip to Lake Geneva was much more pleasant than my last trip in February. I managed to drive several hours before I got too achey to sit in one position. The baby is just as squeezable as I thought she'd be. Gee, I feel like the witch in Hansel and Gretel...just wanted to squeeze her and eat her up. She is so precious...yes, even when she cries. Since I'm the grandma, I could always hand her off during those times. Finally! I get to enjoy a baby. I suppose if Allie and Terry move to Des Moines, I could babysit and actually do caretaking. We had a nice Easter brunch and didn't tax the new parents with our presence for long as we left around 4 pm. Long drive home though, don't think I'll be taking any more trips until vacation this summer.

This chemo (taxotere) sure is fatiguing. I'm a bit teary/resentful over my lack of energy right now. I was feeling so energized and great having had that month off of chemo or any treatment of doing anything but getting better. I am going to start supplementing and eating a "cancer" diet that the Cancer Centers of America recommends. I still don't understand why my doctors keep telling me to "eat whatever you want". That doesn't even make good sense to me and I'm not a nutritionist or doctor. I know my body needs fuel; fuel for my immune system to get busy now and irradicate any microscopic bits of cancer left behind from the surgery, radiation, and chemo. I know cancer feeds on sugar, so doesn't it make sense that I should try to cut all sugar from my diet? and exercise to burn the rest of it off? My immune system should have been able to destroy these cancer cells before they turned life-threatening. I have been doing something wrong for the past couple years - stress, diet, lack of exercise...makes sense that I need to change drastically all of the above. Cancer will just come back if I'm eating and doing and thinking the same way. Exercise won't be that hard, but changing the way I eat...that's hard. Eating more veggies, just EATING vegetables every day...and trying to eat 5 to 7 servings a day. That will be hard. I'm going to have to start juicing.

Allison (and Terry), thank you for my beautiful granddaughter - you did a wonderful job of creating our little Arleigh Angel.

Proud Aunt Katie and Uncle Pat with Arleigh: