Two Days Before the BIG Day...

Happy Easter!

Well, we are two days before my surgery and I have to admit it's been a rough week. This is the second time through this process I have felt down. (The first was after my first lupron shot.) I must say I hate feeling this way, it's been a roller coaster week, I have stayed busy spending time with friends, family, and working on school papers. I think that it's finally "hitting me" that I cancer. It's weird because I find myself a little frustrated, sad, irritable, incredibly sensitive, and at sometimes angry. I have to remind myself not to take it out on the ones I love. My friends, family, and boyfriend have been amazing through this rough time and I'm so lucky to have such an understanding group of people supporting me. They have reminded me that it's impossible for me to be "strong" everyday and it's okay to cry.
I'm still struggling with hot flashes and they insist on keeping me awake throughout the night. I think it's time to order a couple "chillows" and pray they actually keep me cool enough to sleep. I keep thinking I am going to wake up and have a bunch of hair on my head, but it's yet to happen. I do have blonde peach fuzz that continues to grow :D. Unfortunately my leg hair is beginning to show up. I have counted 4 eyelashes on my lower left lid, and 5 on my lower right eyelid, with a small handful on my uppers. The good thing about all these chemo side effects is that I know one day I will be back to normal! I no longer have tingles in my fingers or toes, except when I run.
I was fortunate enough to spend this Easter day with my family, I was able to witness my little sister and brother's girlfriend get baptized today. :) It was nice to be back in the church I went to as a teenager, I realized I've missed it and think it's time to get back involved.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Sunday, wish me luck on Tuesday!

Some Easter Sunday Pics...

My amazing boyfriend and huge supporter, he gets me through every single day!

Daddy!

My little man Brett

My big brother Kevin

Chemo is Done!

My apologies that I haven't updated this blog. I've been keeping the updates on the Facebook page, but I am going to try my hardest to update this more frequently...

I finished my chemo on March 11, the hard part is finally over! I’ve managed to keep the majority of my eyebrows and about half of my eyelashes. I’m happy to say that most of the side effects have diminished, besides the brutal hot flashes. The tingly finger and toes, headaches, nausea, fatigue, and bone pain are all gone! I’m still dealing with “chemo brain”…I feel as if I have short-term memory loss, which can be quite frustrating!

I spent a few days down at Stanford last week repeating scans and a biopsy of my lymph nodes. The lymph node that was biopsied had shrunk too much to get any returns. I’m still awaiting results from the scans.

The next step is surgery. I head back down to Stanford Monday, surgery is Tuesday, and if everything goes well I should be heading back home Thursday! I will be having a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction (expanders will be put in day of surgery). I have volunteered to be part of a couple research projects at Stanford as a way to give back to the breast cancer community. I will be donating all the tissue and lymph nodes they remove, as well as being part of a pain management project. If it weren’t for other women who volunteered to be part of these experiments I may not have been able to survive the cancer or been able to handle the chemo so well. I also will be donating any eggs I don’t use in the future for further research. I hope these projects will help future breast cancer patients.

A huge thanks for all the support, prayers, and thoughts!