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!

Getting Ready for Round Two of Chemo

Today will be my second round of chemo. I am fortunate enough to be able to do it at Feather River Hospital much closer than Stanford! For the past three days my hair has been coming out like crazy. It's not falling out in large chunks, but I'm like a dog shedding her winter coat. My hair is super thin now, so tonight we will be cutting it all off. I am open to any and all suggestions on how to wrap my bald head! :)
Since I had such a rough reaction to the chemo this last time the doctor has given me an anti-nausea patch. We will also be injecting fluids in through IV as well as more nausea meds. Last time I was unable to keep down any liquids and the thought of taking pills made me sick. My biggest fear I have for today is "anticipatory nausea", where just the thought of chemo makes me ill even before it's injected.
My port is healing up nicely I have about a one inch scar where they surgically implanted it. The port is under my skin and that is where all the injections will be pushed through rather than my veins. I originally didn't want to have a port, but my new oncologist thought it was a good idea to prevent any damage to my veins.
By the way the chemo is doing everything it is supposed to, my tumor is completely down. My boob feels like a boob! If I didn't know I had cancer I would think nothing is wrong, no more hard spot! My lymph nodes have shrunk tremendously as well! That's just one round...I look forward to seeing what 7 more will do!
Thanks everyone for the continued support I have been receiving lots of inspiring words which has kept me strong through this process!

Samantha

Scentsy Fundraiser

Melissa Vanderkooy and Nikki Paino want to help raise money for Sam so they have opened a fundraiser for her. 100% of their commission from this fundraiser will go straight to Sam. You have three different products to choose from within the Scentsy Family - Scensty, Velata, and Grace Adele. Simply just click on one of the websites listed below and click on "Buy from Party" next to Sam's name. 

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE EVENT INFO

Reason for this Blog

This blog was created to support Samantha in her fight against breast cancer. In the following months she will need all the love and encouragement she can get. This blog will be a great way for her to share updates with us, and create a positive uplifting environment to share stories and memories. We encourage visitors to send the link of her carepage site to anyone who knows her so that they can join in the fight against breast cancer too. Another great aspect of this blog is that Sam can maintain her day-to-day life as much as possible and not have to talk about cancer with everyone she runs into.

One of the most important messages Sam has expressed is that she wants to spread the knowledge that breast cancer can affect young women too, and that it’s becoming more apparent.

Her strength and courage has been without fail and is awe-inspiring. There is no doubt that youth and physical strength is on her side. Plus with all of us, and her friends and family behind her she will beat this.

<3 Friends of Sam