Hiya Everyone,
This is my good friend Kate, Baby Jane and me at a candy buffet we had at school about 3 weeks ago. Thanks for coming girls (it was all the candy you could eat... at 9am!). Mom joined us, but I didn't get a picture with her :(
Just a quick medical update. I started my second round of chemo 2 nights ago and I've been feeling really good so far. Today I was pretty tired, but it was Saturday and I allowed myself to sleep and be lazy most of the day. I had to work tonight, but was so well-rested that I had a great time & gave my tables great service. It's not rocket science, but I try to take pride in even my minimum wage job :)
I occurred to me that I hadn't really explained how my chemo rounds go. I'm pretty fortunate that I get to just take pills at home rather than needing to have an IV at the hospital. I take the pills for 5 nights in a row, then get about 3 1/2 weeks to recover before doing my next round. The last time that I did chemo, back in 2002-2003, it was my white blood cells that would take the biggest hit and recover the slowest. After a few months, I eventually had to start giving myself shots of some stuff that would boost the recovery time for my white blood cells, which I assume I'll have to do this time as well. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds and is totally worth it if it allows me to do a few more rounds to try to beat this thing.
I'm trying to schedule my next MRI for the end of October or early November. I'm really nervous about this one because it should show if these first 2 rounds of chemo are slowing or stopping the growth of my new tumors. There's definitely going to be a lot of nail-biting going on waiting for the results. I'll try to write another update as soon as I get an appointment and when we get the results, good or bad.
On a lighter note, I got an award at school last week for receiving high honors in my last class :) I also made a kick-a$$ carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, a chocolate lava cake (Y-U-M), pumpkin spice cake, an orange roulade, a fruit basket cake and we've started practicing with fondant so I can start making wedding-type cakes soon! How fun!
The smell of the holidays is in the air! Can you believe it's that time already? And I hope you're all going to vote... I'm so excited, I just got my voter registration card in the mail for my new home. Am I a dork or what? You know, I actually get tears in my eyes every time I vote. I think it's the most important thing we can do as Americans. Ok, I'll get off my soap box ;-)
Heart,
Laurie
Laurie
