Bravery Needed

Thanks so much for all your prayers because insurance approved chemo! Last Monday morning my primary care Dr called and asked how things were going. She had a request for physical therapy for my arm that was denied by Group Health on her desk and she was wondering what was going on. I told her that my surgeon thinks preventative treatment/exercises/compression sleeve would work great BUT my insurance doesn't agree. My primary care Dr totally understood and put out a call to my surgeon to talk about how to word the request so it would be approved. While we were on the phone I said "so did you hear about our IV chemo plan?" She did not know about it but THAT DAY she met with a clinical pharmacist, reviewed my records with him and got approval! She emailed me right away and let me know. I was floored....it was done in one day! By the end of the week she got 3 physical therapy sessions approved too...they wouldn't go for the full 8 but we have at least 3! Not sure if the compression garment will be approved but we'll pray for that now cause they are custom fit (or so I am told) and can be quite spendy.

So now that everything we hoped for is approved I need a dose of bravery. It's very easy to talk about what should be done but when push comes to shove, facing the worst thing that has ever been done to you physically--namely, chemo--isn't very appealing! On Wednesday I am having another chest port put in (the last one came out with the mastectomy) during a day surgery. I'm not too happy about having another surgery so soon and anesthesia hasn't agreed with me the last 2 times so prayers are needed. It only takes an hour and I am first case so I should be home by 1pm or so. Chemo will start Monday the 31st and it is a 3 hour infusion. I will have chemo from then on EVERY WEEK on Tuesday during radiation. Chemo will be half strength with radiation....and radiation should start next week too....and that is EVERY DAY (5 days a week) for about 7 weeks! Radiation only takes 15 minutes a day but driving into Spokane and home again EVERY DAY is daunting. Like JR said though, at least its not winter! So here's to looking on the bright side of things--ha!! We need to pray that my skin doesn't become so sensitive with the double whammy of chemo and radiation that I develop skin breakdown or open sores. We're looking at about 3-4 months total for chemo. After radiation the Dr will increase the chemo dose to full strength for the rest of the doses.

And yes, I will lose all my hair again....just when I was getting used to using mascara again!! I never fully lost all my eyebrows and eyelashes but they became pretty sparse. But the new eyelashes are dark and long and mascara is almost too much on the lower lashes! I DID NOT however like the facial hair that popped up out of nowhere (thanks to hormones). I looked like a werewolf! There is one pix on facebook especially that showed it--YIKES! So what's a girl to do? Shaving with shaving cream and a razor was NOT an option so I found Smooth Away---those sandpaper looking things you see on tv are sold at pharmacies...and it worked great!! Stubble on your face, not so great....but that too will be gone soon. It is pretty demoralizing to look more and more like a man....no hair, no chest, excess weight and then facial hair/stubble--YIKES! So I decided to buy some long sleeved collared shirts to do a "layered" look. And the shirts looked great in the catalog but when I got them they looked like men's shirts! YIKES! Ok, well, I did order them from Cabelas so that might explain it BUT they do have women's magazines and they did look cute but UGH....make that double UGH! So they all went back to the store and Katie and I will have to take a trip to Fashion Bug for some pretty girlie ones :-)

And Katie, unlike me, LOVES to shop...so it will be a girls day!

In other news we started our new year of homeschool today. The boys are in 9th grade and Katie is in 6th so it is busy busy busy. We have had a bit of a change in curriculum so we're praying the kids adapt well (i.e. no complaints!). Our kids continue to do well and we had kids overnight about 5 of the last 7 nights! One day we had our boys band Pre-Set here for practice and that was great! Drums, two electric guitars, base guitar, trumpet and an occasional kazoo if you'll believe that! There are some videos of them on facebook--lots of fun!!

JR and I have said that when we look back on this time we need to know that we did everything NOW to kick this cancer.....with no regrets. So that is our frame of mind....but bravery is still needed :-) And a BIG HUGE thanks and many blessings to all of you for your love and prayers and support of our family!