My Ovarian Cancer Journey

Just ate a delicious meal prepared by a great friend 😋😋😋   Thank you so much Kimberly Luckow Bansal - it was loved by all 🥰🥰🥰

New hat 🥰 This one came with some artwork from kiddos 💕 Nice big brim on this one to protect me from the sun. Thank you Patty HC and family 🥰🥰🥰   Update on me, I had those achy joints at the beginning of the week, but they went away. The rest of the week has been fine. I have done more each day, and I'm not getting really tired from it.   Jack Wen and William Wen are almost done packing. One more load of laundry, double checking the list, and then they are off to Taiwan tonight!  I'll post updates from them, or you can friend Wil and see things as he posts 😜

Niki Phillips Nelson sent me a new hat 🤠, and I plan on wearing it to a Pokemon gathering in Sept 💕🥰 I'm looking forward to seeing friends and hearing lots of stories from London 😊 It lights up too 🤣   Quick update to go with the silly hat - I'm feeling good. Had a few days of achy joints, but that went away. I worked with Jack Wen to start packing for Taiwan. He will take everything in one large and one small suitcase, plus his laptop bag... Then I look at friends and their posts of what their kids are taking to college and it blows my mind... I guess if you are driving, you can take a lot more things...   William Wen and Jack leave Saturday night. It's getting close. We just got the last paperwork needed for Jack to be able to enter Taiwan. A little stressful with it being last minute, but it's ok.

New hat, who that? My brother-in-law sent a new hat for me, my favorite Pokemon Eevee!  My leg joints are sore today, I guess it's a side effect sometimes from chemo and menopause... Hopefully it will go away soon. Otherwise, I've been feeling pretty good, other than little feelings of nausea that have been easily fixed with my meds.  This is the final week before Jack leaves for college in Taiwan, so it's going to be busy. I need to remind myself to take it easy before my body decides it's time for a break...  I'm still planning on visiting him in January for his winter break. It's my goal that I'm aiming for while fighting this stupid cancer.

Saturday morning update, day after 2nd chemo treatment.   I'm feeling pretty normal. No nausea or other side effects from chemo yesterday, so that's great.   They do blood work before starting chemo to see white blood cells, red blood cells, and other things to make sure I'm not too far out of the range, or that things are getting better. They take into account the surgery and chemo, but they check some important ones before starting chemo for the day.   They did a check of the blood marker for ovarian cancer (it does have other things that can affect the count, but it's a good marker). The first one was done when I was diagnosed, so before surgery or first chemo treatment. The new one is before the second chemo treatment.  Cancer Antigen (CA) 125 Normal range is 0 - 38.1  7/11 = 624 😱😱🤕  8/12 = 71.6 😱🥰☺️   I would say that surgery and chemo are working 🥰   The dogs are hanging out with me more too. I'm thinking tha...

This morning, before leaving for chemo, I enjoyed my coffee in my new warrior mug from Cari Reed. It has my name on the back 🥰🥰🥰   At chemo now, getting one of the drugs, the one that takes 3 hours. Still another one after that is 1 hour.  Wearing one of the super soft hats from Deborah Lynn.   I guess the drug they are giving me right now, Taxol, actually does cause an allergic reaction in me. So they gave me extra Benadryl. So I'm super tired with a double dose of Benadryl... Taking a little nap 😜

Well, today was the day. I had been able to pull out a lot more with my hand or a brush, so I figured it was time to just buzz it. We didn't do a complete shave, just buzzed.  William Wen was nervous, but I reassured him it was ok. I know it's not perfect, but it's just until the rest falls out. It is now time to wear my many hats 🥰🥰🥰   Otherwise, I've been feeling fine. I know it's been a while since I've posted, so I'll go back a few days of things we have done.   Last Thursday I had a good friend come over to visit for a little bit. That was a nice catch up time.   Then on Friday, we went to Seattle to Tabletop Village LLC so Jack could play some Pokemon. Alex also came to visit with friends and to get dinner. The original plan was to stay an hour or so, but Alex started playing with his friends, and I was visiting with friends, so it wound up being about 3 hours.   We had family over on Sunday, so glad we have some local to us. I di...

So it's been just over 3 weeks since I started this journey.  We took a comparison photo today. It's not the best angle to show you, but it'll do.   All of that fluid, and whatever they removed during surgery, has caused me to drop about 20 pounds. Not that I would recommend this diet to anyone. 😜😜 I know the fluid is still being produced, I can tell. But definitely not as much as it had been.   Next chemo is scheduled for Friday, Aug 12th. It's about a 5 hour process, so fun...  William Wen is going to go sit with me. We will bring lunch and snacks and things to do. While in the hospital for chemo, I did have a dietitian meet with me to help us figure out what I should eat going thru chemo. Especially since I no longer eat meat, sometimes it's tough to get the right nutrients.   We are headed out this evening to visit with friends at our old Pokemon League. If anyone is in the area, feel free to drop by. I'm going to sit outside Uncle's Games...