Cancer Treatment Update
My cancer treatment update is an unfortunate part of life right now. If you haven’t been following along on this journey, feel free to click away, or to catch up, visiting this post, this post, and this post. Yes, this is a dog blog. Specifically, I blog for Jones Natural Chews, an all natural ingredient dog treat company I wholeheartedly believe in. But the reality of my life right now is that cancer treatment is a temporary (paws crossed) part of my existence.
I recently finished chemo treatment seven of twelve. I’m more than half way through this round! So, to catch everyone up, I underwent six weeks of daily chemo and radiation, then surgery to have my entire rectum removed. The tumor disintegrated. Eleven lymph nodes had been compromised. Two still had live cancer cells. That’s bad. Six weeks after surgery, I began a six month cancer treatment regimen of two types of chemo every two weeks. That’s, hopefully, the last of it. I’ll be done in early December.
My friend Amy Tokic, editor at PetGuide Magazine, sent me the sweetest gift. A replacement rectum. It’s adorable! I’ve been asking everyone if they’d like to touch my soft, pink rectum. So far no one has taken me up on that. It’s been very disappointing. Right after that arrived, I got just what I needed from Lisa Taron, the Pet Blog Lady – a cheerleader! I can totally finish out this cancer treatment now that I have her.
Seriously, though, I’ll be two-thirds of the way through next week.
Wherein I May Repeat Myself
See the photo above? The one of me holding my new rectum? (I just love saying that) My hair is falling out. Not like a cancer patient’s hair falls out. Not all at once. Not all over my body. As you can see, I still have brows and lashes. I’m just slowly going bald. I look like a mad scientist. It hasn’t slowed down for two months. I’ll be almost bald by December. But instead of looking like I have cancer (thanks to brows and lashes), I just look twenty years older than I am. I hate this.
Have I told y’all that I’m on two forms of chemo? A nurse explained to me, just last week, why I get one form as an infusion (just takes a couple hours), and one on a 46 hour pump. The chemo in the pump is incremental. It works on the life cycle of the cell. Just talking about it makes me queasy.
All that said, the side effects of the chemo have, in some ways, diminished. I don’t throw up anymore. My appetite is good. The brain fog is less, or maybe just different. On the flip side, the exhaustion is cumulative, as well as the tingling and cold sensitivity. Cancer treatment is not for the weak, lemme tell ya.
I also want to say thank you. Thank you to all of you who’ve been with me on this journey. Your words of encouragement, cards, prayers – they’re all appreciated more than I could ever express. Thank you.
Giveaway
You’re not getting out of here without hearing about the Jones Natural Chews giveaway. What? You thought you’d escape that? Your dog would be extremely put out if I didn’t remind you. So just click this sentence to get to the giveaway post. Leave a comment. Tell Rafflecopter that you did. Tweet. Tweeting daily really racks up points toward winning, since the bulk of our winners seem to come from tweets. Just do it already. Your dog will smile if you do. 🙂
Spreading the good chews …
Flea
