Party

Well this was a week of celebration and recovery.  I had been wanting to thank everyone for so much love and support and finally was able to get together physically and spiritually with so many people.  On Saturday the logistic queen Joslyn and her sidekick Erin pulled off the party at Stite’s Silver Dollar and because of the grace of the infusion gods giving me a break, we were able to have an amazing party.  The turnout was unbelievable and even though not everyone who wanted to make it could, there were so many people in attendance. I really was questioning if there would be more than 10 people who would show up.  I know there were more than 50 people there at one time and by the time we took the picture several people had already left.  My sister in law and brother in law (Brent’s sister and brother in law) were in from Wisconsin, as well as a good friend of ours from WI who was out this way to visit his son and do some hunting, a slew of retirees, so many co-workers, friends from Orofino, even people from the bar just popped their head in.  It was so much fun.  There was much laughter, great food, lots of drinks to be had and an extremely generous 50/50 raffle (the generosity that has been shown by so many people is overwhelming).  The best part is I made it the whole 4 hours!!!! Granted I got snuggled into a chair and didn’t move, but I was snug like a bug in a rug with blankets all around me, my winter cap on and all cozy. I know I look like a little old lady – but don’t really care about appearances any more – you realize where your priorities lie and it is in good friends, laughter, love and memories like those that were made on Saturday.

So I mentioned the infusion gods were on my side.  On Wednesday my doctor’s office called me to see if I would be willing to reschedule my treatment day because my oncologist was out sick that day. Well for the past week I had really been struggling.  Hardly able to stand for more than 1-2 minutes at a time.  Sleeping for almost 19 hours a day.  Extremely winded where I couldn’t hardly walk more than a few feet before I needed to sit down.  I was at the point where I was actually hoping when I went in and got my blood draw (which is the first thing they do) that my doctor would tell me my numbers didn’t look good enough and she wasn’t going to give me treatment that week.  I was actually getting to the point I was concerned that I was going to end up in the hospital I was feeling so poorly. Just yesterday I pulled out the packet they gave me before I started infusion treatment and see that I should’ve been calling my doctor about how I was feeling rather than just waiting until my next treatment day.  So when they called to see if I would be willing to reschedule to Friday rather than do it on Thursday I asked if I could just skip the week because of how I was feeling they said that was fine, lots of patients skip a week because they are feeling too poorly and I had been doing back-to-back treatments tacked on to 2 weeks of radiation.  I was so relieved they were okay with giving me this breather as I wanted to be strong enough for the party and didn’t want to get sick.  I stopped and thought about it too.  When I went through chemo the first time I did 4 treatments and didn’t have radiation, right now I had already done 5 infusions after doing 2 weeks of radiation.  The first time I had 3 week breaks in-between each treatment.  Now I had them every week with no recovery periods.  The first time I had Neulasta shots injected the day after to boost my white blood count which helps fight off infection.  Because I am getting infusions every week I don’t have enough time for that shot to take effect so I’m not getting that shot.  So I need to give myself some grace and say hey, it’s okay that I am feeling totally wiped and not feeling as strong as I did last time I went through treatment.  So I was pretty jazzed when they were willing to give me a bye week and I think it’s paying off.  I only napped for 2 hours yesterday (not the 19 hours I slept 10 days ago).  As mentioned I made it the whole time through my party and even though I came home and napped for 4 hours I still felt pretty darn good.  The next day I even walked out to my asparagus bed on my own and even though I had to sit and catch my breath I was able to do it on my own and only napped for 2 hours total.

So this past week was all about celebrations and recovery.  This upcoming week I have my MRI scan and I have Brent and my good friend Sue telling me I can’t stress about what I can’t change, I am trying to sing that mantra, which is easier said than done at times, but they are right.  I know that what will be will be and we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  I have faced everything head on and will do that same with this.  I won’t have results for a week so patience my grasshoppers but I am hoping for some good movements so we can take our next steps. So thank you everyone near and far for your continued support – again, I cannot express how much it means to me.