Rainy day update

Seems my chemo is so unintersting now, I need to talk about other things... My chemo has very slight side effects... just some aches and pains on the weekend after chemo and sometimes diarrhea, but I'll take diarrhea any day over constipation! My white blood cell counts were good on Thursday and I'm just hoping they continue to hold out for next Thursday. I just hope this stuff is killing any cancer cells in me. Before I felt sure of it because it was sort of killing bits of me!

This week I also had my first expander fills. They put 60 oz of saline in and it was weird but not really painful. They use a small little magnet-like device to find the port, mark the sport on my chest, anesthetize the area, then stick in a big needle and push in the saline. Yes, I had my eyes closed! I could feel the cool saline going in and some very light pressure in my chest but that's it. So far so good, next fill in two weeks.

I have another echocardiogram coming up next week to ensure my heart is still not damaged from the Herceptin... Even though I have not exercised my heart since about October because of my sciatica, I hope it is still going strong.

Well, I unveiled my hair last weekend and as Val said... no one really noticed... but I do get warm smiles from women in their 50s. I think it is a knowing smile.

It's funny, I have always disliked the term lady. I am a feminist and a woman. I picture ladies as fragile, wearing white gloves, etc. However, now that I have very short hair, I don't mind at all when people say to their kids "step aside for the lady" or refer to me as a lady. At least they aren't referring to me as the man!

Lastly, I am going for an epidural steroid shot for my sciatica next week. I am hoping that it provides relief and I can move on but from my research on the Internet, it appears that it may only be a temporary solution. Sigh. We'll see.

Happy weekend,
Maureen