September 11, 2018

Counting the red devil infusions I have had 11 chemo treatments in all and have 5 more to go! Feels amazing to know I am more than half way there. Went to chemo today and met with the Physician Assistant named Darren. He’s really nice. He said my Neutrophil count (the white blood cells that were low) went from 800 to 2,600! Such good news. I no longer have a baby immune system and turning into an adult. Yay! I still have to go to CMC and get the injections twice a week to keep my counts up. He said “eventually it’ll be nice when patients can do it from home”. I was like hold the bus “I’m a nurse and feel 100% comfortable giving myself injections.. is it possible to do that”? Even though it’s 5 mins down the road its such a pain with the kids. He was like “I don’t see why not!” So the injections just need to be approved by my insurance company and then I can just do it from home. I have never given myself an injection though 🤷‍♀️ Maybe I should’ve said I was 95% comfortable haha! Hopefully I don’t freak out and impel my liver or something LOL

I tried acupuncture for the first time tonight with my Mom! Thanks Aunt Mary for suggesting it a while ago. It was super cool.. they place small sterile needles in your arms legs and head!! Yes the head! She put them right in my dome piece lol. Once the needles were placed I didn’t really feel anything.. but THEN after 20 mins or so all of a sudden I felt a burst of energy throughout my body, like a tingling feeling and felt my body become very relaxed/heavy and kept dozing off. Excited to see if it helps with symptoms. It definitely chilled me out and I went in with a little stomach ache and left without one! Who knows. Going back Thursday night 👏

I see my girl Dr. Patel today ❤️

My hair is really coming in on my head. Looks like it will be blonde?? I’ll take a pic soon and show you guys 

yup its 3:30am (a wonderful time to reflect when you wake up with hot flashes and insomnia). Ohhhhh chemo life! lol 😆 

Love each and everyone of you. The fact my family and friends take time out of their day to read this blog and keep up with my journey means the world to me. I don’t write back to comments because it looks like you guys can’t see them but do know I read every single one of them and they bring me so much joy/happiness!

KPOWPOW

September 4, 2018

After speaking with my oncologist last week about possibly having to stop chemo my mind started racing. I was questioning how that would affect my prognosis which made me start thinking about my prognosis! Ugh I try not to go there. I was very emotional for a couple of days. I remember one night going to Marshall’s to return something and just balling my eyes out in the parking lot. I am realizing this process has many stages and I was in the “mad, angry, pissed off” stage haha. But it’s OK because after a few days of letting it all out I started receiving good news and was able to get back on track and stay positive! 

Went to PT Wednesday night and at this point my entire right leg was numb, all the way up to the buttock region lol! My therapist had me do a few stretches and said “Kel this isn’t neuropathy.. your SI joint is locked up which is causing your symptoms”. My mom and I looked at each other and we both let out a deep breath of air. SO relieved!! She gave me some stretches to do at home and I will see her again tomorrow night. 

In general I feel good! A little foggy at times, numbness in my hands and feet, and occasionally tired. But not bad at all!  

I am currently at chemo right now and my oncologist just reviewed my counts with me. All blood counts are within normal range meaning the injections are working 😊 So I will continue with 2 injections a week to maintain my white blood cell count and we are good to continue with chemo. Yay!!!

Happy belated birthday to the best sister in the whole world!! Love you

❤️KPOWPOW

August 28, 2018

Went to chemo yesterday. My white blood cell counts remain low and barely increased from last week. Due to this I will be getting injections, one today and one tomorrow to hopefully increase them. The past few days I have had really bad numbness in my hands and feet. My legs being the worst! I have numbness from my knees down. Last week I was horrible about doing my PT exercises and working out in general. I mean I did them here and there and surfed this weekend but that was about it. It was such a busy week and I figured running around with the kids was a good enough workout.. right lol?? 😂 plus I really felt great! My oncologist explained that chemo is cumulative and just because I skipped an infusion last week doesn’t mean it’s still not building up in my system. He was concerned about the numbness and told me that neuropathy can become irriversable and it’s very serious! He said if I start tripping or having difficulty walking I will need to stop chemo and do surgery right away. I was so confused.. Im only on my 5th infusion of Taxol and need 7 more! If I stop now wouldn’t that change my prognosis? He said, “not necessarily, you had a really good response with the first chemo med and your tumor decreased in size. You will just be going down a different path. It’s like going to route 93, there are different ways to get there”. Then he said, “do you have any questions”. I was like uhhhhhh YES lol! Why aren’t we stopping now if it’s not a big deal? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I picked my nurses brain during chemo (love her!) She advised me to take vitamin B6 twice a day for the neuropathy. Cold therapy which consists of wrapping your hands and feet in ice packs during infusions which constricts blood vessels and hopefully decreases the amount of chemo that gets to them. And exercises!!

ITS TIME TO DO WORK! Started the B6 vitamin. Went to karate last night and then did all my PT exercises including cold/hot therapy which helps blood flow. Going to try acupuncture tonight. Karate Wednesday night and made an appointment with my physical therapist Thursday night. So incredibly hard to take time for myself but I HAVE to do this if I want to be able to walk in the future!

I will keep you guys updated! Wish me luck!

❤️Kpowpow

August 23, 2018

I went in for an infusion on Monday and after my Oncologist reviewed my blood work he said we need to skip chemo this week. My neutrophil count (a type of white blood cell that is crucial in fighting infection) was way too low. This impairs the immune system and can lead to rapidly fatal infections.. yikes! We will see what my levels are this Monday and go from there. On a good note, my Aunt Deb who is a nurse suggested applying lidocaine cream to my port prior to it being accessed and it was WAY less painful. Thanks Aunt Deb!

So the past month my eyebrows and eyelashes have quickly faded to nothing. This has been way harder then I thought. I feel like I officially “look the part”. I have a hard time looking in the mirror sometimes as its a constant reminder that I am a cancer patient. I had the worst self esteem growing up and my parents were constantly telling me how beautiful I was but for some reason I couldn’t see it. I hated my crazy curly hair.. thought I looked like a stray poodle haha. Thought my gymnast body looked manly. I could go on and on. The ONE thing I liked was my eyelashes. My husband use to call me “pretty eyes” in high school 🙂 The one thing that gave me confidence was now gone. I tried to stay positive and one afternoon started looking at pictures of when I had hair, eye lashes, and eyebrows and realized WOW what the hell was I complaining about. Huge eye opener and a lesson I should’ve had a long time ago. I will never complain about my looks again! And HELLO KELLY your still here fighting.. lets not complain about hair lol. Starting to see a little growth on my head though and a little on my legs!! Maybe its coming back in those areas? Yay!!

Thanks Wiggy, BBarb & Diane for the visits this week!

Jamie and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary at Buckley’s restaurant tonight! You made me feel beautiful in high school and you still do to this day without any hair. Love you so much and cant wait to celebrate tonight 😘

Kpowpow  

August 16, 2018

Starting to get a routine being on Taxol
Monday= Chemo day which I typically sleep through because of the Benadryl.
Tuesday= Steroids kick in. I literally go a million miles a minute. Had a toothbrush out scrubbing baseboards at 9pm one night. Jamie was concerned LOL
Wednesday= Symptoms! Numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, lower back pain, and foggy. Lasts about 3-4 days  then back at it on Monday 

8 treatments down 8 more to go!! Half way through chemo 👍

Physical therapy is so fun. Im like a little kid and can’t wait for the next exercise. She makes it challenging especially because I told her I was a former gymnast (big mistake lol)! Like OK Kel why don’t you balance on a medicine ball while closing your eyes! Ahhhh! 👀

Thank you Lauren for the surprise visit on Tuesday! Made me so happy to see you.
Sistahfriend thanks for the much needed girl time at Pawtuckaway Lake. And thank you Mom & Dad for helping me with the kids today at the lake (always appreciative for extra hands)!

“No matter how you feel 
get up – dress up – show up
and never give up”

❤️ Kpowpow 

August 6, 2018

Went to chemo today! I had Jamie stay home with the kids and my Mom and Sister took turns hanging out with me. I am officially transferring down to Manch. LOVE my nurse/team so far. And going to Lebanon reminds me of the red devil, gives me so much anxiety, makes me sick and makes for a very long day with the travel! It’s just not worth it.

My sister is officially bad luck! Every time she comes with me I get poked and prodded with needles lol. The first time was when I had the surgery for my port and a newbie nurse stuck me 4 times. Today another newbie nurse was trying to access my port and stuck me 3 times!! And I went cold turkey today.. no lidocaine or spray! Ouch ouch ouch!!! 😩 Being a newbie nurse myself I totally get the fact that we all have to learn and I usually love being the guinee pig. Not this time folks! Never again.. I am asking for credentials next time hahah! Even though my sister is bad luck we laughed our butts off and made a hilarious video. She’s so funny. I fell asleep on my Mom because the Benadryl made me so tired! Whoops sorry Mom

Lower back hurts, some numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, the kanker sore is still there (my new tumor haha) and a little stomach ache tonight. Oh well! Going to sleep soon. Benadryl wore off and steroids are kicking in. Might need some “medicine” tonight to help me sleep. We will see!

Goodnight ❤️ Kay, Kelbel, Kellogg’s, Kelso, Kel, Mommy, sistahfriend, Kpowpow (ok no one calls me Kpowpow but I really love it) lol 😂

August 5, 2018

First off I want to say Happy Birthday to my Mom! It was her birthday yesterday 😊 Thanks for being by my side since day one! Don’t know what I would do without your love and support! I love you so much!

We ended up going to the lake and spent this morning on my cousin Bryan’s boat. I have a new obsession.. surfing!! 🏄‍♀️ My physical therapist told me balancing is great for neuropathy symptoms and when your surfing behind a boat that’s literally all your doing. Balancing and trying not to fall on your face hahah. So much fun and therapeutic!! So nice to hang out with the Fournier crew ❤️ Love you guys

Heading home now. Chemo in the AM!