My weekend/Chemo: Round 3!

My cousin, Michelle, from Miami, her beautiful fam, and my uncle came to visit over the weekend. We have not seen her in years, so it was amazing to get to catch up and just spend time with each other! Sunday we went to Fashion Island. So pretty! We window shopped, walked around, and ate a lot of yummyness. Spending this time with ALL of them is so rare because they both live so far away. They will be staying for 3 1/2 weeks, so I know there is a lot of fun times ahead! (Such as having a “Mario Party” Party on N64. We used to play all the time when we were younger with Michelle.) Yessssss.

I had my 3rd round of chemo today. I realized I am already 1/4 of the way done! (12 rounds for 24 weeks). So crazy how time goes by so fast. I feel like I was just in the hospital. I would call today a bad-ish day. I had chemo at 9am (never doing that again). I went to bed way too late (my own fault), so in the morning I was so tired, which really didn’t help. Josh went with me to the appointment and when we walked in the waiting room wasn’t too full. We then go into the room where everyone gets their chemo and it was packed! Every chair was occupied. One woman, who was just diagnosed with breast cancer, made homemade red velvet cupcakes for everyone. That was really neat. It was actually her first chemo treatment.

The nurse came over to take blood, now a routine, to check that everything was up to par so that I can get the chemo. She came back and said that my white blood cell count was low, but that the doctor said it was fine to proceed. I was going to be so bummed if they could not do it! I asked if it was something I did, but she said no, it’s just the chemo. So tomorrow I have to come back and get a shot.

Since it was so crowded it was hard to read my book, so I pretty much became a creeper and just people watched :) It made the time go by so fast! It is so interesting to hear everyone’s story and what kind of cancer they have. Everyone is so different but yet we all have so much in common.

At my first visit to the doctor’s after I had been released from the hospital, I was getting my blood drawn and my mom and I started talking to this man who was sitting next to me getting his blood drawn as well (he looked about my parents’ age). He was talking about running and how much he loved it. I believe he ran marathons. So my mom told him about me running the half marathon in May. We kept talking and he was just so nice and optimistic. His daughter (a little older than me) was the same way. So sweet. He even said that he ran 5 miles yesterday! I looked at my mom like, “why can’t I do that?!!” But she shot me a dirty look like, “no way.” ;) He pretty much started his chemotherapy at the same time I did, so I told him I hoped to see him again. Well, today I had just started the chemo when he walked in and sat right across from me. It was nice to see a familiar face who is going through the same thing. We talked and as I finished up and left he just said, “Keep smiling!” What an awesome, awesome person. I really hope to have another treatment again with him. He has his every two weeks as well, so I think it is a high possibility.
Anyways, after chemo I was hungry so Alyssa, my mom, and I stopped by the mall and ate some sandwiches. I learned from last time not to eat a ton after because my stomach killed. We left and then that stupid stomach ache started again. It is where you smell something or you see something and I just feel gross. We got home and I decided to lay down and rest. My stomach ache proceeded to get worse so I went upstairs to take a nap, hoping I could sleep it away! I fell asleep for about 2 hours and it still lingered, but not as bad. I wanted to eat dinner but absolutely nothing sounded good. So I opted for a protein shake. My mom said to take the nausea medicine that my doctor prescribed for times like this. I decided to take it and it did wonders. My stomach ache disappeared, thank goodness!

Tomorrow, I go back to the doctors to get a shot, Mama goes back to work, and Alyssa starts at Chapman! I am pretty bummed that I have to take a semester off and cannot be with Alyssa. I am going to make sure that I keep myself busy though! I have many things in mind :)

Alright, thanks all for listening. You guys are great. Goodnight!

Always, Amber :)