Thursday, May 29, 2014
Super small post
So since February when she started chemo Becca has been the model patient. Excelling in all her numbers and counts. Little to no side effects although those have been on the rise as of late. But all in all she's been doing very well. And this week has been no exception except for two changes to report. She now has a full head of peach fuzz with some stubble in the back by her neck. Nursing staff today were happy about that. Her white cell count was low again. Not low enough to stop treatments....yet. Doc isn't too worried but will be keeping a close eye on those numbers. 4 more weeks to go! Like I said. Small post but will update if anything changes. Remember to keep posting the fundraiser link and hopefully we can annoy new people into donating :) Lots of love to all of you and have a GREAT weekend!
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Little But Some News
Its's been awhile since my last post but to be honest nothing has really changed for Becca. The muscle pain is getting a little worse but aleve is taking care of that most of the time. She still has fatigue but no more than during the last round. Hot flashes abound which wakes her at times when she should be sleeping and her eye lashes are starting to go. Right now we are mainly concerned about her heart rate. Before chemo she was always low. Around 80 BPM resting. That's now around 100. Exercise is tricky which is pissing her off something fierce. We are 7 weeks away from the end of chemo which is now shorter in duration each time we go. about 2.5 hours rather than 4. We are loving that!
To continue with some good news some of you know my family runs a booth at the Walworth County Fair. The Brat Pit! We've had that spot and stand for as long as I can remember. This year and hopefully years to come it was decided that we will start a non-profit booth. Nothing changes except all profits, usually less than 3K, after expenses, will go...somewhere. I say this because we don't know exactly how we want to do. This year will be for Becca and the medical bills and I'm hopeful that with this in mind the total after expenses will be higher. It's quite possible subsequent years may go to other cancer victims and families. Nothing is decided after this year...yet.
With that said I will be looking for volunteers to man the booth. I'll be putting up a sign up post later this year but keep it in mind. All the people in the past have always been volunteers however we are hoping that with the money going to causes and individuals more people will want to get involved to help those who need it. As always thank you all for the support and words of encouragement. It means the world to us to know you are out there. And here's my love. Pass the word and share like crazy. I know you will because you are AWESOME!
To continue with some good news some of you know my family runs a booth at the Walworth County Fair. The Brat Pit! We've had that spot and stand for as long as I can remember. This year and hopefully years to come it was decided that we will start a non-profit booth. Nothing changes except all profits, usually less than 3K, after expenses, will go...somewhere. I say this because we don't know exactly how we want to do. This year will be for Becca and the medical bills and I'm hopeful that with this in mind the total after expenses will be higher. It's quite possible subsequent years may go to other cancer victims and families. Nothing is decided after this year...yet.
With that said I will be looking for volunteers to man the booth. I'll be putting up a sign up post later this year but keep it in mind. All the people in the past have always been volunteers however we are hoping that with the money going to causes and individuals more people will want to get involved to help those who need it. As always thank you all for the support and words of encouragement. It means the world to us to know you are out there. And here's my love. Pass the word and share like crazy. I know you will because you are AWESOME!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Journey To The Land Of Food
We are back from our epic journey to the land of the north known to us wisconsinites simply as "The Dells". We try to go every year (for the last 13 years) around the time we get our tax returns but this year was different. We didn't know how becca was going to do with chemo. We postponed and waited and by the time it looked like she would be fine the money wasn't there anymore. We're halfway through chemo and just decided we need a breather so I got some extra shifts, a couple small gifts from friends and we were able to pull together a 2 night stay at the Wilderness Resort. This is our favorite resort and we are very loyal. So loyal in fact that we got a 20.00 discount on the Friday night and a free room upgrade from a standard to one with a separate master bedroom and full kitchen! I say this because I like to believe it wasn't because of the beautiful bald woman standing next to me.
We get to the room and the first thing we do is order in Sarento's pizza. SO GOOD! After we decide to skip any water based activities and head down to the mini golf. Becca won which is odd because I always do but I've been having back issues and my knee isn't 100% and yada yada yada...We played in the arcade for a time but by then it was about 9:30 so we decided to head to bed and get a jump on tomorrow.
Breakfast buffet first then off to one of the 3 indoor waterparks. Xander quickly noticed it's a lot like a kiddie park and aside from the slides and lazy river it wasn't to his liking. Off to the wave pool area with sun and lounge chairs. We normally get a cabana for a whole day staying in just this park so I looked into it remembering it's usually 75.00 off season. There was 1 left. SWEET! 175.00...NOT SO SWEET! So the cabana is out. Meanwhile Xander is hungry already so chicken fingers it is. After swimming in the wave pool he's tired (poor thing) so we all go down the raft slide. That was fun-ish. More for him. Then we went and got flushed on that raft ride that from the outside looks like a sideways toilet bowl. That was FUN! Xander went backwards (he hates me) and look on his face was priceless!
Becca and I got our traditional 2-4-1 margaritas and I scored a few lounge chairs and all was right with the world. This is about the time Xander wanted to complain as all teenage boys do. He ended up going back to the room for some time by himself which was fine. Problem being when we got back he still wanted to be alone so Becca and I showered and went back down to the arcade knowing full well we were spending money to make E-tickets for the loner to use to buy some crap. I swear that setup is the greatest con ever.
We return and then it's off to dinner at the Wisconsin Brew Pub. The burgers were great, fried pickles and potato wedges wrapped in bacon we awesome, and I had a twice baked bacon potato that I kid you not I could have as a meal. Damn was that tasty! After having our meal we headed back for some laser tag and again an early night in. Xander of course pulled the curtain separating the living room and immersed himself in youtube videos. meanwhile I'm thinking of breakfast at Paul Bunyans in the morning after we check out.
Family style breakfast and lots of it. Good and plentiful. After filling up we headed to downtown dells and caught Ripley's Believe it or Not because you have to at least once. Not worth the money in my opinion but the boy enjoyed it and Becca smiled a lot while taking a ton of pictures. That was pretty much it. We were all tired and just wanted to get home. Xander a bit more. So we waved good-bye till next year.
Where is all the cancer talk you ask? Where's the update? This is it. We didn't talk of chemo or treatments, bald heads or muscle aches, hot flashes or bills. We were just a family on vacation for a couple days and I tell you it was wonderful. Oh sure we'd get the looks sometimes and a not so subtle whispering. These were quickly ignored. Point is she is not her cancer and sometimes a break to remind yourselves of that is just what the doctor ordered.
We get to the room and the first thing we do is order in Sarento's pizza. SO GOOD! After we decide to skip any water based activities and head down to the mini golf. Becca won which is odd because I always do but I've been having back issues and my knee isn't 100% and yada yada yada...We played in the arcade for a time but by then it was about 9:30 so we decided to head to bed and get a jump on tomorrow.
Breakfast buffet first then off to one of the 3 indoor waterparks. Xander quickly noticed it's a lot like a kiddie park and aside from the slides and lazy river it wasn't to his liking. Off to the wave pool area with sun and lounge chairs. We normally get a cabana for a whole day staying in just this park so I looked into it remembering it's usually 75.00 off season. There was 1 left. SWEET! 175.00...NOT SO SWEET! So the cabana is out. Meanwhile Xander is hungry already so chicken fingers it is. After swimming in the wave pool he's tired (poor thing) so we all go down the raft slide. That was fun-ish. More for him. Then we went and got flushed on that raft ride that from the outside looks like a sideways toilet bowl. That was FUN! Xander went backwards (he hates me) and look on his face was priceless!
Becca and I got our traditional 2-4-1 margaritas and I scored a few lounge chairs and all was right with the world. This is about the time Xander wanted to complain as all teenage boys do. He ended up going back to the room for some time by himself which was fine. Problem being when we got back he still wanted to be alone so Becca and I showered and went back down to the arcade knowing full well we were spending money to make E-tickets for the loner to use to buy some crap. I swear that setup is the greatest con ever.
We return and then it's off to dinner at the Wisconsin Brew Pub. The burgers were great, fried pickles and potato wedges wrapped in bacon we awesome, and I had a twice baked bacon potato that I kid you not I could have as a meal. Damn was that tasty! After having our meal we headed back for some laser tag and again an early night in. Xander of course pulled the curtain separating the living room and immersed himself in youtube videos. meanwhile I'm thinking of breakfast at Paul Bunyans in the morning after we check out.
Family style breakfast and lots of it. Good and plentiful. After filling up we headed to downtown dells and caught Ripley's Believe it or Not because you have to at least once. Not worth the money in my opinion but the boy enjoyed it and Becca smiled a lot while taking a ton of pictures. That was pretty much it. We were all tired and just wanted to get home. Xander a bit more. So we waved good-bye till next year.
Where is all the cancer talk you ask? Where's the update? This is it. We didn't talk of chemo or treatments, bald heads or muscle aches, hot flashes or bills. We were just a family on vacation for a couple days and I tell you it was wonderful. Oh sure we'd get the looks sometimes and a not so subtle whispering. These were quickly ignored. Point is she is not her cancer and sometimes a break to remind yourselves of that is just what the doctor ordered.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
I married an idiot
Becca started her 2nd round of chemo on Thursday. Now it's every week for twelve weeks and this first one was no problem. She is having some twinges in large muscle groups but nothing serious and there has been no neuropathy in her extremities which is possible but usually not till around 6 weeks in. All in all chemo has been pretty easy on her aside from the hair loss. She misses her locks. She's hating the scarves at work and can't wear the wig comfortably. Most of the time she goes without when out in public now and always at home. It might be weird later on when she does have hair lol.
Now onto my dear wife being an idiot. She is at times scatter brained but those times are few and far between. This is not the case anymore. She has issues finding words which is fun because that's usually me and now the tables have been turned ha ha ha. To get a good understanding on what "Chemo Brain" is like I will use her own words.
From Becca:
Well, chemo brain has kicked in. It isn't constant, but at the end of the last 2 cycles, I've been hit with it for a couple of days. (Therefore, if my sentence structure doesn't always make sense here, please don't hold it against me.)
Let me give you a snapshot of how my brain is (not) functioning.
Get to work.
Turn on computer, music, digital photo frame
Open email
Stare blankly at email for 2 minutes
Realize I'm staring blankly at email and begin running Monday morning reports
Pause music to go to printer and get reports
Bring reports back to office
*
*
*
*
The internet is boring.
*
*
*
Ooh - I should read up on Captain America now that I've seen it.
Commence reading
*
*
Remember I'm at work, it's Monday, and I have reports to do.
Commence working on reports
Realize halfway through that I'm entering the wrong numbers
S@!t
*
*
*
*
Okay, what was I doing?
Redo reports using correct numbers, brain functioning at 100%, all is well.
Finish reports, double-checking information, speedy and efficient as always.
Compose email to boss:
The reports weekly are attached.
no...delete
The resports weekly are attached.
Crap! No! delete...
Your weekly reports...
*
*
*
s&*t!
...are attached.
Send email without attachment.
*
*
*
Remember I was listening to music before and start it up again.
Start doing other work. spot on, brain working at full capacity.
Receive email from boss looking for attachment.
Oh, for f@%k's sake!
Hit reply
*
*
*
Attach reports and send.
Now onto my dear wife being an idiot. She is at times scatter brained but those times are few and far between. This is not the case anymore. She has issues finding words which is fun because that's usually me and now the tables have been turned ha ha ha. To get a good understanding on what "Chemo Brain" is like I will use her own words.
From Becca:
Well, chemo brain has kicked in. It isn't constant, but at the end of the last 2 cycles, I've been hit with it for a couple of days. (Therefore, if my sentence structure doesn't always make sense here, please don't hold it against me.)
Let me give you a snapshot of how my brain is (not) functioning.
Get to work.
Turn on computer, music, digital photo frame
Open email
Stare blankly at email for 2 minutes
Realize I'm staring blankly at email and begin running Monday morning reports
Pause music to go to printer and get reports
Bring reports back to office
*
*
*
The internet is boring.
*
*
*
Ooh - I should read up on Captain America now that I've seen it.
Commence reading
*
*
Remember I'm at work, it's Monday, and I have reports to do.
Commence working on reports
Realize halfway through that I'm entering the wrong numbers
S@!t
*
*
*
*
Okay, what was I doing?
Redo reports using correct numbers, brain functioning at 100%, all is well.
Finish reports, double-checking information, speedy and efficient as always.
Compose email to boss:
The reports weekly are attached.
no...delete
The resports weekly are attached.
Crap! No! delete...
Your weekly reports...
*
*
*
s&*t!
...are attached.
Send email without attachment.
*
*
*
Remember I was listening to music before and start it up again.
Start doing other work. spot on, brain working at full capacity.
Receive email from boss looking for attachment.
Oh, for f@%k's sake!
Hit reply
*
*
*
Attach reports and send.
So that's what she has been dealing with and when I say that I mean me as well. I swear she's worse at home and there have been time when I've thought that she is now brain damaged. Thanks Cancer! You Rock!! This post is somewhat of a cop out because I'm lazy and decided to use hers. In my defense though it's better coming from her than me. In all honesty I was amazed she could type it out given her faculties the way they are So I'm actually showing her off lol. Have a great week everyone!!
Friday, March 28, 2014
She's rounding 1st...
With baseball season approaching I thought the title was witty lol. Yesterday Becca received her final treatment with the "red devil"! This part of her treatment is done and some other good news. The masses have begun to shrink! Oh happy day some improvement! No scans or imaging just by touch but you can tell and more importantly she can tell. It really is a wonderful thing and gives renewed hope. Until now all that she has been going thru seemed to be for nothing but a promise that treatment would DO something. Now we can say it is and have renewed drive to get through the next phase.
In 2 weeks she starts her weekly treatments. Lower risk of side effects and it will be nice to go every week. Will feel that we are rolling along and not sitting idle while we wait. looking at the end of June and can kind of make it out now. She's on her way to 2nd soon to be rounding it and on her way to 3rd. Keep up the words of support and little messages to her. Share the fundraiser link and keep word out there. You are all the most wonderful people we have ever known. This little improvement has happened in part because of you :)
Saturday, March 22, 2014
So that happened
Last week I let you know that Becca wasn't doing too well. That was fun! She was in bed for 3 days, migraines galore, and no energy what-so-ever. She is doing better now I am happy to report. The combination of chemo kicking her immune system down a few hundred notches and a nasty head cold is what did it. You know she still handled it better than I would have.
She was feeling a little better Sunday and was out of bed most of the day. Even ventured to the outside world a couple times. I was, however, able to convince her to stay home Monday and Tuesday as she just looked wiped. She's still so tired. Nothing like this last weekend but it's enough. Almost came home on Thursday, sad and angry, because of it. Looking down the road of this thing she can't yet see the light and that's not helping. We've been trying to think about a trip to take next year during spring break. Something to work towards and look forward to. Suggestions welcome. This weekend she'll venture out to Janesville and look for picture frames to finish a project. She's looking forward to that! It's outside!
On top of it all Xander was sick too mid week. Today she hugged him for the first time since a week ago Friday. I've been keeping busy trying to keep the place clean. Bought a small air purifier for her office at work which will help (I hope) keep the crap out of her. Really wish she didn't have to work in a basement of an old building and around so many people with their germs. Need to get a whole house purifier but don't have the funds right now. Working on it.
Trying to find ways of making extra cash. Karaoke isn't going anywhere and even if it did I got one speaker that's bad off and can't see spending money on repairing/replacing it without knowing I'll make money with it. May have to bust out the fishnets and find a corner soon. Yeah that'll work.
Maybe this would work better for her ;)
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Is it a cold or is it chemo?
Becca has been down all weekend with what we think is a head cold. Bad headaches, lethargy, no nausea but she's not eating a lot. Could be the chemo as the first weekend after treatment isn't the best but if it is chemo this has been the worst so far. Knowing her she will still try to go to work tomorrow. Trying to get her to stay home because after staying in bed for so long she's not going to have the energy. She's stubborn though so my chances of success are slim to none. Made her some eggs and toast and I check in every hour or so to see if she needs anything.
Short post I know but not much to say. One more treatment on the 27th and then two weeks after that she starts her 12 week run getting treatment once a week. Can't be done soon enough. She so wants to get back to her old self. Bills are coming in and everybody has been wonderful with payment plans. I do have to say without our supporters donating to our fundraiser I don't know what we would do. Bankruptcy after all is said and done comes to mind. Thank you all for your help and positive vibes. Please continue to spread the word. Facebook, Twitter, anything and everything. I'll keep you posted and get another post out next week sometime.
Short post I know but not much to say. One more treatment on the 27th and then two weeks after that she starts her 12 week run getting treatment once a week. Can't be done soon enough. She so wants to get back to her old self. Bills are coming in and everybody has been wonderful with payment plans. I do have to say without our supporters donating to our fundraiser I don't know what we would do. Bankruptcy after all is said and done comes to mind. Thank you all for your help and positive vibes. Please continue to spread the word. Facebook, Twitter, anything and everything. I'll keep you posted and get another post out next week sometime.
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