Double Digit Time!

Yes sir...number 10 is officially behind me now! That means only 2 more of the Taxol. That also means getting closer to the next round of tougher chemo (AC - Adriamycin-Cytoxan). Which also means I am that much closer to being done! Can you all keep reminding me of that?!?! LOL

We met with my oncologist today between blood test and treatment. She is so awesome and came to me at the center instead of seeing her at the office! I got a little more insight into the next steps and some timing with it all. It ends up that I will be starting the AC a week earlier than I had thought. My date is October 15th. If I tolerate it well and my blood counts stay up I will be going every other week ending the day after Thanksgiving. I get an MRI at the end of Taxol to get a better look at the tumor/s but she feels like I am responding well. If I had not been or it felt like it was growing at any point they would have stopped the Taxol and have went straight to the AC. So thankfully things are moving in the right direction BUT I still need all of you little prayer warriors shouting out prayers for me for the No Evidence of Disease at the time of surgery please. If you want to throw in keeping my white blood count up and body staying strong, I will take that too. Thank you to you all!

I will see my surgeon again some time after I have 2 of the AC treatments. She will go over surgery plans and we will look at dates. I have 2-four day holidays working against me (Christmas and New Years) with my scheduling. It will most likely be somewhere around there. A good way to start the New Year for sure. Getting this even closer to being DONE!

It's Raining Men...Hallelujah!

Gary for the second time!
Very inventive with his #10!

Cam's and Jill's inventive
#10. 

I was surrounded by men today for my treatment! I had Gary again for my nurse and BOTH Christian and Joe came along for the whole thing. That was Joe's first time staying from start to finish! Christian took the day off from work to spend the whole day with me! Could I ask for a better son-in-law and husband for Kendall? Just in case you don't know the answer...it's NO! He found the whole port access thing quite interesting and did not pass out. The guys were all great and I am so mad at myself for not taking a photo of the 3 of them together. I am certainly not the photo taker that I was before. I need to work on that because I have missed a lot of great "Kodak moments" for sure!

My Ponce sister's #10

After treatment Joe had to work so Christian and I headed out to La Jolla to walk on the beach and for Rosary time. Bummer, it was high tide so no toes in the sand today but it was beyond beautiful down there and at least 10 degrees cooler! We walked along the sidewalk right above the beach so it was a great substitute for sure. We sat on the rocks for the Rosary and I could feel the mist of the waves still and the sound of them is such great background music for praying. He took me to this cool organic restaurant afterwards and then we headed home. It was great getting to spend time with him alone for a change. I am not sure we have been out and about alone much before so it was a treat!

Blessings

Each day I feel like I am really coping better and better. Sure, I have set backs now and then but things are really feeling more stable. I have done some fun stuff since my last post that involved me getting outside my box (hyperventilating and all!). On Saturday Joe and I went to Sea World with Kendall and Christian. She had free passes for us and we went for it. I was a major sun and germ-a-phobe but I got through it. Of course I was covered from head to toe again but was thankful for the strangely dressed tourists that show up at theme parks! LOL Not to be racists in any way but I did observe that quite a few Asian women cover up from the sun too. I don't know if you have seen this but I have been spotting a lot of them wearing these visors that have a HUGE sheet of sunglass tinted plastic that comes down over their entire face. Then they also usually have clothes that cover most of their skin so I just kept sitting near them and joining the club! By the way, I even brought a small umbrella and yes, I used it! Pride goes out the window when you just want to get out and enjoy yourself and we truly did! Joe, Kendall and Christian didn't even walk 10 paces in front of me and also sat with me...what troopers! What a blast...an exhausting, draining blast...but a blast and I slept like a baby that nigh!

Then the next day Joe and I attended his office BBQ.  One of the families hosts it at their home in Carlsbad every summer. It was my first "social event" and felt it was a good one to start with since it was a small group, was outside to help cut down on germs, had plenty of shade, and I would get to see some amazing people I love catching up with and have also been incredibly supportive of both Joe and I! The other reason is that Dennis is the grill master elite (not to mention a great chef in the kitchen) as well as  his wife Anna. When I say spread, I mean spread! They don't miss a thing and it was incredible. Well after taking deep breaths all the way up their driveway (thank goodness it's a VERY long one so I had extra time - any longer and I would have passed out from hyperventilating though LOL)...I made my entrance. Everyone was SO wonderful and made me feel comfortable and NORMAL! Yes, I said normal. I didn't have to be the person at the party with cancer, I just got to be me and visit. Can we say AWESOME! Thank you to the OD office for the day and hats off to Dennis and Anna.

One last photo just to capture what a beautiful day it was!
Gotta love living here for sure!