Update From Laura on Her Fight Against Breast Cancer

I feel as if I have the lead in this particular fight as I head into the 6th round. There are little tiny sprigs of "white" (as best I can tell) hair showing up on my scalp. I'm not that excited because there are only 3 eye lashes left on my left eye. (I have to be going some place really special to even attempt mascara.) My "dry eyes" water profusely but at least I can still see. Anyway, as the fingernails come off it is a relief not to have them snagging everything. The down side is you sure can't scratch you ear or head or anything else and really feel it. But I fight that with a stick or brush or something. One good thing for this week is I have being wanting to eat everything in sight! Still sweet stuff is not that good but that is not a bad thing at all. The food is helping strenghthen my fight.

One of the parts of the fight that I had not counted on was the endless paper work that is involved with disablity insurance and all other medical issues. My goodness, if I were not fighting to move these situations along what would become of it?!

This fight is clearly an emotional, physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual battle.

Thank goodness I have support!

Thank you all for what you do!

A nice way to blow your nose...

Today I was wandering through Target and I happened to see a cute little packet of "Swankies."

What caught my eye, of course, was the pink ribbon. And, as you might have guessed, I felt like it was necessary to buy a pack. Just 99 cents and "a portion of the sales of this product will be donated to Breast Cancer Research"!

Maybe you can find a cute little pack somewhere near you, too!

P.S.

I also found out about the Breast Cancer 3-Day today...

Check it out at: http://www.the3day.org/site/PageServer

Maybe we can all walk this year!!

Pick a site near you and help try to end this yucky disease.

"The Red Devil"

Laura has completed five rounds of chemo. More than halfway through treatment!! Hooray!

Yesterday's treatment brought with it two new chemo drugs. The top one is called "The Red Devil." Evidently, it has a bad reputation. It's known for the nausea it can cause. I'm bettin' on Laura, though!

Recently, she's been experiencing extremely watery eyes -- so much so, that she can't see well sometimes. Turns out, that's a sign that her eyes are dry.... ?? Go figure! They gave her drops for that.

Her blood-work came back just fine and her chemistry looked good, too! Everything is working as it should!

Today is the shot and blood work for her INR count. Her plan after that visit is to go home and lie around the rest of the day.

She met nice people again yesterday. One woman next to her also has a Kindle and so does her brother-in-law. They had a good visit.

Her friend, Debra Wade brought her lunch and her friend, Clare, came to sit with her.

All her nurses know all her friends and are so glad to see them.

To quote Laura, "I am a lucky, blessed son of a gun! I didn't know there were so many continuously caring people all around me. "

A Very Happy Birthday!

Laura was invited to a "forum" at the school today. She was told she would speak. When she arrived there was a birthday surprise waiting for her!!

Not only was there cake and other party food, the Career Technical teachers all sported the Go Fight Win t-shirts! (The bottom photo is the front of the shirt.) And then there were all the cards she received from students wishing her a happy birthday!!

She had lunch at a restaurant where she could eat all the greens she wanted. Then she had dinner with Steve and other good friends.

She ended her evening feeling full of good food and lots of love.

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday dear Laura!
Happy Birthday to you!

We love you!

Tonight our family is going to eat broccoli pasta, salad and birthday cake in honor of Laura's birthday! :-)

Broccoli, Cabbage and Nuts

Today Laura had a couple of appointments...

She first stopped by the Coumadin clinic to get her blood checked.

Next stop, the radiologist!

He checked all reports so far. He also could not find the tumor! (Yeeeeeeeee-haw!) Basically, he told her that, as far as what comes after all of her chemo treatments, she's got to make the final decision. She can do one of three things:

1. lumpectomy - They would remove the section of her breast where the tumor was and that would be followed with radiation.


2. complete mastectomy + the removal of 1 or 2 lymph nodes - If there's no cancer in the lymph nodes, then no radiation.


3. If cancer IS found in the lymph nodes, then she'd have to have radiation.

Other good news today... She had the blood test to see if she was genetically predisposed to having cancer. There was no mutuation found and that means she has the same risk as the regular population. :-)

While she was at the radiologist, the nurse from the Coumadin clinic called and said that her levels were VERY high. Turns out that's a GOOD thing! That means her blood is thin enough. So, for at least the next couple of days, she can eat vegetables high in vitamin K and she doesn't have to take the Coumadin. She'll go back for another check on Friday.

Right after that appointment, she went to the grocery store and bought cabbage, broccoli and nuts! She was very excited! The key now is to make sure she doesn't injure herself (no cuts or bruises) because she would really bleed too much.

For her birthday (tomorrow), she's going out to eat with Steve and some friends and she's going to eat whatever she wants that is high in vitamin K!!!