Thursday, September 16, 2010

September 16, 2010

Well I can say one thing, I'm definitely more of a morning person now than I've EVER been! One of the greatest parts of my day is when Jeremy brings Alex into bed with me while he gets ready for work and we have our "snuggle time". This morning I told him I loved him and he leaned in and gave me a big wet kiss, how great is that?! I get excited to wake up early and start my day, and those of you who know me, know that this is NOT normal for me! :o)

Mom and I had a great time yesterday picking out hair. Thank you soooo much to Karen from my oncologist's office who recommended me to Wigged Out! Tina is a 4-year young cancer survivor (she was 34 when she was diagnosed) and had a horrible time and experience picking out a wig. No one seemed to care and all the wigs were ugly and old-lady looking, so she decided to start her own wig shop and make sure no woman would ever have to go thru that again as long as she had something to do with it! And her shop is AMAZING! There were over 75 different styles to choose from and they were all really cute! We ended up getting two, one looks almost identical to my normal hair...just a little bit longer...and the other one is a super trendy short style. I love them both! They are dark brown with some black low lights and blonde highlights just like mine. And best part is, I don't have to pay $100 to fix my roots, lol!! Sorry Tiph :o)

I also had my PET scan and my echocardiogram yesterday. The echo was a breeze! Basically they just did an ultrasound of my heart to make sure it looked good to start chemo and to get a baseline to compare too later on. The guy was a huge goober and he told me I talked too much. Imagine that! I just thought it was really cool to see what my heart looked like, pumping and everything, and I wanted to know what everything was. Ohh well, I guess I can't expect EVERYONE to like me. :o)

The PET scan was probably the suckiest part so far. I mean it wasn't terrible...I was radioactive (literally) for like 6 hours so I guess that's kinda cool, but the whole IV thing just isn't my cup of tea. Bla, I really hate needles. The guy told me like 47 times how young I was, so that rocked. I mean, turning 31 really hasn't been that bad so far b/c everyone keeps telling me how young I am! He said that I will probably have to come back every 6 months to a year from now on just to make sure the cancer doesn't come back once we get rid of it, so I'm not super jacked up about that, but I guess in the whole scheme of things it's better than the alternative!

I go this morning (at 10) to have my port put in. I'm trying really, really, really hard to be positive about it, but I'm struggling. All I have in my head is my dad's. It was big and lumpy and it hurt him a lot. They keep telling me that mine won't hurt, I won't even know its there, bla, bla, but I just can't help thinking that they are so lying to me! BUT...maybe not. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised by the new addition to my body and maybe I'll love it so much that I want to go buy some body jewelry and decorate it! Bedazzler here I come! :o)

2 comments:

  1. Hello there Tasha. My name is Tina Lipari. I am friends with Amy Servi (she said she used to go to church with you). She told me about your story and I just wanted to offer you my support. I am 33 years old and went through treatment(lumpectomy, 8 rounds of chemo, 33 days of radiation) last year for breast cancer(er+, her2+). I looked at blogs and got really disappointed because there was so much negativity that I didn't need. A positive attitude goes a long way. I knew that because I have worked on an oncology unit for 8 years (pretty coincidental huh??). I think you are doing a great job staying positive. It sucks to go through all of this but at the end it feels like it went by so fast. You are a very strong woman that can handle anything.

    Now I had taxotere and carboplatin for my chemo and lost my hair also but that was the least of my worries (of course I had a bandana to match my outfit daily so I could feel cute, my wig was too itchy, although I loved it). I only felt nauseated when I had nothing in my stomach. I never actually vomited so I hope you don't either. I lived off of carbs (bread, pasta, crackers, cheerios). Everyone is so very different in their experience with chemo and how they react. Please don't let anyone get you upset about their own side effects because that doesn't mean yours will be the same. My stomach did get upset a lot (diahrrea) and not everything I tried to eat agreed with me (baby wipes come in handy for a sore bottom, I kept them in my bathrooms). Thank god I had my 3 year old and was able to work because it kept me from having pity parties for myself when I did feel bad and he kept me smiling when I didn't think I had the energy to do it.

    As far as the port goes I had one and had no problems with it. I often forgot about it being there.

    If you ever need someone to talk that has been through this don't hesitate to friend me on facebook and I can give you my phone number.

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  2. Hello, Tasha... My name is Julia Stegeman and we are in the "sisterhood" of breast cancer I hear through a series of people. Mandie Horton, to Amanda Horton, to Debbie Danderson to Beth Dimmitt here in KC. I met Beth at Joslins Jewelry store this summer when I solicited them for a donation for a fundraiser for a breast cancer support group I volunteer with... the Young Survival Coalition or YSC for short. This group supports young women diagnosed with breast cancer and our KC affiliate is part of the national non-profit organization. Beth requested me contact you to see if I, or anyone in our group, can be of help. We already have our national gal searching the national data base for someone closer to you. YSC has groups in KC and Tulsa but may have an individual closer. My email is Buttercup_66053@mokancomm.net and phone is 913-206-4518. Feel free to contact me either way and my phone is "on" 24/7 so it doesn't matter what time of day it is. If it goes to vm, I'm probably in a meeting, so leave a message and I'll return it asap. http://www.youngsurvival.org/kansascity is the website for our KC YSC group. It also has a link to the national site, a national resource guide, national chat board, etc. Hope to hear from you soon! Luv the positive attitude! HUGS! JULIA Stegeman

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