Hello again,
I was so overwhelmed with the kindness and support that so many of you gave me. At first I was crying from despair. Then, your responses warmed my heart and touched me so much that I cried too . I read some of your responses to my sister on the phone and she cried tears of joy with me too. Her words were, "Finally you have hope." Geeze, when does the river of tears end? I cannot begin to thank each of you enough for helping to lift me up. I am doing much better since my first posting. I started off on 25 mg of zoloft and now I am on 100 mg. It has sure has helped with they crying and the neuropathy in my hands and feet. I think zoloft also makes the hot flashes a bit easier to take too.
Once I lick this cancer, I hope to encourage others like you encouraged me. I guess helping people with a new diagnosis is an unspoken pay it forward thing when you survive cancer.
I also have a bit of good news. After my 3rd round of chemo, I got heart palpitations and my oncologist told me to go to the emergency room (that is not the good news). They had to do a mini CAT scan and make sure that I did not have a blood clot. It is not the same as normal CAT scans, but it did show that the tumors are shrinking. The radiologist did not state the percentage of shrinkage, but hey, smaller is smaller.
I have also learned something that most of you already know; getting chemo is temporary. At first it felt like I would be bald and in chemo land forever. I realized that even if I get chemo for 6 months, that temporary. I suppose I will probably be on an oral chemo for a year after this too.
Today I go for round 5 of chemo. I like getting chemo because the idea of killing the tumor helps me. I usually feel good after chemo. I do not respond too well to the neulasta, but I will not get that until Wednesday.
I hear that people like their hair after chemo when it grows back. I have heard that it comes back curly. Does any one know what happens when you had curly hair to start with? Does it come back more curly? I know that is a bit of a strange question, but I am looking forward to the time when my hair comes back.
One again, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to encourage me. I have read your responses many times.
With much gratitude and affection,
Trudy