5 Down, 1 to Go!

Well, I had chemo on Thursday, January 14th. I forgot to schedule it when I was in before, so I had a later starting time, Noon. But I had a good friend come up and go with me. I dropped my kids off at the usual sitter (Thank you!), and we both drove our cars over to the hospital because she was going to have to leave before I was all done. Which was okay, if I have someone to distract me the first little bit, the rest is no big deal. I had a batch of cookies that the daughter of one of WonderfulHubby's coworker's made for me to pass around, and they were a big hit with everyone that had them. The Doctor did his exam, and said the denser area is much smaller, and that he wouldn't be surprised if I was in remission by the time I had surgery. (WOW!!! YAY!!!!!)
My dear friend went and got lunch for us after I was hooked up in the chemo room, and I fell asleep for about an hour. They give me benedryl as part of the pre-chemo meds, and IV benedryl can really knock you out! When I woke up we had a great visit for the rest of the time. She was so sweet and had brought a game to play and dvds to watch, but I was content to just chat with her. I mean, how often do I get a chance to talk to a friend for that long with no kids interrupting or the phone battery dying?
I drove myself home when I was done, and WonderfulHubby had gathered the kiddos from their various playdates and gotten them started on homework. A neighbor brought over dinner, which was totally devoured by the kids, super yummy! (I really do need to collect all these recipes that people make for us and post them here.... I'll have to make a note somewhere I will see it)
Now for the bad news, ickiness set in the very next day. Yup, no day of reprieve like usual, right into the stomach problems. Luckily WonderfulHubby had a four day weekend (again, thank goodness he is a school teacher!), and was there to pick up the slack. Littlest Boy also had stomach issues starting that night, so he and I must have given it to each other or something. I was worried about him on Saturday because he really wasn't holding anything down, but then we tried gatorade, and that worked. I called the on-call doctor for our family doc, and he said I could also give him benedryl, that it would help his tummy settle too! Crazy, huh?! But we didn't bother because he came out of it okay. Me, I was still sick and exhausted Saturday and Sunday. Monday I was starting to feel a little less nauseated, but very tired and nothing sounded good yet. So I called my mom to come help out Tuesday.
So Monday night while WonderfulHubby was out running errands and picking up dinner, a nice neighbor brought by some soup and potato casserole that his wife had made. I had not bought soup before this go around, and it was so glorious to have something light, but filling that I could test my tummy out on. And it tasted good too. Really, just wonderful, thoughtful people out there! Oh, and dinner was brought to us Saturday and Sunday, too. Now this happens every time, the nice ladies in my church make arrangements for dinner to be brought in for two nights after chemo. I don't know if I mention every entry these individual meals, but they are all so great! I mean, I can't enjoy them at the time, usually, but I can hardly wait until my tummy settles down so I can!
And today, my mom came up. I was feeling pretty much all back to normal, so felt a little guilty at first. But it is always nice to have my mom around. And when I needed to take a 3 hour nap after lunch, there were no worries. Maybe that's why I'm up at almost Midnight posting this, but still it was a great nap!
So now, just to troop on through until the next treatment. I tell you, I hate these treatments. Each one gets worse, and even just thinking about the chemo room makes me a little nauseated (not that I ever got sick in there, but still). I will be SO glad when this is done. We will still have to do the Mastectomy, and then radiation, and then easy chemo (should have no side effects, just one medicine) to finish up a full 12 months. And somewhere in there reconstruction (woohoo! Got to keep my eyes on the prize!). But I think the yickiest is over, though recovery from the surgery will not be fun, at least I should be able to eat just fine! Okay, now it's off to bed with me! Good night!