Chemo #10

Yesterday was chemo #10. My friend Angie went with me. It is definitely easier for me to go to chemo when I turn it into a girls day out. Having someone to talk to while I wait makes the time go by quicker. I definitely needed that yesterday. My appointment was for 11:30 but I didn't get to see Dr. Gray until 1:45. He had another Doctor call him about another patient and he was on the phone for a very long time. I didn't mind waiting because I know he has had similar conversations with my other doctors. The chemo room was also very busy. Dr. Gray said that he would rather have me wait for him than to hurt the nurses feelings by having me have to wait for them. Having Angie there helped a lot. We were laughing and joking while we were in the lobby. There was an older gentleman waiting in the lobby while his sister was having chemo. He said that he was sorry to interrupt us but that he loved our attitude and how "fun" we were making my chemo treatment. Laughing and joking around while I wait helps to distract me from thinking about the chemo that is coming. Looking forward to going out to lunch after also makes it easier.

Chemo went well. Dr. Gray had them administer it slower to make it easier on my sinuses. It seemed to help. We went to Sizzler for lunch after. I love their strawberry lemonade.

The tips of my fingernails are starting to come apart from my fingers. In the picture my fingernails are all trimmed short. The white area is where the bottom layer of fingernail has separated from the other layers of fingernail. I am hoping that it doesn't continue to separate down the entire nail. If it doesn't then they shouldn't fall off and should grow back normally eventually. So far my toenails aren't doing this yet. Mariah had an accident last week when she was opening a door. The door caught on one of her toenails and ripped it down the center also pulling it away from the toe. We tried to keep it covered and taped down so that it could grow out before we had to cut it but that didn't work very well. David finally cut the separated nail off today. She will still have to keep it covered to protect the toe and hopefully it will eventually grow back normally also.

Wednesday we had our cancer support group lunch at Angie's house. She was very kind to let us use her pool in the back yard. Unfortunately the date wasn't very good so only two other "Survivor Sisters" were able to come but we had fun anyway. Teri and Ginny were there with their kids. My kids were the hardest to get out of the pool. It was so nice to sit and talk with Teri and Ginny about how our lives have been effected by breast cancer and to learn from each other's experiences.

Two members of the group couldn't join us because their fight with cancer have both taken a turn for the worse. I met Julie at our luncheon in June in Bountiful. It turns out that she went to the same High School as I did but she graduated 3 years before me. She found out a few weeks ago that her cancer is back. She had a double mastectomy on Monday. She was in the hospital for a few days but she is doing okay now. Another sister has had her cancer metastasize to her femur and hip bones. She is having surgery in another week to have a rod put in. News like this makes me stop and think. Even though my treatments and surgeries will hopefully be over by the end of next year, there is no guarantee that I won't have to fight it again at a later date.