Friends, it has been an eventful couple of weeks.  Let me pick up where we left off... 

Week One Recap

As you saw in my previous post the tumor markers are falling rapidly and are almost all the way to zero!  The good news continued with week one of cycle three.  The new medication that we tried substantially cut down almost all of the side effects.  Nausea was low and didn’t really impact me until the end of the week.  The zombie brain (chemo haze) was low until the very end of the week and ear ringing was substantially reduced.  Fatigue was still an issue and even though l wasn’t nauseated, my appetite did not improve.  Overall, this was the best ‘big week’ so far!   Here is the updated list of side effects from last week. 

• Nausea - Low
• Fatigue - High
• Ringing in the ears - Low
• Dehydration - High
• Zombie Brain - Low
• Shortness of Breath - Low
• Restless Legs - #Cured
• Mouth Sores - Low

Shots

So, Wednesday night I started feeling pain and stiffness in the upper inside portion of my right arm.  After tossing and turning all night I started getting ready for the day yesterday and noticed that my right arm was red and blotchy and my left arm looked normal.  So, I called my friendly local oncology office and they were able to set me up with an ultrasound in pretty short order.  The ultrasound showed that a few blood clots had formed in the upper portion of my arm.  While talking with the doctor, she explained that people with cancer, people receiving chemotherapy, and people who have a chemo port are considered high risk for blood clots.  Since I check all three of those boxes, she wasn’t terribly suprised.  The awful news (for me) is that I now have to inject myself in the stomach with medicine twice each day for at least 30 days.  Ugh...  

Other Stuff

Three exciting things that I wanted to share that aren’t related to treatment or cancer. 

1. Ashley met Temple Grandin at UW Platteville yesterday.  If you don’t know who Temple Grandin is, you should.  Google her or watch the movie that HBO made about her life, its very well done. 
2. Ashley and I bought a share of a local CSA!  This is the first time that we’ve done this and we are beyond excited.  Basically this means that we will get certified organic produce and eggs dropped off right down the road from us from June until November.  We can also go visit the farm that all of these delicious things are grown on and attend special events if we’d like.  Because the soil in our yard is mostly clay we haven’t had any luck growing vegetables since we moved back to Iowa, so this will be a perfect way to get all of that fresh, organic veg that we’ve been missing.
3. If you go to Starbucks don’t order the vegan oat cookies.  They are disgusting.  That is all I have to say about that.