Clean (again!)

This is a little belated, but my first follow-up scans from earlier this month came back CLEAN!

Also, my bald spots have grown in and my eyebrows and eyelashes are full again (even though most people couldn't tell they had thinned)! Hats are once again an accessory, not a necessity. Hooray!

Oh, and the leg & armpit hair is back in full force, but I could do without that.

- Paige

HAPPY PORT OUT DAY!

My PowerPort was officially removed today! It's strange to look at where it was and not see a lump anymore. Sure, right now it's covered in a cotton ball and tagaderm, but there's nothing thrusting up out of my chest anymore!



I was awake for the entire operation, and it was performed in a basic examination room so I wasn't under a tent in a huge operating room like when it was put in.

THIS DOOR HAS OFFICIALLY CLOSED.

Cancer-free's the way to be!

I was declared tumor-free on December 18th!!

Trevor found out the next morning he had passed his final CPA exam!!

Long story short, we had mimosas for breakfast.

My hair is starting to come back. I have to shave my armits and legs again (not exactly happy about that, but I'm happy that things are getting back to normal). I never lost all of my hair, but it's really thin on top so I wear hats a lot. My hair is long enough in the back, though, that I can wear two itty bitty pigtails! I think it will become my standard hairstyle for awhile, otherwise I just have a mullet. SWEET.

My next scans are in March... I'll try to update before then. :o)

Nothin' but good news

I know I haven't posted for a little while...

Good news:

1) I am climbing out of my rut! This past weekend, Trevor and I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and were super productive. It really helped my mood.

2) I had treatment #10 out of 12 today! 83% DONE! Two more to go!

TREEEEE!

Trevor is home! Just him being back makes me feel SO much better. I'm still losing my hair like crazy, and I still feel like a marshmallow, and I still have a ton of other crappy side-effects - but just having him in my arms again (or even just in the other room) makes everything a million times better.

BUT he has to work today. Ugh. But we're going to hang out tonight. And it's actually a good thing he's working today because he and another guy were the only ones asked to work this weekend - it's is a good sign they like him a lot already! I'm so proud. :o)

The CHEMO IS WORKING!!

I completely forgot to mention the results of Wednesday's CT scan!

The largest lymph node has shrunk by 65%!! (I was given the original size and the new size and Trevor broke out his calculator and figured out the exact shrinkage.) I'm SO HAPPY!! The rest of the lymph nodes have shrunk, too, but my oncologist said that they may never shrink back down to normal because a lot of it is probably scar tissue. The PET scan after treatment #8 will show exactly what "lights up," or what is still actually cancerous.

HOORAY!!

Dreaming of peacoats & scarves...

I was told about this website called Polyvore and I have become absolutely addicted. You can browse through pages of clothing or interiors and put together an outfit or room! It's SO much fun for me since I enjoy doing that stuff already, although now I have an unlimited wardrobe to work with! It's a great marketing ploy on their part, although let's just say money hasn't really been going to my clothing lately. The whole concept of a "shopping spree" isn't in my vocabulary these days.

Anyway, the least I can do is dream, and because autumn appears to be upon us (what with the arrival of rain and cloudy skies - which, as a "true" Seattleite, I surprisingly like quite a bit), I am signing off with my 2008 dream fall wardrobe.

P.S. Treatment #5 was this morning. I came home and slept the rest of the day and now we're off to the grocery store. I hope this weekend treats me as well as the last post-treatment weekend!

My week

Tomorrow I have my CT scan - the first since the initial - to see how the cancer is reacting to the chemo. It's a little nerve-wracking to think it might not be working, but my oncologist squished around in my neck region and said he couldn't feel the swollen lymph nodes anymore, so I'm hoping for the best!

Thursday is treatment #5! One away from half way done!

Tonight I'm having dinner with Celeste & our old high school history teacher, Steve, and his partner, Amal. They're so much fun. Sometimes I wonder if people think it's weird I'm friends with and still keep in touch with certain high school teachers, but if you went to my high school, you would understand.

Wednesday is Alexa's 23rd birthday dinner. Wow, we're getting old! But not really. :o)

I AM IN THE BEST MOOD.

Last night:

- got dinner (at Paseo!) with a good college friend who was in town ever-so-briefly

- met up with the girls and went to Mona's for fantastic dessert (lavender & honey ice cream!)

Today:

- slept in until 9:45am (and I actually slept well for the first time all week!)

- made pancakes with berries (the batter was purple!)

- climbed back into bed with boyfriend & snuggled

- got up and showered

- cleaned and organized apartment (moved my desk to a better spot!)

- went to JoAnn's with Celeste

- crafted with Celeste (we made cute tufted ribbon bulletin boards!)

- came home & made nachos with boyfriend (SO TASTY)

- read book & relaxed

And later tonight we're going to a BBQ! I almost feel normal (all except for that weird heartburn-y starving feeling in my stomach). And to top it all off, it's only Saturday! I could do this all again tomorrow if I wanted! Haha, is it obvious I haven't been able to enjoy my weekends for a long time?

And tomorrow, I'm going to take a bath!! With bubbles and fizzies and candles and EVERYTHING. Can you tell I'm excited?

No complaints!

The wedding was beautiful and I still feel like I didn't have treatment last Thursday! It would be wonderful if this feeling continued for the rest of my treatments, although I have a hunch it won't... The floaters in my peripheral vision have increased, but that's the only complaint I have today. Oh, that, and some heartburn, and it being terribly quiet at work today. Off to lunch!

Still feeling good - Neutrophil counts, I love you!

The pirate party was a success last night! We stayed for about an hour and half, but it was definitely entertaining. Everyone was so dressed up! I think Jon made quite a bit of money for the Light the Night walk, too! (I forgot to mention that he had been growing out his beard for the party, and a tennis club member asked him why he was looking so scruffy. He told her about the party and about how it was a fundraiser for LLS and about me - not sure if she knew me - and she decided she wanted to pay for the keg! So nice of her!)

And this morning, I feel good enough to go to Blair and Lauren's wedding! Jamie and Leah are going to pick me up around 9:30am and then we get to drive a nice long four hours to the Washington-Oregon border. Trevor said it's absolutely beautiful down there and that there's so much stuff to do. Maybe we'll go there for our remission vacation.

YAR!

I feel pretty good today! Definitely not like the first two post-treatment weekends. I really think it has to do with my neutrophil levels being higher than the past few times. There's a very good chance I'll be able to go to Blair and Lauren's wedding tomorrow.

Trevor and Chelsie drove down last night, so my mom spent the night with me to make sure everything was okay. She hung out for awhile today, too, and she'll be back a little later to check in. Celeste and I are going to stop by Jon's swashbuckling pirate party tonight where he's raising money for the Light the Night walk! I was so touched when I found out he was throwing the party in my honor and to raise money for the LLS. We're going to dress up like pirates! YAR! I took a shower and started to get ready for the day, but so far I still just have my bathrobe on - but I've accessorized with a red pirate bandana on my head, haha.

I talked to Trevor today and he said he caught a big steel head trout when they were out on the boat for Blair's "bachelor party" today! So exciting! I'm happy that I get to see him tomorrow. It's really amazing how much I miss him when we're apart, even just for a day. :o)

HOT and ALONE but HAPPY

Chemo #4 was a success yesterday! Mira and Kaston came to visit, and when my mom came to pick me up, Hunter came, too! So many fun visitors!

I finally got to see Dr. Chen, my oncologist, too! The last time I had seen him was when we did my bone marrow biopsy on May 28th! I had just been seeing his main nurse because he was never available, but I get to see him next time, which is nice.

He also gave me great news, or at least clarified what he had said before. I thought I was going to be getting 12 treatments, then a few more treatements instead of chemo. But apparently, I'm getting 12 treatments total! 8 treatments, then 4 more instead of radiation! SO HAPPY! So, if all goes as planned, and none of my treatments are pushed back, I'll have my last treatment on December 4th! Maybe I'll be declared in remission by 2009!

I have a CT scan scheduled for August 28th, the day before chemo #5, to see how the cancer is reacting. Dr. Chen poked around my collarbone area and didn't really find anything! The lymph nodes have shrunk so much already that he couldn't even feel them! I still have to receive all 12 treatments, but it's nice to know that it's working, especially because my hair is still sticking around! I know there's no correlation between the success of the treatment and hair falling out, but when your hair isn't coming out in clumps like everyone said it would, it makes you wonder. There's still a chance I could go bald, but most people have buzzed their heads by this point because so much is falling out. But mine just doesn't want to go! I wash and blow dry my hair every morning, treating it like normal, and it's still on my head. Maybe it helped that I chopped it all off. Besides, I needed a style change, haha.

Dr. Chen also finally showed me my first CT/PET scans because I told him I had never seen them. OMG SO COOL. I can't even quite describe it, but he could spin the picture of my body in 3D, and he showed me the PET, which was as if my body were sliced like a loaf of bread, then he would show me each slice and the layers of the cancer. The CT scan was black and white, and the really dark black blobs were the parts of my body that had taken up the glucose (a fluid you have to drink before the scan - DISGUSTING). At first it looked like there was cancer EVERYWHERE, but he explained to me that the cancer isn't the only thing to take up the glucose. The heart, bladder, kidneys, baby fat strips on your shoulders to your chest, and other portions also take up the sugar. He made sure to point out what was actually cancer and what wasn't. The PET scan showed these black portions as glowing red patches instead. Also super cool.

The building at work today is like a big brick oven. There's no air conditioning so I've opened all the windows in all of the offices I have access to. I'm the only one here today, so it's also really quiet and I don't have much to do. I really shouldn't complain, but it makes the day go by quite a bit slower than when I have lots of tasks to get done. Oh well, I should enjoy it while I feel good.

Beauty & The Beast

Trevor: "We've already established that if you were a Disney princess you'd be Belle, right?"

Paige: "Yeah, I think so..."

Trevor: "Because your dad's an engineer and Belle's dad was, like, an inventor-guy."

Paige: "Yeah, okay..."

Trevor: "And you like to read. And sketchy guys like you and follow you around."

Paige: "Haha. And I'm adventurous!"

Trevor: "Well, yeah... That, AND you fell in love with a big hairy man."

Hook, Line, and Sinker

This guy's cartoons are pure and utter GENIUS. Love 'em.

Billy Blob

*rip* BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This ALWAYS puts me in a better mood: