It has been about 2 months since my last post, but I assure you a ton has happened over this time.
First, we had the honor of welcoming Sadie Glenn Butler to our little family at 2:04pm on February 17, 2015. She weighed in at 7lbs. 6ozs. and was 19 3/4" long. Liam was super excited to meet his new little sister. He is amazing with her.
We were able to enjoy a few uninterrupted weeks with both of our kiddos before the world of cancer retook out lives. My chemo treatments began on March 16th with a 3 day stay at The New James Cancer Hospital. There were a lot of emotions that came along with these new treatments starting. I was sad to have to be away from home and Don, Liam and Sadie for so much time. I was scared about how I would react to these new chemo drugs and what they were going to do to me. I was frustrated that this whole "cancer" thing was happening to me and that it was taking me away from my new little girl!!! Not fair!!!
The first VAC treatment actually went pretty well while I was in the hospital. Don and Sadie spent most of each day with me. Liam is still going to his sitter's as planned, we are trying to keep day to day life as normal as possible for him. He was excited to visit me in the evening, he especially like to ride the "alligator" (elevator) to come visit mommy. He is too cute sometimes!!
I was released on Wednesday, April 18th at around 6pm. I was able to get home and had a good day and half before the cancer side effects rears their ugly head. Friday afternoon the nausea and vomiting began, this lasted for about a day and half before I had to make my first trip to the ER, I was subsequently admitted to the hospital to get some IV anti-nausea drugs and fluid for dehydration. I was in for about 2 days and then released. I was home for about a day and half before my body decided that is missed the hospital sooooo much. I was getting into what they call the neutropenic time frame, this is the time in which my white blood cell counts will drop dramatically in response to the chemo treatments. During this time I am at a significant risk for infection and that is just what happened. I came down with chills and a fever of 100.5 (this is the fever threshold for cancer patients). I called into my doctor and was instructed to go directly to the ER because my white blood cell counts were most likely non-existent, which ended up being the case. This earned me an extra 4 day stay in the hospital to get fluids and antibiotics to kill off whatever gave me the fever and chills. Luckily, my white blood cell counts rebounded a little quicker than normal and I was able to go home that Saturday.
I do want to take a moment and side track for a second. During my unexpected stay I was able to connect with a good friend who unfortunately is going through her own fight with this ugly word we call cancer. Since all of you have given me so much love and support, your thoughts and prayers over these last few months I would like to ask that you do the same for my friend Christy Selby. She is a person I admire not only personally but professionally. I was lucky enough to meet her early in my career as an event manager and work with her periodically over the last 4 years. She is an amazing person and my most favorite meeting planner in the whole world :). It is unfortunate that either of us have to fight with this terrible cancer but we are both super strong and fighters so I know that we are both going to battle and fight the best fight we can!
Last week ended up being a really good week plus it was nice to be home with Don, Liam and Sadie for an extended period of time. Hopefully I can have more good weeks than bad and stay out of the hospital as much as I can. We were able to have a great Easter with my cousins here in Columbus this past Sunday because of my wonderful family. They provided us the same food that they were going to be eating for Easter breakfast and since Easter breakfast is my favorite holiday meal it made the day so much better. The kiddos, Liam and Vera had a great Easter egg hunt outside. It was a beautiful spent outside for a good majority of the time. I do wish we were able to go home but since my second treatment started the next day we didn't want to have to rush around to get back to Columbus.
I think after everything above this now brings us to present day, I am currently at The New James going through my second of 14 treatments. This round is the IE portion of the chemo. I alternate between the VAC and the IE. The IE treatment is much longer. I am in for a total of 6 days for this one. It is not going so bad, no significant side effects other than some heartburn and bloating from all of the fluids, I have gained 9lbs. in 3 days, not fair, but the doctors said that it would come off quickly once I was disconnected from the fluids. The time is going by pretty quickly and I am able to sleep better this time around but I think it's because this cycle of chemo is making me a little more tired than that last. The nurses and CPA are amazing and taking great are of me, Don, Liam and Sadie when they are here with me. I can't say enough good things about The New James Cancer hospital other than it is a wonderful facility and that it is so close to home, I know many people here can't say the same but it has helped that I am not really that far from my family when they are not here with me.
I promise to update way more often that the last two crazy months. Now that we are in a decent routine (or as decent as it can be in this crappy situation) I feel like I have more time on my hands.
Like always, I leave you with this:
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have” – Cayla Mills
Oh and this, because I crack up every time I see it:
I do want to take a moment and side track for a second. During my unexpected stay I was able to connect with a good friend who unfortunately is going through her own fight with this ugly word we call cancer. Since all of you have given me so much love and support, your thoughts and prayers over these last few months I would like to ask that you do the same for my friend Christy Selby. She is a person I admire not only personally but professionally. I was lucky enough to meet her early in my career as an event manager and work with her periodically over the last 4 years. She is an amazing person and my most favorite meeting planner in the whole world :). It is unfortunate that either of us have to fight with this terrible cancer but we are both super strong and fighters so I know that we are both going to battle and fight the best fight we can!
I think after everything above this now brings us to present day, I am currently at The New James going through my second of 14 treatments. This round is the IE portion of the chemo. I alternate between the VAC and the IE. The IE treatment is much longer. I am in for a total of 6 days for this one. It is not going so bad, no significant side effects other than some heartburn and bloating from all of the fluids, I have gained 9lbs. in 3 days, not fair, but the doctors said that it would come off quickly once I was disconnected from the fluids. The time is going by pretty quickly and I am able to sleep better this time around but I think it's because this cycle of chemo is making me a little more tired than that last. The nurses and CPA are amazing and taking great are of me, Don, Liam and Sadie when they are here with me. I can't say enough good things about The New James Cancer hospital other than it is a wonderful facility and that it is so close to home, I know many people here can't say the same but it has helped that I am not really that far from my family when they are not here with me.
I promise to update way more often that the last two crazy months. Now that we are in a decent routine (or as decent as it can be in this crappy situation) I feel like I have more time on my hands.
Oh and this, because I crack up every time I see it:
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