Ready for Round 2!

So much has happened in the last few weeks. I left off on my last post with the ailments of Chemo with not much promise of an end in sight.  Two weeks ago I was scheduled, as part of the Glimmer of Hope program, to receive accupuncture.  I was so skeptical about it but was willing to give it a try.  First off, let me tell you, it does not hurt!  It is such a strange thing though to quickly open my eyes to see needles stuck in my skin all over my body.  I was like wow!  This is so strange.  Strange enough though, it worked!!! It took away my nausea.  I walked in feeling sick and left feeling great!  I am a huge fan of accupuncture now!  I will benefit from 10 complimentary sessions of which would be worth every penny if I had to pay for it!

Nnenna got to come with me to one of my sessions!
We realized after taking our selfie that
we were matching!

A few days after my accupuncture I had the priveledge of traveling with my mom and sister in law to Virginia Beach to spend a much needed weekend with my sister and her awesome friend who hosted us so well.  It was my first experience being out in the sun. Being on chemotherapy I have to be very careful to protect my skin in the sun.  I chose the Kiss My Face brand which my skin tolerated pretty well.  I have to say, I survived the weekend with no problems with getting burnt!  One funny sidenote of the trip was that one of the drugs, Perjeta, causes you to need to "jet" to the bathroom with no warning!  Well we were in the car driving home after a great day at the beach followed by a wonderful seafood dinner and all of the sudden I had that Uh Oh kind of feeling!  Everyone was talking in the car enjoying their time when I knew I had to speak loud and quickly get their attention.  All of a sudden I shouted, lol, "How soon until we are home?!"  Michelle was like oh we'll be home soon.  My sister in law looked right at me and was like oh no, PULL OVER!! Lo and behold, the interstate will never be the same ha!  No shame, it was emergent! Thankfully it was dark though ha! All in all we had a very wonderful and MEMORABLE trip!

One small snag in the wide tooth comb and
this is what happened. Ugh!

It is avisable to use a silk pillowcase
while going through treatment as it
is easier on your hair.  I daily glance
down to see if I've left my hair behind.

Shortly after returning home, I noticed that my hair began to slowly shed. This has kind of  consumed me this week.  I have had some of the weird tingling sensations on my scalp and felt sure that my hair was going to fall out in huge piles in places I would really like it to not happen, such as back to school night where the non-air conditioned building has monster fans that basically blow you away when you walk past them.  I had to touch my head just to make sure the hair was still there.  I know that I am doing cold capping and that you do shed some hair but one never knows just how much will shed and if we did it correctly.  I still feel like it may just all come off, but as of day 21, I retain most of my hair, even though I feel it to be pretty fragile. Little Toben had a tug on my hair the other day and he managed to get a nice bit out so ya that's a little unsettling.

Day 21 and I still have a lot of hair! 

Tomorrow I gear up for round 2 of treatment.  I spent most of today running around getting blood work, grocery shopping, gathering my dry ice for the cold caps and doing some laundry.  I'm feeling really pretty great these last few days, but I know by the weekend I will probably be dealing with all the not so fun side effects.

Olanna got to come with
mommy today for my blood work!

I seem to be getting cards in the mail almost daily and I can't tell you how much that warms my heart! Thank you so much for thinking of me and encouraging me!  I love you! Please keep the cards coming! They really do help!  My address again is 3979 Brandon Rd Pgh PA 15212.

What you can do?  Tomorrow I will be starting chemo #2 and will only have one helper, as my mom just had surgery and will be out of commission for a little while. If you are in the Wexford area and want to stop by the Cancer Center at the Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion and bring me and my helper a smoothie or frap we would be grateful for that. It is hard for me to eat while capping and cold icy drinks are good for my mouth and side effect. We will be there from 8am-2pm (maybe longer). The address is 12311 Perry Hwy, Wexford, PA 15090.  Follow the signs to the Cancer Center.

Love you all!  Have a great week!  

Lots of Love,

Amanda 

Below are some other pics that sum up the regular life stuff going on in the Agwuocha home!!

Nnenna's first pair of glasses!

Nnenna's first year at school, not with mama!

Visiting Mimi at the hospital after a successful surgery!

Toben getting ready for the NBA

First Day

First day!  Should prob say PreK instead of PK oh well !

Amara's first day!

Daddy seeing them off!

It sure has been busy around here!

First Week of Chemo and Cold Capping!

Hello dear friends!  I officially started my chemo treatment this past Wednesday 8/3/16 at the Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion.

I had my support team to help me at home with the children including my awesome husband and a wonderful babysitter.  They held down the fort with children's doctors visits and swim team practises and so much more!  My wonderful mother and sister in law joined me for my treatment and took care of my cold capping regimen.  The job is labor intensive but they were amazing!

We arrived at 8am with our two large coolers in tow.  Sadly for the staff there was nothing exciting in the coolers for them!  They thought we brought the party!  Ha!  Well actually they were a bit excited because most of them had not ever experienced a patient who cold capped.  So that was fun!  I was supposed to start cold capping 45 minutes prior to chemo during what they call premeds.  I really didn't have much in the way of premeds so at about 25 minutes in my infusions were beginning.  Looking back now I am a little concerned that I may have botched the whole cold capping thing since I didn't get my full 45 minutes prior to treatment. On day 21 "ish" I will begin to get a feel for if my hair will stay or not.  That is usually the timeline of the big shed.  With cold capping you may still shed but not in huge clumps.  I have to mentally prepare myself for this to go in either direction.  Yes I would like to keep my hair so that life can feel somewhat normal, but lets face it, normal is a far way off right now.

 Here below are a few pictures that document the cold capping process.

Prepping the Caps with Dry Ice

Each Cap gets filled with its own bag of ice

They need to cool overnight so that they are -30 degrees

Checking the temperature before putting it on

Frosty 

I'm pulling on the scarf so that I can move my jaw

Speaking to my Oncologist

Wearing it home. We have to change it every 20 minutes. 

Day 1 down!

The doctors say that during treatment everyone has a bad day.  That day usually hits somewhere between day 3 and 5 after getting your infusion.  I felt like it was one big waiting game.  Each day I would wake up and assess how I felt. I was looking for signs of nausea or diarrhea.  The drug Perjeta that I am on is known to cause diarrhea.  Day 2, I felt pretty normal.  I did notice my lips felt a little dry which is also a side effect of one of my other drugs, Herceptin. I gargled Biotene mouthwash and made warm water with salt and baking soda rinses to help ward off any sores that may come to invade my mouth.  Day 3, I started to notice a little bit of what they call, Chemo brain fog.  I had a difficult time putting my thoughts together and completing tasks in my usual way. I was taking Claritin at this point to ward off joint pain from a Nuelasta white blood count booster, and think maybe that may have contributed to my feeling like my head was floating.

Wearing my Nuelasta Booster that injects about 24 hrs later
and can cause joint pain but is boosting my white blood count.
The injection felt like the flick of a rubber band.  Not painful.

 Day 4 was about the same with the addition of my taste buds beginning to change.  The tip of my tongue has a weird sensation as if I had burnt it on a cup of hot coffee.  I also noticed that sour foods are extra sour!  Day 5, I woke up with the feeling that this may be the day.  My stomach started to dance! I got nervous and immediately took an Imodium as well as an anti nausea pill.  The dance slowed down, as did my energy.  I could barely get out of bed.  After the fact I read that the nausea pill can make you very drowsy.  I decided at this point I needed to wean off of drowsy drugs because those seemed to be my major issue rather than the chemo itself. Day 6, no Claritin, no anti-nausea, one Imodium and I feel like I'm coming back to myself.  I still have the weird tongue sensation and dry lips, I have a headache that isn't persistent but is there.  I still feel like I could sleep a lot more, but I also feel like I could push through.  I did begin to notice that life as we knew it was starting to fade.  My poor husband doesn't really know what to expect.  I have to explain to him how I am feeling and what I am experiencing.  I know it is painful for him as well.  He said to me yesterday, "I just have to get used to the new normal." Maybe the off days will be far and few between.  We have no clue.  These next few months will be hard. But I am certain that if we keep our eyes fixed on getting through, loving and supporting one another and allowing God to work through us, that we will overcome this!

End of day 5: excursion to the zoo. Such a good
distraction and got me moving! 

On the bright side I did get a positive report after having my Pet Scan done.  After my MRI, my surgeon told me that they believed my lymph nodes were involved, possible inner mammary node involvement, as well as possible skin involvement.  I met with my radiology oncologist and he ruled out skin involvement.  The Pet Scan did not show lymph involvement although thats not to say I don't have any but that it is not large enough to show up on the Pet Scan.  Sooo my terrifying stage of 3c got downgraded to a 2a! Now that is good news!  Praise God!

I am forever grateful to all of you who have provided meals for us, donated financially, helped us with our children, cleaned our home, sent cards, dropped off flowers or gifts, sent books, given me hugs while seeing me out and about and so much more!  I just need you to know that I do not take that for granted at all! THANK YOU!!!!

I love how my friends and family have been showing their support in the cold capping process too!

Many blessings to you!

Love,
Amanda