I've been slacking

I've been slacking at posting updates. I've been feeling normal for the most part, so I've been trying to get back to my normal life. Honestly though, I don't know what that is after everything has happened. You know how when you're planning a wedding, it consumes so much time. Every single day, you are dealing with wedding things and then the wedding comes and you're so happy and excited, but the next day, it's over and you're just like, "what do I do now?" because your life has been consumed by it and now it’s done. That's how it was for me, basically. Every single day I had radiation, Tuesdays was chemo, Mondays was labwork, then there were extra appointments for biopsies, rehydration fluids and nausea meds, blood transfusion, and other misc appointments. And then I was done, and there were none. Well, just the treatments for the trial but that's only once every 3 weeks. So what do I do with those three weeks in between?

My older daughter Kylie made the soccer team at school, so that takes up a lot of time. She has practice every day during the week and games 1-3 times a week. Example, she had one Monday, she has one today (Weds.) and then she has two on Saturday. So every day, it’s a mad dash to get Kollin off the bus and then either go pick Kylie up from practice, or get to her games. Then afterwards, come home and get dinner done and all the kids bathed and in bed. And somewhere in there, homework happens. I thought after all of treatments were over, I'd get a break from the daily shit-to-do list but who was I kidding? The shit just changed from mine to someone else's, as usual.

A few weeks ago, I participated in the Colors of Cancer 5K Glow Run. I walked though, I don’t think I could have ran if I tried.I barely made it to the end just walking, because I sure was tired, but I did make it. I was lucky enough to have a handful of friends join me. I don't know if they did it for the fun of it (it was at night, and they gave us glow necklaces and stuff) or for moral support, or both. Either way, I was happy they were there. Kris left work early to come join me as well. I swear guys, I struck gold with that man. He has been there for me 100% through everything. Last week, I got sick. I'm not sure if it was something I ate or a virus, but it was nasty. I woke up with shooting stomach pains, and ended up sitting on the toilet with the waterbutts while puking into my trash can. He was on night shift that day so he slept through a good bit of it, but when he woke up and realized I was sick, he got so nervous and wanted to call in to work. I didn't let him. There was no point. He couldn't do anything and I'd already planned to just take a phenergan and go to bed as soon as all the kids went to bed. My stomach was still wonky for a couple days, but that's the only day I threw up.

Other than that and her soccer, I've been trying to get back to my normal day-to-day stuff as much as my energy allows. I've done some yard work, painted Zoey's bedroom, painted my friend's kitchen, dining room, and laundry room. I went yesterday and had my hair done for the first time since November. I have been taking Biotin vitamin gummies religiously, as well as a multivitamin, so my hair isn't quite as thin as it was and we decided it was okay enough to mess with at this point. It made me feel a little refreshed, and I needed that.

I haven't gained any weight back since doing treatments. I was 156 lbs when I went to see the oncologist for the first time, and my weight was 144 lbs the other day when I got on the scale. Obviously, I am not mad at that! (#chemodiet)

Seriously though, the after-effects of chemo are crazy, and there are things I still can't eat. For example, hot dogs. Y'all, I LOVE hot dogs. But I can't stand the thought of eating a hot dog right now. I can make them for the kids, but I just can't do it myself. That makes me sad and I hope it passes before summer gets here, because one of my favorite things is swimming in the pool and eating grilled hot dogs. My sense of smell comes and goes too, which is odd, but whatever. I don't care as much about that as I do my beloved hot dogs!

I still haven't had any side effects from this Pembrolizumad (aka Keytruda) that I'm getting for the trial. My last treatment for that is actually this coming Tuesday. I'll go in for my bloodwork the day before, as usual. I'm hoping my red and white blood cell counts are back in the normal range. Last time, they were still low, but they were on the higher end of the low range, so I'm hopeful they'll be back to normal now.