Gettin' along

Buzzy smiling bees this time!

Well.
Been a over a week.
Doing better now.
Harsh lesson.
Don't be stubborn.
Don't be stoic.
If you are nauseaus and feeling shaky/weak for many days, something is wrong. Waiting just one more day to see if it goes away isn't wise at all.
I went after 8 days feeling terrible to the doctor.
She lectured me about simply calling and getting advice at least.
She told me that I needed to even email if I need help.
Sigh.
I know this.
I'm capable of asking for help.
Do I do so? Sometimes? NO. I'm darn stubborn.

So, anti-nausea medicine is a godsend when needed. As is cough medicine when needed.

I'm actually sleeping ok and stomach isn't terrible- it doesn't love anti-nausea meds but that's life.
Pain is actually ok overall. Sort of like arthritis pain in my chest and back. I can deal with it and if I'm hurting? Tylenol has simply been enough in the past days.

My dr. thinks I might have heartburn so we're trying a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at night to see if that will help me.

Also drinking warm happy lemon water with honey thru the day to help my throat out.

Chemo/Avastin went ok. Bruise from the needle looks hideous. Thank goodness it is long sleeve weather. Shall bring up what happened next time. Harumph. Haven't had a bruise like this in a long time and I honestly know exactly what went wrong.

My sweet snuggler

My dog is doing ok. She's gettin' along and snuggling with us like the beautiful soul she is.
My kiddo is settling into school ok overall. Grateful.
My husband is dealing with many job interviews. We have hope.
Birthdays are upon us. Husband's is first, which he really doesn't want to celebrate much.
Then mine next Friday. I'm all about saying HELL YEAH I'M STILL HERE AND LOVING LIFE!!! Here's to turning 42 without chemo or a hysterectomy on my birthday. Seriously. I'll take a peaceful, happy birthday. Enough already with the drama.

Feeling stronger on my end. I wrote my 1000th blog post on my Styling Librarian site. Feeling accomplished. Happy with what I do there.
Tired and know I am grateful for where I'm at...
Found a new massage therapist who specializes in cancer patients- pre/post/fighting, etc. She's lovely and likes essential oils, hooray.

New massage place

Appreciate the naturopathic dr. I found and the 20 mg. of Melatonin he prescribed me. Sleeping so much better than the past few years.
Enjoyed a new qi gong instructor and look forward to another class with her.

Grateful for my mom's support at chemo.
First time she could come with me.

My acupunturist said tonight, you're really getting your healthy ducks sorted out!
I also met with a Breast Friends support group. Lovely women. Good talk. Appreciated them telling me about the Dougie Center. http://www.dougy.org/  Not that we're dealing with death but they also deal with children who are affected by severe illnesses. Nice to know a resource, not that we find a need at the moment, but good to know it is there.

Still waiting on Foundation 1 testing on my tumor sample. I waited 3 weeks and then emailed since I was frustrated... they said they'd send when they knew anything.

Can't believe we've been home over 11 weeks and I'm not on anything I was hoping to be on. I'm happy I'm doing Mannatech and I have faith that it is helping heal my immune system, but man I'm annoyed with delays here in the US.

Hope everyone is gettin' along and finds those moments of joy all over their days!
Thanks for journeying with me...

Favorite book arrived from Hong Kong

Answers, wasted time?

Love my new Harry Potter dress... picture taken last week.
I can see a difference in my hair growth in a week...
nice to feel stronger.

I know. Take it one day at a time. But after 5 weeks, I'm slightly put out that my doctors here finally agree with my oncologist and many other specialists in Hong Kong.
Talked with an assistant today who confirmed that I have metastatic cervical cancer. A relief to be out of the 'what in the world is he talking about, another cancer?' zone we were in for a few weeks there. Funny to talk with someone who asks, "Is your partner there? How are you feeling? I know this must come as a shock." Of course, my answer of "I'm fine, I'm relieved that my diagnosis, chemo and radiation treatment over the past year was for the right type of cancer, now can we get to scheduling an appointment with the next specialist please?"--- this might have thrown him off. I have to wait... AGAIN for another tumor board meeting this Thursday... then supposedly I might get an appointment this Friday, we'll see if  it happens. I'd be thrilled.
The assistant brought up chemo and how I said "no more chemo with the surgeon's assistant" but I clarified with "if it is targeted therapy that is actually confirmed that it will do something, I'm open." I really plan to meet with whichever specialist they finally refer me to and bring up the possibility of getting an "off label" prescription to an immunotherapy drug that looks promising and is being used with cervical cancer patients since I don't qualify for the trials with my dual diagnosis (breast cancer)...
For now, I'm really grateful that I'm keeping up with things and trying out a few new options...
1. I'm still oil pulling in the mornings.
2. I'm finishing my third week using nutritional supplements that help heal and strengthen my immune system. - Mannatech - http://www.mannatechblog.com/uncategorized/give-bodys-defence-department-boost/
3. I'm doing qigong sporatically, will get a routine going...
4. I'm still doing essential oil application every morning.
5. I'm still practicing healthy food intake including lemon water in the morning, green juice, no sugar, no nightshades, and more... added in solar water/blue bottles in sun which I'm loving since I don't enjoy drinking freezing cold water.
6. I tried out a "Journey" practitioner who led me on a deeply personal experience visiting past emotions and dealing with forgiveness... probably will share more on this another time.

So, I feel like I'm proactive and not doubting my choices, still working on my patience but happy to stop doubts... focusing more on my well being and being balanced instead of worrying about tumors...

Thanks for journeying with me...