Survivor: Cancer

Half Way There

The effect of chemotherapy – fatigue, nausea, mouth sores, loss of appetite, constipation, sleep disturbance, etc. has become more severe over the past two weeks. The most unbearable side effect so far has to be constipation. It’s kinda funny to talk so publicly about my bowel movements… but I’ve never been so constipated in my life that it isn’t funny but miserable… I’ve tried all the things one can think of…the doc prescribed some laxatives for me. I’ve yet to see real signs of relief… …

This past Friday, my red blood cell and hemoglobin counts have gone below the allowable limit. So I got a red blood cell booster shot (Procrit) after chemo. However I don’t seem to feel the effect of the booster yet. I went to my step aerobics class on Saturday, but I wasn’t the usual self. I had to stop in the middle couple times to catch my breath. These past few days, I pretty much just want to lie down and do nothing, and can’t seem to eat anything. This is not good. I can’t lose any more weight…

I know I’m half way there, just 6 more doses, but the road ahead seems like such a steep uphill battle.

Prayer request:
* Faith and trust that God will carry me through the rest of the treatments.
* Energy to complete quarter-end close at work this coming Thurs and Fri.
* Good bowel movements :-).
* Appetite
* God’s protection against other unforeseeable long-term side effects

Thank you.

Sniffles update

oh, I forgot to share, regarding June 11th's prayer request. Annie stopped sniffling and having an itchy throat pretty much after that day!

Historical Moment

The hair loss was getting really annoying... so I invited Jed over this past Wednesday to shave my head. He came with a gym bag with the full gear, like a pro.

I was a tiny bit nervous, but knew that the hair had to go. I feel much better now after the head is shaved, just a bit cold, not used to having no hair. So I wear a hat most of the time when I'm out.

I've always wondered what I would look like if I'm bald....now I know. I look like a little monk. My co-worker says it makes me look kinda tough. If I wear my sunglasses, I think I look like I'm part of an Asian gang. Might get pulled over by the cops.

Two short video clips --

I saved a bundle of my hair as momentos.

Haircut Vid 1 - Wanna Keep This?

I looked like a penguin wearing the trash bag.
Haircut
Vid 2 - The Penguin

sniffles

Prayer request:

Annie has a little sniffling, etc. May her body fight off whatever there is (or better.. that it's nothing :) and that her body reacts positively to the nightly shots to increase white blood cell production.

The inevitable

Well… it’s time…

My hair has started falling off… …

I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. I know the hair will grow back. But as I stood in the shower, pulling chunks and chunks of hair out, it was indeed quite creepy. It isn’t a good feeling at all, though it could be funny if I choose to think about it that way. I’m glad I cut my hair short before chemo started, or else it would be even messier.

For now, hair tends to fall off only when it’s wet. So, I think I still look ‘normal’, just have thinner hair. But I know the time to shave my head is drawing near.

Jed, if you’re reading this, please have your clippers ready. I’ll need your service real soon.

Chemo 3

I had the same nurse, Jane, taking care of me this time. She’s really nice. I like her. Last week, she passed me some Lidocaine sample (topical numbing medicine). She told me to apply it on the skin on top of the portacath and on the area where I would be receiving the Zoladex shot 1.5 hours ahead of time. And it really worked. I hardly feel any pain this time when she accessed the portacath. As for the Zoladex shot, I only felt some stinging sensation when the first numbing needle went in. I still kept my eyes closed though.

The meeting with the nutritionist was very informative. She pointed out that it’s very important for me to have enough calcium intake at this point since the Zoladex shot is putting me into temporary menopause that causes loss of bone mass. She also gave me some good tips on how to maintain a balanced diet when I have no appetite. I lost some weight again. Really need to work on gaining a few pounds. So Vivien and I went for some ice-cream after chemo.

The weekend was pretty quiet. I went for my step aerobics class again Saturday morning. As for the rest of the time, I was taking naps most of the time.

Prayer Requests (other than the ones listed in the blog update on June 3)
• God will protect my body against any long-term side effects caused by all the different drugs I’m currently taking.
• My white/red blood cells and platelets counts have dipped quite a bit. But still within tolerable range to receive chemo. Please pray that God will restore my body and keep me from any potential infections.
• I will have normal appetite and eat enough to keep my weight up and keep healthy.

Round 2 is done, ready for round 3

I tolerated the second dose of adriamycin much better than the first time. I knew when the delayed nausea/vomiting was supposed to start, so I took anti-nausea medicine to preempt it. And it seemed to work. I even went to my step aerobics class the morning after chemo. On Memorial Day, I also took a walk around Greenlake with Sharon and Vivien, and later went to see a movie. Hope every week will be like this.

The self-injection is also getting a bit easier now. I took a brief hiatus from poking myself. Siang gave me the injection for two days. After much encouragement from Siang and friends, I decided to do it myself again. In fact, doing the injection myself actually hurt less than letting other people do it for me.

Last Monday night, Jed and Sharon came over for a ‘poking party’. Sharon got some saline solution from work, so they can all try injecting themselves. So there we go, Jed, Sharon, Siang and I all poked ourselves at the same time. Where do you find weird good friends like that? :-) I doubt if I would be able to do the same for my friends… …

Anyways, I still don’t like the self-injection thing, but I’m getting more comfortable with it. Last night, for the first time, I did it without having to take my eyeglasses off. :-) Tomorrow will be my third dose of chemo, plus I’ll be getting the second shot of Zoladex and meeting with a nutritionist.

Items of thanksgiving:
• Siang’s parents are here to help us take care of different household chores.
• Great husband, family and friends to take good care of me and cheer me up all the time.
• Was able to finish the month-end close at work this week without much trouble.

Prayer requests:
• The nurse will be able to aim properly when accessing the portacath. (She missed it once last week, so I got poked twice)
• The discomfort of having the portacath will go away
• The drug is doing its work and clearing any lingering cancer cells in my body.
• Pray for Siang who started to have a sore throat last night.
• Pray for peace for Siang and parents.
• Pray for God’s love to touch the hearts of my unbelieveing friends and family.