Seven weeks in... a Nancy post

We had a really nice weekend visit with Lainie (my best friend from high school) and her husband, who flew all the way from Arkansas to see us. I was not feeling great, so we had a very low-key visit, but it was wonderful to see them and spend time catching up. Lainie brought me a couple gifts from NW Arkansas including a handmade prayer shawl and quilt with written blessings/good-wishes attached from my high school friends. It was so encouraging to have uplifting thoughts from my old friends...just awesome.


Chemo went fine on Thursday and I walked over to Nate/Luanne's place after treatment to wait for Jake to finish up with work to drive me home. I might have said this before, but Nate and Luanne gave me keys to their beautiful city loft (only a few blocks from the treatment center) where I can hang out and relax after treatment. I can't believe how fortunate we are to have such great friends.


I had both Abraxane and Avastin this week and I'm definitely feeling the side effects lately. I have neuropathy in my hands and feet, pain in my knees/shoulders, and fatigue. I'm having a little trouble with headaches, which I think is from the Avastin. My blood counts were really low last week, but bounced back beautifully thanks to the neupogen shots Jake gave me. The downside is neupogen make my bones ache like crazy and I will need to keep taking them while I'm on this chemo, so likely for a long time to come. I keep reminding myself this is really powerful medicine and if we can knock the cancer way back, I'll be able to switch to a different treatment down the line that will be easier to tolerate.


Operation dinner continues to be the most incredible help to us. Everyone is so generous and brings us enough for multiple meals. I think I've cooked maybe twice in the past 2 months? Amazing.