The port works!

I went in to see Dr. Le today.  I had called to tell her that we were worried (we as in me, John and my parents) to start chemo this week since I still wasn't feeling all that great.  She said to come in so she could draw some blood to check my levels.  From the immediate results, there didn't seem to be anything to explain why I've felt so weak, but we get the full results back tomorrow.  My hemoglobin was down some, but not as low as it had been before.  I really don't want to think that after all this I'm still losing blood somewhere.  I'm sure it was just a temporary dip.

Anyways, she said that I might just be low on fluids, and recommended that I stay to just get a bag of saline before I left.  SO!!!!  It was my first time to use the port!!  It was great!  They sprayed this numbing stuff on it, and then poked it with a needle that I refused to look at and BAM!  It was in! I was getting fluids, and there was NO painful IV!!!  Miracle of miracles!  I love this port.  I think it will become my bestest, bestest friend within these next few months.  Here's a picture.  It's just off my iPhone.  The port needle is the yellow thing taped to my chest.  It has the small tube coming off of it that goes to the IV bags/fluids.  I hope to figure out how to make it fashionable.  After all, I'll be wearing it for 44 hours straight every other week:)

Oh, and she agreed that we should put the chemo off for another week, so I'll start the Wednesday after this.

Thank you

To all of you who prayed for me after I expressed on Sunday that my port was hurting pretty bad, I thank you.  I felt your prayers.  I was really uncomfortable and unable to move my arm on Sunday.  I put out the word, and Monday I woke up, and suddenly could move my arm!  It was still a little uncomfortable, but it healed more overnight than it had the previous 4 days combined!

In more ways than that, I feel very blessed.  My family is so amazing in how they have all rallied around me to let me know that I am not alone, and will not have to go through this alone.  My church has offered food, house cleaning, rides, anything I or John might need throughout all of this.  I have friends that have offered me their blood.  Their blood!  I have received so much support from people I don't even know, and I want you to know that every email, every voicemail, comment on facebook or here, it makes me smile and it makes me feel very loved and supported.  My head is still swimming, so I rarely even get to respond to them, but they are received and I tuck them away inside for the bad days when I feel awful.

I do though; I feel blessed.  I feel blessed that even though the cancer was so much bigger than a regular adenocarcinoma, it hadn't spread yet.  I feel blessed because my work is so willing to rearrange schedule after schedule to accommodate me and my health.  I feel blessed that, although the "power port" was not fun to install, it will keep me from having to get IV's every week.  And lastly, and least importantly I feel blessed that the lady at CVS gave me the least painful (flu) shot that I have ever had in my life.  In and out, no pain.  Ha!  It really is the little things (and I was just really tired of being stuck, so it was a stupid little blessing, but a huge blessing at the same time).

It's funny how sometimes it takes a really sucky situation to make you more thankful than you were before.  Even before all this happened, that is one area that I knew I needed to improve on.  (just ask John!)  I am by nature a problem solver, which can be a great thing.  The unseen evil that goes along with that is that you see every little problem.  (After all, how could a problem solver fix problems unless they can see them?) It is nice to have something big that eclipses all the other little annoyances for a change.  So that is already one thing I feel like I will be taking away from this.  Again though, as I've told many of you, I expect that my attitude will completely change once chemo starts and I feel like vomiting constantly.  But that is where the rubber meets the road I guess.  These few weeks before chemo, these are the "learning lesson" times.  The days after chemo, those are the "practicing the lesson" times.  Ewwww.  Not fun.  Necessary, but not fun.  I apologize in advance.  Please remember me like this when I becoming the sniveling whiney machine.

Port successfully installed...but...

Sorry I haven't updated.  The port surgery went well, but it is much more "uncomfortable" than I was expecting.  I haven't been able to really use my left arm.  It is much bigger than I thought.  It is about the size of two Oreo's stacked on top of each other, and it is right under my left collarbone.  It feels a bit like a torn muscle when I try to move my arm, though as far as I know, there were no muscles torn.  I'm guessing it is just the pressure of the "super port" against all the muscles.  Yes, it is called a "super port".  I don't know what makes it more super than a regular port.

I am typing this with one hand right now and it's kinda slow going, so I'll bid adieu.  Please pray for this to stop hurting so much.  I had to call my work to tell them that I STILL wasn't going to be able to come back because of my inability to move my arm.  They are being awesome with all this, but I'd still like to be as UNflaky as possible.

Port surgery scheduled for tomorrow

They say it takes about 2 weeks to get over the effects of anesthesia.  I have been feeling its full force, but my parents keep telling me "two weeks Hillary.  It will be two weeks until you really feel like yourself, I promise."  Well, two weeks will be over tomorrow, so I thought I'd celebrate... by having another surgery.  Woohooo.  BUT whatever...

They are going to be installing my port that I will use during chemotherapy.  I guess there really isn't a good time to go under again, so tomorrow is just as good as any other day.  I'm just a little bummed because it seems like it's my last chance to feel normal before chemo, and I'm going to miss it.  Maybe this time, since it is a much more minor surgery, won't knock me out for a full 2 weeks. I hope...

So, tomorrow at 11:00 I go under again.  For anyone trying to come by or get in touch, I'll be going back at my parents house afterwards.  Thank God for my parents!  I don't know how I could get through this without them.