Yesterday I hit the wall. I woke up at midnight the night before and took one of my anti-queasy pills. At 7 that morning I had to run to the bathroom and get sick. Took another pill then. I have 2 separate pills I can take. One is a 12 hr pill and the other one is 6 hr pill. How I am suppose to remember what is what, who knows! My sister was gracious enough to watch Claire all day and most the night. I slept. So tired! Plus I have gotten a cold and that does not help. So I am sure I will be holing up most of the weekend.
We take Claire to Riley on Monday to talk about tubes. God love her, she is fighting with a cold too and a cough. But looks like her ear infection is cleared up.
Looks like we are planning the Head Shaving party for Thursday night. I know alot of people think it is crazy to shave my head before I lose my hair. Honestly, I don't want to wake up to clumps of hair on my pillow. I don't want to wash my hair and hand fulls of it come out. Everyone I have spoken to said 2 weeks is pretty much when they lost their hair. I just want to get it over with and have it be done.
Blessings and enjoy the weekend!

http://flickr.com/photos/tammyhayes/
I wanted to share with you the site where Tammy posted some of the photos she took of Beth Anne and myself. Such a big hearted woman in such a small body! (Get some meat on ya! Ha!) No really, she is phenomenal!

Today I had my first round of chemo. Very interesting day. Of course we did not get started on time. My sister Beth went with me. We spent the first 45 minutes waiting on the DR., then we spent another 45 minutes getting "educated" on side affects etc...it was actually a good session.

11:30 they started flushing my port. They just put saline solution it. I gave them a hard time and told them I was getting nauseous! Then I laughed and told them I was not a hypochondriac! They then gave me the anti nausea drugs. I then get 2 bags of treatment and 2 pushes of treatment. All I can say is I am thankful already that I have the port.

While I was there, there was a girl I went to school with. Actually I graduated with her brother and she was a year behind us. She has colon cancer. Kinda nice to have someone to chat with. I think the staff thought Beth and I were crazy. Ok, there was this doll that you could buy for a child. she has a wig, etc.... We all commented on how scary she was. The staff even agreed to that. Finally Sally Acton came out and moved it! I told them it better had not be back in there when I come back in two weeks!

So today I offered the day up to my chemo friends in Canada, Zach. And to Ms Ashlyn in Michigan. These are 2 kiddos I know with Down syndrome who have been through or battling cancer. They also give me inspiration! Love you too Sylvia and Nikki! You are great parents!

All in all it has been a good day. Dad gave me communion and my ashes for Ash Wednesday.

I will continue to blog as I feel up to it. Trying to make my list of invites for the head shaving party. Fr Todd, maybe you should bless the clippers! Ha! No better yet, bless the wine that the person clipping my hair is drinking! Ha! Ok, just a bit of humor! So if you get this blog and I dont have your email address for some reason. Please feel free to email me at mary.r.carlson@comcast.net if you would like to be invited.

Blessings on your week!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I am ready for Spring that is for sure. Hard to believe I survived living in Madison Wisconsin for 10 years!
We are all fighting sickness in our house. We took Claire to urgent care on Friday night. This facility is really good. They just bill you like a Dr office. You save alot of money instead of having to go to the ER. She has another ear infection. She has had a rough morning so we are going to see our regular DR this morning. Incidentally, we go to Riley next Monday to see about tubes. I am really excited about this. I have notices her equilibrium off lately and I know this is why. I feel her walking and speech will really take off once she gets them in. Hopefully after our consult, we won't have to wait too long. I am not excited about my baby being put under, but that is OK. I have a sore throat, but no cough. Dennis is just getting over his "stuff" from last week. Goodness!
Our photo shoot went well yesterday. I had a blast. Tammy Hayes is a remarkable woman. She is an inspiration and very strong. I cannot wait to see the photos. Hard to believe that people all over the world will see them! Very exciting! I have to admit though, she had to prompt me to flirt with the camera. Obviously I am not a model! Ha! I just don't have that kind of drama in me!
Getting anxious to start chemo and get on schedule. My hairdresser Erin offered to shave my head for me. Beth Anne offered until her hairdresser mentioned that it may be too emotional. I will let her make that call. All I know folks, is be ready at the last minute to come to the "head shaving" party. As soon as I see the first sign of hair falling out, it is off my head! No patches for me.
I know I have said this before, but I am amazed at how many women I am meeting that has or is going through chemo and cancer. We all have the same worries and concerns. Lately it seems like I am worrying more on the financial side. People don't realize that even when you have insurance, you have to pay the 20% and sometimes that can add up to be alot. I have had 5 scans alone in the past few months. You pay the radiologist as well to read them. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. We are blessed to even have insurance. I cannot imagine what people who cant get it or don't have it do. I can see why people go bankrupt over medical expenses though.
Today I am grateful for the sun. Enjoy your day!

I just want to give some "shout outs" and "thank yous" to so some folks. Ju-Ju for the beautiful bracelet and the hat. Nice to know I have a ribbon! To the girls who met me last night for dinner at DR. Linda, thank you for dinner. Becky thank you for the gorgeous earrings! Oh my, I was just happy getting the crystal pear! Then I opened them up and found the earrings! I will wear them in good health. Is that an oxy moron? Ha!
Of course to my family who continue to support me anyway I ask them to. My parents for taking care of Claire. I know she keeps you entertained. To my sister who is just the best friend a gal could have. And to my biggest fan and rock, my husband Dennis. I just feel so bad for putting everyone through this with me. But I know without everyone, I could not do this alone. So thank you from the bottom of my soul.
Have a great weekend!

My surgery went well. The hospital staff was very accommodating and took really good care of me. Anyone who can stop me from nausea with the anesthesia are angels in my eyes. Dr Schultz was great as well. Of course before hand I had to hear about the complications. One being a collapsed lung! Ugh! He told us he had done thousands of these and never once had to deal with that. My first thought was, "oh boy, there is always a first!" In fact, one of the first things I said when I came to was,"at least my lung did not collapse!" Those nurses probably thought that was the goofiest thing to say. But given my condition. They were so great with the meds and kept me pretty much from throwing up all but once. I felt good coming home. I went right to bed and slept until about 2:30. I got up and ate some crackers and water and read the paper, etc... I did go back to bed until Claire Bear woke up around 6:30. Once again the hardest thing to do is not pick her up for a few days.
I am really sore, but can tolerate taking Tylenol. He prescribed the same thing Dr Rager did and I hate those pain meds! They are pure evil! I do not handle them well.
Tomorrow I get my hair cut for the last time for awhile. My nieces boyfriend is going to shave his head when I shave mine. He keeps saying he needs a hair cut. I am guessing it will be either between or after my second round of chemo before I lose mine.
Saturday Dennis and I are going to have a lunch date. We are going to Columbus for lunch and then see an exhibit by Brandon Boas. Brandon is a young adult with Down syndrome who does wonderful photography. We bought a print for my sister in law for Christmas and she really liked it.
Tonight I am going to try and meet some women I used to do case work with. One of them still works for CPS. God bless her! I did casework for 3 years and that was enough stress for me!
Thank you for all the calls and cards and especially the prayers. I could not get through this without the prayers especially.
Blessings to all of you!

I spoke with my surgeon's assistant. Since we are so close to chemo, Dr Rager does not want to have to operate if it is my gallbladder. She thinks with chemo it all my take care of itself. I am thinking it will too. Considering they are putting evil, toxins into my bloodstream! Ha! I am sure it is an cure all for many ailments! Yikes! I just have to remember that those evil toxins are going to save my life!
Prayers and blessings!