LivingGood

This is a chemo week, on Friday I’ll be getting my third knock out round of Adriamycin and Cytoxan drugs.   My treatments are every other Friday. One more round of the A&C combo and then I get to look forward to five rounds of Taxol. If the treatments follow the schedule I’ll be finished by my 37th birthday, the first week of July. My last round of chemo will be on the 4th of July. So at least I might be able to enjoy my ice cream cake before nausea takes over. Chemo is preventative, just like my preventative bilateral mastectomy. The chemo should lower my statistical predisposition to the cancer reemerge. Dr. Dureka, the first Oncologist that I saw at OU, said the statistical likelihood of cancer coming back is upwards to 60% likely without chemo, but with chemo and possibly radiation following the stats drop to 30%. It’s like a choose your own adventure book with every new Dr. visit. Maybe this next visit will send me to someplace tropical with warm sands and beautiful c...

Why do you still have hair? Oh, no! My automatic Nulesta shot did not go off on time.  At my last treatment the automatic injector did a final countdown for a full minute or so… tic tic tic tic and then, I was injected with the medicine. This week it did not ring at all. So, I called the 1-800 number and was ordered to take it off and go see the Dr. the next day. So, no need to rush to the ER, thankfully.  I got off the phone and immidiatly passed out until the next morning. On Monday morning,  I removed the sticker shot without checking the fill line, and tossed it in a Ziploc bag, and  then placed it in my briefcase and went to work. I was completely wiped and I was barely able to hold my eyes open all day Monday. I scheduled an appointment with Oncology to get my shot manually, since the automated injector did not go off. I drove myself to the Dr. the drive was hard because I was so tired my eyes did not want to stay open. The nurse in oncology, I call her ...

Dr. Varghese wants me to keep a written journal of my reactions to the chemotherapy.  My first Chemo treatment was the last Friday of March. I am ready for it to be done. My treatments are scheduled to take place on every other Friday until the first Friday in July. My birthday is July 3rd so my final chemo will be a very happy birthday present to celebrate the end of chemo. The first treatment was so nervous for me. I went into the hospital visit prepared. I brought with me my bag of goodies I had been given from chemo class, which had taken the previous week. The class was informative, it helped to relieve some anxiety at least I had some expectations; hair loss, nausea, fatigue and lack of interest in food. Husband of a gal approached me after class and exclaimed that he sensed that I had been a healthy eater from my interjections about food during our class, but he said, you still got cancer. I’m unsure if he was telling me to hang up my healthy eating hat because wtf...

Soak two cups of red lentils, rinse them until foamy water runs clear.   1 tsp of coconut oil    One small yellow onion   Two garlic cloves   A pinky nub of ginger & a nub of fresh turmeric root diced fine.  Sauté in a heavy cast iron dutch oven until the onion is almost transparent. Add the Lentils and Three cups of water and cook the beans until liquid is almost gone and Stir in   1 can of coconut milk   1Tbsp of gram masala spice Season with salt, pepper, and parsley leaf. I put the Dahl over rice and topped it with sautéed leek, squash, yellow peppers, and shrimp.

This year I am serving with AmeriCorps at the Regional Food Bank, and money has been really tight. This surprise disease, hello Breast Cancer, has added more stress to my already tight budget. I wasn't planning on diverting my small monthly stipend towards medical bills. I have all the bills and rent to pay.  Before I signed up for AmeriCorps, I cancelled all my extra expenses, no cable TV, radio subscriptions, fancy entertainment or going out to eat for me this year, I had intended to live frugally and commit my life to service for the year. well you know what they say; nobody ever expected the Spanish inquisition. Thankfully AmeriCorps offered me a decent insurance plan and I have been in a position to get food assistance to help with most of my nutritional needs. Its forecasted to be a painful road ahead, a road of surgery, treatments, and sickness. I'm open to whatever help is available so that I can make the ends meet. Before I was diagnosed I was working at temp ...

Friday was my first round of chemotherapy. Since Friday I’ve eaten bagels with avocado, mashed potatoes, and popcorn happily. My belly has been soured by most foods that I like to eat. I feel sickened and get a bad taste in the back of my tongue when I think about bread dough, I ate quiche on Friday following treatment, and the crust was buttery, like a good quiche crust should be right, nope. So, every time I think of bread I think of the buttery crust and am completely sickened. I was also drinking a Puer tea and I think that the tea enhanced the buttery taste in the quiche, so I’m also skeptical of tea.   I asked my sweet man, Jason to bring me some mashed potatoes on Sunday night on his way home from visiting with his friends. It was later than I had thought, and If I would have known the lengths he went to bring me tatters I would not have even asked. The thunderstorm started about 9pm and because it was Sunday in the bible belt all the usual mashed potato joints; Popeye’s....