Appt with Dr. B

Had my follow up appointment with Dr. B on Wednesday, November 16 - she felt that I was coming along even better than she had expected.  Dr. B told me that I would see her now every three months for 18 months.  It's such a pleasure to see her and her staff, that will not be a problem at all!  I also turned the corner this week on the bathroom thing! 

Have had no more bouts of diarrhea type trips - which is kind of what I had had since I'd been home.  Sometimes it would fall in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening or overnight.  Also had some what I would call "leakage" type stools - after that I ended up with some diaper rash (now I know why babies cry!) - but got some cream and got rid of it right away.  (I feel like some of this was because I had taken some immodium to slow down the process {once on the night we had our pictures taken and once on the day that I did chemo treatment #3} and it did slow it down, but maybe gave me some other side effects too.)  BTW - being able to poop is NOT overrated.  Listen to someone who's been there - the ileostomy bag makes you kind of lazy, as you can empty it basically at your convenience.  When you're running to the bathroom every 10 or 15 minutes it becomes not so much fun.  And I feel like I see a light at the end of the tunnel for the "Depends".

I have gone back to work and can last almost a full day.  Dr. B told me that I wouldn't regain my strength back entirely as long as I was still doing the chemo treatments.  And I have some good days and some bad days - which is to be expected.

I've also gotten used to seeing myself with straight hair - or on the days that I use the curling brush on it, a little bit of curl.  Dropped by to see my hair dresser the other day and she is going to trim my hair and also trim the bangs on my wig.

Had a scary experience when they did the blood draw before chemo treatment #3 - the nurse irrigated the port, then drew back and didn't like what she saw, so she kept drawing back but wasn't getting anything (blood is supposed to come back into the syringe).  Anyway she asked me to raise my left arm which I did - but still no luck.  So she had me get up on the examining table and lay down and then asked me to raise my left arm again - well this time she could get the blood that she needed for the bloodwork they do - to check on white blood cell count, etc.  Thought maybe there had been a problem with "placement" on the port - like it might have moved a little or something.

Guess that's about all for now - am looking forward to getting chemo treatment #4 over and done with on November 21 . . . and then I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my family and having a long weekend!  Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.