8 days of chemo left = happiness

Has it really been 6 months since all this began? I was reading all my previous posts from when this all started and it's amazing how much stuff I have learned. Now I understand so much better what is going on and what is going to happen. Time has gone by so fast that is seems like everything I wrote about a few months ago JUST happened. 

Today I will be at Children's all day from 8.00 a.m. to about 5.00 p.m.. It's going to be a long day. I will be getting three different chemo drugs including another lumbar puncture. I can't wait till this day is over. :(

I have another prayer request. I now have a bad cold and I really do not want it to turn into anything worse like a fever or an infection. Hopefully it will go away before my blood counts drop like crazy in the next 2 weeks. 

After everything is done in a couple weeks I'm going to have a party. A BIG one... to praise God for His wonderful mercy towards me and because I had a birthday. I still have to get through the next two weeks but I'm happy that there are only two weeks left.

Instead of months and weeks we are now down to a countdown of days. 

COUNTDOWN: Eight days of chemo left. 

:)

1 Chronicles 29: 12-13 - "12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name." 

birthdays, snow, and cool stuff...

I'm fifteen. My birthday was on Sunday and I had a really nice day with my family. At church after the service everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. :) It was slightly embarrassing but I was told that I didn't even blush. All my brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews came over after church for lunch to help celebrate with me. The nice thing about having a big family is that you get lots of presents whenever it comes to your birthday. :) I was totally spoiled. It's tradition that whenever a girl turns 15 we get a fancy ring. My birthstone is a Garnet but I don't really like that color so Mom and Dad gave me a December one which is a Blue Topaz. It's a really pretty light blue color. I also got an ice cream maker. Now I can make my own fancy ice cream. :) I got a scarf that came straight from Guatemala. I got some earrings and a jewelry box for the earrings. I got a hoodie and leg warmers. I also got a shower sponge, some Burt's Bees lip balm, and some pj's. I always get the best birthday presents because my birthday is the 1st one of the year for our family. :)


In the afternoon I got a really nice surprise. My piano teacher surprised me by dropping by to wish me a Happy Birthday and she gave me a gorgeous bouquet of roses. It really made my day. She stayed and had dessert with us and we were able to visit for a while. 

Ok. Enough of the birthday stuff. My mouth is almost completely healed. I can talk normally again and I can eat real food again. I've had enough of smoothies and soup and blended food. Chemo has been cancelled for this week and I will start next Tuesday. I just need some time for my body to finish healing up and get back to its normal self before it gets attacked again. Some more good news is that next week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I can go to Abbotsford Hospital for my chemo instead of going to Children's. Yay!

Guess what?!? It finally snowed. We have about a foot of snow at my place.  

Only two weeks of chemo left starting next Tuesday. The end is finally in sight. 

prayer request

I know I just wrote on Sunday but I've been having some problems and I think it best if everyone knows. I have major mouth sore problems and so far it hasn't been getting any better. It is so bad that my diet has consisted of smoothies and blended soup. It is very hard to open my mouth. They will postpone my chemo if it is still really bad by Monday. Please pray that it wouldn't get any worse and that my mouth would heal quickly. 

I went to Children's today and received the drug that makes my hair fall out for the last time. Now my hair can grow back for good. That's one thing to be happy about. :) At least I can still smile even if it's hard to talk and eat! 

Thanks for your prayers. It is greatly appreciated. 

The end is near!

It's been over a week since I've written and I must say that life has been going fairly well. My hair fell out again, sadly, and my cheeks have puffed out again but I'm off the steroid now so my cheeks will deflate again in a couple weeks. This past week I was feeling quite exhausted and achy all the time so I was taking naps a lot, but that is going away now. 


On Tuesday I have to go in for just a short chemo drug. For the following two weeks I will get chemo every day from Monday to Thursday. The doctors are expecting that I might get sick due to low blood counts which would really suck. If I get sick it means that everything will get postponed. :/ I thank God every day for bringing me this far without any major complications. Please pray that I don't get sick. 

 School has started up again and I've been doing some Algebra. I'm also going to be doing a writing course for the next couple months which will challenge me a little bit because when I have "chemo brain" my brain absolutely does not work at all. I can't even do a few math problems in a row before I get stuck and have to try something else. I've also been doing Physical Science this year :). The doctors say that they they will sign for a credit in science because of all the amount of information I've learned this year about cancer and hospital stuff. 

Count down: 3 weeks left of intense chemo. After this I will be taking oral chemo for a year and a half during which I will go in once a month for an IV chemo.