The house that guy built

Hello everyone

This is the house that Guy built and on it is the realtor trying to interest the birds in it. He already had a tiffle with a blue Jay.

Perhaps it was more of a scuffle.

Anyways the house is still for sale and for a large family. Lots of looky lews .....

Moving right along to day 7 of chemo. Everything I scratch seems to bleed and watching csi on tv last night my nose started to bleed. This is most likely because my platelet count is low.

As explained in previous blogs Chemo drugs attempt to kill all rapidly dividing cells, which cancer cells are.

Also your blood cells are rapidly dividing, so are affected by the chemo.  Your red blood cells carry hemoglobin which carry oxygen to the body, your white blood cells are a major part of your bodys defense system, they help prevent and fight infection, and your platelets help stop bleeding and repair damage to blood vessels.

My platelets have dropped a bit more than either of the other cells. ( I recieved an injection to boost my white blood cells). So my liver enzymes have gone up and my platelets have gone down, and those are to be expected and will just be watched. Most likely they will go back to completely normal prior to my next chemo on April 15th.

I am feeling pretty good today and will likely  work this weekend, and help Ken out.

My whole treatment plan has been moved up substantially yesterday.   My chemo is the 15th of April and on the 17th of April I also start radiation.

The first type of radiation is milder and is called Brachytherapy.  With Brachytherapy a cylinder is placed into the vagina and then a high dose of radioactive material is pumped into the cylinder for a short period of time   (10 mins)

The advantages of this is that it gets radiation right to where the cancer is. In my case the pelvic lymph nodes had the cancer and there is no way of telling if any cancer survived after the surgery.  Any type of radiation cannot be done too soon after surgery or it will interfere with healing.  This type of radiation does not cause damage to the surrounding tissues as much as the external radiation does.

I have also read where chemo "sets up the cancer cells" thus making them more susceptable to radiation.

So I am quite excited to be starting this radiation so soon.

I will also have to have external beam radiation after the chemo in May

I will be needing a ride to Eugene on the 24th of April and the 1st of May.

Ken is juggling schedule to allow him to do as many shifts as possible, as we hope to be able to go on a big holiday when this is all over.

Love and peace to all

Janet Bates      write to me at jankenb@gmail.com