I passed Chemo Class!!!

Hello dear family and friends. I got up this morning, put on my GOD IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN CANCER shirt, a matching pink jacket, a marquesite cross, pink shoes and my "bag of optomism" given to me by friends. You homeschool coop friends who like to kid me about dressing up would have agreed that I was a pink "Fashionista" for chemo class this morning. You would have laughed at us as we hurried to the hospital to start chemo. Randy does not like to be late to ANYTHING and traffic was horrible. He said "What if we miss the first 15 minutes about something important like what to do if the chemo makes your leg falls off..." Then he said maybe we'll get lucky and they will be on "Pep Moms time." This made us both laugh (I say this with love but you Pep Moms out there know EXACTLY what I mean);)
I was actually a little disappointed in chemo class. I thought sure there would be lots of students there and I would be the teacher's pet by the end of it. The class was actually just a video shown to me and Randy going over all the various side effects of the medications. I caught Randy a couple of times trying to copy down my notes and I told him if there was a test afterwards, I was sure I'd get the better grade and he better not cheat. Fortunately there was no test and we passed chemo class with flying colors! (Easiest A I ever got)!

The chemo room itself was large with about 25 recylining chairs lining the walls of the room and IV bags dangling from the ceiling. Cancer does not discriminate. There were people there from all races and walks of life. At first I thought I was the youngest one there but then I looked over and saw a woman who I'd say was in her twenties. I believe her dad was sitting next to her. I had several people ask about my shirt. It was a big hit!!! I could see several people would read it and then just look up at me and smile. I gave the blog address to a hospital receptionist, social worker and volunteer to share with others. I sat down and began reading my copy of Cancer Vixen, got all hooked up and stayed for 3 hours to get the medication. They gave me a boxed lunch and there were individual tvs you could watch as you waited. I was about to leave when I met another breast cancer patient. She was holding her own copy of cancer vixen which we both laughed about. She said she'd been divorced and learned of her diagnosis in the same week. My heart really went out to her. But there was an immediate sisterhood. We traded emails and were both excited to learn that we'll have treatments on the same days from now on.
I want to tell you all what some of the side effects are. Not because I want you to feel sorry for me (because I don't). I just think it is important for everyone to know when you hear of someone who has cancer what they might be facing. These are just some of the side effects. Not all of these happen, but you go into it not knowing which makes it alittle scary. Here we go:
Hair loss, loss of fingernails and toenails, mouth sores, extreme fatigue, vomitting, nausea, onset of leukemia, onset of early menopause, heart toxicity, bone pain, lowered white/red blood cell count causing the greater likelihood of infection. There is even a condition which damages your tear ducts and can leave you constantly crying until an opthamalogist can put a stint into your eyes. Whew! It is a lot! There are hormone therapies and Her2Nu protein treatments some breast cancer patients can take to shrink their tumors but I was not a candidate for either of these. Chemo is a big decision but I am at peace with it. It is not HOW I will be healed but WHO will heal me that matters. Another obstacle bites the dust, y'all!! Lots of love,
Kerry

PS Don't I just look Faaaaaabulous!