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Starting Hormones

8/28/2014

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I started taking hormone replacements today.  Since the hot flashes never stopped my oncologist took a look at my hormone tests and decided that it was early menopause which has been triggered by the chemo I am currently on.  I have been having hot flashes for months.  This medicine I'm newly on, Estradiol .5, is suppose to help with that symptom.   

I'm interested to see how it goes!

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Wedding Pictures!

8/26/2014

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I'm so excited to share some of our favorite wedding pictures!
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Hospital Stay #4

8/26/2014

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I am sitting here in my 4th stay at the hospital.  I got here on Saturday, I came in with a 103.1 degree fever, cold chills, and a head ache.  It is now Tuesday and we still haven't determined what was causing the symptoms.  They thought it was a UTI but have since determined that although there was blood and protein in the urine the bacteria isn't growing.  They are now ruling out a UTI and trying to rule out an infection in my port.

I'm really hoping we can get this resolved tomorrow so I can go home and hopefully I will still be able to do chemo on Monday.  Monday is suppose to be my final chemo.  We then do a PET/CT scan and determine any additional treatment which will be needed.

Update:  8/27 I got to go home!  They never determined for 100% sure why I spiked the fever but the antibiotics and fluids helped bring it down.  They sent me home on an antibiotic and I am waiting to hear from my blood and urine tests if I get to go to chemo on Monday.  The doctor thought there wouldn't be any reason for me to not be able to have chemo though.
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Bald is Beautiful!

8/7/2014

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Today I got my pictures from the fabulous Cindy Johnson of Cindy Johnson Boudoir Photography.  Here are some of my favorite shots!  You can see the port access point in some of them, I think it just enhances the realness.
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Bladder…Annoyed

8/4/2014

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Cancer sucks…don't get cancer.  Really!  You know I'm upbeat about all this, but today is the first day that I really am feeling like the mindset "cancer sucks". I went and had my foley removed and was suppose to be trained on how to self catheter myself. Apparently the long term solution to my retention is for me to self catheter 4x per day. The training was a joke and they didn't even give me enough catheters to last a week. They literally gave me 8, are you freaking kidding me?  That is two days worth, not even enough time to get any ordered.  

This can't be a long term solution.  Let's do the math, 4x daily, I am 29 years old, the average U.S. female life expectancy is 82 that is 53 years of catheterizing myself daily 4x per day 365 days per year.  So… 53 x 4 x 365 = 77,380 times that I will have to self catheter.  That is ridiculous. There has to be another solution!

I'm irritated…then I fell down 3 steps on my way out.


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    Author

    Erica is a 32 year old cervical cancer advocate who is out living cancer for the third time. When she isn’t advocating for cervical cancer and HPV awareness as a Cervivor Ambassador, she previously oversaw the STEM program at the school where she was an educator; she now helps coordinate the robotics program. Erica enjoys spending time with her husband and son in their Indianapolis neighborhood, as well as pursuing new and adventurous hobbies. She can most recently be found fawning over kayaks and daydreaming of returning to whitewater kayaking with First Descents, an organization for young adults impacted by cancer. 

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