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My Awesome Day of Chemo & Radiation

11/5/2014

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It sounds crazy to say but I had an awesome day of chemo today.  My best friend from elementary school, Tara Bryant…well, Tara Harmon for many years now but always Tara Bryant to me, came up from Louisville to do chemo with me!  I got a phone call yesterday from my oncology nurse saying that we would have to cancel chemo today because my ANC was too low (white blood count/absolute neutraphil count).  She said I could go in and do a redraw today but that she didn't expect my ANC to get high enough for treatment.  Well, on Monday I was only 1.1 and today I was 2.1 so I got to get chemo!!!

They say at this point the most important thing is radiation so I try not to stress when I don't get chemo but the chemo is suppose to help boost radiation so I can't help by stress when I don't get to get my chemo.  Besides, my chemo nurses are awesome and it makes my time there go by so well!

I have also been lucky enough to get not one but three hand knitted hats this week to help keep my head warm.  I'm lucky to have friends and family who think about me.  I know there are several more hats on the way and I can't wait, so excited to see them!
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On a different note, I started out my day with radiation and then met with my radiation/oncologist.  He told me I had made it over half way through this first set of radiation!  I have had 13 treatments, after 12 more treatments we will do another scan to see if he can redirect the radiation to a more targeted area to kill off this cancer.

I asked him if there was a max amount of radiation I could have.  He said there is a max amount of treatments but never really told me what that max amount is.  He said there were many variables, such as risks to other areas around the radiation site, size of the tumor (the larger the tumor the less the number or radiation treatments allowed), and other factors.  He reminded me again that I am too skinny and it makes it harder to read scans but said I don't need to gain wait, he will just keep reading the scans how they are.  I'm really not much skinnier than pre-cancer so I'm not too worried about that.  I've had a great appetite with radiation for the most part.  Worst symptoms are achy hips and being tired.  I feel like I could have it much worse.  I'm super awake right now because they give me a steroid via IV with this set of chemo and it keeps me up.  I am up like three hours later than I normally am.

We are also beyond blessed at all the donations our family received on the fundraiser that was setup, I can't wait to take Wylee  to the indoor watermark for a weekend and whatever other fun things are planned by the wonderful ladies organizing this adventure!  http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/support-erica-frazier-and-family-/234458 
1 Comment
Anna link
11/6/2014 01:14:19 am

I love that you had enough white blood count for chemo! And I love those hats... I have one one on my knitting needles for you, I am just a much slower knitter than the other knitterly people in your life!! ; )

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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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