To Radiate, or Not To Radiate: That Is THE Question.

Well, here it is, folks...the words we've ALL been waiting for: I AM FINISHED WITH CHEMOTHERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final two treatments were slightly rough to endure.  With my two lasts came some firsts: first re-viewing of breakfast during treatment, first IV nausea medicine (I'd taken many pills, but never the really heavy stuff), and first refusal of my cold mouth routine during one of the medicines.  Nonetheless, here I am standing on the other side of them, and stronger for it!  I just really can't believe they are over.  The realization didn't fully sink in until the next Tuesday, when I actually didn't have to go get poisoned.  Yesterday marked the "one month" mark, and I'm feeling wonderful!!

So, the big question on everyone's mind now is, "What next?"  Well, that has been a tough question to answer, but I will try to walk everyone through the sequence of events leading to the final decision.
Exactly one week after my 12th chemotherapy treatment, my family and I again made the journey to T-Town, where we met with my Oncologist, Dr. Keller, to discuss future plans.  Ever since my first oncology appointment, there has been a question looming overhead, and that was of radiation.  To radiate, or not to radiate: that is THE question.  You would think that this would be a simple question with a simple answer, but in my case, it was not.  I happen to lie right in the middle of the "radiation decision," meaning that my diagnosis qualified me for both "sides of the fence."  We thought that Dr. Keller would give us an opinion, one way or the other, but he did not.  He did refer us to a Radiation Oncologist, and we met with Dr. Clark on Tuesday of the following week.

In the meantime, I had another PET Scan scheduled for Monday (one day before my meeting with Dr. Clark).  The scan went fine, and my family and I were actually able to spend an enjoyable day in Tulsa.  The next day, we met with Dr. Clark in Stillwater (we didn't have to drive to Tulsa again!!!), and we were all excited about receiving a definite answer.  Dr. Clark entered the examination room speaking as if I was definitely in need of radiation, which was a bit confusing.  After we mentioned the existence of a second clear PET Scan, however, he seemed to change his mind.  He told us that he wanted to take a closer look at all my scans (now a total of three), and he would get back to us.  Needless to say, my family and I left the office just as baffled as ever. 

Another week later, we got in touch with Dr. Clark to find out his opinion after checking all of my scan reports.  Again, I thought I would get a definite answer, but he didn't seem to have a clear opinion.  (At this point, I was getting frustrated, only because I wanted to know what was in front of me.  I still respect and appreciate the thoroughness and honesty of both of my doctors in making this tough decision, and I do not blame them one bit for being hesitant in a final opinion.)  It seemed to me that he was leaning against radiation, but he still couldn't say for sure.  He then referred me back to Dr. Keller, in order to try and make sense of my case.  So, I called and left a message for Dr. Keller last week, and he was to get back with me sometime this week, which brings us up to date.

Throughout this entire journey, I have grown so much in my faith and in my relationship with God.  He has carried me through all of this, and I would be nothing without Him.  So, as much as I valued and trusted the opinions of my doctors, I also realized that only One Doctor knows everything there is to know about Kaila Sky Reeder.  It was He, and only He, who could give me a completely accurate answer for where to go next with my life.  That said, I also think that the analytical and thorough search my family and I made, by visiting various doctors, was a necessary step in following the will of God.  He gives us free will, to make decisions based on the intelligence and resources He provides, and that is a big part of a relationship with Him.

Anyway, I have been praying for the last six months (and for the month after my last treatment) for guidance in making this decision.  I knew that God would orchestrate everything to fit within His will for my life, and I trusted Him to lead me to the correct conclusion at the correct time.  The difficult part in this was stiving to keep an unbiased mindset when meeting with doctors, as I "just knew" that radiation was not in my future.  I have learned enough in the past year to know that with God, timing is everything.  If I was not receiving a clear answer about radiation, it was for a reason.  So I waited and prayed and layed everything in His Hands.  I may never fully understand why this month of "waiting" was necessary, but I appreciate the thoroughness of my Lord in this decision, as well as that of my doctors.  To sum this up, my decision had already been made in my heart; I just needed my doctors to reach the same decision, so that I could reach a decision in my head.

Today, I called Cancer Care, in hopes of talking to Dr. Keller's nurse.  The receptionist transferred me back to what I was expecting would be an answering machine, but then she came back on the line.  She told me that Dr. Keller actually wanted to talk to me.  He came on the line, and asked me what I gathered from my meeting with Dr. Clark.  I told him that it seemed as if Dr. Clark had not yet reached a certain decision, and that Dr. Clark wanted me to discuss things further with Dr. Keller.  Dr. Keller then told me that Dr. Clark's written report to him seemed much more opinionated and definite, and that Dr. Keller agreed with the decision made by Dr. Clark. (Is anyone getting confused with the "Drs." yet?!)  At this point, I'm getting really excited, as I know that I am about to hear an actual decision!  Dr. Keller then gave me that definite answer:










NO RADIATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!










Thank you, everyone, for your concern in this matter.  I apologize for not having an answer for you all sooner, but I hope you can see the reason for my lack of information.  Thank you, also, for your continued prayers; you will never know how much your support has meant to me, and I thank God for placing such wonderful people in my life.  Thank you so very much...

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, my posts are quite infrequent.  This is largely due to the fact that I have had almost as many "good days" as "bad" throughout this process, which I consider an immense blessing.  There have been vacations and hunting trips, as well as time with friends, which was all wonderful.  Just feeling good was an incredible light, for which I can never thank God enough.  For these past three weeks, the pattern has continued, as my dad and I have wrecked havoc on the lakes of Oklahoma!  No fish alive stands a chance this spring!  We've also enlightened a few turkeys to the presence of the Reeder pair! 

Well, I think I've written plenty to get my fingers tired and to keep your eyes occupied for today.  I do hope to write another post sometime soon, filled with pictures and stories of my outdoor adventures, thus far.  If nothing else, it should be a nice break from your reading (and my writing) about nausea and poison!  Until then, my love to you all.

Snowmageddon............s!!!

I can't believe I haven't updated this thing in so long!  I guess I just got in a cycle--go to treatments, be sick, get better, enjoy a week--and I blogging just slipped my mind.  Also, my ninth treatment was one that I didn't really want to think about for a while, so I guess I'm just now getting to it..............

In all honesty, nothing too exciting (except the infamous ninth) has happened since my last post.  Like I said above, this has pretty much become the norm for my family and I, although we are very ready for a new standard!  Anyway, I will delve into the epic that was my 9th treatment, if for no other reason than it makes a really good story!

Two weeks after my eighth treatment, I was "ready" to go back for my ninth (only one way to get to the finish line)..................The weather, however, seemed to have other plans.  Snowmageddon #1 hit on Monday night, and all of Tulsa closed down for an entire week!  Needless to say, I received an extra week of feeling well.  What is more is that I got to spend such a week in the snow!!  By the next Tuesday, the snow had ebbed enough that a trip to Tulsa looked promising; trying to catch up from all of the missed appointments, Cancer Care scheduled my Treatment #9 for Thursday morning.  My family and I were slightly concerned, however, as I was already a week behind.  We called the poor office back (they were completely flooded with phone calls, due to the previous bad weather and the impending storm, scheduled to hit that very Tuesday night), and they decided that the Reeders should make a hasty dash toward Tulsa, in an attempt to out-run Snowmageddon #2.  So, about to brack a blizzard, my dad and I loaded up Old White (our affectionate name for the hunting truck--an '80 Chevy box-front, complete with a cable winch on the front) with tools and blankets and clothes and boots and food...Grapes of Wrath, anyone????? 

Dad and I arrived in Tulsa around 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon.  We dashed into Cancer Care, my port was accessed and blood was drawn, and we went back to see Dr. Keller.  As my treatment lasts for a full three hours, and the office closes at 5:00 pm, Dr. Keller made arrangements for me to receive my #9 at the adjacent hospital, St. Francis.  I was all for this, due to my involuntary sickness caused by the treatment center smell.  After I received the "all clear" from Keller, the Reeder duo headed next door to get this treatment and get back on the road.

I was placed in a room on the Oncology floor around 4:50 pm; we were excited, as it looked like we might beat the storm back to Stillwater!  5:30 came and went, and I hadn't been hooked up to anything.  I didn't really mind, however, as there was a marathon on of Law & Order: SVU.  By 6:30, I was beginning to get a little fidgety; Dad and I needed to get back on the road, if we were ever to make it home safely.  At 8:00, I was still not even hooked up to my pre-meds, and Dad was beginning to loose his patients (honestly, he handled these first three hours quite remarkably!)  He finally decided to go find out what was wrong, and after a little investigating, I was hooked up to my pre-meds around 9:00 pm..........miraculously, it was only just beginning to snow in Stilly!

At 12:30, Dad and I clamored back into Old White, tired and slightly ruffled, but braced for the trip ahead of us.  The roads in Tulsa were white, and the wind was howling.  We drove slowly and were met with very little traffic; it's surprising how much a city shuts down with a little snow!  The scariest part of the journey was our trip over Keystone.  The wind was whipping through the gap made by the hills at either end of the bridge, and our stout truck was shaking in its tracks, along with both passengers inside!!!  Surprisingly enough, we were able to make it all of the way to the Stilly on-ramp before Dad had to get out and lock the hubs.  We slipped and slid our way into Stilly, and we were never happier to see 1118 W. Newman!  It was a trip for the nerves, that's for sure. 

Even though the trip was...ahem, memorable...there were many good things about that ninth treatment.  For one, as I mentioned earlier, I didn't have to endure the treatment center, which makes me almost as sick as the chemo.  Secondly, the worst of the storm held off until Dad and I got home...literally.  It seemed like the snowfall substantially picked up as soon as we walked through the door.  My mom said she was watching the storm on the television, and the entire thing was hovering just above Stilly...you call it what you want to, but I call it the power of my beautiful God.  Despite all odds, he made a way for me to get Treatment #9, which gets me that much closer to the finish line. 

So, I head off to Treatment #11 this morning!!  So close to being finished...after today, I can hold up one finger, for there will only be one left!  I will try to be better about posting and post a little later in the week...just don't hold me to anything, as this is Oklahoma, and I'm sure Snowmageddon #3 looms somewhere in the future, near or far! :)

As always, I love you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and continued support!  Mwah!

It Was Just the Tequilla Talkin'

I know this post is a little late, but I thought I should update everyone on my last treatment before I have my next one...as in, tomorrow...

Anyways, Treatment #7 actually went fairly well, as far as the side-effects go (I'll get to where things went bad in a sec).  I was able to keep the smell of the treatment center at bay, thus keeping the nausea from getting too bad.  Someone told me of a trick that really works!  Just apply Vic's to the inside of a surgical mask, place another mask over that one (to keep from having a Vic's face bath), and wear!  It really did work in keeping me less nauseated, which was great!  I was just really tired for a few days, but for the most part, it wasn't very bad at all (PRAISE GOD!!).  Also, I got some new nausea medication...actually, it's technically the same medicine, but a different method of delivery.  The first kind was meant to dissolve on my tongue, but it tasted SOOOOO BAD!  I didn't want to take the medicine because it almost made me even more nauseous.  I was able to get the same medicine in a swallowing form, and that helped tremendously.

So, everything was going fine after treatment...that is, until my family and I decided to go out to dinner on Friday night (day 3 after my poisoning).  I was feeling pretty well, considering it was my first day out of the house in 3 days.  I decided that Mexican food sounded really good (I've been on a salt kick...my lifetime of being a chocoholic has been cured!!!  Thanks, Chemo! lol).  We ended up going to El Vaquero, where we met 4 of our friends.  My parents and our 4 friends ordered a pitcher of margaritas.  I was very content with my quesadilla, until I noticed an empty and unused margarita glass sitting on the table.  I decided that one glass...one...would not hurt me, so I poured myself a glass...MISTAKE!!!  Not 3 minutes after I drank the killer drink, I was headed for the bathroom.  The tequila made me slightly dizzy, and it was just enough to re-instate my nausea, and I spent the next 15 minutes in the bathroom (the great part was my mother standing behind me, saying over and over again, "Try not to touch the toilet...")  When I noticed that I wasn't getting any better, I told my mom to just get me home.  She grabbed a clean trash sack out of the trash can, and my sister and my mom flanked me and steered me out of there.  It was really great to walk through a restaurant, my face as pale as a ghost, with my mom (holding a trash sack) and my sister holding me up...every eye in the place turned, and I could almost hear what they were all thinking: "What on earth did she order???!"  When I got in the car, I grabbed the sack from my mom, and I was finally able to...um...say hello to my quesadilla again, which made me feel better.  Anyways, long story short, I learned a valuable lesson: Tequila 3 days after Chemo is not the best idea in the world...duly noted!

Something exciting happened during these past 2 weeks!  I got 2 new lab puppies that I absolutely ADORE!!!  They are brothers from the same litter, and they are both precious.  Only one of them has a name, though (as of about 6:00 tonight), and his name is Ross.  The other one is still a work in progress...

So, I go in tomorrow for Treatment #8...66.666666666666666667%!!!!!!!!!!!  As always, I'm not really jumping up and down about going back;, however, I know that the only way to get finished is to get #8, then #9...then #12!!! 

Thank you, everyone, for all of your prayers!!!  I love you all and I would be lost without your kindness to my family and me.  I will definitely keep you all posted if my doc tells me anything new.  Until my next post, I will be licking my wounds and enjoying puppy breath and cute lab puppy faces!

Merry Christmas!!!

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers for my family and me in the year 2010.  We have most definitely had an interesting year, but we are also most definitely stronger and better for it.  I cannot thank God enough for all of my family and friends who have been so wonderful through this year, and I love you all to pieces!
Second of all, I would like to share a prayer with you all.  Every year, I write a poem for the Reeder Family Christmas card.  This year, I decided that a prayer poem was nothing less than perfect, so I hope you all enjoy it.  Merry Christmas, from my family to yours!

Dear most precious Heavenly Father,

In this time of remembering Your Son,

May You heed this humble prayer of mine,

And as always, let Your will be done.

I pray for peace around the world,

For joy and love and grace.

Please bless Your sons and daughters,

And shine through every face.

I ask for safety in travels

For all who wander from home.

May hearts be open and giving,

And may Your presence be known.

I pray for those in sickness,

And also for those in health,

In hopes that everyone knows and finds

The essence of true wealth.

I rejoice for families together,

But ache for those apart.

I ask forgiveness for past mistakes,

And thank You for new starts.

I pray for warmth in times of cold,

For young eyes wide in splendor.

May hugs embrace and never end,

And every look be tender.

I ask for fun and merriment

To spread like never before,

While keeping in mind that first day of Yule

When the King of all Kings was born.

I pray for my family, my treasured loved-ones,

And for all of my very dear friends.

May they all have the very merriest Christmas!

In Christ Jesus’ name, Amen.

-Sky Reeder, 2010-

Whoah! We're Halfway There!!

Well, everyone, guess what???!!!  I have officially finished half of my Chemotherapy treatments!  Waaaahoooooo!!!  I had the 6th treatment (of 12) on Tuesday, December 21, 2010, and everything went just fine.  My family and I are becoming pros at this!
There was one new element to this round of Chemo: Cha' got to come experience it with me!  She is finally out of school (with a 4.0, I might add), and I am very happy to have her at home for a while!  It was typical Cha', though...she was all about the medical stuff!  "What's that?"  "What does that do?"  "What's in that?"  I love it that she is so passionate about becoming a good doctor, and she was a big help to me during Chemo.  We are besties!
Also, I am happy to say that my newly re-flipped port worked perfectly!  Yaaaay!  Hopefully I won't have to go through any more unexpected surgeries.
Right now, I am just trying to recover so that I feel decent for Christmas.  I have had a rather down day today, due to a bit of nausea and not wanting to eat/drink anything, but it could always be worse.  I get to be with my family for Christmas, and that in and of itself is the best present ever!  Who could ask for more?

Minor Set-Back

Hey everyone!  I am so sorry that it's been a while since I have updated this blog...up until recently, there wasn't much to give an update on, at least not medical information.  Please understand that this lack of posting is in no way reflective of how appreciative I am to all of your for your prayers and support.  I seriously can't thank any of you enough, and I thank God all of the time for blessing me with such a wonderful support system.  You are all truly amazing...thank you. 

My 4th round of chemo went about as smoothly as the 3rd, although I was able to really enjoy Thanksgiving with my family.  Somehow, by the grace of God, I was able to smell and eat and savor Thanksgiving dinner, which was only 2 days after my treatment......go figure?!  I was also able to get out in nature and do some hunting, of which it paid off nicely! 

This hunting season has been one of my best so far.  When I feel decent (which is still over 50% of the time), Dad and I have been able to take off and get in touch with our primitive selves!  Okay, okay...so a Browning X-Bolt 25-06 isn't exactly primitive, but it definitely gets the job done!  About a week after I got this bad boy (10-point), I killed a nice doe at around 315 yards...even at that distance, she only ran 20 yards, tops, and then fell.

But enough about killing............actually, NO!  We still have death to discuss...death of the Cancer!!  Mwahaha!  (please forgive me if I sound a little crazy...I am slightly medicated at the present moment, but I'll get to that in a minute).  Anyways, I had another PET Scan on Friday, December 3, which was the same scan as one I had done before any chemo started.  The first scan showed my chest area to be lit up like a Christmas tree--there were infected nodes EVERYWHERE!  This scan (drum roll please) showed absolutely NO nodes lit up, thank you very much! :) :) :) While this is excellent news and God should be praised for His mighty work, it doesn't necessarily mean any changes.  As of now, I still have to complete all of my treatments (12 total), and my doc is still holding out his decision for radiation.  That being said, however, this is great news in that the chemotherapy is working!!  Wahoo!!!

Speaking of the chemo working, I'm sure many of you are wondering about my hair situation.  Well, I still have it...hair, I mean.  Don't get me wrong--it has been falling out for some time now.  However, I just had such thick hair to begin with, that it is only just now looking thin.  Nothing a cute hat can't cover up!  Honestly, though, the shave party may happen soon, if for nothing but sheer frustration at all of this shedding!  You know how annoying a single hair can be when it gets in-between your shirt and your skin and tickles you to no end?!?  Well, try having a constant tickling force all over you!!  It's just hair...it will grow back (and mine will grow back fast!).  Plus, if I don't shave my head, then who is going to get to enjoy all of these fabulous wigs???!  I promise to keep you posted on the hair situation.  For those that like a little more information, I do still have to shave my legs, I still have as much hair on my arms as I ever had, and my eyebrows and eyelashes are still bushy and beautiful! lol  (I would be so ecstatic if I somehow managed to keep my eyebrows and eyelashes through this whole ordeal...).

Now then, where was I?  Oh yes...Chemo #5.  Well, I rolled in to Cancer Care two days ago (Tuesday, December 7) with new tricks up my sleeve.  I took nausea meds as soon as I saw the building, and I then proceeded to lather my nose up with a nice coating of Vic's (technically, it was the off-brand).  My new tricks worked!!!  I was ready to go, with as little of anticipatory-nausea (they have technical terms in the medical field) as to be expected.  I went back to the treatment room to get all set up for the day; they have to take lab work to make sure I can have chemo, and they go ahead and access my port then so I only have to get stuck once (yay for that!).  The port needle is fairly thick, but I don't need any numbing medicine for one quick poke...or so I thought.  One of my favorite nurses was all set up to do my "stick".  I took a deep breath, and she poked me, but I could immediately tell that something was wrong, both from the feeling of the port and the look on her face.  She had another one of my favorite nurses come over (let's face it, I love all of my nurses!), for some assistance.  Needless to say, before it was all over, I had about 6 nurses around me, poking and prodding at my port.  They ended up trying to stick me 3 times (I had finally asked for some numbing medicine), only to decide that I had somehow managed to flip my port. 

They sent me from the treatment room to see my doctor.  Dr. Keller took a look at the port, but he couldn't tell much from outside the skin, so he sent me back to radiology.  After I had 2 chest x-rays done, I went back to see the doc, who confirmed that he though I had flipped my port.  So, my dad has to play gopher and run the x-rays over to Dr. Meese's office (he is the doctor that did my port surgery), pick up some medicine for me, and get me lunch, of which only one thing sounded remotely appetizing--Mexi Dips & Chips from Taco Bueno. 

Sooooo....back I went to the treatment center to get my chemo through an IV.  They had to give the meds to me really slowly this way, because some of the meds in my treatment are damaging to the skin if any happened to leak out of the vein.  Luckily, this didn't happen...I told you all that I loved all of my nurses! :)

While I was getting treated, my dad was calling and scheduling appointments for me to have my port inspected by Dr. Meese.  This appointment, as luck would have it, was scheduled for the very next day, Wednesday, December 8.  So, I went home once Chemo #5 was finished, licking my wounds and waiting for the next day.

Mom, Dad, and I arrived at the 3 golden towers in Tulsa (I'm sure they have a technical name, but golden towers is what I'm going with tonight) a little before 10 yesterday morning.  We immediately began paperwork for pre-op (????? At this moment, I wasn't aware I was having surgery), and then we went upstairs to the operation waiting room (????? I wanted to talk to Dr. Meese before anyone came near me with any sharp objects!).  Dr. Meese did, in fact, come out to see my family and me, and then he took me back to examine my port.  He numbed the site, and then used a small needle to poke around and make sure that the port was, indeed, flipped.  What did he find?  The port was, indeed, flipped.

Back to the waiting room I went, where I waited for a long time (they were trying to find a place to squeeze me in, as this surgery wasn't exactly planned).  Needless to say, on December 7, 2010, Dr. Meese split me back open, turned over my port, and stitched it down with a few more stitches than he had the last time (apparently, I had ripped out the two he had originally put in there).  After my surgery, they gave me as much pain medicine as they could, but I still had to go back to Cancer Care to get my Neulasta shot.  Back on with a generous coating of the off-brand Vic's and a big stick later, and I was back in the car headed back to Stillwater.

I'm sure many of you are wondering how on earth I managed to flip my port over in the first place.  The best I can tell, it happened over the Thanksgiving holiday.  One evening, I wasn't feeling very well, and so I climbed up to sit on my Dad's lap, as he was comfortably reclining in big and fluffy rocking chair.  I was curled up with most of my weight on his upper left leg.  When I was ready to get up, I realized that I was going to have to slide right off onto his bad left knee, which had been really hurting him.  So, I reached over to the right arm-rest with my left hand, and pushed my weight up so that I could get up without hurting my dad.  Needless to say, I doubled over in pain, but I though I had just pulled the muscle.  I guess when I lifted most of my weight up with my left arm, the muscle that my port sits on strained just enough to allow that sucker to pop right over.

So, I am back on the couch with Chemo #5 freshly through me, pretty sore and sickly feeling from the Neulasta shot, and mostly immobile and almost 100% reliable on outside help from being sliced open again.  I guess the good news is that there are no new scars, as Dr. Meese could just go back through the old one!  I am also now on strict orders to not use my left arm so extensively.  Dr. Meese said that I shouldn't have been able to flip the port, even if I had tried.  I guess it's just one of those fluke things that happens sometimes...either that, or he isn't used to a fairly muscly woman who can lift most of her body weight with one arm...no girly push-ups for me!!! 

The Third Time Is A........Charm?

Hello all!  I have officially completed 3 of 12 chemotherapy treatments!  Yay!  The third one, however, did not go as smoothly as the first two.  I think my body is beginning to catch on to the plans.  As soon as I walked into the treatment center and smelled that now-familiar smell of the treatment room, my stomach rolled.  Actually, my stomach is beginning to act up, just thinking about it.  There's the beauty of psychology, folks...
There was good news during my treatment.  For one thing, my doctor was very surprised that I still had my hair (not all of it, admittedly, but enough).  Secondly, I had another chest x-ray while I was there, and the chemo is definitely doing it's job!  The nodes that were so visible in my chest at the beginning of this whole ordeal had decreased significantly in size!  Praise God for that!
Anyways, I had to take more nausea medicine than usual, but that wasn't too big of a deal.  I actually felt pretty good when I left Cancer Care, and my mom and I went out to eat.  After our late lunch, we arrived at the hotel around 3-ish.  All was going pretty well until I rode up to the forth floor in the elevator...mistake.  That sent my tummy in a tizzy, and it really never got better.  I spent that first night curled up in a ball and reliant on nausea meds that make me really drowsy (I slept like a baby, though!).  Normally, I am bouncing off of the walls the day I have chemo...something about a steroid high...not the case this time.
The next day, I went back to the treatment center for my Nulasta shot.  I was still not feeling very great, but I was doing better than the previous night.  After I got my shot, my mom and I headed south to Hugo, OK for some R&R at Nana and Papa's house!  Needless to say, that's really all I did.  I actually didn't feel as tired and achy as I had for treatments 1 and 2, but the nausea made up for that.  I despise that upset-tummy feeling...honestly, the worst part about being sick at my stomach was the ramifications of food!  There I was, at Nana's house, and all I could stand to eat (or smell, for that matter) was ham and cheese (an occasional PB&J) sandwiches. 
So, it is now 5 days after my chemo treatment, and my tummy is still unhappy.  What I hate the most is that my poor family has to cater to my stupid stomach.  Smells bother me the most, so cooking inside the house is a touchy subject.  Then, there's the task of finding something I can actually eat, which I know must be frustrating for them.  Needless to say, treatment 3 has been the most difficult, but I know it could still be so much worse.
Okay, enough negativity.  I wouldn't even write all of this icky stuff, but it's the truth.  Painting over things with "rose-colored writing" doesn't help anyone.  Treatment 3 was no bueno...'nuff said.  Apart from feeling icky for a few days, I've been really blessed!  Dad says I'm making cancer look fun...I do get to go hunting (one of my absolute favorite hobbies) quite often, and I spend most of my time in the comfort of my own home with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world--Mom and Dad.  I am extremely blessed to have such supportive and wonderful parents.  I do miss spending time with my sister, but she had to go and get Mono and Shingles...way to go, sis...JUST KIDDING!  I actually feel horrible for her...she has had worse symptoms and pains than I have.  Poor kid...she sure is a trooper, though.  Every time I see her, she looks like she is about to enter a beauty pageant............AND WIN!  What a remarkable person I am privileged enough to call my sister.