7 Down, 1 To Go!

Hi Everyone, Thank you for reading this blog. You are awesome!

Chemo Round #7 went well. It was a long day (9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.) but a good one, as my awe-inspiring support team came through strong once more.

Andrea, my gorgeous Czech Republic friend, drove her adorable son Paulie, wild Eli and me down to Philly. We decided to make it an educational day for our sons, so after she dropped me off at H.U.P. she took the boys to the Camden Adventure Aquarium from 11:30 to 5:30! They had a great time! See photos below.

I arrived for chemo prep. at 10:15 a.m. I had a nice time by myself reading Mindy Kaling's book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) given to me by my fellow-chemo-goer Judy Abbott, the sweetest person on earth!
I got my vitals taken and met with Nurse-Practitioner Robin, and all that fun stuff. Then by 11:30 a.m. I was good to go to chemo! Unfortunately I had to  wait TWO HOURS to get into the chemo place, because there were, I was told, only two nurses working. It was disappointing, but I dealt with it, mostly because I had to. Fortunately my brother Paul's girlfriend, Grace, who works at Penn (she is actually very brilliant!) visited with me for about an hour, during her lunch break, maybe longer. We had a really nice chat and it was great to have her there. While she was there I got into the chemo room (it had a bed in it, which was nice) and the nurses got  me started right away.

Then my friend, Amy, showed up with "yummies!" Some glorious kind of cheese, some amazing crackers, blueberries, and her own-roasted Valley Green coffee. Wow, she is such a generous friend and sooooo darn pretty too! I had her coffee this a.m. and I have to say it was exceptional. Then her cute "little" sister, Susie, who is a Nurse-Practitioner at H.U.P. showed up too, followed by my faithful sister Trudy, all decked out in pretty pink! It was like a family reunion! We had fun talking, laughing, eating (Trudy brought me the hugest orange I have ever seen!) (Big enough to feed an army!) and trying not to disturb the nurses too much, though I'm sure we did a little - can't help that - when you gotta chat you gotta chat! All this activity made the 4-hour treatment fly by....Amy, Susie, and Grace had to go, so it was just me and "Gertrude" as I finished up the chemo.

We waited for Andrea and the boys to come back to the hospital and pick me up. They were a tiny bit late, but it was okay because they had been having such an amusing time at the aquarium! Trudy bought me some yummy black-eyed pea soup, and we watched the hospital scene, while a kindly old man played the piano in the lobby. The "scene" can be sad, all sorts of hurting folks.....really hard to take sometimes. It makes you think, and count your blessings, and pray and thank God for your own lot.

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

When I got home at 8:30 p.m., my friend Jen had brought a meal of pork chops, potatoes, and broccoli, and mac-n-cheese for Eli. And three friends had brought soup! Theresa from school made me some broccoli, cheddar, white bean soup, and Rose brought deelish butternut squash soup and Keith split pea with ham. All very scrumptious, esp. in this cold rainy January! I am so blessed!

There are many, many, many more things that people are doing for me, or have done for me since I got cancer, I want to dedicate a whole post to that...hopefully soon....

James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

This particular chemo's effects should kick in tomorrow and run for about three days - not looking forward to it.....I will try to get on computer to blog if I can, but if my head is plastered to the pillow you might not hear from me.

My next chemo is Monday, January 27th. I think Andrea will be driving me again. Eli has off that day, so we may do the museum thing again, different museum....Philly is so cool and Eli loves "the city" he thinks it's neat to go there...talks about it a lot. Before chemo that day, I meet with the surgeon who will do my reconstruction. This brings to mind a Beach Boy's song...."I'll have FUN FUN FUN 'til the doctor takes my boobies away!"

So, here are lotsa pics. from yesterday & some from the night before.....

THURSDAY NIGHT BEFORE CHEMO....
Our pal, Glenn, stopped by to bring us two humongous bags of Trader's Joe's Goodies!
What a nice guy! He even 'modeled' the foods! And Glenn out-talked me, which is really saying something! HA HA get it?????

 

 

DRIVING DOWN TO THE CITY...

 

 

TWO VERY LUCKY BOYS AT THE AQUARIUM......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOMMY GETTING CHEMO...

 

 

                                                    Me & Grace

 

Coolest Nurses ever...

 

Amy....

                                                   Trudy, Susie, Amy

Amy, Me, Gertrude

Susie & Amy, Pretty Sisters

Amy & me

CHEMO # 7...just about finished...

 

Love to you all, Annie