Springing forward

First and foremost, thank you for the many, many wonderful suggestions to tame worries and ease anxiety.  I really cannot thank you all enough; so many of the comments and emails contained extremely helpful advice and such encouraging words.  I will blog more on my plans to handle worry/anxiety at a later date, as I may have some things to try that involve audience participation.

This week is our spring break.  It's safe to say that it has been an epic break for us!  First, the kids and I went to Harbour Island with my parents.  We all enjoyed the beautiful pink sand beach and the quaint island atmosphere.  Plus it was fun to tool around in golf carts!

Reese and Weston loved playing in the yard between the house we rented and the beach.  They goofed around a lot and generally enjoyed each other's company, which was so nice.

Unfortunately, I had a bad earcache and sore throat, which required visiting the island clinic on a Sunday, an adventure in itself.  But we ended up getting connected with a great nurse who agreed to meet us at the closed clinic. She gave me plenty of medicine, but it did take several days for it to "work." That is in quotes because my oncologist feels that it might have been a viral infection, so maybe it went away on its own!  Either way, I was able to walk on the beach daily and nap each afternoon, plus eat at some amazing restaurants.  All in all, a wonderful getaway!

I did get some odd looks in my full body coverage (can't risk sunburn when you are on chemo),my scarf, and especially on the days I was walking with a big cotton ball sticking out of my ear. Not your typical beach attire, but what I like to call cancer chic!  Haha.

The next stop of spring break 2014 tour has been Houston, of course!  It's treatment time!  I have wonderful news to pass long: the tumor has continued to shrink, and is now measuring 2.5--3 cm (originally was 6 cm)! Additionally it is breaking into smaller masses, which is good. Hallelujah! I am so thankful that the chemo is working and we are seeing results!  All of our prayers are working!

I started the next course of chemo, a type called Taxol. The "Bain Train" consisted of a few new faces to the infusion room, including my dad, who has been consistently staying home with the kids for my treatments up until this visit.  It was a great change to have him there with us!

My mom and aunt Becky were also there with me.  We had a great visit and nice lunch in the unusually crowd-free infusion room.  It was a smooth infusion, but took kind of a long time because they have to watch for allergic reactions (Taxol is made from tree bark and has a history of causing reactions). Being the generally allergy-prone gal that I am, I was concerned that I would be affected, but luckily I wasn't!

 

Meanwhile, after David came in to talk with the doctor and get me settled, he and his parents took the kids to the rodeo.  Or maybe it is more accurate to say the carnival at the rodeo.

Poppy continued his tradition of taking fantastic pictures.  Mainly, you can tell that these kids just never have any fun.  Not at all.

No fun riding rides with Gigi....

Eating the requisite carny food...

Or riding rides with Daddy. Such a shame!  

We also continued with the wonderful tradition of having our pre-treatment Wednesday night family dinner, this time including our kids, my dad, and my aunt Becky, along with the usual suspects. It's become such a special time and will be a fantastic set of memories as part of this chemo treatment.

And coming back to Taxol...well, so far, so good!  I felt so much better yesterday than I usually have after AC.  I slept wonderfully and woke up feeling almost normal.  The only effect I have encountered thus far is fatigue, but I can manage that with an afternoon nap.  The bone pain usually begins 2-3 days after the treatment, so I may come back with an entirely different story in the next post, but I'm hoping to stay ahead of it as much as possible with OTC pain meds.  I'm also taking all sorts of supplements and other measures to hopefully prevent neuropathy in my hands and feet (another common side effect). But all in all, it has been night and day so far from how I felt post-red devil. Again--hallelujah!

So all is well with us, and there are still three days of spring break left! I'm sure we will continue the fun when we return to Austin tomorrow. Thank you again for all of the support!