Radiation Update, Hair Update .. Praising my Awesome Lord!

Radiation is going well ... somewhere along the path of my radiation journey, I miscounted.  This is not unusual as I was horrible at math in school, however, I thought I could at least count to 33.  Today was my 20th treatment (in my mind I thought it was 21) and that means I only have 13 rounds remaining.  Praise the Lord.  My skin is tender under my left arm, I have developed an itchy rash above my scar and the skin over all that is being radiated is tightening some.  I see my Radiation Oncologist, Dr. C. every Monday morning and he is so nice.  It seems I as well as all that is going on is normal because when I bring up something about anything oncology related, I get ... That's normal.  That means it's normal for what I'm going through but I have to tell you right now ... There ain't nothing normal about cancer and the treatments.  <smile>  My Radiation Tech, Vanessa, told me Tuesday I would be 'marked' and would also have another CAT scan that day because my last five treatments would be aimed at an area around the scar on my left chest wall ... that's where my mean tumor that had spread to my lymph nodes was.  (Key word ... was!  Praise the Lord)  Now I must tell you that I was slightly ... ok ...  I was a lot unnerved with this news ... because in my no math mind ... there lies a lung right under that spot and for them to concentrate on that scar meant that my lung has a pretty good chance of getting radiated too.  I know I can probably live with one lung but I prefer to have both of them ... and have them both working properly ... as in breath in breath out without oxygen attached to me.  Vanessa explained to me that all this while I had been getting 'photon' radiation'.  Photon radiation goes a little deeper in the tissue that is being radiated ... and oh, I found out today that my current radiation is clipping the top part of my left lung.  I'm still breathing so I am going to assume I am OK at this point.  Anyway ... when they focus in on the scar radiation, I will be getting electron radiation.  Electron radiation does not penetrate the flesh like the photon.  I now have a 2" x 6" square drawn on my left chest with my scar right in the middle of the square.  They (not sure who 'they' are)  will make a metal plate that goes on the contraption that goes on the radiation machine that will allow only this square to be radiated during my last five treatments.  So the good news in all this is ... I only have 13 radiation treatments left ... they keep watch on me very well ... and I know every day that if there are any topical cancer cells, this radiation should be zapping there little tushes.

Let's talk about hair now because for the last 5 months, I haven't really had a lot to say on this subject -- 1)  I  didn't have any and 2) how I control my body temperature with hats and such.  Today .... I FOUND FUZZ growing.  I was at work in the bathroom, drying my hands and looking in the mirror at my almost bald head (hey, I get to count the hairs that decided to stay with me through all the chemo so I am almost bald) and low and behold, I thought I was seeing fuzz on the top of my head.  I ran down to my sweet friend, Lily's desk and ask her to come to my office.  She did and I said ... Look at my head, do you see fuzz?  SHE DID!  Praise the Lord.  It is very light in color ... my best guess would be gray (I do not care) but there is FUZZ.  I am Praising my Lord all over the place.  When we were talking, Lily mentioned ... you knew it would come back ... and I must say that 'they' say it will come back and deep down you know it will BUT it is so exciting that it is coming back.  The fuzz is not a lot yet or long enough to take a picture but I will as soon as it gets long enough.  AND last but not least ... I have nose fuzz too.  No, it's not gross.  Again, I say to you ... go pluck all your nose hair out and let me know what happens the first time your nose runs.  <laughing>  It is funny to be talking about nose hair but until you read this blog, did you have any idea that nose hair fell out during chemo or did you just think it was hair on someone's head?  Praise my Lord with me for hair/fuzz growth.

Now on to my garden.  I took pictures of all my tomato plants and gardens yesterday. I know ... if you've seen one tomato plant, you've seen 'em all but these are special tomato plants.  I am so thankful for my gardens this year.  It was a lot of work getting them ready while feeling like pooh during my final rounds of chemo but it was so worth the effort.  Praise the Lord for the energy to put forth the effort for now the outcome is such a great reward.

Above:  Zinnias from seed. Notice there are
none growing around the edges of the pot.
My grand daughter rearranged the seeds when
I first planted.  <smile>

Above:  Pepper and herb garden.  The dill is getting
a little unruly.

Above:  Peppers for everyone.  My sister likes
these sweet banana peppers so I planted them for her.
 I say there is no reason to eat a pepper if it is not hot.  <laughing>

Above:  Unruly dill.  Do you need some?
Let me know.  See Ms. Tootie in the background?
Love my pooch.

Above:  Bell peppers. 

Above:  Basil anyone?  I have plenty so do NOT
buy any.  Get with me and you can come cut some
fresh.

Above:  Tomato plants are loaded.

Above:  My first cucumber EVER in my whole
life that I have grown.  I hope those little spikey things
go away.  Alicia says it's ready to pick, I say
let's see if it fills out and see if those spikey things go away.

Above:  Love me some squash.

Above:  A new cucumber.  I didn't realize they
were cucumbers at first. 

Above:  More tomatoes.

Above:  A little fertilizer on the flowers
helped them get on up the trellis.

Above:  Morning Glories on trellis by herb garden.

Above:  Trellis by the patio

Above:  Yesterday this tomato looked like this.

Above:  Today it looks like this.  I picked it and
put it in the kitchen window to finish ripening.

Sunday evening I ran to Walmart Neighborhood Store to get some milk.  As I was walking up to the store I passed a woman going to her car.  She looked and me and smiled and said ... how are you doing?   I told her ... great and she said ... really?  I said ...yes ma'am I'm doing great and walked over to her.  It turns out she had just gone through a scare with a lump that was found.  Praise the Lord it turned out to be nothing of significance.  We stood in the parking lot ... two strangers whose hearts were joined by our God and a similar experience ... talking as if we had known each other for years.  I gave her a couple of my cards that has my blog information on it to share with a friends sister who is going through breast cancer.  As we talked and got ready to go on our way ... she said ... can I give you a hug?  Absolutely ... I love hugs.  I didn't get her name ... but hopefully we will run in to each again and catch up.  I feel blessed that God put her and I in that parking lot so I could share my awesome Lord and have a new friend.

Praises:
*  The love of my awesome Lord.
*  Sweet family and friends.
*  Survivor sisters whom I may have only known a short time but I can tell you ... I love you all.
*  All the doors that God has opened for me during my journey.
*  Modern medicine.
*  The opportunity to celebrate another Mother's Day.  Life is so precious and I do not want to miss one minute of it.  Do not take your loved ones for granted for we never know when any of us will be called home by our Lord.
*  My sweet grand babies.
*  The opportunities to get to pray for others.  This blesses me beyond measure.

Prayer Requests:
*  Tomorrow a long time friend of mine, Judy, will under go a lumpectomy.  Pray for comfort and peace and a contained tumor.
*  My survivor sister, Michelle, who is currently taking her chemo.  She needs our prayers.
*  My survivor sister, Wendy in Amarillo, who has several more rounds of chemo to go.  She needs our prayers as the chemo really does a number on her.
*  My friend, Patti, as she continues to recover from a recent bad illness.
*  My daughter, Bonnie, as she goes through the last 2 1/2 weeks of her pregnancy with baby #2.

Thank you for all your prayers.  They are appreciated by all.
Blessed ... so so blessed and praying blessings for you.


gkmorrison12@gmail.com