I'm Done!

Today was my last day of getting my Interferon treatment for Melanoma! Yeah!!!!!! I showed up about an hour early, I was done subbing early. (I worked every day this week, and I worked in three different school districts.)

My weight was not checked today. But as of two days ago, I have lost 56 pounds, down to 248.5 pounds. Labs were not done, since I received my last Interferon injection today. Labs will be done in two weeks. Will see where I am in two weeks when I see my onc.

They had a little party for me. Two of my nurses weren't there. I got a hug from each one. There was a certificate congratulating me on finishing my treatment. I was given two balloons, they had crepe paper up, and a cake. This was not just any cake, but ice cream cake! They bought an ice cream cake for me.

I in turn had a thank you card and a container of brownies for them. My nurses have been wonderful! While my temp was being taken, the pharmacist came out and did a quick jig for me. I started laughing. It was funny! The nurses are coming to my party next week.

Party is in 8 more days! It is a week from tomorrow. Will be food, fun, and fellowship. Celebrating the end of my treatment.

I see my onc in two weeks, and a week later, a derm to check out a spot on my right thigh. I will have a full body check in January. When I see my onc, will find out more about follow-up and will make a complete decision about my port.

No more injections!!!!!!! No more injections!!!!!!!!!! No more Interferon!!!!!! My car is not going to know what to do on Monday. It is so used to driving over to the hospital three days a week. What will be helpful is seeing my niece play BB Monday afternoon. Let's just praise the Lord!!!!

Funny Brother Story

Wednesday was the quarterly IEP meeting for my brother. My mom goes and she told us at supper that night a couple of stories. I was laughing, because my brother is smart.

There is a girl in his class who wheres a helmet. When she is sitting at the table they take it off. They placed the helmet up high above the cabinets. My brother eyed it, and eyed it some more. He went over to the counter and started climbing. He got stuck while he was climbing. The teachers watched him and he got himself unstuck and climbed onto the counter. He reached up and pulled the helmet down. (When my brother was younger, we allowed him to climb onto the furniture.) They couldn't believe that he did it. You have to stay one step ahead of him, because he will figure it out.

They had a jumpsuit made for him. It zips in the back, purposely. My brother likes to pull out his feeding tube. When he gets to the workshop, he takes off his pants, so he can put the jumpsuit on. He likes wearing the jumpsuit.

It is a new policy at the Infusion Center to be weighed every time you go in. My vitals are taken every visit, as well. I was weighed this afternoon, and have lost a couple of pounds. I am down to 249.9 pounds. One more week of injections are left!!!!!! I worked 1 1/2 days this week. Stayed home all day yesterday. Had a fire in the fireplace going the last two nights.

Last Day

Monday, was my monthly appointment with my onc. I only lost 1 pound this past month. I ate more and drank more pop than I should've. I will see him again on October 24. I received the lab results from Friday's labs. My WBC went down from 2.3 to 2.0. I expected that since I battle fatigue all of last week. My platelets went up from 107 to 139. I had the normal lows of other things.

Last day of Interferon treatment will be Friday, October 10. Yeah!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that the year of treatment is just about done? That is such good news. I will have labs done on October 24 with scans in early November. After that, if things are good, I can have my port taken out. I will ask about followup first and go from there. Please pray that I will make the best decision about my port and what to do with it.

Thank you again for all of your prayers! I so do appreciate them.

I am working on applying to grad school to start in January. I worked yesterday. So far, I've worked 2 1/2 days since school has started. It will pick up, but I'm not worried.

August Visit

This morning, I had my monthly appointment in seeing my onc. I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes. I lost another 3 pounds, with a total of 51 pounds lost in the past year. I had moved up the appointment a week, cause I thought I was moving this weekend, but I don't think I am at all.

I noticed a new spot, last night, of where I am loosing hair. The hair thinning at greatly slowed down, because of getting it cut short. I have been noticing in the last few weeks, some hair coming out. This new spot is right up front, on the left side of my head. I saw it in the mirror last night. I will be loosing hair through the end of the year, I am very thankful that the hair loss/thinning hasn't been as bad as some people have had while on Interferon.

I am expecting my white blood count to have dropped, and maybe even my platelet count, too. I had a headache that started Monday night and lasted a good 24 hours. I took a pain pill twice on Tuesday, one when I first got up and another one around supper time. had a tickle in my throat for a few days. Actually, I have a small headache right now. That is the thing about the side effects of Interferon, I never know when they will effect me and which ones.

Surgeon

I saw my surgeon this morning. I had actually moved up the appointment by six weeks. He says I look good. The hole looks great and so does my right groin. I do not have to go back, unless I feel I need to. He did tell me a couple of things: 1. About once a week, look at the hole, check it out, because if the melanoma every comes back, it will show up first in the hole, where it was originally. 2. Once I am done loosing the weight I want to loose, I can make an appointment, and they can see about doing surgery with the loose skin there in the hole area. That will be a couple of years yet, though.

My goal in loosing weight, is to loose at least 100 more pounds. That would put me at my high school weight, but still more than I should be for my height. I would love to loose more than that, but will take what I can get.

Have had a few more phone calls from NC. Two offers to teach Kinder or first grade, and I said no. Looks like, probably middle school (6th grade) maybe math. Still don't know yet. I will get in touch with a onc down there, when I know for sure.

July Onc Visit

I saw my onc this morning. I have lost another 6 pounds in the past month. That is now a total of 48 pounds in the past year that I have lost. He made a comment about my weight loss this morning, the first time. I told him that I am trying to loose weight. He said loosing it in the increments I am is good. He also told me, I should switch over to diet pop. I like pop too much to give it up, but I have cut back on it. I don't mind drinking diet Dr. P or diet 7up, not sure about diet Pepsi. I do better some days than I do other days.

For the past few days, I've been worried about getting a bad report on my scans, so I rode into town with mom just in case. Scans are good. They are the same as last time. There are still tiny nodules in my lungs, and they haven't grown. My onc did say that my spleen is slightly enlarged. He doesn't know why, and he isn't going to do anything about it right now. Since I am not showing any symptoms, he will not have it taken out.

I did have a headache yesterday, first one in 10 days. I didn't take anything til about 4 pm. My biggest complaint is the fatigue. I do get headaches, my temp does go up a bit, and my stomach bothers me. Those are my side effects.

From this good news, I am still NED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been NED for almost 10 months.

My counts are doing fine, nothing to worry about. I did talk to the onc about moving to NC. He said it is no problem, if I do. I see him again on August 15, if I don't' move. My next set of scans will be at the end of October, within a month after finishing up Interferon.

New Size

My clothes have been getting big on me. There has been room in my capris, shorts, jeans, etc. I went to Fashion Bug this morning, and tried on some clothes. I have officially dropped a whole size. Yeah!!! When I loose about another fifty pounds, then I will be able to drop another size.

I can tell I have lost weight, and then other times, it doesn't seem like I have lost weight. I am just going to keep doing what I have been doing, and trying to increase my level of activity.

June Onc Visit

Today, was my monthly visit in seeing my onc. I get weighed every time I see him. In the past month, I had lost another 6 pounds. That puts me at a total of 42 pounds since last summer. I would like to have lost a total of 50 pounds by the time school starts at the end of August. That gives me two months to loose 8 more pounds.

My white blood count went from 2.3 to 2.0 I go up and down all the time. A lot of things are low, but still okay. My temperature is finally normal. This morning it was 98.5 degrees.

Wednesday, July 9, I am schedules for my next CT Scan. The appointment time is for 11:20 am. I am having it done at the hospital, since I want them to use my port for the IV. I will see my onc again the following week, on the 16th. That is when I will get the results of the scans. I am praying that I am still NED. Time to go play Boggle.

May Onc Visit

I've been busy subbing. Which is good. My body has gotten used to the interferon again. I took a pain pill Saturday night, first one in a week, because I had a headache all day. I did take a Sudafed in the morning. If I have a headache due to the Interferon, pain pills are the only thing that helps it.

I saw my onc this afternoon. I've lost 6 pounds in the past 6 1/2 weeks. My white blood count is at 2.7 for the second week. That is good. My side effects seem better than before my trip to NC. I make little goals for where I would like to have my weight at each time I see my onc. Decreasing portion sizes, cutting back on certain things, and trying to increase my walking is what is helping to loose weight.

I will see my onc again next month, June 16. At that appointment will schedule my next set of scans. The scans will be scheduled for July or August. The tests from February and March, I had to pay just under $700 for them. My onc doesn't want to make the financial burden for the tests too much on me.

My mom has suggested I go to apply at a daycare center for the summer. I want to get my injections in the morning during the summer. Working will be helpful, because then I can have money coming in. Need to pray about it and check into it. I also need to get back to work at applying to school districts around here, and start emailing principals around here and down in NC and SC. I haven't done anything since we got back from NC.