Genetic Testing

Well this past week has been very busy. I had my 2nd chemo on the 6th of October, which actually went better than my first treatment. I had barely any side effects except being exhausted.
McCauley had her two week check up and she is doing wonderfully. She now weighs 5 pounds 13 ounces!She just eats and eats and eats....
I had the genetic testing done on Tuesday. I had to first go in and be counseled about my family history and then give three viles of blood. The lady counseling me had to wear a mask because of flu,so it made it kinda hard to understand her but I did get a few percentages out of her. It turns out that i have less than a 15% chance of carrying the cancer genes, which is good news for McCauley and the rest of the family. I will find out those results within 3 weeks.
In other news my hair is almost completely gone. I had John shave and trim it as much as he could. My little scalp is so tender where I lost the hair he had to do it slowly. We took pictures along the way...I looked like Kate Gosselin for awhile and then I looked like Ben Stiller from the movie Tropic Thunder (the part where he is in the play if anyone has seen it). I walk around most of the time bald except for a small area that John left in a "bowl cut" on the tip top of my head. My hair will just stand up on end if I move it because it is falling out. When my mom first saw me instead of the shock of my hair being 98% missing she said "oh my, why is your hair so dark? You aren't blonde. I don't even recognize you."

McCauley Carlyle Mulholland

McCauley Carlyle is here! It has almost been a week since McCauley arrived. She weighed 5 pounds 4 ozs. As you can tell the chemo did not effect her hair whatsoever. She is just a tiny tot, but she is eating like a ten pounder! We have already visited the pediatricians for her first sucessful checkup.
Tomorrow will be my second chemo session. I met with Dr. Metcalf today and he still only wants to do 4 chemo treatments total followed by radiation. Next tuesday I am having the genetic testing done and then we will go from there.

Steroids in the buttocks...

John and I headed over to Central Baptist Hospital this morning at 7 AM for our first steroid shot for baby McCauley, this is so that her lungs will get an extra boost before the birth on Tuesday. They had to admit me to the hospital, monitor the baby, take my blood, make sure the white blood cell count was high enough (it was high enough!) and then give me the steroid shot. It was a WONDERFUL experience to say the least...only took 2 hours...
On a side note, my hair has slowly been coming out this week. I haven't washed it or combed it in a few days (I just stick a headband it and go), so we will see if it survives til Tuesday. The good news is that the chemo is in there doing its thing!
John and I are prepared for baby...I think everything has been put together and washed, etc! Bart, the black lab, is barely hanging in there...pray for him...he is so afraid of the swing, cradle, bobby, rocking chair and the list goes on...
The schedule for tomorrow is a steroid shot again at 7 AM and then check in for labor at 9 PM.

Skinny Bobble Head

Well, I have not been updating my blog as I should because the horse sales have been keeping me extra busy. I have met with the high risk pregnancy doctors and McCauley got the final "OK" to be delivered on the 29Th. I had my last ultrasound last Tuesday and she weighed a whopping 4 pounds 12 ounces which places her in the 30% percentile for babies this far along. My mom kept telling the ultrasound tech that McCauley looked "really skinny" (oh and her "head looked big...like a bobble head on such a skinny body"). I guess we haven't seen a really skinny person in our family in so long she was shocked or something.
My hair is still on my head as of today.It was supposed to fall sometime between days 10-14 after the first chemo. I keep telling John that bald and pregnant just aren't going to go together so maybe it will hang on til next week.
I did finally purchase a wig. Yea!! I took it to Mickeys and they are dying it to match my hair color this week and cutting it!

Chemo One- one down three to go!

Today was my first chemotherapy. It is a little creepy that's for sure. I sat in a room with five other people while I received my treatments. First I was given antibiotics for nausea and then the two chemo treatments. One that they call the "RED DEVIL" has to be put in slowly because if my vein were to blow it would permanently scar my skin. The nurse was shocked that I watched as she put it into my arm so closely, but I was secretly telling the "RED DEVIL" to go and do its thing!People can get so comfortable during chemo, its amazing. The woman to my right snored the whole time she was there. I was having a small panic attack and she just snored on and on. The whole treatment took about 3 1/2 hours.

McCauley's a Libra!

So today John and I talked with Dr. Ashmun, my OBGYN, and the date is now set for McCauley to finally join us on the outside. She will be born on September 29Th, after a couple of steroid shots to make her lungs extra strong. Kinda a cool birthday...9/29/2009. Lots of good 2's and 9's in there. She will join her Great Grandmother Peggy and her Aunt Megan in the Libra sign.
I had my heart scan done this morning over at Saint Joe's and I am now ready for chemo next Tuesday. No more doctors this week!

The Prescription

The prescription for what cancer I had was finally given to me today from Dr. Metcalfe. We had a great visit with him today at Saint Josephs. I will be starting chemotherapy on Tuesday September 8th. I will be given chemo four times at three week intervals and yes my hair will fall out. All hair on my body will fall out. I will be a naked chihuahua for a few months. This should mean that if according to schedule I will be finished around my birthday. Then the doctors wait about a month, or in my case for me to come back from Naples at Christmas and then I will be given radiation therapy. The chemo and radiation dynamic duo will make it less than 10% likely that this cancer will ever return.
Tomorrow, I am going in for a heart ultrasound. One of the chemo medicines you can't take if you have heart problems so they want to check my heart and make sure I am good to go.
My next project is wig shopping. My hair will start falling out about 10 days after my first treatment so I need to find a cool do ASAP.