Hurricanes in Georgia and Stage 3C Ovarian cancer made for a historic September in our household but we survived.

Storm damage from Helene was minimal in our area and thankfully we never lost power.  Sending prayers to those in areas that were completely devastated and aware that we are not the only family in crisis mode.

Speaking of crisis, let’s jump into the aftermath of my first round of chemo. If you don’t like long updates or aren’t one for details, the TL;DR is that it opened a big old can of whoop ass on me.

Going into Chemo we knew days 2/3 through day 5 tend to be the “rough” days. We knew everyone reacts differently, we knew steroids might give me extra (false) energy the following day and we knew there would be fatigue and potential bone pain…

Here is what we did not know.  That chemo is actually thousands of crazy little Kill Bill action figures that attack cancer and would wreak absolute havoc on my abdomen for 72 hours straight. We also didn’t know that the anti-nausea pill that “knocks people out” would have no effect whatsoever on me. And lastly we did not know that the “some people have bone or joint pain” would be some of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life. 

So how’d we handle this?  First, major kudos to my incredible husband who took great care of me, saw me at my absolute lowest point in life and was always kind and gentle… even when I yelled at him to stop making me eat saltines.  Which, if there isn’t already, there should be a medical term for the opposite of hangry, same Snickers commercial sass, just NOT hungry.

Anyway, after playing a riveting game of “is this normal” between taking 2 hour baths and crying in the fetal position we called our doctor who referred us to the ER so we could get the pain under control. They took great care of me and I was finally able to get some relief and sleep during our 5 hour stay.  

We have our follow up appt tomorrow with the PA so will have more answers but the Chemo RN explained that in some cases of advanced cancer, patients have described being able to feel the chemo attacking the cancer. Which is what I suspect happened to me, as I described it as having lightning bolts of pain in my abdomen.  They also said that they will add different medications to help with sleep and bone pain. They also may adjust my Taxol dose all together as the bone pain should have started to subside Sat and today (Tues) is the first day it has been gone 🤞🏼

In reflection, I’m glad Matt did not punch me and knock me out when I asked him to.  I am sorry for our Sept water bill from my 20 baths in 3 days but do not regret taking a single one. And I am looking forward to 10 days of “better”.

If I am being honest in taking you on this journey with us, it was the worst, most painful experience of my life.  But I also know it’s working.  I just am hoping and PRAYING we can make adjustments to avoid so much pain and discomfort with future rounds.  Please join me in that prayer.

Love you all and We Got This 🩵

PS - Pic is of my awesome tennis team who rocked the teal cancer ribbons on the front and “Cancer Sucks Balls 🎾” on the back during our Sunday match ✊🏼