I had my surgery on the 19th of May. It sucked! They took out my uterus, right ovary, 3 lymph nodes, 16-inches of intestine and a bunch of other tissue and dead cells.

Now not only do I have a horizontal 8-inch scar across my lower abdomen, I now have a 10-inch vertical scar all the way down my stomach and a 3-inch scar just above my tailbone. Not to mention the numerous scars from ports and PICC lines! My brother told me that I look like a heroin addict that got in a gang fight!

The only scar that I don't mind is from my egg implantation. I have a 3-inch scar on the inside of my upper left arm. The fertility specialist said that the procedure was successful and as of right now there are 25 eggs in my arm. Woo Hoo! Now all I have to do is find a surrogate!

But to tell you the truth, this whole Hysterectomy thing is not all it's cracked up to be! The hot flashes alone are making me want to move to Alaska! I live in Texas and they are torture! I have started carrying a portable fan with me wherever I go.

I start my next round of chemo next week, so I'll be around if anyone wants to talk!

God Bless & Gig 'Em!
Jessica

I just found out that the chemo treatments that my doctors have been saying "Are going SO well!", are really not going so well. My left-sided Ovarian Cancer has spread to my Uterus, Right Ovary, and Small Intestine! I thought they were supposed to keep an eye out for spreading! Apparently NOT!!!

They are beefing up me chemo, I have to go on twice a week, in-hospital treatments (250 miles away), and they have scheduled a complete hysterectomy. So much for having kids!! I want to finish the end of the school semester, so my doctor is letting me wait on the surgery and have scheduled it for Monday, May 19, 2008. They are also looking at a new procedure to preserve my eggs so that I can have my own children with a surragate mother. The cool part is that they would store the cells in my upper arm! However, the procedure is only in the experimental phase and they can only give me a 30% chance that the cells will survive and be transplanted successfully. I guess there's always adoption!

Anyway, for all those in the hospital at the end of May... email me when you're bored!

Prayers all around! Gig 'Em!

So, I finished my first round of chemo. I would love to say that I am kicking cancer's butt, but some days I think it is quite the opposite! I am glad to be done with this round, but it's hard to get excited considering I will start another round in less than a month. The next round will be a little different, because I will be doing the treatments homebound with oral medications and small injections twice daily. This will be nice because I won't have to drive for three and a half hours both ways for a six hour treatment. The bad part is that my oncologist already warned me that I will be about twice as sick as I was with the regular chemo. Whoo-hoo!

I have found a few people to talk to and be able to confide in, but it's still really hard on my emotions right now. I mean, no one close to me really knows how all of this feels. They try to be supportive, but they have no idea how it feels to toss and turn all night and then have your head in a toilet all morning. It's exausting! Not to mention the financial strain of it all. I HATE taking charity and handouts! I have always been able to fend for myself, but now with medical bills, not being able to work, and school on top of that, it's all starting to pile up. My church is helping me pay for my daily meds and some living expenses, and I know that they are just trying to help, but I still feel bad taking other people's money.

Anyway, I've got like five feet of homework on my desk, so I better get to it! Night!

February 18th, 2008 10:45pm

I woke up yesterday with an interesting rash of blisters all over my chest, stomach, and back. I am an EMT, so I had a few ideas of what it was, but the first thing I thought of was CHICKEN POX!!

I called my doctor's office right away, and they looked up the records of the last time that I was in the office (12 days ago) and they had a little girl there at the same time as I was, that had full blown chicken pox. That meant that I was exposed! Exposed with a compromised immune system. Great! That's all that I need! I have already had the flu, a cold, a UTI, and some sort of stomach virus since starting chemo, I don't need this too!


Thankfully, I went to the doctor, she told me that I wasn't chicken pox, that it was a severe allergic reaction to, get this... Benadryl! She said that being on all of these different meds and having practically no immune system, that I can develop strange and rare allergies.

My point in all of this... be VERY careful about your surroundings. Be aware of what you are exposing yourself to! Remember, you get sicker a whole lot faster and a whole lot easier while on chemo!

February 16th, 2008 9:30am

Well... it's cancer. And to tell you the truth, I kind of saw it coming. I mean, when not one but 20 doctors don't give you a straight answer, you start to suspect something. Right now, I guess I'm okay. I've been sitting at home by myself most of the time, so it lets me sit and sulk. The lady's from church have been looking in on me and bringing me dinner, so that is a big help. I kind of feel bad taking handouts, because I have always been one that always helps myself, and when I can, others that need it, so it hurts me to not be able to do for myself. The doctor's still haven't told me the course of action against the cancer, but she did say that radiation and chemotherapy are a definite possibility. I am still so scared that I'm going to loose my ability to have children. I have always wanted to be a mom, and to loose that would be one of the worse things that could happen. I know that God does things for a reason, but I still have that unshakeable fear looming over my head.

November 7th, 2007 - 8:30pm