Do you believe in Angels on Earth?

Since having my 3rd round of Immunotherapy last Wednesday, I have been having lots of uncomfortable symptoms: shortness of breath, lots of coughing, all day/night hot flashes, poor sleeps, poor appetite, etc. All those physical symptoms took a toll on my usually positive mental outlook. For the last few days, I was weepy and feeling like I was losing courage courage in my cancer journey.

Then my dear friend M came to visit me yesterday. She is the kindest, most generous person I have ever known. She was the one who drove me a fair distance for a 4AM MRI appointment. I have never experienced such generosity until then. Unfortunately, her mother also has been diagnosed with a serious illness last month. So she has been busy taking care of her mother and I haven't seen M very often recently. But she continues to reach out to me to see if she could help me in between her time with her mom.

When M visited me yesterday, I was very poorly. I could hardly walk and I was extremely nauseous. We ate together, I cried a bit, she encouraged me with her kind words. She saw that I was tired so she left within the hour.

After M left, I had a very restful 1 hour nap without any hot flashes. Last night I had the best sleep I have had in a week. This morning I had another very restful nap. The frequency of my hot flashes had slowed; the intensity of the hot flashes had subsided. My appetite has improved and so has my mental outlook.

I firmly believe that her short visit yesterday has helped me immensely mentally and physically. She is my Earth Angel. There are some special people in this world that are here to restore our faith in humanity. They are here to give us hope when hope seems to be fading away. I am privileged to have her in my life.

Do you have an Earth Angel in your life?

All day All night Hot flashes

I had my 3rd round of Immunotherapy last Wednesday. Since then, I have been having hot flashes basically every 1.5 hour during the day and night. It is extremely tiresome to have to keep having to wake up and changing my clothes, pillow, sheets, etc.

So I decided to do something practical. During the day, I'm alone in the house - the kids are at school still and my husband is at work. I would just walk around with no top except a thin cotton sheet on. This way when my hot flashes start, I will take off the sheet, eat some ice chips or drink some ice water, and let the hot flash does its thing. After about 20 minutes, I will wipe my whole body down and put the cotton sheet back on. And the cycle continues......

This is workable except when the community nurse visits or when I have medical appointments outside the house. I don't know yet what I'm going to do when I have to leave the house with these ongoing hot flashes. Any ideas for me ladies?

Hot flashes like liquid fire?

I have been having hot flashes/night sweats for about 6 months now. The nurses told me that it could be due to my cancer or menopause or both. All I knew was that I would wake up with a soaking wet shirt, soaking wet pillow and sheets. It is a hassle because then I have to change my shirt and pillow and sheet before continuing to sleep. But I had never felt the hot flash/night sweat in action.....

....until yesterday. I was in a half asleep mode when I felt this liquid fire, seemingly coming from the top of my head, flowing slowly down to my neck, then my arms and torso, my legs and then my feet. My whole body was engulfed in this liquid fire and my body started to sweat profusely. It was the weirdest thing!

So I wonder if any ladies out in the blogsphere could tell me what their hot flashes/night sweats feel like. Does it feel like a liquid fire like this or something else?

Another round of brain zapping (Gamma Knife) led to some good news

I had another Stereostatic surgery (a.k.a. brain zapping with radiation, Gamma Knife) last Wednesday. Since then, I had been super tired and basically been sleeping non-stop. If I didn't have to wake up to cook or deal with the kids I'm sure I could have slept 20 hours a day for the last week! The good news is that of the 3 brain lesions in my brain, one has shrunken significantly and one has disappeared. I guess all these treatments are leading somewhere positive finally!

Next week I will have my 3rd round of immunotherapy. I hope it will yield results in the positive direction as well. I don't know if my body is able to handle all these back to back intense treatments or not. I hope so. Some new hair is starting to grow back on my head, my daughter noticed that right away. She is already talking about the different hair styles I could have, etc. She is really a very fun girl to be around.

I have trained my son to do laundry which is a big help for my husband and I. His allowance is tied to a chores list but he prefers doing laundry the most. He is a wonderful boy. I'm very blessed.

My husband has just started a new diet and exercise regime as well. Our family needs him to be as healthy as possible as he is the main pillar of the family right now. I wish I am not so tired all the time so that I can help him more. Perhaps the tiredness will subside soon.

So I'm still all positive in my cancer journey. Looking forward to the treatments and learning new things about myself and my family!