I had a busy and eventful day today with three appointments. It didn’t help that I didn’t sleep a wink last night, or that the roads were not great at 7:30am. But the biggest news has nothing to do with any of those appointments:

 

START OF CHEMO

Chemo begins on Tuesday of next week at 1pm.

I am so relieved to finally have a start date for chemo. The diagnosis process takes forever with all the tests and waiting… The waiting has definitely been the hardest part of this process. I am ready to start killing cancer!!

I am nervous and a bit scared about how chemo will affect me. But I know that the drugs have come such a long way, and it’s possible I will only have very muted side effects… at least that is what I am hoping for!

 

DENTIST

Another doctor for me: Dr. Wagner. Thank you to my family for getting me in to see him so quickly!

I got started early this morning with an 8am appointment. This was just a consult where they established me as a new patient and took some X-rays.  After that, they came up with a plan for what needed to be treated or cleaned.

There’s obviously urgency here, as I cannot go to the dentist during chemo. So I was pretty dismayed when the scheduler said the first they could get me scheduled for was February 1.

However, they have been REALLY accommodating at Dr. Wagner’s office and were able to get me in again today at 3:30pm to do the most urgent cleaning – deep scaling the right side of my mouth. They did numb my right side, but I am not going to lie – it was a very painful cleaning! Glad it’s over and not looking forward to the left side.

I’m hoping to get in on Monday for the left side, although I won’t have a set time until they call me on Monday. They’re confident of getting me in. It’s our only shot!

Apparently chemo is hell on your mouth. So hopefully I’m going to start treatment with some fresh gums and excellent mouth health!

 

FERTILITY CLINIC

I made my last trip to the fertility clinic today to unload my last sample and also get the FDA required blood test. I took a picture of the building to share on here because I wanted to show that the Sperm Bank looks like an actual bank! It’s wedged in there, but it’s like a bank! I feel like I can trust them with my sperm.

Of course the first question that came my way from the Front Office Coordinator (Angie) was one which I should have expected but didn’t properly prepare for: Which would you like to do first? Sample or Blood?

It was a tough choice, but I decided to go with the sample before the blood test.

Having done this process before, I completed the task a bit quicker than last time. So when I went back out to the front desk, I get a “Done Already?” DAMN IT! Maybe I should have thought a bit about what the best amount of time spent in the room would be… Not too hasty, but not freakishly long? … Oh well.

Also, is it weird that I got a little emotional leaving the sample cup on the tray in the room?  I mean, those may be the last living sperms I ever… do.

(Okay okay. Maybe not the very last. But it was still a nostalgic moment!)

RESULTS: The office called with my sample results just an hour or so later. I was much spermier this time! On Tuesday, I produced 14 million swimmers.  Today, I produced 126 million!! I’m pretty proud of myself for this accomplishment.

We now have four vials of frozen semen, which means four chances at future insemination.  And of course, we’re still rooting for me to emerge from this whole treatment still fertile.

Blood test was a piece of cake. My arms are looking terrible. I hope they heal up before Tuesday. They are both extremely bruised from all the needles and have so much scabby puncture holes.

 

SLEEPING

Didn’t sleep a wink last night and I was extra annoying to Luis for the entire evening. I plan to knock myself out with some Benedryl tonight. That reliable gets me to fall asleep; it just hasn’t been reliable to keep me asleep. I’ve been waking at, like, 2am or 3am and not able to fall back asleep.

 

I LOVE LUCY

Luis and I are watching I Love Lucy in the evenings. It’s been so many years since I watched all these episodes, most of them are like new to me again. And Luis has never seen any of them. I enjoy watching Luis watch it for the first time almost as much as I enjoy the show itself.

I had forgotten just how funny it is. It really helps take my mind off all the seriousness that’s been happening the past few weeks, and allows me to spend a couple hours every evening just laughing at Lucy’s shenanigans.

In fact, that is what I am going to do right after I post this blog update!

 

UPCOMING APPOINTMENTS:

Friday @ 8:45am – Meet with Dr. DeWees (my surgeon) to evaluate the healing of my surgery from two weeks ago. Seems to be going fine.

Monday TBD – Final dentist visit.

Tuesday @ 1pm – Chemo Treatment #1