Day 8 - Grrrr

Day 8.  I'm not too thrilled to be selfie-posting today or in the next couple of days.  Yesterday was a long day that started early and included nearly four hours at MD Anderson for chemotherapy, 2+ hours of driving, a big lunch (not complaining!!), a fair-sized grocery trip, and the usual "driving kids places."  I was really tired, and I felt like my (too) big lunch wasn't digesting properly or in a timely manner, but then I had a bad, bad night of sleep, which I attributed to the Dexamethasone (a steroid) that I receive, IV, as part of my chemotherapy pre-med package of three drugs:  Dex, the steroid; Emend, an immediate-acting anti-nausea med; and Aloxi, a long-acting anti-nausea drug.  To be honest, I'm not sure what benefit the steroid gives me.  I should probably know that, but sometimes it gets rather tiring trying to keep up with all of the details of all of the treatments that I've been on.  I am, however, acutely aware of what the steroid gives me in the way of side effects!  A restless night's sleep!  I've only noticed this on the first night after getting the infusion, and I can live with that (unlike my 2-month stint on Dex in 2014 which was an absolute nightmare!!... but I digress)  I'm telling you all of this, because I'm begrudgingly posting my Day 8 selfie.  Feeling pretty run down, and looking the same!!

 

 

 

Additionallyyyyy, if you look on my cheek where I'm pointing, you can see the start of what I call my "Carbo Glow."  The Carbo Glow is a disturbing and embarrassing side effect of the Carboplatin.  It starts with purplish-red splotches, then progresses to cover my entire cheeks in a deeper purply-red color.  My cheeks "feel" hot and they are hot to the touch as well.  I try to limit my time out in the public during this time, which only lasts 2-3 days, but if I have to go out, I will.  I'm not real strict about that ... I'm able to think to myself  "Hey this is me, if you don't like it, too bad," but in reality I'm very self conscious about it, as you can imagine.  Thankfully this side effect is short-lived.  And I know, I know.  In the big scheme of things, this is VERY, VERY MINOR.

 

Today's pink ribbon item of the day, in honor of breast cancer awareness month, is my pink silicone wrist band.  These have been around a looooong time, but they're still pretty popular.  Easy to wear for guys, girls and kids, they show up nicely on the wrist, and they're super affordable.  Even though I have collected a ton of pink ribbon goodies over the years, I'm pretty low-key in what I actually wear/use myself, so these definitely fit the bill in that sense.

 

While I'm on the subject of pink silicone wristbands, just want to mention that we carry LOTS of different styles of them on our online store.  Here's a link for reference http://www.pinkribbonshop.com/breast-cancer-bands.aspx.  Funny thing, glancing at that page to add the page hyperlink, I quickly mentally noted that my favorite breast cancer band is the wide CANCER SUCKS one.  That doesn't exactly jive with my previous statement of liking more low-key items, does it?!  Can it still be my favorite, even though I don't wear it??  How's this ... it's one of my favorite designs, and the phrase Cancer Sucks just sums up my feelings really nicely on the subject of cancer.  It's only in this context that I allow my kids to say "sucks."  They can say Cancer Sucks, but not that anything or anyone else sucks.  In front of me, that is ... I know it's an extremely common word for teens to use these days.  And I'm sure they do!  Anyhooooo ...

 

The last thing I want to mention about our pink silicone wristbands is that our LEAST expensive band is just $1.00 each.  All of the proceeds from the sale of our "Funding the Cure with the Pink Ribbon Roundup" band is donated to our Pink Ribbon Shop Fund for Breast Cancer Research at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  The entire dollar!  There is a minimum purchase of 5 of these bands though.  No one should mind, though.  Right?  Because it's for such a great cause.  Here's a link:  http://www.pinkribbonshop.com/pink-ribbon-funding-the-cure-with-the-pink-ribbon-roundup-silicone-bracelet-band.aspx.  There, you can read all about the wrist band and our Research Fund.

 

Thanks for reading, y'all!