I already hate Radiation.

Well, I know I am quite bad at keeping this updated regularly and one would think I would have a freaking book out by now since I have been unemployed since the beginning of November, but NOPE...the truth is not much has gone on that has been too exciting to report...Well, OK I lied, there were SOME interesting things that went on in the past couple of weeks but mostly I have just been trying to just maintain my sanity and not get depressed about all this crap. I have my good days where I can deal with everything and sorta just pretend it's not there but then I have my days where I can't get out of bed til mid afternoon and feel unproductive. 


To bring everyone up to date, I just got done with Week 7 (out of my final 12) of lovely chemo... The last time I posted I was on Week 3....Jeanine has been coming with me for the past 3 weeks and it has been really nice of her to come all the way into Boston to pick me up. We usually grab lunch and she sits there for the whole 3 hrs  (what a trooper!) and we just make each other laugh much to the disdained stares of the other patients and nurses...oh well, you gotta have fun sometimes, else you will lose my mind. 


During Week 5 we decided to get some UNO cards and they were the elegant and incomparable "Spring Edition" and I must say we got pretty competitive....

Riveting, I know.

SIDE NOTE: 

While we were at target I was totally tempted to get dreamy edward cullen but I refrained.

JUST SAYIN'

 Eventually the UNO competition got SO hot and heated that Jeanine took it upon herself to make a trophy for Week 6 and she won the title and beat me mercilessly:

winnah winnah chicken dinnah!

sexy close-up of the trophy

We then moved on to more mature games like hangman LOL. Yes, I know we are eternally 9 years old, but I'm OK with it.. HHAHAHA

the lovely chemo area...that week (5 or 6) I think I was the last one left. 

Chemo 7 was meh. Had some company, ate some subway and my own room again but sleep through most of it. And felt like crap after. Now you are up to date LOL.

I must say that chemo is literally KILLING me because it is SO time consuming. They took out that nasty steroid so my weight has kind of stabilized which is good but I still get a bit nauseous afterwards - it usually doesn't last for long but it sorta feels like when you ate something bad and it just sits in your stomach. This week I slathered a bunch of numbing lotion on my port so I didn't have to feel the pinch of the needle. Every week I would either forget to put it on, put it on too early or too late or not enough and it wasn't effective, but this week  FOR ONCE I got it right and when she poked that gross forboding needle into my chest, I didn't feel anything- just pure numbness which pretty much sums up this whole experience.

I also had my first radiation consultation which made me have less to look forward to.  I don't even know where to start- Don't get me wrong- the radiologist was very nice and personable but I really did not want to be there. I was already a few minutes late and I think even if I was getting married, was up for a raise, or won the lottery, I would STILL stop at Dunkin's because nothing comes between Jen and her iced teas LOL....Sadly I'm totally serious. I just can't live it- plus there was one en route to the radiology dept so I had to stop and get a hot green tea this time. ( no iced at the kiosk I checked!)  

Of course my morning was already off to a bad start but at this moment I thought I had forgot my wallet at my apt. so now I had zero money, credit cards you name it. When I went down to the basement for the appt. I could tell the receptionist didn't really want to be there. Long story short, I was freaking out about not having money on me to pay for the parking, The receptionist was a bitch and there was mis-communication between her and the parking attendants- they refused to give me just a pass for the hour I was there and instead said they could bill me for the stupid $10 it cost to park there. Of course I randomly found my license and checkbook which I never ever carry anywhere and had to pay for the parking via check much to the annoyance of the long line behind me! UGH REALLY? I'm literally at this hospital EVERY week and I always have to pay for parking anyways and it's like they couldn't even give a cancerous girl a break? 

ON TOP OF THAT MY WALLET WAS IN THE CAR THE WHOLE FREAKIN' TIME. YEP. I aM AN IDIOT.

AND WHY IS IT THAT ONLY BITCHY people work in the medical field that have no human compassion? Would it kill you to put a smile on your face and actually act like you are interested with interacting with people- esp those in my situation???! UGH.

Anyhow back to the radiation- sorry I know I digress a lot and go off in drunken rants but I really felt like I seriously was going to cry that day. Sometimes I just have those moments where I am completely overwhelmed and little things turn into ticking time bombs and go off internally... then it becomes external and I literally blow up at everything around me... Even though I have an army of family and friends  that care about me, I always just feel alone with my thoughts. It's hard to explain to people not going through any of this but I just feel like my whole life is constantly on hold because I'm just so uncomfortable in my own skin at the moment. Like I don't like the way I look, I don't like the way I feel, and I sureAS HELL don't like all the goddamned changes I'm going through. Nothing ever feels settled and it's hard to be happy and put on a smile most of the time..but I try. 

Okay sorry again, so radiation: The DR. told me that most likely about 2 weeks after radiation ends they will start scheduling the first part of my surgery- depending on what surgery I choose of course I will have to consult with a plastic surgeon for the reconstructive portion. They will have to remove the tumor/cancer cells first and then insert something in my skin that will protect me a little from the radiation. 

The next part of what the DR said almost floored me. I have to go to radiation 5 FREAKING DAYS A WEEK FOR 5 WEEKS STRAIGHT. SAY WHAT?! I can't even commit to one week of boot camp, nor 1 hour of working out a day again, or 45 minutes to do LAUNDRY never mind drive to the hospital EVERY FREAKING DAY just to stay for an hour.  I was basically fighting back the tears in my eyes because I just want all of this to be over and now it's even taking MORE time, and it's going to basically take my whole summer to deal with this. This also means the walk I want to do is up in the air because the recovery time to do the mastectomy will obviously be longer. And they want to take my fat from some part of my body to reconstruct my boobs so no doubt I will be in some pain. UGH...It just annoyed me because ONCE again this goddamned cancer is taking over my life. 

I mean on one hand it's like I'm going to be getting free lipo/tummy tuck and most importantly perky new boobs but on the other hand I am just SO tired of all the appointments and consultations and crap that I am just so over it. It seems like the finish line is further away and it quite honestly just makes me feel like a big fat cup of BLAH. 

But a couple of week ago, I did attend a really cool Asian Breast Cancer Project Event (http://www.facebook.com/AsianBreastCancerProject?ref=ts)

 which was really great but I am going to devote a whole post to it later  because this entry is already to its capacity....and I really want to give shoutouts to all the amazing people I met and do a proper post because it deserves one :)

Also last week Vicky did a nice bowling event at Lucky Strike to raise some money for our walk. A lot of people came, so it was nice to see so many people be so supportive and have some fun.

SO far she's raised over $700+ with the new donations and I have about $1765 which is really really awesome! So thank you to everyone that has donated and have been so generous!

If you are still interested in donating please do! Every little bit helps :) I know everyone is sick of seeing my FB blasts on this but it is really the one thing I am looking forward to at least trying to accomplish and it's nice to have a short term goal I can actually push towards!

My Page: the3day.org/goto/jenyong

Vicky's Page: the3day.org/goto/vicky

In somewhat fun news I got two more new wigs. I can't say I'm in love with them since I originally placed the order about a month ago, the 2 original wigs I wanted were out of stock so after trying to substitute them like 4 times each, I had to just pick ones I wasn't familiar with....I posted this on FB before but it's very curly :)

pinup girl? :)

Anyhow, I hope Radiation isn't going to give me a meltdown. This tuesday will be Week 8 of the chemo so I am slowly getting there at a snail's pace.

And they better give me a freaking parking pass of some sort else they will have to deal with Jen gettin' wiggy with it! :)

Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to read all my crazy rants, I have the most amazing friends and support system!

<3 til next time

xoxox Jen