Cool Shirts and Chemo 1

Gotta start the first chemo day right with pics of these epic shirts designed by Kerry Gambill, Superintendent at the Arkadelphia Human Development Center (AHDC) and produced by clients and staff at AHDC as part of their Craft Trades employment. The staff manages the riskier things like pressing and handling of the machine, but many of our clients are employed in packaging and folding the shirts. This makes me so happy that my cancer coupled with my friends' show of love, support, and encouragement is also benefiting the clients at one of the places where I work. I absolutely LOVE this shirt and am grateful for everyone who has bought one.

This shirt was designed and given to me by my personal trainer at Anytime Fitness in Malvern, AR, Michael Olivella. I love this shirt! It shows my hope of complete healing and my fighting and determined attitude to get there. Yes, I fully believe and trust in the sovereignty of God, but I also know He calls us to be good stewards and that is with everything, including our attitude and approach to life. Michael and I have talked about how two years ago we may not have known that God was preparing me physically for this fight with cancer, but God did. I started rehabilitating my shoulder after rotator cuff repair surgery. That quickly evolved into overall strength training. My health improved dramatically as demonstrated by my latest A1c of 5.4. God used it all to my benefit and His glory.

This is Kerry (second from left on the back) with some of our administrative, business, and Human Resources staff. Thank you all so very much! I am such a blessed person. I thank God for such a loving reminder of His love for me demonstrated through my friends and co-workers. I really felt the love on this first day of chemo!

Jadyn and I saw Dr. Baltz on Monday morning before I started chemo. My hemoglobin is up to 12.0 for which I am so grateful! Yes, JT and Norma Jean, eating red meat definitely is good for me. Much of my diet consisted of two main meals: Stew meat with sauteed mushrooms and spinach or Alaskan Sockeye Salmon with sauteed mushrooms and spinach. Sometimes I add rice to the meal. All of this (except the rice) is cooked in my iron skillet. So, if anyone is trying the build up their blood, this has worked for me. I also take iron gummies because they are much easier on my system than the tablets. Also, I talked with Dr. Baltz about the liver pain, and he gave me the go ahead to take ibuprofen again.

The chemo was at the infusion center at CHI St. Vincent's Little Rock. I had not realized it would be an all-day process given that I knew I would be taking my chemo home in a little bag. The premeds took all day. I don't remember all of them, but some were the combo Pepcid, Zofran, and Dexamethasone. That steroid helped with the liver pain immediately since it is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Even though I hadn't brought anything to occupy my time, that was fine. I slept. And I slept. And I slept. I guess I needed to sleep. The chairs reclined, the blanket was warm, the environment was quiet and peaceful. God gave me just what He knew I needed.

At the end of the day, I was hooked up to the chemo. It's in a little football-shaped container inside my little bag. I'm using it as a shoulder bag rather than a fanny pack because it is more comfortable for me. I have a spill kit in case it starts to leak, but my guess is that they have had people like me use it in the past and have worked on the design to make it stand up to people like me. I will go back on Wednesday afternoon for it to be unattached and get more fluids. Then I'll go to the LRDC Infusion Center on Friday to get more fluids. Then next week is Avastin on Monday and fluids on Friday. This will be my routine for a while. It's doable.

Oh, and I may lose my hair, so I ordered a cute cap from Amazon just in case.