Cancer questions.....

I have been asked a lot of questions about my cancer journey so I thought that I would just answer a bunch of them here.

1) Why do you have to do Chemo? Good question. Especially after finding all clean nodes this last surgery. It all has to do with the type of cancer I have. I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma Cancer. Melanoma is a tricking, sneaky, and very bad ass type of cancer. It has a 80% chance of coming back one day. I don't like those odds. By doing Chemo for a year it will knock off another %20 off. I will still need to be checked for cancer coming back, but this is the best shot I have to kill all of it NOW.

2) Will you lose you hair? Ha a question everyone loves to ask. We have no idea. Some people lose their hair some people don't. But I have been told that even if I don't lose my hair my hair will be more than likely very sick looking. If that happens I am fully prepared mentally and physically to shave my head. This gives me a better chance to have healthy hair when treatment is done. Plus I happen to think that I'm going to be a cute bald lady.

3) What are the other side effects of Chemo? Again we are not sure. Everyone responds differently. More than likely I will have fevers, nausea, weakness, no immune system, sadness, and others.

4) When will you start Chemo? We have to wait until I am healed from this last surgery. And since this surgery was a bigger deal than we had hoped that might be almost 6 weeks from now. That happens to be the week before we go to family camp, so we'll probably wait until after camp to begin treatment.

5) What is a chemo port? This thing is weird and kind of creepy to me. But it will make getting injections, receiving medicine, and getting labs taken A LOT easier. My port in located on my chest right under my right collar bone. It sticks out and looks freakish. It still very tender and hurts right now, but I have been told that soon I won't even notice it.

6) What are the side effects from losing all your lymph nodes? The doctor only took all the lymph nodes out of my left leg. So I will have Lymphedema in my leg for the rest of my life. I might never see effects from it or I might have them forever. I will probably have to to wear compression socks when I work out to prevent swelling. I'll need to do physical therapy and possbile massage therapy. My leg will also be very suspectable infections. Anytime I get a cut or bruise I will have to go onto anitbiotics.

6) What can I do to help? We have a care calendar up and running so you can send me your email and we can get you that information. Just remember that we aren't starting treatment until August so that is when we will need to most help. PRAY! Please continue to pray for complete healing. And for my family over this next year.

Any other questions? I would love to answer them. (And trust me if it was any of you going through this I would ask EVERY question I could think of?