{"id":939,"date":"2015-01-30T11:21:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T16:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetanyc.com\/?p=939"},"modified":"2015-08-15T22:02:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-16T02:02:40","slug":"the-notes-of-a-cancerous-girl-january-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/192.168.2.119:1984\/svetanyc\/2015\/01\/the-notes-of-a-cancerous-girl-january-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"The Notes of a Cancerous Girl. January 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday-Thursday, January 2-8, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hospital’s 5 day chemo stays are depressing, but even more\u00a0saddening are hospitalizations between the chemos. I added to my collection two extra stays by now, and I was going to do anything to make sure not to end up in the ED<\/a>\u00a0again. The “between the chemo time” should be about fun, family and recovery.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, I scheduled an appointment with David’s Bridal<\/a> to check out some dressed for my mom.\u00a0I am quite skeptical about the dress’ choices for bride’s mom in Belarus<\/a>, so we could at least buy something here and forget about it. My mom and I had a really good time at the salon, we pre-selected a few dresses online, accepted the sales-person recommendations and indeed left the salon with an order. \u00a0After the Salon, we walked to Harold Square<\/a>, Macy’s <\/a>& Victoria’s Secret<\/a> to do some lingerie shopping.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3939\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Since I’ve completed my 4th chemo, I was\u00a0having very strong chest pains, different from familiar dull ones that doctor earlier classified\u00a0as “lymphoma-breaking chest pain”. The pain was sharp, persistent and originated near the heart, making it hard to breathe and at times, I had to lean over to\u00a0take a full breath of air. I told Orel and after a blood work on Monday, I went for an echocardiogram.<\/a>\u00a0When I followed up with Orel a few days later, she said that there was nothing on my echo, except that my blood clot got smaller. In a few more days, pain stopped.<\/p>\n

I am continuing to take Lyrica<\/a>\u00a0twice a day (I am prescribed to take every 8 hours, but I never wake up at 6 am)\u00a0and am\u00a0feeling less numbness in\u00a0my fingers, it is incremental but still. Another new thing I recorded after the 4th chemo is a loss of eye-lashes and mild inflammation of my eye-lids. Before I started the chemo, I was told that I would loose all hair that I want, but none of what I don’t want. Frankly, whatever body parts I shaved before going into my 1st chemo, have never seen any hair again (woo-hoo), I lost the hair on my head after the 2nd chemo and now, after the 4th, I am slowly but persistently starting to loose my eye-lashes. I know they will grow back, but lack of them makes me look even sicker and sadder, which I am.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, after congratulating my dad with his 60th birthday, I went to TKTS Ticket Booth<\/a> to buy tickets for a Broadway show. A few days prior, my mom finally decided to go back to Belarus and we bought her a return ticket for January 24. Due to my illness, I wasn’t always there to show her the city or attend shows or exhibits, so in the remaining few weeks, I was trying to do as much as possible. It is hard to attend a show for somebody who doesn’t speak a word in English, but we went to\u00a0The Phantom of the Opera<\/a> and she really loved it.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

January 7 is the Orthodox Christmas<\/a> and we planned to go to a main Russian church<\/a> on the Upper East Side<\/a>\u00a0after completing my blood work. Usually, nurses at the clinic are very skilled, however, sometimes I get a nurse who would either poke my port in a wrong place so it wouldn’t give blood, or make it so painful, that I wouldn’t want to go back. This time around, the nurse was nice but she lost my vials so after returning from a church, I got a call from Orel to come and re-do my blood test. So much for professionalism and Christmas celebration! Needless to say that it was one of the coldest weeks so far with -18C and Arctic wind.<\/p>\n