First day of chemo. I was a little nervous to have the port accessed. As you can see it is still a little bruised from the surgery and thus a little tender. It actually did not hurt that bad at all. Once its in I don't even feel it anymore. You can barely see it in this picture because its blending in with my bruise. Much better than peripheral IV's. After chemo felt fine for a couple hours, I was even thinking, "Well, if this is all it is I can definately work." Now I'm not feeling the hottest, and probably coming to terms with the fact that I can't work. I guess to be expected. The view from my chemo chair is the lake. Pretty awesome! Please keep commenting. I love seeing all you guys have to say, and it makes me laugh.

Sorry, had to add one more. He's just so darn cute and in this picture it looks like he's smiling. I promise no more dog pics. Couldn't you just cuddle him to death though!

I know that you all wanted to see a pic of my new puppy, Cody. He's the cutest! This is one of his rare moments of calm. He follows me around all day. I just love having him. Chemo #1 tomorrow. How exciting! I think I'm just ready to get this going. My mom is coming on Saturday and I will probably get my cool new short haircut on Tuesday. Keep watching, I'll be sure to post lots of pics. I love seeing everyones' comments so keep 'em coming. Have a great holiday everyone!!! Be safe! Love you all!

Hi! I got my port. She's a beauty. When it heals you won't even know it's there. Everything went great. For all you Labor and Delivery people I had it done in IR. Crazy! It doesn't even hurt that much. Especially compared with last surgery I had. Now I am definately ready for chemo to kill Bruce. Have a great day!

This is a picture of different kinds of port-a-caths. The one on the left of this picture, the single one on the chest, is the one I will be getting. It's under the skin and get accessed for chemo/bld tests/scans with a special needle. It's a great invention.

I've done a lot of cleaning today. I get my port-a-cath tomorrow at 8am and I imagine I will not feel like cleaning for a couple of days after that. Not that I ever really feel like cleaning! I'll let you all know how it goes. Have a great Monday everyone!

Vote below

Hey everyone...check out the survey below...vote!

Welcome!

Hi everyone!
I decided to start this blog to help me to let all of you know minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day details. My Hogdkin's, or as I like to call him...Bruce, has been staged at IIa. This is great news. I start chemo on Aug 31st. My chemo is called ABVD. I will receive 6 cycles, my oncologist feels that Bruce will be dead after 4 cycles. The additional 2 cycles will be to put the nail in the coffin. Each cycle lasts about a month. I will receive 2 treatments for each. It is interesting to be on this side of the cancer coin after spending 4 years as a nurse on the other side of things. It really makes me realize on a more concrete level what they all go through.

I am sending a big shout out to Sam!!! She works with me at Northwestern as many of you know and she is running a marathon and raising $$ for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. I put a link to her page with all the info on this blog.