Day ??.... I CANT EVEN REMEMBER!

Hello everyone......

So Grace has offically retired. It was a very sad and hard day saying goodbye. She got me beautiful flowers, a teddy bear, some hair clips to put on my new hats and an ovarian cancer necklace. I will miss her! We shared some tears today! My doctor said he knew that we would be two pea's in a POD from day one. Treatment went well today it was nice to have her there just siting and talking. Tomorrow is my big hair day. I wish i could say that I was ready for it but honestly i just dont think I am. It appears that my brother has shaved his head. I knew you loved me :) haha. .... I hope i look as good as he does! Love you Brian....... Thanks for the comfort of knowing i wont be alone. I will try to get up enough courage to take a picture and place it on my blog. I am off to bed absolutley exhausted.

Keep your heads high...

xoxoxo
Me

February 24th, 2009

Hello Hello......... Well I got some good news for once! My blood count went up by 10 today. Mom and Dad think its from the home cooked dinner, but it could have something to do with the shot i got! Who knows..... either way its a good thing. I have booked a hair cut appointment (shave) for Friday at 1. So friday i will be looking like a different person. Other than that things are going pretty good! Hope all is well.... Keep your heads High.

Oh by the way. To all those in my family who took the HEADS HIGH picture :) your amazing!!!!

Love always,
xoxoxo
ME

Hello :)

Hello everyone, once again I will start off with an appology about not writing on my blog recently. Mom and Dad arrived safely and have been catching on up some sleep and stretching out some truckers butt!!! It is nice to have them here! Mom make some dinner, i ate as much as i could- it was delicious. Treatment has been going well, got an extra shot today to help with my blood count. I also got my results from the MRI and Ultrasound. It showed that my spot is shrinking. It was about the size of a quarter to start with and he said that it has been reduced by 1/4!

On to a little bit of a touchier subject lol. My hair has really started to fall out. Before tonight I had two spots that i could easily cover up. Well tonights shower was a little bit of a shock! After showering and thinking holy crap, Mom and I combed it and I now have a bald spot that looks very similar to my dads. My big spot in right on the top of my head, thinking that its almost time to shave the head and get it over with. You can only go through so many showers before enough is enough.........

Hope all is well with everyone. keep your heads high.

Love Always,
xoxoxo
ME

Second Round.....

Well i am offically two days into my second round (ding, ding) sounds like a wrestling match :)
Today I got an MRI, Ultra-sound and blood work to see how things are going so far. I will not get results until probably tuesday! I know sucks to wait, but that seems to be how things work when you get sick :) the waiting part is the hardest. I am feeling okay, my body is definatley saying WOW Sheryl, please lay down i need a rest :) I am having a harder time staying awake now and feeling a little crappier lol but doing Okay. I have not seen Grace in a while and kind of starting to worry that maybe she left me, but i know she couldnt just walk away without saying BYE to her favorite treatment patient. I am hoping that maybe she caught a cold, and cant come in. I could ask my new nurse, but I fear the answer so i will just keep crossing my fingers that she will return ASAP! For those of you that dont know I am happily awaiting Mom and Dads arrival on Sunday. I hope they like movies, TV and games because thats about as much as i can do latley.

So i have a funny story about my day at school thought i would share it with everyone. The boys in my class have decided that duct tape is the most amazing thing anyone ever invented. They are making wallets, change purses, balls, and using it to fix everything. One of my students has started making his graduation tux! They sell these items at school, and have made a website on the internet. I find duct tape in random places all over my classroom and today they told me that they will start making me a hat just incase my hair falls out. I laughed because i can only imagine having to sport a yellow, green, black or orange duct tape hat at school! Atleast i know they care enough to put the time into it!

Helloooooo

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I missed a day! I will fill you in though. I went to the doctor today to get my blood tested one more time before treatment starts tomorrow. I can't believe that it has already been five days. I didn't get the blood test results that i was hoping for but apparently this is a huge step lol. My blood count dropped by two! I am going to be honest with you all, I had a rough night. I think everything kind of caught up to me and i was really just due for a good cry. Apparently crying isn't helpful with the whole blood situation. My doctor on the other hand was thrilled. He said the blood count thing comes second to me releasing some emotion and not just smiling the whole time. He was very happy to hear that i had a rough night (sounds like a cruel guy eh). Ummm what else do I have to say! School is going good, losing my eye lashes on my right eye- hoping that isnt a sign for whats to come. Other than that things are going good. Had a great day at school, was a little tired and had some sore eyes but thats my fault. Love you all, hope you keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
ME

Blood Count Update

Hi Gang..... Well I had the day off as it's Presidents Day here in the USA! Gotta Love that :)
I went to the hospital today to get my blood test done to see if my blood count had gone up a little. After three days off laying around doing a lot of "NOTHING" it went up two counts. Not what i was hoping for but it is better than not going up at all or the opposite doing down more! I will continue to get it tested this week and rest as much as possible. Hopefully by Thursday it will be up a lot and I will be ready to start my second round of treatment. I am starting to feel pretty good actually, three days off has been nice and I will enjoy my last two days off of treatment before It all starts again..... I am off to try this JUICING thing apparently its the cats MEOW- maybe it will be my blood count cure :) love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
Me

Happy Valentines Day

Day one of bed rest is over!!!! So i have been watching movies in my room on a portable car DVD player i got for christmas about three years ago! Since starting treatment that poor thing has been playing between One and Four movies a night and decided that enough was enough and just packed up on me. So then i was left staring at my wall thinking that they were oftly white and not very interesting. I tried to blow out the dust in the dvd player, shook it a few times but nothing seemed to fix it. Mom called me that night and I told her the story, i really liked the thing it was working just perfect for me, but now i was in trouble. Mom and Dad purchased a new TV for me and its absolutley perfect. I have posted a picture of the beauty at the bottom of my blog so scroll down and check it out. Love you all, hope you had a fantastic Valentines day or single awareness day depending on your situation :)

Love always,
xoxoxo
ME

Five Days OFF!

Well I have finished my last treatment for this section. I now have five days off to lay around and rest. Things are going well, I am stuck at home for the weekend, resting and trying to get my blood count back up! Today at school was a little crazy. Party day is always filled with too much sugar and caffein. Living in Utah, most of my students dont get pop/soda very often so on party day they are the first ones to drink as much as possible and then bounce all over the room. I am sure when they get home from school their parents are thinking what the heck is Ms. Kruse up to :) ahh well thats the best part about being a teacher, you always get to say Bye at 3pm. Well its almost midnight so i better go and try to sleep. Love you all, keep your heads high!

xoxoxo
Me

P.S. Granny were you crabby today at 2:45 i felt your normal thoughts but then got a pain in my back. Thought maybe you were having a rough time or fighting with Papa :) Love you guys

Day 9.....

One more day and I get Five OFF YIPPEEE..... So i walked into treatment today and that lady was there. She said Grace is gone and your suppose to go to the american fork hospital so your doctor can give you your shot. haha i said oh okay sounds good to me! Probably wasnt the response she was expecting but what can you do. Sure didn't want her again!
My class is getting into the Valentines spirit and i am not looking forward tomorrow lol. Party in the afternoon means no work done in the morning lol..... Well i am off to eat some chowmein. Love you all, Keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
Me

Day Seven/ Eight

Okay so I totally forgot about bloggin yesterday! So let me back-track a day and fill you in. Yesterday actually wasnt that good of a day at Treatment. Grace was gone so i had some other lady. I will watch my language and just say she wasnt the smartest cookie in the jar. Luckily i was paying attention and noticed that my shot didnt look the same as usual. So i asked if it was becuase they were changing my meds to try and make it easier to keep food down. Turns out the (smart) lady had gotten the wrong shot. Grace was not impressed when i told her today, she went straight out into the office and i could hear her yellin at the lady. :) kinda made me smile, and think WOW i like Grace.

Today I have been feeling a little under the weather. Apparently I am going to be on couch rest for the weekend. That will be a struggle, but i need the rest so I will rent some movies, get a blanket and cuddle up! Monday is a holiday (Presidents Day) so i have a three day weekend! Ummm what else to tell you all.......... Todays treatment went well, glad to have Grace back- still trying to get a picture of her, shes a tough one to crack!

Oh you will be happy to know that I just finished a plate of chowmein. I will see how long it takes for this time bomb in my tummy to go off :)

Love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
me

P.S Elise i agree with you about stylist hats and (bandana's)? Spell check .

Day Six...

Better late than never! Sorry I am behind today at updating my blog. Today went well. My doctor is going to change some of my meds tomorrow to see if they can find a way to keep some food down. That seems to be the biggest problem. They said its normal to loose the weight i lost last week as your body takes a hard hit with the treatment. Other than that, I am doing well! School is going great, cant wait for my astronomy unit to be over though. I am beginning to dislike astronomy as much as Dinosaurs. Yesss... hard to believe but true!
Well i tried to take a picture of Grace today, but she informed me that she had not done her hair today and that just wasnt going to happen. She said she would get up and do her hair in the morning so we can take a picture. I am not sure if i believe her, she may just be photo shy- Ill have to break that one! Anyways, hope all is well. Keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
me

First Week OVER!

Well i have successfully completed my first week of treatment. PHEWWW one more week to go before i get five days off!!!!! Today went well, i got to weigh myself with all my clothes on so my weight didnt change:) you may be thinking cheater, but i call it skill!!! Went and got my toes painted with Mel and it was very nice to get out and pamper my body with all its going through! Hope everyone has a great weekend i will post this weekend and let you all know how my body does with a few days off. Not sure to expect a good feeling or a feeling of five days of treatment catching up to me. Love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
Me

P.S. Elise no worries i will post a picture of my toes too :)

Day Four...

Today went well, I am actually feeling a lot better than I did yesterday! Grace was nice and didnt make me eat a blueberry muffin, but she did tell me that I HAVE TO EAT TODAY.... So i am going to try and either make chow mein or some bbq chicken and veggies!!!! I will keep today's post short! School is going well, the kids were full of drama and laughs today so it kept my spirits up! One more day and my first week of treatment is over, can you believe it! I cant wait for two days off and I am sure my belly cant wait either. Love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
Me

Day Three...

Well today didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped! I went in feeling kinda under the weather, with an upset tummy! So i got in my get up and headed to my room! Grace was waiting for me and handed me my stress balls (not going to lie, i kind of look forwards to those things now) When she started the treatment i was okay for about a minute and then i started to get sick. So i had to roll onto my side and use the bucket (throw-up catcher) as they call it in treatment. I spent the rest of the 5 minute injection on my side praying to the throw-up catcher! Usually I just have to wait ten minutes and then i am good to go, but today i had to eat a muffin. So Grace went and found me the perfect muffin as she says- ewwww BLUEBERRY. I hate blueberries on good days, so i said " Ill make you a deal, ill eat the MUFFIN part but the BLUEBERRIES have to go! Well I guess we could say i lost that battle. I have met my match in the stubborn category. So i tried to eat the muffin but it just wasnt going well! That muffin didn't stay down too well either which is normal right after your treatment. Grace left and i got dressed thinking PHEWWW glad this one is over. Spoke too soon though, in came Grace with yet ANOTHER BLUEBERRY MUFFIN! Lets try this again she says! OKAY HOW ABOUT NOT, was my thoughts. Anyways, got the muffin down and now im home! These entries are getting longer everyday, sorry! Love you all... Keep your heads high and please dont make blueberry muffins for me :)

xoxoxo
me

Day Two!

Wow to think that I already have two days down! Today was about the same as yesterday- painful but over. I have been VERY cold for the past day and I just couldnt take it anymore so Amanda and I drove out to Mel and Troys house to sit in their hot tub! Sure was nice....... an hour later I was a prune and headed home! Sorry today is kind of short but I dont have much more to write and i better try and plan something for tomorrow. Love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxox
Me

Day One

One day down, who knows how many more to go! Well I tried to keep myself busy at school today, hoping that maybe 3:45 would just not come..... But as we all know, it did come! Got to the hospital and went in, my doctor was waiting for me so that was a nice surprise didnt expect to see him there today. Got all dressed in my gear and then headed into the room. My nurse(Grace) handed me two stress balls (the ones you can squeeze when your having a bad day) and told me to hold them. I was thinking okay lady, I've had plenty of needles and i dont really think i need these but whatever! So in goes the neeedle and WOW i squeezed those dang balls so hard i thought id break them. The needle itself didnt hurt but the chemo liquid felt like it was lighting my insides on fire. A few tears later and five quick minutes and it was all over! I guess Grace knows what shes talking about and maybe i should listen to her ideas :). I feel pretty good now, have a little bit of a tummy ache but nothing too special. I will attemp to eat some food tonight while laying on the couch watching the bachelor. Love you all, keep your heads high.

xoxoxo
Me

The Day Before ........

Hello Hello! I have decided to create this blog for a couple of reasons. One is so that all of you can keep informed on how treatment is going. I probably wont always be up for talking on the phone, but I can lay in bed and update my blog daily. I hope that you are all doing well, its one day at a time starting tomorrow! I have a positive mindset and know that everything will be OK. Thank you for all the phone calls and emails, your positive encouragement helps greatly. KEEP YOUR HEADS UP! Love you all .... xoxoxo