Shortly after I started my brachytherapy treatments my mother discovered this fundraiser called Everyday Warrior. This non profit, financial supports crossfitters who have been diagnosed with cancer or are currently undergoing treatment for cancer. It is a 4 week challenge. You do a WOD a week and submit your score, very similar to the open. I ignored the email my mom sent with the info. I didn’t want to face the fact of how much it was going to suck, but you gotta start somewhere. I started to read about the foundation and the founder, Brittany Gill, was diagnosed at age 29 with a rare form of cervical cancer (sound familiar?). Her story was one of the stories I read during my late night internet searches when I was undergoing treatment! Once I found this out, I quickly signed up (so did my mom). We did our workouts every week and submitted our scores.
I haven’t looked at the leaderboard and don’t plan on it. It isn’t about what the leaderboard says. This one was about supporting fellow athletes who are also going through cancer and everything that comes with it (mentally and physically). I have to admit it was fun and I’m glad I did it. Mom and I even got to do the last WOD together!
If you are looking for a great company to support this is one. I highly recommend looking into it and adding the WODs into your programming. I know I will be doing it again with my athletes next year.
Brachy What? Thats exactly what I said. BrachyTherapy is radiation from the inside focusing on a specific area (in my case, my tumor). This form of treatment can be used to treat a variety of cancers. When I met with the radiologist in Houston at MD Anderson, her treatment plan for brachytherapy was 2 treatments…2 different weekends (I would be hospitalized each time) with a 2 week break in between. My radiologist in Austin used a newer method (so he says) of breaking that up into 5 different treatments lasting a week and a half (so I thought) with no hospitalization.
With a week left to go of radiation I started asking about my next step of treatment, brachytherapy. They said someone would be calling me to help set that up. I asked again on my last treatment (which was a Friday) what was going to happen next and they said the same thing. A week went by and nothing. With the encouragement of a client, I started calling some of the numbers I had to ask questions. I called on a Tuesday and it was after hours so they left a message. No return call on Wednesday. FINALLY on Thursday morning, as I was walking in to train my athlete, I get a call stating that I’m scheduled to have my sleeve put in tomorrow morning at 10am. I frantically called my mom and informed her and bless her heart she dropped everything and drove up to ATX to take care of me.
On Sept. 26th, 2014 a few weeks after my last chemo and external radiation treatment, I went into the hospital to have a “sleeve” put in to help with radiation. This piece was going to be used to hold the instruments during my brachytherapy treatments. Since I was going to have to an anesthesia mom came up to help with driving and to take care of me. I was admitted to the day surgery center early that morning. After lots of questions and waiting and 2 different attempts to get blood (my veins are shot from chemo) I was prepped and ready to go. I had met with nurses, doctors, anesthesiologist, oncologist, the whole 9 yards. I had answered question after question. Then sadly my oncologist came back in the room and said that my WBC (white blood count) was way too low for surgery and I was at risk for infection and I was rescheduled for Monday Sept. 29th. Ugh.
Even though it was common to have a low WBC during chemo, I still needed to move forward with treatment. I gathered my things and got unhooked and went to my oncologist office to see if my insurance would cover a certain shot to help raise my WBC. After about an hour we discovered that the shot would be covered and I was sent to a clinic to teach me how to give myself a shot so over the next few days I could give myself shot of a drug that would help with my white blood count. My original AWESOME chemo nurse was working and she showed me how to make and administer the shot (even though I gave myself shots during IVF). We (Mom and me) left the hospital headed to walgreens to get the shots. When we got there we found out that my insurance DIDN’T cover the shot. I frantically called the nurse back and she arranged it where I would come into the hospital and get the shot. Let me break it down for you. A cancer patient with a low WBC was to admit herself to the ER and tell them what is going on and they would administer the shot. Doesn’t that sound a little off? So Saturday Sept. 27th I admitted myself to the ER, after a lot of paper work (where I found out each shot was $10k) I was ADMITTED TO A ROOM. About an hour after I got in the room, they came in to give me the shot and I was free to go. I did that Saturday AND Sunday.
Mom returned on Sunday evening to help out with me on Monday. We went through the same thing got all hooked up and was ready to go. I was out before I left the room. During this procedure they went in and sewed a “sleeve” to my cervix.
This sleeve would be used in my brachytherapy to hold the instruments during treatments. This procedure lasted a short 30mins. Recovery from the procedure was rough. I have never had anesthesia before. I thought I was going to get up and walk out…wrong. I was wheeled out to the car and in the process I puked.
After getting home I went straight to bed to sleep off everything. CONFESSION, Chief was a little puppy and wanted to be next to me so I allowed him to sleep next to me in the bed. This is the ONLY time Chief will sleep in the bed at my house (Grandma’s house is a different story). He slept with me for a long while. I recovered the next day and headed back to work. 2 weeks later I started treatment.
Let me breakdown the WORST part of my treatment for you.
I asked lots of questions about this part of my treatment and got LOTS of different answers. Some said I could do it without drugs and it was no big deal, others suggested I take the drugs. HOWEVER if you take the drugs, you have to have a driver. Being “Ms. Independent” and super tough I was going to forgo the drugs so I could drive home myself and not have to interfere with other people’s schedule. Mom insisted on going with me to the 1st one and I’m glad she did.
We arrived at the hospital early in the morning. They took me back (mom in the waiting room) to a room. I striped from the waist down, but because it was cold I had on multiple layers up top and 2 pairs of socks. Then the nurses came in took blood and started an IV and put a blood pressure cuff on me. The 1st nurse started a catheter which was REALLY uncomfortable and unpleasant. I thought people got great relief from theses things, me not so much. If that was the worst part I was going to make it, wrong. The radiologist came in to put the instruments in me. These instruments were going to be attached to the sleeve that was attached to my cervix.
No, this is not MY instruments (that would be gross) but this is what it looked like.
He goes to put that in and HOLY HELL did it hurt. I quickly asked for the drugs. They strapped me with oxygen (and sometimes heart monitors) and put in some drugs through my IV and then gave me a pain killer. I later asked why that hurt so bad, “I’m pretty tough why did that hurt so bad?” He said it could be from a number of things (1) my pelvic floor is tight, prob due to lifting/training (2) I’m young (3) I haven’t had kids yet so things were still pretty tight. My KICK ASS (pause: she was awesome! I couldn’t of had a better one. She was very observant of what was going on and attendant to my needs) nurse gave me a drug to knock me out so they could finish inserting the instruments. Once the instruments were in, they transferred me to a gurney and took me back for a CT Scan, then placed me back in my room (where my mom joined me) and then the rough part. The Wait. Here they look at the CT Scan and plan out exactly how they are going to administer the radiation. This wait was anywhere from 2-4hours. This wait was MISERABLE and LOTS of tears were shed over pain; I just couldn’t get relief. I was consciously sedated, but I was aware of what was going on. I couldn’t move from the waist down because there are instruments in me. I had an IV in my arm and was unable to bend my arm. Blood pressure cuff on the other arm. I was also strapped to the bed. I got NO relief from the catheter, so it was like I had to pee but I couldn’t go. I was constantly begging the nurse for drugs to give me relief from the pain. She did all that she could to keep me happy. For a few treatments I had my mom put in my earphones and I turned on a book so incase I did focus it was on the book and not the pain. After the wait was over, mom would go back to the wait room, they would take me back and hook the instruments up to a machine and administer the treatment.
From what I can remember, the machine looked something like this.
The treatment lasted 10-12mins. After the treatment, I was given anti nausea meds and another round of pain meds through my IV, and then headed back into my room where they remove the instruments, catheter and IV.
This is how it went for most of the treatments. I would come in, remove my bottoms, nurses placed a blood pressure cuff on one arm, start an IV on the other, they would take blood, administer drugs via IV, start oxygen, insert catheter, insert instruments, CT Scan. I would wait anywhere from 2-4 painful hours receiving as much pain meds as they could legally give me, 10-12mins of treatment, more drugs, finally removal of catheter and instruments, nurse would escort me to the car and mom would drive home. I would check in at 7am-ish and leave around 2pm-ish. I was prescribed 5 treatments, but honestly it took 7 attempts. There were 2 different times that I didn’t get my treatment due to gas bubbles in my rectum (PS Gas Bubbles are normal and everyone has them, they are not an issue until you have to get treatment).
If you have read my radiation blog then this would sound familiar. They discovered my bubbles AFTER the CT scan, meaning I got knocked out and “set up” only to discovered this wouldn’t happen. On the time it was suppose to be my last treatment I was having gas bubble issues and after a few hours wait in the room, they came in and told me they were going to relieve me of some of the gas….aka rectal coil. I’m not even kidding you. With more pain meds, they put a tube up my rear end and took me back for more CT scan. Let me paint a VERY TMI picture…there was a catheter, instruments for treatment and now rectal coil in me, all at the same time. Apparently the rectal coil is common for prostate cancer patients. They took me back for another CT Scan and realized the coil only relieved 1 of the 3 bubbles. In the CT scan room the radiologist got on one side and my nurse on the other and they started pressing on my abdomen trying to move/relieve the bubbles. They pressed on me for a few mins then ran me through the scanner again and came to the conclusion that it was a huge risk to treat me so they didn’t treat me that day. From this point forward they put me back on stool softeners, gas X and enemas (morning of treatment). No I’m not kidding and yes this was new to me. Since I was having trouble, these were added into the mix. Yea. My last treatment’s set up was normal except they put the rectal coil in from the beginning. It was awful. I cannot imagine being in that position for a full weekend like the original radiologist suggested.
My afternoons following treatments were spent recovering. I always had gatorade and after a few hours of napping I was able to eat food (I couldn’t have anything by mouth after midnight the night prior so I didn’t eat until that afternoon). Since the 1st 3 treatments were on a MWF, Mom stayed that week and then they started getting crazy and were scheduled all over the place, my mother came and went.
This was BY FAR the WORST part of treatment and I’m SO glad it is over.
4 large portobello mushrooms, stem removed, wiped clean
Olive oil spray (make your own using a spray bottle)
½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper, divided
½ teaspoon garlic powder
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
Preheat broiler, setting temperature to high. Set oven rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with foil.
Spray the mushroom caps with olive oil cooking spray on both sides. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ⅛ teaspoon pepper and ¼ teaspoon garlic powder. Broil 5 minutes on each side, or until just tender.
Remove mushrooms from oven. Switch oven from broil to bake, setting temperature to 400 degrees F.
Break an egg into each mushroom. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 15 minutes, until egg whites are cooked.
Sprinkle the eggs with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Garnish with parsley, and serve.
Notes
Stuffed and baked portobello mushrooms can become soggy. To avoid sogginess:
1. Wipe clean, don’t wash them (they absorb water).
2. Pre-broil to release some of the water.
3. In the final stage of baking, bake just until the egg whites are cooked. Baking too long will result in mushy mushrooms that have released their liquid into the eggs. If that happens, the only thing you can do is to carefully drain the liquid, and place the mushrooms on paper towels to soak as much of the liquid as you can.
20 strips of packaged bacon – turkey or pork (pre cook it prior to this recipes directions
1 large avocado, slicked into think fry-size pieces (I sliced each avocado half into 5 slices, and then cut them down the middle to make them shorter, making 10 fries per half avocado)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.
Take ons strip of precooked bacon and try to gently stretch a little longer without it breaking (especially near the lighter pink and white parts).
Carefully wrap around avocado fry, starting at one eand and working to the other, end securely tuck in end piece. Repeat with remaining and place onto baking sheet. Bake for 5-10mins or until bacon becomes crisp.
Chemo class wasn’t that bad…weird, but necessary. This is a class everyone has to take before you go start chemo, just kinda gives you a heads up about what is going to happen. It opened with a nurse whom I have seen during my appointments with my first 2 oncologist. She played a video and then went over some papers about side effects of chemo and the resources we have access too while going through treatment. They gave us a bag full of goodies that we might need during treatment…medical organizer, blanket, travel size stuff, mints, LOTS of hand outs. She answered questions that people might have. She then came and talked to us on an individual bases regarding our chemo drug and its side effects. My chemo drug, cisplatin, is one of the oldest chemo drugs and its main purpose is to support radiation which is why I got to keep my hair. Cisplatin is hard on the kidneys so they give an hour of hydration before the bag of chemo (brown bag in pic) and then hydration afterwards and encouragement to drink LOTS of water.
Chemo wasn’t fun. You lose taste of ALOT of things, even things you enjoy. There are certain foods to this day I don’t care to eat/drink. Sadly coffee falls in that category…as well as live soda, oatmeal, fruit punch spark, advo bars, topo chicos,. Food stops being appealing and it becomes hard to find something to eat. Alot of the times I just didn’t eat…which isn’t good and would frustrate R. They take weight, blood pressure and temp every time you go into the infusion room. I always stood on the scale backwards so I never knew my exact weight. I always told them that I have bigger things on my plate vs what my weight was, however i should have monitored it better. I think I lost a total of 10lbs during this time.
I’m not sure if it was the chemo, the radiation or the combo of things that made me SUPER tired. After chemo I would come home and sleep on my couch for the rest of Friday and then Saturday and Sunday I slept alot. There were alot of times I was unable to workout because I was just so tired from the day and I would have to go home and take a nap. Most days the boyfriend and I would walk the neighborhood at night…me in a weight vest and him carrying weights. My workouts were suffering so it made me feel good to move.
Below are exerts from my random journal I kept during chemo.
Day 1: Wednesday Aug. 6th, 2014: Radiation & Chemo #1
My desire to get this treatment started over ran any part of being nervous about treatment. On days I have chemo, which will normally be Fridays, I will have radiation at 7am and chemo at 9:30am. Which is awesome because I don’t have to move any of my clients around for treatment. I just might have to miss a meeting or two.
7am I went in for Radiation. This was no thing. I layed on a table. It was simple. After that I headed down the street for chemo, but not before a cup of coffee at ‘bucks. I went into the waiting room and checked in. They called me up for a wrist band. Here is where my new friend learned my name. He asked me if I was joining them today, I said yes and it was my 1st time. He asked me about radiation. I said yes, already had it and it was my 1st time as well. As people left the waiting room and headed into the infusion room they all said “see you in there”. I got into the infusion room and they weighed, measured me and took my temps and blood pressure. I was in seat #12, next to my new friend who was already hooked up and getting treatment. He also showed me how to get on the internet…GAME CHANGER!!
After 6hrs of Chemo I was released and headed home (30min check in process, 1hour for them to mix up my chemo which means 1 hour of waiting, 1hr for solution (fluids to protect my kidneys), 1.5hr chemo, 1 hour of more solution, then check out). When I got “released” from that chair, I jumped up and my new friend said “wow looks like you are going to kick cancer in the ass”. He said I prob won’t be like that next round…buzz kill. I left there and headed home.
If it is that simple then its going to just be a pain in the ass to keep me seated still for that long. The day was topped off with a kick ass salad from Jason’s Deli and some bubble tea, some TV and in bed at a decent time.
This day couldn’t have been easy if it wasn’t for the help of my very patient boyfriend and mother. Since I was only allowed 1 person in the infusion room at a time, they (mom and Rabah) rotated. Rabah helped me work on my website setting up the “store” and my mom took pictures and updated friends and family about my status. I felt fine when I got home, but still started on my anti-nasuea meds and book an appt with Rachelle, my accupuncturist. She is wonderful and I cannot wait to be on her table again.
My family and boyfriend have been top notch during this process. It isn’t easy having “the healthy one” sick (I hate referring to myself as “sick”). Everyone constantly checks on me, but still abides by my wishes of not having this public/social media.
I cannot wait till I can get over this bump in the road and say I’m Cancer Free. I’m going to have alot to be thankful for at Thanksgiving.
Day 10: Radiation at 7am and Chemo #2 at 9:30am
Today was a busy day. I workout with the 5:30am GGRX Crew:
A) Back Squat 8×4 @ 215#
B) 1 Power Snatches every 30 seconds for 10mins (20 snatches) @ 80% – 110#
After that I went to radiation and got “zapped”. They forgot I was coming early on Fridays so I had to wait a little bit almost making me late for my 8am client. After radiation I went to train my 8am client then headed to the hospital for Chemo. I got there at 9:30am (parking on the 5th floor). They were an HOUR behind…not cool. It took 2 hours to get my IV, blood draw and my bag of pre chemo. This meant I still had 1 hour of chemo and another hour of solution. Ugh. I did find HGTV, took a nap and worked on some busy work and my website for a bit so that passed the time. I finally finished around 4pm and I was the last one out of there. NOT KIDDING! I also went to get my drugs that they supposedly called in when I started and what do you know, they wouldn’t be ready for another 2 hours. They actually showed me the drugs but it had to be run through the system. I think having Chemo on Friday and there being alot of hospital discharges is going to be a pain. But when else do I have a 6 hour time gap in the week. AGHHH!I felt fine and went home and ate a lavish dinner that made me ever so stuffed. Other than the hour wait in the infusion room. Today wasn’t to bad.
Day 17: Friday Aug. 22nd Radiation + Chemo #3
Today I went and worked out with the 5:30am GGRX Crew we are on the tail end of a heavy squat cycle. I thought I wasn’t going to make it but I managed to:
(A) Back Squat: 8×4 220# (I was supposed to be at 225# But….yea, about that)
*This makes it hard to sit in a chair for 4-6hours for chem*
(B) We also did some obliques, GHD, KB Work
Radiation at 7am was another no go. I mean come on I’m on 2 stool softners and 1 gasX (+nausea meds) at 5am and 11am, 5pm and 11pm (if i’m awake) every day. I don’t understand. #OverIt
I went and trained my client at 8am. Then went to Chemo. Things got started then my good long time friend Melissa came and sat with me for awhile….and brought me chocolate! She stayed a good long while before headed to Galveston for her competition. Minus the awkward setting it was awesome to catch up with her. We have a new project in the making so stay tuned!
Day 24: Friday Aug. 29th Radiation + Chem #4
I decided to sleep in this day instead of going to my 5:30am workout. I still went downtown to drop off a BaseCamp packet and some left over cookies. However as I saw how challenged my fellow GGRXers (work out buddies) looked after the conditioning I was sad I missed it. On my way to 7am radiation my 8am athlete cancelled therefore I went to radiation and hustled back to the gym to get a workout in. Some times the environment and the people are just too good to pass up. I had a kick ass workout with my friends, Jess and Winnie. These too have been by my side and through a lot. It was good for me mentally to work out next to them. We did different things but the motivation and encouragement they offer is beyond words. It was a good thing to have before heading into 6hours of chemo.
After that I went to chemo at 9:30am. I think my veins on my left had have had enough because they gave out rather quickly and we stuck my right side. After blood was drawn I quickly started on my anti nausea syringe and then a bag of hydration. After that…I waited. They were an HOUR behind….again…ugh! I turned on HGTV but it was on a boring section so I went to my awesome earphones R gave me.
Since my Bday was the day before I sent a lot of time writing thank you notes, Posting about my awesome new website and then sleeping. I wasn’t really tired but I tried to sleep some and I got some ZZZs in.
Once Chemo was over I raced to HEB to get wine and 7UP…the parents were coming in town that day and I wanted everything to be neat and provided. They arrived (via new harley) before dark so we got to sit outside and try out my awesome new gift Rabah gave me….a Kammock! Its awesome! Then my parents gave me their gift, I finally got my Great Aunt’s (whom I’m named after) pearl ring. Esther Locke, never got married but wore this ring DAILY. I always wanted it and my mom had it cleaned and gave it to me along with 3 hammered silver James Avery bracelets with a pearl and the letter “E” on it. After gift exchanges we went to Jason’s Deli for supper, home for showers and a slice of Little Lucy Cakes…after Rabah took pictures of it. With full bellies and happy hearts we went to bed.
Day 31: Friday Sept 5th Radiation + Chem #5
I slept in today and didn’t go workout, mucho needed. I had radiation at 7am then trained my client from 8-9am then headed into chemo #5…ONE MORE TO GO! We quickly learned that my veins are tired. I also learned that nurses get 2x to stick you then they “strike out” and another nurse has to step in. I quickly learned that today because my veins are done. I had to get stick not once, not twice but THREE TIMES! My nurse was also worried about my platelets. They were able to get them and I went through my bag of hydration while they worked on my blood work. Which they found out that my white blood count is low 1292 to be exact and it needs to be 1500. They had to track down the doc to see if they can treat me. Finally they got ahold of the doc and because I’m healthy they decided to treat me. While waiting on my chemo they gave me this lunch….isn’t grains linked to cancer?
Chemo #6
Today was a bust. I went in for chemo…got all set up. Blood drawn, started my bag of hydration (which is the worst part) and everything only to have them come and tell me my white blood count is too low and they cannot give me chemo for risk of infection. So a few hours and needle sticks later I was unable to get chemo. They decided that my body just needs a few more days of rest before another chemo round so they rescheduled me for Monday. Since I had already scheduled everything around this I just went home and went to sleep, I’m freaking tired!
Chemo #6 – Retry
Another bust. At least this time they didn’t give me the hydration stuff. Same thing, WBC count was way to low and since it was my last one and I would finish radiation treatments this week (my chemo supports the radiation), they decided to call it quits. Again scheduled everything around this so I went home and went to bed.
Side Note:
Chemo was rough for me, but not near as rough and some of the things I saw in the infusion room…I count my blessings. For one I still have my hair. My treatment plan is counted in weeks, not months or even years like some of the people. Yes it was rough on me and did alot of “damage” to my lifestyle, but I had the good end of the stick in comparison to some of the stuff I saw in there.
Things I Was Glad I Did & Things I Wish I Would Have Done (no particular order):
FATIGUE. Get ready for it because it is going to be rough. It is going to hit you hard. The littlest things will tire you out and you will have to take a nap…if not 2…possibly 3. My weekends were filled with sleeping, when normally they are full of workouts, hiking, camping, etc. Nope, not during chemo. Sometimes just going to breakfast was enough to make me want to take nap.
EATING. Go ahead and get you a box of plastic utensils. The metal will make food taste worst that it already does. Most things come back to tasting okay and some don’t, so don’t eat your favorite foods
on the days you have chemo for some reason that makes food taste funny. Sometimes
WBC. Its going to drop and its going to drop low. Be careful out there…remember its YOUR life not just a measly cold.
NAUSEA. Its going to happen. I had a syringe filled with anti-nausea drugs prior to my chemo treatments. I also got some pills to have afterwards. At first I was really religious about taking these. Really Religious. But they made me SUPER tired, but I would rather be tired than be nauseous. However one day I decided to see how much I really needed the meds so I stopped taking them and I was fine. I actually regained energy. So I went without them the following day as well and was fine so I just stopped taking them and it made a world of a difference. I did see a kick a$$ acupuncturist here in ATX 1x/wk and I would highly recommend her (and acupuncture).
