Nothing says Merry Christmas like Chemotherapy

            Hello all, I hope this finds everyone prepared and enjoying their holidays. We are spending this Wednesday at the infusion clinic. This is number 8 of 12. Which means we are officially 2/3 done with this 6 month adventure. I am working at the firehouse tomorrow and then we are heading up the hill to the Cabin at Donner for X-mas through New Year's Eve.
            The infusions are really taking a toll on Kym now. She just started feeling decent (for her) 2 days ago and now we start over. At least the cabin will be relaxing. If it snows, it will be even better. We have finished our shopping, mostly, and are looking forward to spending time with the Sinclair's. Which is always an adventure. We are trying to not look at the end of the tunnel to much and just take this one step at a time, but we are getting close. Kym and I's living together is now official as we signed our new lease together today.
            Being that it is the Holidays, I have been thinking of presents to buy. I think about all of the people who have done so much for us through this. I decided to give a bunch of shout outs here and over the next couple of posts so this one doesn't drag on forever. But I think it is important to let those of you who mean so much to us know that we recognize there has been sacrifice and giving on your part and that we appreciate it. I am also adding a few pics of Kym at infusion this morning. She has a cute outfit and matching cap. We also took the HUGE step this week of buzzing the little remnants of hair she had so it had a more uniform look. That is when I divulged how attracted I always was to Sinead O'Connor. :)
On with the Shout outs ( in random order):
1. Aunt Becky for all the awesome juice she makes for Kym.
2. Billy (our roommate) for wanting me to move Kym in when this all started so he could help us. He had an out and chose to stay because he loves Kym - Awesome and Patient
3. Kym's family for helping me when I have to be at work. Dave Lori and Heather have been amazing.
4. My crew and chief and brothers at work for understanding all of my absences and always asking about her and if they can help.
5. Everybody at Dameron Hospital for being so supportive in every way. Kym was so bummed she didn't feel well enough to go to the holiday party.
            That is it for now, I will do five per post. So from our family (even Ernie) have a wonderful Christmas Season. And know we love and appreciate all of you. Take time after presents to take stock in what you have. You never know where life will take you.

Merry Christmas,

Koy and Kym

It's December! Time to shop.

             So Kym and I have seemed to find a routine. I work 48 hours on duty and then 96 hours off. So the week after infusion, on my 4-day off of work I try to take Kym somewhere fun. She typically does not feel well enough to travel right after infusion, and this usually lasts about a week. I can only imagine how hanging around our house all the time must get old. So last week we decided to drive over to S.F. for a couple of days. We wanted to check out the X-mas lights and get some shopping done and eat at one of our favorite restaurants. We even had a game plan to make multiple stops at the hotel for Kym to rest. She seems to get tired pretty quick.
            We tried a new spot (for us) to eat the first night. Flour and Water, what an amazing eatery. Truely the best meal I have ever had. The next day was to be for X-mas shopping but I had a different idea. Kym has been wanting to go to the new Athleta store since it opened. So we went, and we kicked ass. I told Kym Merry Christmas because her present was this shopping spree, so go nuts. Boy did she ever, after a couple of hours she was well stocked in fashonable lounge and yoga wear. I'm sure she will win best dressed at the Cancer center. All sorts of warm hats and comfy clothes were bought.
            Later that night we met up with our friends Steve and Lisa from Oakland and took them to Nob Hill Cafe for dinner. Kym will be in their wedding in Feb. The next day before coming home we swung by our favorite pub in the city to see a good friend, Deirdre. And found out totally randomly that the Pub, O'Reillys uses Leukemia and Lymphoma society as their charity of choice when they do fundraisers, like Oysterfest. Which you should go to by the way.

                                                     Us in front of the big tree in Union Square and Kym at infusion 7.

            A couple of days later Kym had infusion again. This was the day we officially made it over half way. This was number 7 out of 12 chemo infusions. So that felt good. Kym even rocked some of her new gear. That was two days ago, and as I write this we are still in bed having a slow day. Kym is not feeling so good, so we will spend this day catching up on Tivo and movies.
            I work this weekend, and then our next 4-day together. Who knows, maybe the cabin. Dave and Lori have been great about letting us use it a lot. It really helps Kym relax, more now that the snow has started to accumulate. I will post again before X-mas, so until then... Happy Shopping. And remember to take it easy and not get all agro, its Christmas

Koy

This year Thanksgiving means something different to me.

            Hello all. I hope this finds all of you enjoying your families and great food over this Thanksgiving weekend. Unless you are working, like me and many others, you may have even had a glass of vino.
            My entire update is second hand as I have been in the Firehouse since Tuesday morning. But I have been in contact with Kym constantly (as usual) so I feel this will be accurate. Kym had an infusion appointment yesterday and it went pretty much as they always do. I can only imagine how much it must suck to wake up Thanksgiving morning and feel terrible and not want to eat and know that it will not go away for days. After Kym's infusion, Lori took her out to their house in Rocklin. She will be at Dave and Lori's (Kym's parents) until I get off tomorrow and go pick her up. At least she can be around all her family and not stuck at our house watching cooking programs with me. She says she is feeling okay, which I translate as the same as after all infusions. We are going to relax the rest of the weekend before I leave for a Burn Foundation function in Florida on Monday. I'll only be gone a couple of days but if any of you want to say hi, that would probably be a good time to call.
          I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and remind you to be thankful for the health and safety of your loved ones. You never know how quickly your world can be turned around.

Koy

Snowy Sunday

             So before I go into how beautiful and quiet Dave and Lori's cabin is when its snowing like this, I have a few more loose ends to tie up. Before we can call ourselves caught up we need to talk about the walk too. The Light the Night walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was about a month ago now. We had a team, "Kymphoma" of course that totally kicked ass. It was a great event and we felt so supported by everyone who showed up. Team Kymphoma ended up sweeping the event. Most team members and most money raised. Nice job everyone.
            So now that we have talked about the haircut, walk and new scan results we are pretty much up to date. So no we can discus the Birthday. I got Thursday night off work but Kym was not feeling well so we ordered in. The next day she was awarded a small shopping spree at REI before we headed up to Truckee for the weekend. The snow is falling and these weekends really help with changing Kym's scenery. You can imagine how tired she must get of hanging around our house all the time. We will be braving the elements to have a nice dinner at Squaw village tonight. Then home tomorrow. I work Tues,Wed, and Thur so Kym will be having Thanksgiving at her parents house. Kym has another infusion (Chemo) on Wednesday so hopefully it doesn't zap her to bad.
              The infusions have started to take more of a physical toll on her now that it is doing it's job. It used to take her a couple days to be back on her feet and now it's more like a week. To be back on her feet is a relative term because she seems to always have some discomfort. She truly is one of the strongest people I know. I am so proud of how she is handling all this.
              We plan on having a great holiday season and decorating the house. Not something Billy and I do traditionally, but Kym is bring a woman's touch to the house. We have scented candles now and everything. So if you are not sick and have not been around anyone who is, give us a call. Holidays are always better with visitors. Bring your favorite beverage and some good stories. Kym's friend Jeanne came over the other day to do yoga with Kym, which was nice.  Anyway, that's all for now. Happy Thanksgiving.
Koy

Yeah... She's cool

And away we go

            Okay kids, since Kym made this blog and posted the initial "what happened" on it, it has stalled. A lot has happened since then. I will get us all up to speed.
             So after Kym's post a month ago, she started going to Chemo. Her infusion appointents are every 2 weeks. I guess she actually started before that, because we are 5 infusions in. At first the infusions would make her feel sick, but it didn't seem too horrible with all the meds they gave her. But after the first couple, the more her immune system wore down, the worse it got. About a month or so ago, Kym was feeling worse after her appt's and then her hair started to fall out. At first we were just kinda finding it everywhere, but then it started coming out in clumps while she showered. This was tough, as you could imagine. I dont think guys really appreciate this like we should. I have shaved my head for my entire adult life, so it didn't seem like that big of a deal. But I now know how much identity goes into girls hair. Well, I suggested that Kym have her stylist buzz her head. At least that would be her doing it on her terms. We got the whole support team together and went down to do just that. Cherry, her stylist, told us there was still enough hair to do a cute little cut so we opted for that. Pics to follow. Since we already had gone wig shopping, we were even able to get those styled too.
              For those of you that dont know, Kym is in a clinical trial that allows her to redo her PET-Scan after the first 4 infusions (2 months) to check on the progress of the Chemotherapy. Well we had those scans a couple of weeks ago. As you may have seen on Kym's fb page, the results were better than good. NO SIGNS OF ACTIVE CANCER. And all those pesky little lymphnodes are getting back to regular size.

               So at this point we just have another 4 months of infusions. It is not quite as simple as it sounds. Kym felt bad after this last one. And thanks to her having like one white blood cell, she got sick and has been feeling terrible since, but no fevers. Please send her your love, it helps alot. She will also be turning 28 this Thursday, so say hi. As for me, I will be blogging for her. Please remember that I do not have 2 college degrees, so be kind.

Not so hostile takeover

So, I think by now it has been proven that Kym is the worst blogger ever. Because of this, I have taken control. As a teaser of things to come, we will be discussing Kym's haircut, The walk, and recent Scan results. So stay tuned for more to come. With pictures.
Koy

Back ~ Tracking

Some things never change. Like my ability to procrastinate on everything. For example, this blog. Been talking about doing a blog since I got the official diagnosis back on August 14th. Something else I procrastinated on recently was going to my doctor originally to get checked out. But why go when nothing really bad is going on? "Its my high-stress, super tough on myself, competitive attitude that is making me sick" - not anything serious. I'm tired all the time & losing weight cause I work my ass off while pulling 12 hour night shifts in the ER in Stockton. It's "normal" for new nurses to be sick their whole first year. I had an explanation for everything - except that feeling of dread in my chest when I actually assessed myself & took a realistic look at my symptoms.
1. Night sweats - common causes that come to mind: tuberculosis & Lymphoma. 2.Dramatic weight loss ( although fun) is a pretty big red flag for cancers 3. Weak immune system-sick ALL the time 4. Hair loss 5.Stopped menstruating 6. Nagging cough that lasts for months with random fevers.
I had gotten to the point where I didn't want to go to the Dr because ignorance is bliss - because I knew in my gut something was really wrong. And going in would mean facing it.
It really wasn't me that chose to go - it was more Koy having an intervention with me, & making me go.
Some of you may be able to relate to the emotions you feel when waiting to find out about a diagnosis. Some of you may even know how it feels when you get phone calls on the weekend from your doc giving you the news you didn't want. For me I went numb. My whole world was upside down. And worst case scenarios started to flood my thoughts. Now I needed a game plan: how do I tell people why I'm having surgery?

I was able to push my way through the "next available appointment is not for 3 weeks" by calling everyday, whatever UCDMC number I could get a hold of- and it worked! I'd had 2 CT scans, a PET scan, & surgical biopsy performed before my original scan appointment ever came around. I called this time my "ruling out cancer" time - convinced it would turn out to be some rare anomaly. BUT, my fabulous surgical oncologist called me at home on Sunday August 14th: "Kym, this is just a fucked up situation - but the pathology reports are back early, and you have Hodgkins Lymphoma". Fuck.

Koy was with me during that call - as he has been this whole time. Truly the perfect partner. And I could tell from his reaction, he had known this too. We both did.

But then came the most difficult task: how to tell my parents? Not over the phone. They were at the cabin, & I was post-op, so driving to them wasn't going to work. So they came down to my place for dinner. Worst conversation I've ever had to start - just awful news to have to give & to see the looks on their faces. Just heartbreaking.

Being sick is hard & no part of it is "fun". But by far the worst part is seeing how my illness affects those that love me. I'm still, to this day more concerned about Koy, my parents, & my sister.
But an important lesson for me: it is so true that your patient is not just the person in the bed - as a nurse, I need to care for the family too.