Finally got a call from the dermatologist yesterday evening.  She said that the results were back from the culture that was done on my sore and it is not infected at all.  It was just normal gram positive rod bacteria that is present in everyone's skin - no infection whatsoever.  So after looking at it under the microscope they are pretty sure that what happened was I had a small cyst just under the skin and something happened which caused it to rupture and the redness and pain that I was experiencing was just inflammation.  The doctor told me that she was going to put me on a new antibiotic that is specifically for treating inflammation instead of the one I was on which was for infection.  It is still draining slightly so I am still keeping a bandaid over the spot.  The doctor told me to come back in about 3-4 weeks and then she would take a look at it again and decide if we needed to do anything more to treat it.

My left eye has been twitching off and on ever since my infusion last Wednesday.  I'm not sure if it's related or not but I want to document it.

The sore on my left side has been slowly getting better.  It was still oozing quite a bit for the first two days and I had to put a bandage and gauze on to prevent it from bleeding on my clothes.  There is still a red circle and it feels a little hard still underneath the skin so I'm not sure if that is infection in it still or something else.  I am still waiting for a call from the dermatologist to let me know the results of the cultures.  It feels a ton better though and there is just a little tenderness right at the location.  In addition to that though my skin is getting really irritated with the bandaids I have been having to wear at that same spot for the last week...  It was really itching me yesterday.

My kids have been off-track from school the last couple of weeks and so I signed them up for morning swim lessons to give us something to do.  It wasn't until I had signed them up that I realized that I had my next infusion on the morning of their last day of swim lessons.  My infusion was originally scheduled for 8:30 a.m. but I decided to see if they could reschedule it for 7 a.m. so that I would have a chance of getting home in time to take them to their lessons.  So I was up dark and early this morning so that I could leave the house by 6:15.  I had a backup plan in case I wasn't going to be back in time.  I had DH take Blondie to orchestra rehearsal and then had lined up someone to pick her up from that and bring her home.  Luckily it was probably one of my quicker infusion appointments and I was out of there in a little under 2 hours.  I'm thinking I may reschedule all of my infusions to 7:00!

When the nurse came to access my port she asked me about a wound culture that had been ordered the previous day (my visit to the dermatologist).  I explained what the wound was and she then proceeded with my port.  Apparently there is a new procedure now that they are starting where I have to put on a mask while the nurse is accessing me - since she has to put one on as well.  It seems kind of weird and a waste, but that is hospital procedure for you...

When I woke up this morning my side was still oozing a bit so I changed the bandage again.  It is still pretty sore but feeling better.  Hopefully I will get results of the lab work soon...

I would like to preface this post by saying that if you are at all queasy about medical things, you may want to skip this one...  And also all I can say is that my life is far from boring medically speaking...

About a week ago my right side started hurting and I was trying to remember if I had injured it in some way.  It was really starting to bother me so I asked my husband to look at it to see if there was a bruise or something there that he could see.  The spot was located just a couple of inches below my armpit and more toward my back so I was having a hard time seeing it.  When he looked at it he thought that it looked like a pimple that was trying to form in that spot.  So I didn't think much more about it and kept looking at it every once in a while to see if the pimple had formed yet.  Then Sunday evening came around and it was really starting to hurt - very sensitive to the touch and there was a small red round spot at the location.  That night I tried some ice on it to see if the swelling and pain would decrease at all.  On Monday it wasn't much better and probably got a little worse.  By this time it was a bit bigger and incredibly painful - even to move that arm much.  After doing some looking on the internet that night I decided to try some heat on it and that seemed to help some.  In the morning it didn't hurt quite as much but the spot seemed to be the same size.  I decided that I should probably see if I could setup an appointment with a dermatologist.  Luckily I was able to find one that could see me at 5:00 that day.

After I gave the dermatologist the short rundown of my medical history, she took a look at the spot and I think was quite surprised by how big it was...  Her first impression was that it was just a large abscess.  She asked if I wanted her to try cutting a small hole in the top of it to see if she could get some of the infection out.  She wasn't sure if we would get a lot out but thought that it was worth a try.  That sounded great to me at this point.  So she had me lay down on my left side and then numbed the spot up with some lidocaine.  That really hurt - the needle felt really sharp and stung a little.  Then she cut a hole in it and was surprised by how much pus came out.  She then tried pushing around the whole spot to try and get as much out as she could.  That hurt like crazy!!  She kept asking if I was alright or if I needed to take a break.  I had her stop twice to give me a minute to relax a little...  She then asked if I was okay with her cutting the hole slightly larger so that she could try and get more out without having to push so hard.  She put a little more lidocaine on the spot and then resumed her pushing.  At one point I heard her ask the nurse for some forceps - so I'm not exactly sure what she was doing back there but I didn't feel like asking either.  She made a comment once that just when she thought she had gotten most of the infection out, more would start coming.  Then she said that she wondered if instead of an abscess it was a cyst located just below the skin that had ruptured and then become infected.  They took several tissue samples so they could culture it and she said they would look at it under a microscope as well.  Finally the doctor said that she thought they had most of it since it was mostly blood coming out at that point.  They cleaned and bandaged me up and said that they would leave the hole open to allow the wound to continue to drain.  The doctor said that if it turns out to be a cyst like she suspects then I may have to come back in so they can cut me open more so they can remove all of it and then stitch me back up (sounds like fun, huh?).  The nurse sent me home with some more bandages and some vaseline to apply to it when I change the bandage.  The doctor also gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to take and said that they would call me in a couple of days once they had the results from the cultures.

I then went down to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription and then went out to my car to drive home.  As soon as I climbed into my car I just started crying because that procedure had hurt so bad - and was still hurting!  I was able to regain my compose after a minute or so and was able to get myself home.  The doctor had offered to give me a prescription for a painkiller but I thought that I would be alright with just over-the-counter stuff.  After I got home I took a couple of Tylenol and within the hour I felt much better.

Later this evening I emailed my doctor's group at Huntsman to let them know what had happened at the Dermatologist's office and asking if it was alright for me to be on this antibiotic with my Avastin treatments (of which I have one tomorrow morning).  I'm curious what the results will be from the cultures and hopefully this spot will continue to feel better and not get an infection.

When I went to change into my pajamas tonight I found out that the wound had bled/drained quite a bit and totally saturated the bandaid the nurse had put on and there was blood on over my underclothes...  I had DH come up and help me take the bandaid off and clean it up a little and put a new bandaid on.  Then I taped a piece of gauze over it so that hopefully I will not get any blood on my clothes or sheets tonight...

One year and counting...

A year ago today I was officially given the diagnosis of Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer.  What a difference a year can make...  After 6 treatments of chemotherapy and major abdominal surgery I am still alive and feel great!  It seems kind of surreal at times to think what I have gone through during this past year - and starting almost a month before this with multiple tests and scans to come to the official diagnosis.  It's been weird going through things right now that a year ago I had such a different outlook on - Stake Conference, General Conference, Sounds of the Season Christmas concert (which I will be playing the flute & piccolo in again this year - yea!), Halloween, soccer season...  Even though I don't think my energy level is quite back up to normal, I feel so much better all the way around than I did a year ago.  Things right now are looking good and I hope & pray that in another year from now I can say the same thing!!  Thanks for all of the support and prayers from everyone!!

Haircut!!  Yesterday I got my hair cut.  It seems totally contrary to what I would want to do, but my hair was getting way too shaggy and unkept looking.  Now it actually looks like it has some shape to it and like I meant to have my hair this length.  I think I need to play around with it a little more and see if I can get it to look like it has a little more volume on top, but on the whole I like it a lot better.  Most of the hair that was cut was on the sides and back.  Now I just need the top to grow some more.  I still haven't decided what length I would like to have in the long run, but right now this is a super easy hairdo to fix in the mornings!  And I didn't know that there were so many choices as far as style goes for short hair.  I need to look more closely at how other people wear their hair and figure out what style I like best for me.

The person who cut my hair was surprised at how even my hair has grown all the way around.  I guess a lot of people who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy have had it come back in clumps and not evenly.  I have been pretty lucky as far as that is concerned.

My lower left jawbone/gums have been bugging me off and on the last couple of days.  I've been using some essential oils on it and it will go away and then come back a day or two later.  I try not to take medicine for it unless absolutely necessary.  One thing is certain though - there are not too many things that will put me in a foul mood quicker than my teeth hurting!  When I realize that I am starting to get short-tempered and cranky with the kids I know that it is time to take something for the pain!  My gums have also been bleeding a little when I brush them.

The cut on my arm is slowly healing.  I think my body is taking longer to heal since I started my infusions...

Here is some evidence that my hair is getting quite a bit longer:

Isn't that some awesome bed head??