Hi everyone! Hope it was a nice holiday weekend where you are. We were able to celebrate my birthday with some of Jimmy's family and our neighbors on Sunday and the weather was perfectly warm and sunny for a cookout. We had a dessert battle of key lime pies - one made by our favorite Italian bakery (Giancarlo's) from around where Jimmy grew up, and one imported from the Florida Keys to a local grocer by our house. My vote went to the Florida Keys pie but Giancarlo's definitely had all the style points! 

Since my actual birthday fell on a Tuesday, we celebrated again with a post-daycare trip for ice cream. Little Jimmy was very excited to learn this news at daycare pickup, and requested the following flavors of ice cream: green! blue! orange! We settled on blue raspberry water ice with vanilla custard (shown in the second picture :-) ) These celebrations, along with the many calls, texts, and social media greetings, made me feel so loved and appreciated. Thank you!  

Last week I ended up developing an ear infection - I'm sure it came from some crud little Jimmy brought home from daycare. It's hard to live in a bubble, and my immune system is definitely running on low, so this is another reminder to be as vigilant as I can. I am on a short course of antibiotics and luckily the symptoms were quick to respond. My oncologist Dr. Gor did give me the option to delay treatment for a week to recover, but I decided to push on since I was feeling better.  

My chemo treatment itself was smooth sailing, and I was able to get home and rest for the afternoon. For the past few treatments, I was noticing some side effects that continue to show up that I reported to my team over the weekend like a faster resting heart rate and restless legs which has made falling asleep more difficult. I was see one of Dr. Gor's colleagues yesterday who decided the pre-meds I get before chemo treatments, like Benadryl, need to be increased and will now go through my IV instead of given in pill form. It helped to hear we can make an adjustment to hopefully decrease the side effects I feel at home.

My thyroid is still in hyperthyroid mode, though the thyroiditis seems to have calmed down. Now the biggest things I notice with the thyroid are the insomnia and increased energy/anxiety. These are similar to the chemo side effects I'm noticing, so it's really difficult to say whether it's the thyroid or the chemo responsible for these symptoms though Dr. Guggenheimer believes Taxol is the primary contributor and the thyroid "isn't helping."

With the thyroid pumping me with energy, I'm finding ways to be productive. Hands-on activities are most helpful in getting the energy out, so last week I organized the Tupperware cabinet, sorted the baby clothes Jonas has grown out of for donations, and organized my closet.  I have more fun activities/crafts I would like to be getting into as well, like cross stitch and coloring, so I'm hoping to do some more creative things too.  

Ultimately, I am hoping and praying for the end of the sleep troubles because rest is such an important part of this healing process. Chemo #9 is tomorrow, and I'm praying for lighter side effects and that the meds continue to do their job at destroying all the cancer cells. The goal is still a pathologic complete response!

Thank you for reading and supporting me in big and little ways. Every action is meaningful and helps keep me going on this very long road to recovery.