My mom started radiation yesterday. On Monday she went in thinking that she was going to get started instead it was another “fitting”, which she went through previously. I don’t understand it and neither does she, but all I know is that she came out crying because she had to hold her arms up for a long time. It hurt and she thought this is what she would be going through every day.

As I hugged her and tried to comfort her, I thought the same thing and was concerned for her and sad. The office was closing as she was the last patient, I was busy with her and wasn’t able to ask the nurses if this is what she would be expecting every day.

When we went yesterday, we went a bit earlier and learned that she’d only be getting radiation for about 10 minutes. It wasn’t going to be a long process each time. Relieved, we decided to get into a routine since she’ll be going through this every day for 6 weeks. We’re going to try to go to lunch either before or after and maybe get some shopping in too. Definitely going to chat and have some fun.

I’m going to surprise her with some frilly eye masks as she’s using a washcloth now to cover her eyes. Anything to help my mom cope with radiation.

This morning began the phone calls and appointments. My Mom is a fighter and does not want to wait until she sees the surgeon on October 26th to get her tests started. We woke up early and after getting Samantha off to school, began to gear up for action in her fight against cancer.

She called the surgeon’s office and had to wait to get through since it’s Monday. Then she was almost stalled by his receptionist who said that he had a lot of patients to see, blah, blah, blah. My Mom stood her ground and said that she didn’t get to speak to him in person since learning that the lymph node was malignant. Sure enough, about an hour later, he called her.

We learned that she could make an appointment with an oncologist and that she would be getting a call as soon as more tests were run on the lymph node. She’ll probably start with a special mammogram of her breasts. The PET scan is on hold until the test results come back.

We spoke about her staying here with us as long as she wants and that she is able to come to Hawaii with us. (She is staying in a separate room with Samantha.) The surgeon had said it was fine for her to go and probably a perfect trip. We had some good laughs today too. Her spirits are high and I felt the tears well up with pride when she told the doctor that she wants to fight this.

It’s heating up over here at the ConnieFoggles’ household. In just one week we are leaving for my daughter’s wedding in Kansas. I can finally say that I have bought everything I need for myself, Peanut and for Hubby. There’s just a few things like greeting cards and some travel stuff that we need.

I’m heating up too as I am going through “the change”. This falls into that category of “why didn’t my mother tell me about this”. My body feels like I’m in an oven with an oven inside of it. And it hits me at any time, any where.

So here’s my nightmare scenario: I’ll be sitting at the ceremony watching my daughter and future son-in-law exchange their vows, crying, when I get a hot flash. The sweat will drip down my face adding to the tears, messing up my makeup so I look like Amy Winehouse . My neck and chest area will be covered in sweat where I’ll look like I’m in a competition for a wet t-shirt contest. And of course I’ll be the center of attraction instead of my daughter. No!!

I slept last night without coughing. I ate two meals without running to the bathroom. I went to the store and didn’t fall down. And I’m starting to gain back my strength. It’s nice being on the mend.

Last night I decided to stop taking the antibiotics. They were killing my stomach. I was going to see the doctor today any way so I figured if I needed a new one, I’d get a new prescription. When I saw her and found out that my chest x-ray was fine, my lungs sounded good and that I was sicker from the antibiotics than the bronchitis I was told to just stay off of them. Can you see me smiling from here?

I am feeling a lot better. The worst has been the stomach issues which in turn caused my already low Potassium to drop, making me weaker, making the Myasthenia Gravis worse. So how can that be better? Let me tell you coughing and not being able to sleep on top of all of my other stuff is really, really bad. What made it so much worse is that I couldn’t even log onto my laptop for about a week. That actually was the worst of it all. Can you say, addiction?