<p>Thank you for posting, sunrise. I hope that things continue to improve and that the pain specialist can really help you. ,Pain is so debilitating…not what you need.</p>
<p>Wishing you restful nights and improving days with less and less pain. Thank you for posting. It is always so good to hear from you!</p>
<p>It is wonderful to hear from you, Sunrise. My best wishes to you and to Mr. Sunrise as well. May your pain ease and your body strengthen.</p>
<p>Thanks for checking in, sunrise. I was missing you. I hope the pain subsides quickly and your new chemo treatments are easy on you. Take care and report back when you’re up to it.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Thinking of you and wishing you a comfortable day.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting, sunrise. I wish you were seeing the pain management specialist sooner than Friday! I’m sure that pain relief will accelerate your healing.</p>
<p>I’m feeling positive about the personalized chemotherapy!</p>
<p>Sunrise, oh I do so hope you have some relief from pain soon. It’s so tiring, pain.</p>
<p>xoxox</p>
<p>I hope you have a wonderful pain management specialist that is not afraid to give you plenty of pain relief. I know that with abdominal issues they can be unnecessarily cautious. </p>
<p>Sunrise- I am thinking about you and praying that you find relief from your pain and that your better days increase. Warmest wishes to you and the entire Sunrise family!</p>
<p>had a full day of chemo yesterday. I was SO happy to get my chemo treatment. Probably I was the only one in the entire center to be excited about it. It’s because being able to resume chemo means I have sufficiently recovered from my very traumatic surgery and I an on the path of getting cancer under control (I hope so - I hope the new treatment protocol works).</p>
<p>I never had side effects from chemo before, but I was not sure how my body reacts this time since it has been so battered last several months. So far so good. No nausea. Not sick at all.</p>
<p>This chemo combination is a rather harsh and strong one, so the medical staff was on an alert to make sure that I don’t develop any allergic reaction. They give me a ton of pre-treatment meds to minimize the allergic shock. The treatment takes 5 hours for that reason alone. Including a lovely date with my handsome and kind Dr. S, and the blood work etc, it makes it into a full day affair.</p>
<p>This chemo is a very similar combination that I used for my very first treatment that put me in remission but I couldn’t use it when I first recurred because I recurred within 6 months and the same combo couldn’t be used so soon again. I had to create a long enough interval (well over a year) before the same combo could be used again.</p>
<p>I will again lose all hair. It’s a shame. I like my hair. It’s shiny, soft, and at the age of 52, no grey! But compared to what I went through this summer, it’s nothing. Back to wearing caps! (I hate wigs).</p>
<p>Last night, pain was particularly bad. It set in around 1I PM and lasted until 6 AM. No sleep. It’s now starting again, but much milder which the regular pain meds can handle a lot better. I sound like such a whiner, but I actually have a very high pain threshold: I gave birth to two kids without any pain meds! Can’t wait to see the pain management specialist this Friday. I hope they have some exotic concoction. The overall good news is, this is just a surface pain on the skin level due to the abscess wound, not a medical set back. So, as soon as the wound heals, I will be fine (another 3-4 weeks).</p>
<p>I just need to gain some weight. At 5’6", I now weigh 105 Lb. I started with 115, and the surgery and bowel problems got it down. This, in spite of me doing my very best to eat fattening food. In general, surgery seems to facilitate a great deal of weight loss. (I don’t recommend it as a diet option though 
) 10 Lb lost may not sound a lot to most people, but when you start at a borderline underweight like me, 10 lb lost puts me in the solidly underweight zone. But more than food, my pain problem has to be resolved: when I am in pain, I can’t eat anything. There are days when I am in pain most of the day, and these are the days that don’t help in my attempt to gain some weight back.</p>
<p>Sorry for so much whining! Thank you so much for all of your goo wishes and kind words!</p>
<p>Please know that psychologically, I am NOT down. In spite of all this, I think there are a lot of positives that came out of cancer. My college friend from Asia flew all the way just to spend a few days with me. Though we were best friends 30 years ago, I somehow lost touch. When I finally reconnected with her, I told her what I have been dealing with. With all that time and distance that separated us, our friendship was solid enough to make her do this trip. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I will write about this later more.</p>
<p>This is why in the midst of all this, I feel enormously fortunate, and the cancer was not a solid net negative. I remain grateful for what I was given and the hand that I was dealt with - it’s not just all bad - a lot of good in it.</p>
<p>I’ve been worried about you, sunrise and am sorry the pain hasn’t subsided. </p>
<p>And I hope you can enjoy eating again soon. Post when you have your appetite back and we’ll all make suggestions of what you should eat! (I’m going with Better Than Anything Cake.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the update, sunrise. Your post sounds quite cheerful, in spite of the pain. I hope your wound heals quickly so you can get a good night’s rest. Good luck with the pain management expert.</p>
<p>Trust me, the one thing you do NOT sound like is a whiner!</p>
<p>Glad to hear you have been able to resume the effective chemo.</p>
<p>Too bad there isn’t some way for me to transfer my excess pounds to you!</p>
<p>Good morning sunrise, sending more positive vibes from California! How wonderful that your college friend came to visit from such a distance. It reminds me that I should send a few " hellos" to my dear friends. Have a restful day.</p>
<p>Glad you could get back onto your chemo - isn’t that a strange thing to be happy about? Hoping the pain guys have something up their sleeve that makes these 3-4 wks go by quickly. It’s a wonderful thing to have a friendship so strong that you can begin right where you left off - I have a friend like that. When I have troubles, it just helps to think about her cosmically there across the country, it’s that true friend that you know would have your back. Hope your husband is improving also!</p>
<p>Sunrise, you are a national treasure. Thank you so much in indulging our “need” to hear how you are! It’s great to know that you’re back on a fightin’ path, and tolerating it well. I hope your pain doc gives you the right ammo to fight the pain, and I’m glad to hear you’re on back on track with treatment.</p>
<p>Always thinking of you and your family!</p>
<p>sunrise, I am thrilled that you are back on the chemo, as it is a positive step forward. If the pain is too much, please let the staff know. You don’t need the pain interfering with your rest and healing.</p>
<p>Hope your DH and sons are doing well!</p>
<p>It is wonderful to hear from you, Sunrise! Don’t worry, you could never possibly sound like a whiner. That’s because you are NOT one, by nature. It’s okay to tell us the hard stuff, and when you are down. We are all behind you 100%. It is amazing that I can grow to care so much for someone I have never met. I know many of us feel that way.</p>
<p>This may be the weirdest thing I’ve ever typed: Congrats on starting the Chemo! </p>
<p>Best of luck with the pain specialist on Friday. So glad that you’ve been able to reconnect with an old friend :)</p>
<p>OK, since I scared you all with a sleepless night of severe non stop pain the other night, I feel I should also let you know that I had a much better night last night.</p>
<p>One day to go before I see a pain management specialist. I feel like a teenage girl waiting for her prom night with a knight in a shining armor as a date.</p>
<p>My new chemo routine is 3 weekly treatment and a week off. I am so happy to be a chemo patient!</p>