I started Radiation yesterday

I have radiation every morning Monday through Friday at 7:54am until September 4th. I thought it was going to be 6 weeks, but it will be 7 weeks minus one day. The treatment itself takes less than 5 minutes and it is not painful. Except I have to sit really still and hold my breath a couple of times to put a little space in between radiation rays and my heart.
Yesterday, was extra fun because I ended up getting a cyst from an ingrown hair in my bikini area removed. It got as big as an almond. It hurts to walk, since it is in a very inconvenient place. Hopefully, it will be better in a few days.
My naturopath reminded on me on Friday that I am still in treatment. Often people think when they are done with chemo they are back to life as normal, but the radiation side effects are burning of the skin in the treatment area (I’m having it done in the left breast and some of the lymph nodes in the neck area), depression, anxiety and fatigue. I am praying that I won’t have these side effects. I need to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest.
It has been 3 weeks since my last chemo treatment. I still have some tingling and numbness in my toes from the last treatment, but I’m taking Glutamine to help with this. My hair hasn’t started growing yet and I still feel pretty tired. I have to pace myself which is not fun for me. Plus, I have to stay out of the sun. This was hard at camp. I am so glad that I was able to go to camp with our youth group. My husband stayed in the high school boy cabin and this time I stayed in a house. I had to cook all of my meals and I needed to make sure I got enough rest. Camp was amazing! The kids were hungry for God. We prayed for baptism of the Holy Spirit the second night and the third night we offered water baptism. 21 kids were baptized! The kids who weren’t baptized this year basically all went last year (51 kids). I think there were about 80 kids at camp this year. My husband, the Pastor and one of his interns did the baptisms during the worship time. It was amazing to see the kids, praying for each other, hugging, crying and praising God with lifted hands. After the baptisms, we went out to the camp fire. The Pastor asked the kids ages 11-24 to write down their past hurts and any addictions or problems they are struggling with. I was so proud of the kids. They actually stood up, spoke out loud in front of their peers and confessed addictions, to drugs, alcohol, pornography, you name it. They cried out to God and told Him how they wanted to be free. After this the kids were able to sing, worship, and praise God with raised hands without worrying about what their peers thought. Also, my husband had an incredible experience. He and one of his High School boys in his cabin were praying and at one point, while my husband’s eyes were closed, he saw Jesus standing with his hand reaching out over the boy. When they were done praying for about a half an hour, my husband shared his vision. The boy said that he saw the exact same thing. It was so wonderful to hear them tell about their experience. Even though they said it was difficult to describe how they felt. Wow, God is good! I also had a vision during a weekend retreat called Life Change last year. I was worshiping God and I saw a light come down and it filled all the holes in my heart. God had truly healed my broken heart!
I am really excited to get my puppy, Lily this Saturday. We have been rushing to get the house and the yard ready. Also, I am planning on have a lia sophia jewelry show at my house at the end of this month on Friday July 31st at 7pm. This is the last chance to order from the spring/summer catalogue. The new fall/winter catalogue starts in August. So, if you would like to come just email me at kandiels@comcast.net and I will give you directions.
Thanks again to everyone for all your prayers and support. I’m planning on going back to teaching the first week of September. I’m praying I will be rested and ready to go.
Love and Blessings,
Kandie

Treatment #8: LAST CHEMO (Tuesday, June 30, 2009)!!!

I can’t believe it’s my last round! Oh, how I’ve waited for this! The doctor said I should start feeling 80-90% back to normal in a few months. And probably back to 100% after a year. My hair should start growing back in a couple of months! I will miss not having to shave! That was nice!
The treatment went as planned, except my hand was swollen for a couple days because of the IV. My veins shrunk due to chemo and because I had the lymph nodes removed in my right arm, I can only get blood drawn and needles in my right. The good news is with this last round we don’t have to do any shots in the stomach! Yeah! The day after chemo I went to my radiation consult. I had a CT scan to get me ready for radiation. Never say never! I never thought I would get a tattoo, but technically I did. They had to mark the area to be treated so they gave me 4 dots about the size of freckles. Needles, needles… The doctor said that I probably won’t experience any side effects from the radiation until about 2-3 weeks later. The skin starts to get pink and then it can get pretty red. It looks like in addition to radiating the breast they will radiate a few lymph nodes in my neck. They are doing that as a precaution, since 1 of the 13 the lymph nodes in my arm tested positive. Another side effect is fatigue. I’m praying I will be able to continue to pace myself and not get too overwhelmed. The last few days I have been getting ready to go to youth camp. This will be my husband’s and my second year being youth group leaders. I have been so tired while trying to pack and get ready (I have to bring a weeks worth of food, special diet). I was so exhausted yesterday, that I didn’t even do anything for 4th of July. Hope everyone had a great holiday!
Also, I talked with my doctor about the risks of pregnancy. I guess the highest chance of cancer reoccurring is in the first 5 years. So, really I should not try and get pregnant for at least 2 to 3 years. I believe with God all things are possible! But, I know there are so many kids out there that need a home. So, my husband and I are going to concentrate on me getting healthy this next year then pursue adoption or foster care. We are waiting on God’s direction. Then if we get pregnant in a few years great! We are really at peace with whatever happens. We want children dearly. And my husband was the cutest baby in the world! I would love to have his kids, but we really want God’s will. His timing is perfect and so is His plan. I’m tired of wasting time and doing things outside of God’s will. I trust Him and I know He has a plan for us. So whatever that is. That will be best.
Anyway, I am really excited for camp this year. Last year 51 kids were baptized (ages 12-24). Baptisms were not even planned, but God showed up in many ways last year. It was amazing. We started the baptisms during worship and kids just coming forward. We worshiped for an hour and a half.
I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this year! We leave tomorrow for 5 days.
Thanks Judy & Cindy for hosting a lia sophia show for me. It was so good seeing my friends from the ESD! I had fun and this really helped with my naturopath expenses! I can’t wait for you to get your jewelry!
Thank you Karen U. and Margaret for interceding and praying for me the other day. I am so blessed to have people like you in my life.
I feel so loved and supported. Thank you all for helping me get through this very challenging time!
Please pray for camp! We are believing the Lord for big things. Young people are struggling with so many things; they really need a life changing encounter with Jesus the Risen Lord! I am praying for God’s grace too because I’m not supposed to be in the sun!!! We’re bringing a big umbrella and all the necessary things to keep me in the shade.
Also, our associate Pastor’s wife who is going to camp with us was just diagnosed with breast cancer 2 weeks ago, the same kind I had. Fortunately, they caught it a lot earlier. We are praying she will not have to do chemo or radiation. She will be leaving camp a day early on Friday for a mastectomy. Please pray for her and her husband!
Love and Blessings to everyone! I will update my blog after camp. I’m sure I will need a few days to rest. I just can't get as much done in a day as I used to. However, soon that will be changing!

Chemo Treatment #7 (Tuesday, June 16, 2009)

Sorry for the delayed update, my 7th treatment went really well. Again I basically experienced few side effects. I had a little bit of tingling and numbing in my toes and some weakness and fatigue; but it was really manageable. Praise God. I’m so thankful that I have medical insurance, could take time off work to rest, could see a naturopath, and have the amazing support of my husband, friends and family. God has truly covered me with His love and grace. Right before treatment number #7. I visited my puppy. She was 6 weeks in the above photos. She was born on Cinco de Mayo. Her name is Lily. She is a miniture apricot poodle.
This is her mom. She'll probably be about 15 inches.

I will be getting Lily the week after I start radiation. I start radiation on Monday, July 20th. If everything goes as scheduled I should be done Friday, August 28th. And back to work September 1st. I miss the kids!