Well it has been a bit of a crazy month. Shortly after I posted my last entry in September, my computer took a nose dive. It just froze one day and so I shut it off, only to find it would not restart. Fortunately, my dad knew a really nice woman at work who offered to look at it for me. Turns out, she offered to fix it at no charge which was a huge blessing. She had to replace the entire hard drive, which means I lost everything that I once had stored. This happened to me before and I just had to upload the published website back into my computer and pray it all looked okay when I published it again. So that is true for this time as well. I am thankful not to lose my writings, as well as Jeff's.

I did end up having a really great September, thankful to have successfully made it all the way through without any doctor's appointments. I can't quite say the same about October so far. I am taking an aquatic kickboxing class for exercise. I am not really allowed to use treadmills and things because the oral chemo I am on tends to be released through the skin of the hands and feet, especially while sweating, making them red and painful. The water sports is a good idea because it's low impact on my feet and the water is cool. We typically use hand weights while punching, and there is no impact whatsoever. On October 1st, I was at my class and must have twisted wrong or something because I injured my sternum. This is always frustrating, because pain there reminds me of the fact that I was told I have a cancer spot there. However, it also reminds me of the fact that God touched me and in an instant, that pain was taken away. (See "Amy's Story" on the homepage).  By October 6th, I decided to call my doctor to make sure I would not need any extra exams done when I returned to CTCA on the 9th. I was told to try taking Ibuprofen for 24 hours to see if what I was feeling was muscular. The Ibuprofen helped, which brought me peace of mind.

On October 9, my mom and I set out for Chicago at about 7 am. It was rainy and yucky but we seemed to make decent time until we hit Chicago. Then the traffic was backed up and we ended up running late to my appointments. We arrived at CTCA around 1:30 and I checked in, then we went up to have my port accessed. The nurse was chatty as usual, making me run even further behind. I then met with my Natropath consultant, who helps me with all of my supplements. From there we waited for my doctor. It was then that I realized it did not matter how late I was running, because he had me beat. I was his last appointment of the day. I was called back around 4:30. He examined my sternum, which by this point was feeling much better. He let me know that may always be a source of concern for me, or until the bone there was completely healed. He also let me know that my CEA tumor marker, the thorn in my side so to speak, was now down to a 73. Hooray! From a 280 to a 121 to a 73 all in a matter of about 9 weeks. My doctor was really happy about that saying it was down to "almost nothing". I am looking forward to seeing where it is in another month. I don't have my next appointment scheduled yet, but it will fall close to Thanksgiving. I will also have scans this time.

I went up to infusion for a 15 minute Zometa infusion for my bones and then we stopped to get dinner in the cafeteria. From there we decided to start home. My mom is so great,.she drove all the way back home... pulling into my drive way at 3:30 am. This was the first time we made it there and back in just about 20 hours. We both paid for it, though, with fatigue and sore stiff muscles.

The following week, which was last week, I started to develop what I thought was a cold. I had a low fever on Tuesday, which I have continued to have the better part of the week. I went to my family doctor on Thursday and was put on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. Aside from having chemo, I can't remember when I was ever sick like this with something. Mike is now coming down with something.. he also has a fever. I made him a doctor's appointment for in the morning. I know we aren't the only ones affected by all of this sickness being passed around, so please pray for anyone you know who is sick. This stuff is not fun.

I have so much more to write about the last month, and pictures to share from when our family got together to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Jeff's home going. I will save that for another day, as I am tired now.

Thank you for your prayers and thank God for my CEA number becoming "almost nothing"!!!

I will post again soon!

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