Day 199: Receiving My First Chemo Packet

I slept well overnight but woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off. If your alarm is set for 8:00a, that’s one thing. When it is set for 5:00a, it’s completely different.

I started my morning off with a quick pyramid arms workout. I was a bit slow to get ready so didn’t have much time by the time I got over to the gym. However, the pyramid and abs workout was tough and exhausted my body. 

After stretching my shoulders and going through my rotation exercises I tackled the following workout: 

Arms

Pyramid down from 15 reps 
- Alternating Exercise Band Bicep Curls 
- Tricep Pushdowns 

Abs

- Medicine Ball Slams (50 x #10 ball) 
- Standing Pulley Twists (15 x #6 per side) 

It was fun using the exercise bands again. It had been about a month or so since I had used them. 

As has been the theme of this week so far, I had several back-to-back meetings today.  

Since we’re going to be at UCSF all day on Monday and then not around next Thursday and Friday, it has compressed my meetings into only a few days. 

I was able to finally get in touch with the fertility clinic and spent time talking through everything with them. 

Scheduling the appointment, though, has turned into a headache since they only take patients until 12:00p. With only 1.5 weeks, of which we’re not around for 2 of those days, it is making it really difficult to schedule. 

Of course, if we were able to schedule it earlier then it would have been easier for us. Since that isn’t the case, we’re dealing with juggling our schedules over the next few days to figure out a time that we can drive to UCSF for an appointment. 

When I came home from work the package was waiting for me that included medical forms and the first treatment of chemo pills.  

It was a bit weird to look at the pills knowing that they are the pills that will become part of our life for the next year. 

While I’m determined and will meet chemo head on like we have with everything over the last 6 months, starting chemo is a scary concept especially hearing the stories of others’ experiences.