I can’t believe the last I posted was the weekend of Memorial Day and here I am approaching Fourth of July weekend.  The past few weeks have been a complete blur.  The logistics of preparing to be away for 7 weeks from my home, away from the boys, organizing schedules, arranging childcare, setting up appointments, going to appointments, recovering  from surgery and preparing for radiation have seemed to take all my time away.

During treatment my mom, Natalie and I are staying about 20 minutes away from Johns Hopkins hospital in an apartment for 7 weeks.  Rob needs to continue working so he is staying home with the boys and my mother-in-law, grandmother and aunt are helping every step of the way.  We decided on making this arrangement because I knew if all of the children came with me I would not get adequate rest.  We wanted to keep the boys on their normal schedule as much as possible, but I wanted Natalie with me.  She is my last baby…I do not want to miss the first time she does something and I believe she will be great medicine for me.

Today I completed day 4 of radiation treatment!  My mom and Natalie go to treatment with me each day.   Natalie brings a smile and such positive energy in a room full of radiation patients, everyone just LOVES her and bringing her distracts me from the actual situation. The radiation treatments do not hurt, however I can’t believe after only 2 treatments I am started to already experience side effects – dry mouth, very thirsty and swelling in my neck.  My oncologist told me that symptoms happen at all different times for people, but because of the number of surgeries I had to this region can be the reason I am starting to experience side effects this early on.  Currently my swallowing is normal so I am taking every good day as it comes.  Next week I meet with a speech pathologist to work on swallowing exercises, which I am sure I am very familiar with from my previous therapy.  The doctor informed me that it is going to be extremely important to do these exercises in order to preserve as much of my swallowing capability as possible.  I will continue doing everything possible….my babies and family need me to get better!