Archives for 2012

Cancer Equals New Rules

January 11, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

Give a cancer cell an inch…..it will take a mile. My HCG levels were at 78 this week……up from 37 last week. Yuck. I had my time off from chemo treatment and they decided they’d take advantage. It makes me feel better that we’ve switched to a more aggressive treatment though……and that Dr. L is going to be making them more frequent. That means less time for the cancer cells to take advantage of any break time.

I had another day of chemotherapy today. I felt nauseous all morning but I turned a corner about 1pm. I had a great night last night. I watched a few Lifetime movies that I had recorded and fell asleep watching. The last time around I barely slept at all after the large bag of Methotrexate…and ended sleeping on the couch so I could stick my feet under the couch cushions. I learned a trick for restless legs…..slather legs and feet with lotion……peppermint if you can find it. My hubby does it for his RLS too and it works.

Here’s one thing I’ve learned recently…..if you get cancer…..everyone likes to start imposing new rules on you:

Me: I think I’ll just add some Splenda to this.
Lisa: Splenda causes cancer.
Me: I already have cancer.

I love this photo my friend Mollie sent me. It’s Adrien Brody and a Choose Joy bracelet.

Not much else new today. Praying for a good night of sleep and then I’ll wake up to a great new day tomorrow!

Happy to be Here

January 10, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’m finally home and resting from a full day of chemo treatment. I’m so exhausted and I have aches and pain like the flu…..but only from the waist down. I was able to eat dinner and I’m just trying to drink as much water as I can to keep my kidney’s flushed out. Below is a photo of Brett and I first thing this morning, 8:45am at the doctor’s office…..eek, we both look super tired, right? Notice my hair? Brett said it’s looking super thin. My friend Tara came over yesterday to inspect it. She said my hairline has moved up about an inch underneath and some around my face too. And I have a reddish birthmark at the bottom of my head revealing itself that hasn’t been seen since I was a baby. I’d cut it all off today but everyone thinks I should wait until this next round of chemo. I’m just tired of shedding.

Dr. L said I’m doing great with the drugs….my body is recuperating quickly after my treatments….so he’s moving my next round up a week (i.e. I’ll only have one week off in between). Below were my menu items today (the EMA in EMA-Co, same as last time)……all of these drugs have to be given one by one. That’s why it takes all day. I’d much rather be there all day as an outpatient than have to be admitted to the hospital for these drips. I’ll be back tomorrow for another treatment but it won’t be quite as long. New CT scans are being scheduled for 2 weeks from now to see how the tumors are reacting to the EMA-CO.

They used a pump today to try to keep the large Methotrexate drip more regular (the stuff that looks like mountain dew…..or neon radioactive material). I think it looks like centepede as it pumps the drug through the IV. I felt a little trapped when they first plugged it in. I like to be mobile and free. I drink so much water and I look forward to my every 20 minute trip to the bathroom. I solved that problem quickly though…..in my big bag of goodies I had brought my own extension cord and I moved the pump plug in so it was right at my fingertips. A few of the drugs are given as an “IV push” which means they inject it right in instead of a drip, drip, drip. I learn more medical stuff every time I go.

I’ve set all of my alarms so I don’t forget the “take or die” drug tomorrow. It’s Leucovorin and since I would prefer not to die: I’ll take it at 7am EXACTLY and 7pm EXACTLY for two days. Leucovorin is a compound similar to folic acid and it’s an “antidote” to certain effects of the huge bag of Methotrexate I got today. It’s called a “chemoprotectant.”

Here’s the part I don’t like about being at an oncologist’s office: I see some very sad things. I see some very sick people. I see a lot of grief at times in the waiting room by family members. I see preparations for what I know is the end for someone. I see a nurse lay a hand on a patient’s relative feeling helpless. I see the end of hope. I didn’t have a tough day. My day was cake. And as always, I’m just happy to be here.

DIY iPad Cover – Needle Felting Project

January 9, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

DIY iPad Cover that’s super easy to make. I was so excited to do my first needle felting project. I wanted to start out as basic as possible……so I did some applique felting. Needle felting is basically where you use a barbed set of needles to attach 2 pieces of felt. The barbed needles drag the fibers of one piece through the fibers of the second piece and the fibers tangle together to attach the two. It’s a super easy project if you use felt pieces from the fabric store….you can layer felt shapes to make any applique:

I used layered felt pieces to create a thick padded iPad cover….using the needle felting process to attach the layered pieces and to add a simple heart applique to the front:

I started out with basic felt from the fabric store. The other option for needle felting would be wool roving…..but that’s for another project soon!

I cut out four pieces of felt about 1/2″ larger on each side of the iPad:

For this project I used a multi-needle tool and needle felting foam. The foam allows the needles to pass through easily as you do your punching:

For smaller projects you can use a small brush mat like the one below:

The needle tool has a guard on it that retracts when it goes through the felt:

I took 2 of my pieces of felt and placed them on top of each other and used my needle tool to start punching through the entire surface….over and over and over:

It took me about 30 minutes to punch the felt enough to create a solid piece of felt from the two pieces:

I repeated the process for the second set of pieces:

I designated one piece to be my front and cut a small heart from a red piece of felt and placed it on top:

Using the needle tool I felted the heart piece to the purple piece….punching and punching over and over until they were completely attached:

Here’s what the needle felting looks like from the reverse side. You can see how the red fibers are punched through the other side of the purple felt to attach the two:

The front and the back of my iPad cover:

I placed the top of the iPad cover onto the back and used the needle tool to felt the sides together….just letting the needles punch through the edges:

Here is how the iPad cover looks at this point:

I used my sewing machine to sew a zig-zag stitch along the 2 side edges and the bottom edge. I actually sewed around these sides three different times. You could also use DMC thread to sew a blanket stitch by hand if you like that look instead: