9th Day of Radiation

We spent the holiday weekend in Snowflake at the cabin with Curt's parents. Besides the kids taking turns puking, and Jake's diarrhea, we had a great time! I love being able to get away from the daily distractions that we have and just really focus on spending good quality time with our kids. Jake was so worn out that he fell asleep while I was taking them for a ride on the 4wheeler! It was so cute.

I had last Friday off, due to the 4th of July, and this Monday their machine was down so my appointment was canceled for the day. Today marks the 9th radiation treatment. I saw Dr. Woo (radiation oncologist)yesterday and he said I have 25 treatments left...5 more weeks to go. And other than catching a flu bug the beginning of last week, I have been feeling good!

It's all going quite well, actually. The treatments are pretty quick, only taking about 15 minutes, and all of the ladies in that department are really nice. The only side effect so far that is bothersome is my sore throat. Dr. Woo said yesterday that if it gets worse I can either (a) take some liquid pain medication--(no thanks!) or (b) soften my diet until it heals--(shakes and smoothies from now on? Sign me up!!) My throat started getting sore last Friday. I had a feeling that it was due to radiation because it doesn't feel like your typical sore throat. I can drink liquids fine, but swallowing food is a little more uncomfortable. Oh well. I will deal with it.

We also got confirmation from our insurance company that they, indeed, will NOT cover my BRCA gene testing. Dr. Woo recommends that I have my ovaries taken out anyway, if I'm done having kids. As long as the oopherectomy is deemed medically necessary, we should have no problems with them covering that. The only problem with that is...I don't know if I'm ok with that. Since December 3rd, I have pretty much thought my chances of getting pregnant again were going to be slim, but I have still had a teeny bit of hope that...maybe it is possible? Am I crazy? Am I being selfish? I know how blessed I have been, to have been able to carry 3 babies, and have 3 healthy deliveries. I can't help but think how final it will be...not a chance in the world...to be able to get pregnant again some day in the future. *It didn't help that last night I had a dream that I was in the hospital, in labor, and about to deliver a baby! Curt and I both have always thought it would be an amazing experience to adopt some day, so I know we have that option. This surgery will have to be something that I continuously pray about so that I will know, without a doubt, what I should do. Dr. Woo told me yesterday that there is no rush to do this surgery. That was a relief to hear because now I feel like I can take my time to decide.

According to him, if I did have the BRCA testing done and if it were positive, there's "only about a 67% chance of getting cancer in the ovaries" and that usually doesn't happen until later on in life. I think a 67% chance is pretty high when we're talking about my life!

I think what I need to do is look more into a grant or something that will pay for the test. I feel like I need to have that test done, not only so that I can know for sure for myself, but for my sister Christie, Ashlie and my other 3 little nieces, my aunt Barb, and my boys because they could be at risk, too.