{"id":262,"date":"2018-04-19T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T18:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/?p=262"},"modified":"2018-06-14T12:54:52","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T17:54:52","slug":"getting-stronger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/getting-stronger\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Stronger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting Stronger \u00a0April 19<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written but I\u2019ve had my plate pretty full.
\nSince my fathers stroke I have now spent even more time in the doctors offices.
\nBetween my appointments and my dads, I see doctors more than I see my friends! I tweeted that I was going to start taking a bottle of wine to my doctors appointments since they now seem to be the people I mostly hang out with now ha ha. \u00a0What’s been going on…..<\/p>\n

On April 2<\/p>\n

This morning I did an interview with my hometown paper regarding my cancer journey. It always feels good to talk to my hometown paper! Ed Wright wrote the article and you if you want to read it you can go to<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.hometownlife.com\/story\/news\/2018\/04\/04\/south-lyon-singer-songwriter-offers-inspiring-message\/479025002\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I spend a lot of time online doing research on breast cancers, blogs and other information. I figure the more I can talk about my journey to news papers or news outlets the better. I have received so many messages from woman who finally went and got the mammograms who either kept putting it off or have never had one. It really helps me to know that in some way I can help encourage woman to get their tests done or to help educate. I also have learned some things from woman who have written to me as well.<\/p>\n

I came across a breast cancer blog the other day that really upset me. This blogger stated that she sometimes felt that when celebrities announce they have breast cancer that they do it to give their career a boost. After what I have gone through I can not imagine anyone using any kind of illness like this to benefit their career. When a doctor tells you you have an illness that could take your life you learn a lot. Not just about the disease but also how you start to look at life different. You appreciate every moment you get, you don\u2019t let little things bother you any more, you love deeper and broader. \u00a0You want to help heal everyone that has the same disease. I was really upset after reading that blog from that person.
\nThe whole reason for me to write this blog is to help others going through this. For all the merch I\u2019ve created on my website for sale I have added my cancer logo on it to help spread breast cancer awareness. My goal with that is to hopefully join forces with a cancer organization of some sort and eventually be able to give some of the proceeds back to cancer research if I can make that happen.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been one to use my career platform for politics or anything to try to sway people to think like me. This is the first time I have ever used my career platform to promote anything other than my career because I WANT to help others with this illness or educate loved ones on what a cancer patient goes through so they are aware of how to help. I hope this blogger changes her mind on how she feels about celebrities trying to help.<\/p>\n

After the interview with my hometown paper I went to see my plastic surgeon to have my expanders filled again. Though I hate these appointments, for everyone I go to that means another count down to my final surgery! I will be so happy when all of the surgery\u2019s are over! Things are going pretty well with the reconstructive part so far. I am still dealing with side effects from chemo and will continue to for a while. I have intestinal problems that are on going along with neuropathy, bone pain and muscle pain. Since my double mastectomy, my upper half remains sore and will continue to sore until after my final surgery. Every time you have your expanders filled it causes your chest muscles and other areas to hurt because it stretches them out again. I have mine filled a little every week or every other week depending on how sore I am from the last fill. If all goes well I should be done with my final surgery and chemo in October. I pray everything goes well so that happens. I really miss my life! I miss playing shows, traveling and playing instruments especially my guitar. For the first time in my life I don\u2019t have calluses on the ends of my fingers from playing instruments. It hurts me to play guitar right now not just because of the finger issue but because the strap goes across my pec muscle and my port if I stand up to play and that hurts. If I sit down to play it\u2019s only natural that as a woman the guitar would sit underneath my breasts and that hurts because that\u2019s where my incisions are. It feels so strange for this amount of time to go by with me not really playing the guitar daily. I can sing as long as I sing lightly. I can\u2019t sing full voice because it hurts my pec muscles.<\/p>\n

I really won\u2019t be able to get back on the road until next spring probably. See\u2026.people who book you to come perform at their events are called buyers or promoters. They book the artists they want to perform at their event many months before their event happens. So at this time of the year most of them have already booked their entertainment throughout the rest of the year. By the time I\u2019m through with surgery and healed, it will be too late to book anything for the rest of the year. Come spring time, it will be almost two years of not working. That my friends sucks for many reasons! There are many bills to pay. When you get diagnosed with an illness that has a long term treatment plan such as cancer\u2026that doesn\u2019t mean your bills stop just because you stop working. They actually get worse because you have doctor bills that are now added. And \u2026even if you have health insurance you still have to pay your part.<\/p>\n

April 5
\nOff to receive my Herceptin Chemo and see my ecologist. \u00a0For the second time since I started chemo, I forgot to put the numbing cream on my port until the last minute! It was only on for about 30 minutes or so before they had to hook it up. The nurse tried to be extra careful because she knew it would hurt. Yes, it hurt but I made it through it like a big girl ha ha. But\u2026\u2026again, for the second time since I started chemo, she had to take it back out and redo it because it wasn\u2019t right! Ugh! That\u2019s two times in a row this has happened and on the only two times I forgot to put the numbing cream on! Really?? \u00a0One time was bad enough. Now 2 in a row. \u00a0Better get my thinking together and remember to put the cream on next time!! \u00a0There is a person who is following me around taking pictures to do a story in the Tennessean paper so she got to witness the pain twice ha ha! It now only takes about 1.5 hours to get through chemo instead of 4-6 hours since it\u2019s only one chemo and not four. I\u2019m thankful for that!<\/p>\n

April 9<\/p>\n

Today we got to take my dad home from rehab! Incase you are new to the blog, he had a few strokes over the last couple weeks and has been in the hospital. He\u2019s 89 and I\u2019m happy to say he\u2019s doing well. He\u2019s still very weak in his legs and has a hard time walking but we have rehab coming to his house to help him get his strength back.<\/p>\n

April 10<\/p>\n

Back to the plastic surgeons office to have my expanders filled. He said so far things are still looking good and we are staying on track to our plan.<\/p>\n

April 12<\/p>\n

Up at 6:30am to go to my general practitioners office at 8am. I haven\u2019t seen her in a while so it was time to have her check me out and see how I\u2019m doing from the chemo and surgery. I told her of a pain I had been having in my hip so she send me down to have an X-ray done. She took my blood to check my thyroid levels because chemo can through your thyroid off. Good news, it seems that my thyroid is good. Bad news is, I have to see a physical therapist for my hip. Chemo side effect causing bone pain. UGH!! Just what I needed right?? Something else to deal with but hopefully physical therapy can help. Sometimes the pain in my hip catches and just stops me in my tracks from the pain. So I will now add therapy appointments to my schedule lol They weren\u2019t kidding when they said fighting cancer is a full time job. Pretty soon I\u2019ll be going to the doctors 5 days a week it seems. I pray not!!!<\/p>\n

April 16<\/p>\n

Up and out the door to a 9:30am appointment to have a heart echogram done. Perception Chemo can cause heart problems so I have to get my heart checked often now. The person doing the echogram said my heart was pumping strong but I was dehydrated and needed to drink a lot of fluids. Dehydration from the chemo so I\u2019ve been trying to drink a lot more water. She told me that dehydration can affect your heart rhythm. I never knew that.<\/p>\n

April 19<\/p>\n

These last few days I\u2019ve also been to the doctors with my father and have met with his rehab therapists. I have been getting stronger so I thought I would attempt to mow the lawn. Proud to say I managed to get it done but\u2026it took a long time because I had to drive very slow and take breaks. Hitting any bumps hurts my chest. Though it took a lot longer than it normally does, I sure felt good to finally be able to do certain things again. Even if it does take longer!<\/p>\n

I just finished watching Giuliana Rancic on a TV show. She was talking about how she\u2019s been cancer free for over 5 years now. She had a double mastectomy as well because of breast cancer. She like me, admitted that she had no idea there were many different kinds of breast cancer until she was diagnosed. So, let\u2019s all join in and start educating ourselves so if you get breast cancer you will be more informed right off the bat and not thrown into a world of unknown like She and I were. She recommends a website www.notonetype.com. I checked it out. It\u2019s a good sight to download some questions to ask your doctor if you get diagnosed. Remember, 1 in every 8, help educate!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting Stronger \u00a0April 19 I\u2019m sorry it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written but I\u2019ve had my plate pretty full. Since my fathers stroke I have now spent even more time in the doctors offices. Between my appointments and my dads, I see doctors more than I see my friends! I tweeted that I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitacochranmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}