Chemo Round Two Done!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Shannon underwent her second of her eight treatments on Tuesday, 1/24 - she is 25% done with chemo!

The last two weeks were definitely not fun, but as you all know, Shannon is a trooper and held it together very well. There was no extreme nausea, but definitely a lot of fatigue, dizziness and other odd symptoms, such as tingling in her extremities. However, by the end of last week, she actually began feeling somewhat normal again.

Before the second treatment on Tuesday, Shannon's docs gave her some good news in that all of her importants stats, such as white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, platelets, etc. (not bad for an insurance broker from UCSB, eh?) were all in perfectly normal range and that no tweaks were needed to her treatment schedule - this was good news!

Unfortunately, as we were preparing for, the effects are cumulative and this second round has already proven to be a lot more intense. Her mom is in town and helping her rest as comfortably as possible (thanks again for the new Plasma in the bedroom Mom and Dad!) and we're hoping that the effects will begin subsiding over the next 48 hours.

Thanks for the continued support - if you feel like calling Shannon, please do so on her cell phone. If it's on, she'd love to hear from you. If it's off, she's sleeping or catching up on Lost, 24 or the Daily Show with John Stewart!

5 Embryos on Ice; 1st Chemo Done!

Hi, all. Jeff and I have been getting some inquiries about how I am doing (thank you!), so I thought it was time to update the blog.

On Monday I completed egg retrieval, five of which fertilized successfully. These embryos have been frozen and will be kept in storage until if and when we need them. Trippy!

Yesterday I had my first Chemo treatment. As you can see from the photo, the setup is pretty plush. That is a TV monitor in front of me with all of the cable channels, and we got a nice seat by the window, so it wasn't so bad. (However, there’s no Wi Fi access in the “infusion area”. Kevin: get on it!)

I got a headache during the admission of my second drug, but it went away in a few minutes. Since then, I've been taking my anti-nausea and other medication religiously, and although I am tired and have some weird symptoms, so far I have not felt sick. I sort of need to take this day by day, which is the hard part (especially for a planner like me), but I’ll take every good day I can get! I feel very fortunate to feel as well as I do.

That’s pretty much it. I have 7 more treatments to go, every other Tuesday. I will probably update the blog when I lose my hair (in about 2 weeks) so that all of you can see my fabulous wig.

Finally, I know that I’m repeating myself, but Jeff and I sincerely want to thank everyone for their e-mails, calls, favors, offers to help, etc. We can’t tell you how much it means to us. We are so lucky to have wonderful friends and family like you!

Love,Shannon

Monday Harvest - Tuesday Chemo

Hi folks,

A big start to next week! On Monday, January 9th, we will harvest eggs for potential baby Fallick #3. The following day, Shannon starts her four-month chemotherapy treatment. Treatment is scheduled every other Tuesday for 4 months.

Shannon is in good spirits and ready to get going with this. The sooner it starts, the sooner its over, right? She also was able to lift Zoe and Adam today for the first time since lumpectomy #2, so the kids are fired up!

Hope all is well with all of you!

Happy New Year and Clear Margins!!

Happy New Year!

We received some good news on Friday night when Shannon's surgeon informed us that the second lumpectomy resulted in clear margins!!

IVF will most likely conclude next week, post-op appointment is on Tuesday and if we get the green light that Shannon is sufficiently healed, chemo could start as soon as next Monday (1/9).

Thanks again for all the well wishes and a Happy and Healthy New Year to all of you!

PS - Shannon got her first wig this weekend. It's kind of a hot, blonde 1980's heavy metal hair-band look, but sophisticated to boot!