Chemo #5

A big thank you to my sister-in-law for driving me to my chemo appointment!
Today’s appointment was pretty smooth. I was in and out by 2:30pm. My port access was done by a student, and was not too painful, but didn’t feel so great either. I’ve done my good deed for the year now. A students gotta learn somehow…
Today was the last time I will see my current Dr. He’s retiring at the end of the month. I am so happy to have had him as my Dr. What an amazing doctor he is! I met my new Dr., however I will only see him after I have my next echo cardiogram in 3 months. For my next nadir and chemo I will see the P.A. I’ve seen him for most of my nadir appointments and have really liked him. The reason I’ll being seeing the P.A. and not my doctor has to do with the volume of patients my doctor retiring had, there were so many they had to share patients around. For the ‘important’ stuff I’ll see the new Dr. and for the stuff the P.A.  can do he’ll do. I’m cool with that. 

*After my next, and LAST hard chemo I will make an appointment for a consultation with the radiologist. This is just an appointment to talk about radiation and what they are going to do and what I can expect. Within 2 weeks of my LAST and FINAL hard chemo I need to have an MRI done to see what’s going on in my breasts, and then within a  few days of the MRI I need to see my surgeon and discuss surgery. My oncologist thinks I’m a candidate for a lumpectomy because I’ve had such good response to chemo. He said to talk to the surgeon and get her feelings, this cancer was quite involved and big and she may not be comfortable doing a lumpectomy. To be honest I’m nervous doing a lumpectomy. I have a 12% change of getting breast cancer again whether I do a single or double mastectomy. Interesting that the percentage doesn’t change by doing a double mastectomy.
 *The plan is still to do the herceptin treatment 3 weeks after my 6th chemo and do surgery the following week. BUT, I need to see when the surgeon is available, so that’s just my tentative schedule. For my Herceptin treatments I will not need to see the doctor, but I will need to have a blood draw. I will also not have a nadir appointment. After my 9th treatment (My 3rd only Herceptin treatment) I will do another echo cardiogram and at my next herceptin treatment I’ll see my Dr.
*After surgery I will be given 3-4 weeks of healing time before radiation begins. They will be radiating the whole breast and it will be penetrating deep enough to get my rib wall and everything in between. The side effects of radiation begin to be uncomfortable around the 3rd or 4th week.

 My chemo buddies today were: My sister in law , my good friend,  and 3 of my kids. 2 of my kids only came to see the therapy dog Trent. Turns out my youngest daughter is quite the dog whisperer! Trent loved her and plopped himself on the floor for her to rub his belly, this lasted for quite a while. It was fun playing games and visiting. My husband joined us at lunch time and brought me the best Jimmy Johns sandwich! Thanks honey!! My good friend brought me a yummy chocolate raspberry cupcake which I ate after chemo. It was delicious!  

One of the highlights from today’s chemo was watching my friend Merna ring the bell! It seriously made me emotional! Before she rang the bell she could see I was almost done with my chemo so she waited. She came and held my hand while I received my nuelasta shot, which I think is the most painful part of chemo!! 

Thank you to those who have surprised me with flowers! To say thank you doesn’t feel like enough! I love the support, the encouragement,and your generosity! I love the text messages, the emails and phone calls! You are all the medicine I need to get through this! Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I love you all!

Chemo #4

These chemo appointments don't get easier! Knowing what to expect is nice, but oh boy do I get nervous!! Today's appointment was no exception. I'm so thankful for the text messages and emails of encouragement I received this morning! They were just what I needed!
Today my chemo buddies were: my Dad and my oldest daughter.
My port access was not painful at all! Happy, happy, happy!
I had my daughter come with me in the exam room so she could meet my Dr. and hear the Dr. discuss all my MANY questions. She said she liked him a lot! I'll see him one more time on the 26th and then he retires on the 27th. At my next appointment I'll find out who my new Dr. is and meet him if he's in the office.
Now for a run down of my questions and the Dr.'s answers:
Me: How long will I have my port?
Dr.: I see no need for you to keep it once your don't with the Herceptin chemo next year in March. So plan on it being removed once I'm done with that. (I like this answer!)
Me: Will I have the drug Emend as part of my chemo today?
Dr.: Yes. He was happy to hear my nausea wasn't as severe this last time.
Me: Are my odds increased to have cancer again because I've had cancer before.
Dr.: There is always that risk. Any new cancer, wherever it is in my body will be classified as Breast cancer because I had that type to begin with and any new cancer if most likely cells left behind that have metastasized. (I don't like this answer. I'd like to think I'm done with cancer for the REST of MY LIFE!)
Me: Who is my new Dr. and when will I meet him/her?
Dr.: I will see my current Dr. one last time on the 26th and he'll tell me then who the new Dr. is and if he's in the office I'll meet him.
Me: When do I need to call my Surgeon to discuss my surgery?
Dr.: Following the last appointment is soon enough. (My Dr. mentioned that because my tumor is gone I may be a candidate for just a lumpectomy. My surgeon is an advocate for complete mastectomies though. Doing a lumpectomy AND radiotion will achieve the same success rate at doing a mastectomy)(This leaves me feeling like I'm not sure what I'm going to do. My fear of having cancer again is HUGE!)
I'd love your prayers specifically on this matter to help me make this decision. It's a big one and one there scares me a lot!!

Anticipating Chemo...

Today I've had a lot of nervous energy in anticipation for my next chemo. It's hard to know what to expect when the side effects have been different after each chemo. I'd like to think it'll not be as hard as my first chemo. It's hard not knowing. This nervous energy is a lot like nesting when your pregnant, I'll be doing lots of cleaning and errand running :)

Hope you are all having a great Monday!