Chemotherapy Reflection

It has been two weeks since my last chemo treatment and I am so thankful to be done with it!!  It feels great knowing that I have some energy and it will not be taken away from me any time soon.  I will have two weekends in a row of energy and spending quality time with my family.

There was some aftermath with the chemo but all will return to normal soon.  (Not soon enough for my oldest son.)  Currently, I am almost completely hairless.  You can let your mind take you where to go with that, I don't think I have to spell it out.  :)  I do have a little bit of hair on my forearms and my eyebrows.  I have a few eyelashes on my top lids, but none on the bottom.  Oh, I still have nose hairs, but some did fall out.  Bet you never thought of that!!  My fingers and toes have numbness and tingling from the Taxol and was told that will persist for a while.  Because of this side effect, I have noticed that my fingernails are yellowish and are shaping differently.  My husband says they look like witches' fingers.  He's right, they are quite ugly looking.  With all the physical transformations that have happened, I have appreciated how easy and quickly grooming was/is.  While I was really sick, it was nice to not have to fuss over my hair.

I am grateful to my husband for being there for me through the ugly and painful times of this roller coaster ride.  I'm glad it has ended so we can get off of that ride, but anxious about the next ride.

I will have my bilateral (double) mastectomy on December 12, 2012.  I will make another post with more information shortly.

Last Treatment Side Effects

Well, the effects of my last treatment wasn't what I was hoping it to be.  I did not have the aches and pains like in the past, however, I did get sick.  I have a respiratory infection.  I had a faint cough on Thursday and then it just got worse and worse.  I started taking antibiotics on Sunday, so I am hoping to be well by Thanksgiving.

The Neulasta shot was definitely the culprit for the aches and pains.  That is one nasty drug!  I'm hoping these antibiotics will work and when I have my blood drawn on Wednesday, my counts will be high enough to not get the shot.

Surgery is still up in the air as to when it will happen.  The breast surgeon and the plastic surgeon have to be coordinated and that was not done when Dec. 11th was chosen.  I should know tomorrow when they are both available.  I'm hoping it will be still be in December but it could be January.  I will let you know when I know.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and savory the company of your family and friends this holiday season!  I am so very thankful for the love and support me and my family have received during this difficult season of our lives.  I am overwhelmed by the giving hearts of all of you.  My love goes out to each and everyone of you!

Last Chemo Treatment #8

I finished my last chemotherapy treatment today, November 14th!!!!  I was so excited and relieved for this day to come.  I am looking forward to getting past the side effects and then I will say chemo is complete.  There may be a good chance that my side effects will be next to none since I do not have to take the Neulasta shot tomorrow.  The past two treatments, my doctor has decreased the dose and everything went well.  So, no shot this time!  It is somewhat risky to do this since this shot increase red blood cells to help fight infection.  I am taking a slight gamble that I will not get an infection within the next week.  So I go back in a week to check my blood cell counts to make sure they are still high.  If they are low, I will have to take a one day version of the Neulasta that will give me the same side effects over Thanksgiving.  Prayers would be appreciated that my blood counts are high and that I can fight any sickness that may come my way.

I have had a ton of hot flashes with the second chemo drug, so I am now on a drug to help lessen the severity.  I will need this also when I start taking the 5-year hormone pill.  I will have to take this pill to suppress my estrogen hormone to keep any cancer cells from feeding off of them.  At least that is my understanding of how it is supposed to work.

I ended up going to my eye doctor after all since my eye was still blurry.  It ended up being that my eyes were so dry that tissue was flaking from the cornea of my eye.  I have a history of dry eyes and it was compounded by my lack of water drinking and I think the chemo has something to do with it also. I am on a prescription eye drop and hope that will reduce the inflammation on my eyes and I need to be more proactive with drinking water and lubricating my eyes. If it's not one thing; it's another!!!!!

I will keep you posted on how my weekend goes with the side effects.  Hopefully it will all be good news!

Seventh Treatment

I'm here!!!!!  My apologizes for the absence, but I haven't felt much like posting anything even though I know I had things to post.  It was feeling like extra energy I needed to exert to accomplish just a short post.  I will get you up to date now...

So the MRI on my brain come back just fine.  No cancer!  That is wonderful news but still dealing with blurry vision and headaches.  Right now my right eye is blurry and hard to focus on the screen.  I guess it is just something I will have to deal with until treatment is over.  It wouldn't make sense to go to the eye doctor to change my prescription and then it change again shortly after treatment.  I will just have to see how long I can tolerate it before I 

look for other alternatives.

This is Sunday, so my treatment was last Wednesday.  I have the routine down now.  I know what to expect.  I now have a few aches and pains that should subside by tomorrow, but Friday and Saturday I was bed-ridden.  Looking forward to getting out and about tomorrow.

I have one treatment left on November 14th and I can't be more excited.  To complete this stage will feel like things can move forward.  I'm not saying I'm excited about the next stage, but it is what it is.  I have an appointment scheduled with my surgeon on November 28th to discuss surgery.  I still am not sure what that entails, but more than likely a double mastectomy.  I have a tentative surgery date of December 11th.  Hopefully that does not get moved because I want to have some recovery time before Christmas.

That is all I feel like sharing right now! Hugs to you all and thank you for your continued prayers and support.