I didn't keep up my blog as well as I should of this time around. The last chemo treatment had went pretty smoothly and the doctor was promising me that I wouldn't have as much bone pain. And he was right!!! I was able to take Tylenol Extra Strength to take the edge off and by the Sunday after the treatment I was starting to feel pretty good. This last week has been real nice with me having more energy and feeling upbeat.
The only weird thing is that I had lost another 5 lbs two weeks before and I haven't gained any of it back yet. I weigh 113 lbs, what I weighed when I met and married Paul, but I am sorry to say that it doesn't look as good on me now as it did then!! After all this is over with there will be some serious toning up to be done. Just as soon as I get my red blood cells back!
I have my second to last chemo treatment tomorrow and I am expecting it to go just as smoothly as last time. And then next week I will be meeting with my surgeon to find out the next step. I am feeling a lot more positive at this stage with my tumor pretty much undetectable than I did at the beginning when I felt like I had just been handed my death sentence. Then again, maybe it's just finally getting some sunshine!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Six down, two to go
When I showed up for my chemotherapy treatment this week my doctor said that I must be still deciding to continue with treatments as I was there. I told him that I remembered him saying that I probably wouldn't be as sore the second time with this chemo treatment, and so I was willing to give it another try. He then proceeded to tell me that the 3rd and 4th treatments would be even better. Oh, he's good.
This time around they didn't give me as many drugs before the chemo so I wasn't knocked out as much and it was more easily tolerated. I felt great that evening, had a nice dinner and even felt good the next day until after I had my white cell booster shot which then caused me to have back and neck aches that evening. I am now having some achiness, but it hasn't been bad and has been kept in check with Tylenol Extra Strength so far. I am hoping that the doctor is right and that I don't have a lot of achiness this weekend like I did from the last treatment.
My doctor said that as we are getting close to finishing up the chemotherapy I need to make an appointment with my surgeon and start planning on when surgery will be. He would like me to have it 2-3 weeks after my last chemo session. He also seemed to think that I would do just fine with lumpectomy and lymph node dissection. Yeah! Now I just need to convince my surgeon of that option. I understand that she leans more towards mastectomies. I may have to switch surgeons if she can't see my point of view!
I have a mammogram and MRI scheduled next week so that my surgeon can see where everything is as my tumor is no longer palpable and the lymph nodes are considerably reduced. I am told that after all this I will still need to go through radiation therapy to kill off any cancer cells that may not have been surgically removed, but that will be approximately a month after the surgery.
This time around they didn't give me as many drugs before the chemo so I wasn't knocked out as much and it was more easily tolerated. I felt great that evening, had a nice dinner and even felt good the next day until after I had my white cell booster shot which then caused me to have back and neck aches that evening. I am now having some achiness, but it hasn't been bad and has been kept in check with Tylenol Extra Strength so far. I am hoping that the doctor is right and that I don't have a lot of achiness this weekend like I did from the last treatment.
My doctor said that as we are getting close to finishing up the chemotherapy I need to make an appointment with my surgeon and start planning on when surgery will be. He would like me to have it 2-3 weeks after my last chemo session. He also seemed to think that I would do just fine with lumpectomy and lymph node dissection. Yeah! Now I just need to convince my surgeon of that option. I understand that she leans more towards mastectomies. I may have to switch surgeons if she can't see my point of view!
I have a mammogram and MRI scheduled next week so that my surgeon can see where everything is as my tumor is no longer palpable and the lymph nodes are considerably reduced. I am told that after all this I will still need to go through radiation therapy to kill off any cancer cells that may not have been surgically removed, but that will be approximately a month after the surgery.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Okay, this is for the birds!
Not sure where that expression came from. Poor birds. I thought I was doing soooooo much better with this new chemo drug. No nausea, able to eat, feeling pretty good. Hot diggety! Then the Friday after the treatment I started feeling a little achey, Saturday a little more so as well as Sunday. However, I didn't want to take the Vicodin which everyone was telling me would put me out or give me hallucinations or who knows what else! Also, it didn't seem to be that bad if I took some Tylenol Extra Strength and used a hot pack occasionally.
It has tamed down and I am able to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time, but the achiness is still there. At least with the last drug I was back to feeling much better by the weekend after treatment and could enjoy a good week before they knocked me down with the next treatment. Hopefully this will tame down and the next dose won't be near as noticeable.
Years from now we will look back at how they treated people with cancer and say how barbaric! Austin was doing his report on George Washington and it tells how he came down with a sore throat which developed into pneumonia. Blood letting was the thing to do back in those days and they took about 5 pints of blood from him to 'treat' him, which of course helped kill him instead. And we think how barbaric that was!
It has tamed down and I am able to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time, but the achiness is still there. At least with the last drug I was back to feeling much better by the weekend after treatment and could enjoy a good week before they knocked me down with the next treatment. Hopefully this will tame down and the next dose won't be near as noticeable.
Years from now we will look back at how they treated people with cancer and say how barbaric! Austin was doing his report on George Washington and it tells how he came down with a sore throat which developed into pneumonia. Blood letting was the thing to do back in those days and they took about 5 pints of blood from him to 'treat' him, which of course helped kill him instead. And we think how barbaric that was!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
So far so good!
I received a different chemotherapy dose, Taxol, yesterday that isn't supposed to cause nausea, or very little, and is supposed to be easier on the blood cells. I sure felt a lot better after receiving this treatment. No nausea, after resting for a little while I had more energy and I was hungry as I had missed lunch. I think I ate too much for dinner as our neighbor once more brought dinner over for us. At this rate I won't be complaining about flat butts anymore!
This morning I feel good and have lots of energy. I have been told that I may have some bone achiness about 2 days after the treatment. I am supposed to get a prescription for Vicodin for the pain but the pain is supposed to last only a day or so. Hopefully it won't be too bad and I can slide through these new chemo treatments a lot easier. Only 3 more to go! Yippee!
This morning I feel good and have lots of energy. I have been told that I may have some bone achiness about 2 days after the treatment. I am supposed to get a prescription for Vicodin for the pain but the pain is supposed to last only a day or so. Hopefully it won't be too bad and I can slide through these new chemo treatments a lot easier. Only 3 more to go! Yippee!
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