Well, the first treatment went pretty well. It took about 5 hours since they did a few of the drugs slowly so they were easier on my system. Steve was a trooper and stayed through all of it - except when he took a break and grabbed some lunch.
Other than a faint funny taste in my mouth, I did not feel too much. After sitting for five hours, I was pretty restless. It may have had something to do with three doses of steroids today also. Either way, I walked about a mile with Andrew as soon as we got home and have been moving a lot around the house.
The main side effects are supposed to hit in a few days to a week - so I am celebrating yet. I am back to work - but with a bit less hours. I will go crazy and make Steve crazy if I am not busy during the day. I really like my work and have a great boss!!
With all the steroids, I am thinking of runnning and seeing if I can set a record. Okay, J/K they are not those kind of steroids.
Thanks for all the thoughts and kind words. They are helping to keep my spirits up and my attitude positive.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Getting technical
This is for all of you medical and technical people :-).
It looks like my cancer is ER/PR - weakly positive and HER2 positive. This is actually a good sign since it means we can use more drugs to attack it. I will take an anti-estrogen drug (tamoxifen) after the chemo therapy for probably about five years. It means menopause will hit early - but it also lowers my chance of this beast coming back.
HER2 is a protein on the cancer cell wall. My chemo regimen will definitely include herceptin which blocks the HER2 receptor on the cancer cells. This is the easiest and mildest part of the chemo regimen and hopefully will work as one of the best drugs.
My cancer is locally advanced - meaning it is in one breast and barely into the regional (closest) lymph nodes. There is no sign of distant metastasis. There is a small chance that it is in my other (left) breast - so I have another MRI- guided biopsy scheduled for monday.
My chemo regimen is Taxotere-Carboplatin-Herceptin and will be given in six cycles - occuring every three weeks. The Herceptin will continue every three weeks for one year. I will definitely lose all my hair (no shaving this summer!!) and will become anemic (low red blood cells) and neutropenic (low white blood cells). I have to be extra careful of infection and will have blood tests many times throughout this process.
They know I plan to work through this process and are very supportive and encouraging. I am planning to cut back my hours - but the bottom line is that I really love my work and I have such a great support team at work.
I am keeping a postive attitude and working on preparing my psyche for the first treatment on tuesday morning. I am actually excited to begin this process and just get on with life.
Sharon
PS I know a few of you asked why the chemo-surgery instead of surgery-chemo. Both have the same outcomes - but if I do surgery first, there is no way to measure the effectiveness of the chemo since the mass will be gone. If I do chemo first, we can measure the shrinkage of the mass as a sign of the effectiveness of chemo. I like concrete data, so I want to do the chemo first and measure the progress (probably after 3 cycles).
It looks like my cancer is ER/PR - weakly positive and HER2 positive. This is actually a good sign since it means we can use more drugs to attack it. I will take an anti-estrogen drug (tamoxifen) after the chemo therapy for probably about five years. It means menopause will hit early - but it also lowers my chance of this beast coming back.
HER2 is a protein on the cancer cell wall. My chemo regimen will definitely include herceptin which blocks the HER2 receptor on the cancer cells. This is the easiest and mildest part of the chemo regimen and hopefully will work as one of the best drugs.
My cancer is locally advanced - meaning it is in one breast and barely into the regional (closest) lymph nodes. There is no sign of distant metastasis. There is a small chance that it is in my other (left) breast - so I have another MRI- guided biopsy scheduled for monday.
My chemo regimen is Taxotere-Carboplatin-Herceptin and will be given in six cycles - occuring every three weeks. The Herceptin will continue every three weeks for one year. I will definitely lose all my hair (no shaving this summer!!) and will become anemic (low red blood cells) and neutropenic (low white blood cells). I have to be extra careful of infection and will have blood tests many times throughout this process.
They know I plan to work through this process and are very supportive and encouraging. I am planning to cut back my hours - but the bottom line is that I really love my work and I have such a great support team at work.
I am keeping a postive attitude and working on preparing my psyche for the first treatment on tuesday morning. I am actually excited to begin this process and just get on with life.
Sharon
PS I know a few of you asked why the chemo-surgery instead of surgery-chemo. Both have the same outcomes - but if I do surgery first, there is no way to measure the effectiveness of the chemo since the mass will be gone. If I do chemo first, we can measure the shrinkage of the mass as a sign of the effectiveness of chemo. I like concrete data, so I want to do the chemo first and measure the progress (probably after 3 cycles).
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Getting ready
Well, my excitement was somewhat dampened when I learned about the side effects of chemotherapy. I am scheduled to start my regimen on tuesday and am a bit nervous - but I think it will go okay. I had an echocardiogram of my heart today and will have another MRI guided biopsy of the hopefully unaffected (left) breast on Monday since there was a questionable spot on the regular MRI on monday.
Steve was very happy to learn about the wireless internet connection that is available during chemotherapy - since he will be joining me for my four hour ordeal. It will give me a chance to catch up on reading and sleeping hopefully.
I was planning to finish running errands today - but a blizzard somewhat delayed me. I am planning on getting a bit of 'work' done tomorrow, but this weekend I am hoping to do some fun things with Steve and the kids.
Steve was very happy to learn about the wireless internet connection that is available during chemotherapy - since he will be joining me for my four hour ordeal. It will give me a chance to catch up on reading and sleeping hopefully.
I was planning to finish running errands today - but a blizzard somewhat delayed me. I am planning on getting a bit of 'work' done tomorrow, but this weekend I am hoping to do some fun things with Steve and the kids.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
My Cancer Walk
Good news!!
I found out just minutes after getting my brain MRI and my full body PET-CT scan (thanks for good friends and colleagues!) that the cancer is limited to my breast and is just barely invading lymph nodes on the right side. The left breast and the rest of my body is cancer free.
I am not out of the woods by any means - but I can beat this poison. It will mean six months of chemo and bilateral mastectomy and radiation therapy - but at least I will be alive to laugh, cry, scream and celebrate life for another 10 or 20 years.
I am one tough chick and have a good sense of humor too. If I lose my hair, I am telling everyone I am going for the 'GI Jane' look. N.K. wants me to go blonde and A.J. thinks orange hair with a little bit of purple would look really cool!
I will find out more about the order of treatment when I meet with the oncologist tomorrow. Steve and I will spend time charting the best course to defeat this beast - with the least disruption to our family.
I found out just minutes after getting my brain MRI and my full body PET-CT scan (thanks for good friends and colleagues!) that the cancer is limited to my breast and is just barely invading lymph nodes on the right side. The left breast and the rest of my body is cancer free.
I am not out of the woods by any means - but I can beat this poison. It will mean six months of chemo and bilateral mastectomy and radiation therapy - but at least I will be alive to laugh, cry, scream and celebrate life for another 10 or 20 years.
I am one tough chick and have a good sense of humor too. If I lose my hair, I am telling everyone I am going for the 'GI Jane' look. N.K. wants me to go blonde and A.J. thinks orange hair with a little bit of purple would look really cool!
I will find out more about the order of treatment when I meet with the oncologist tomorrow. Steve and I will spend time charting the best course to defeat this beast - with the least disruption to our family.
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