Feeling good!!

Thursday, March 1: Wow! I can't believe that it is March! It feels like we were just home for Christmas only a few weeks ago! I haven't updated since I went for my last eye exam last November so I will start with that. Robert and I went the week before Thanksgiving. I booked a hotel on Rodeo Drive, hoping to do some sightseeing in that area this time. I booked a hotel on the south end of the road, it was much cheaper. When we go to the hotel they said that they are overbooked and would like to send us to another hotel and they would pick up the tab for the hotel. They gave us a few choices and I knew one of the hotel choices, a hotel called The Lux that was about $400 a night and was at the north end of Rodeo Drive where all the shops and restaurants were. We headed there. By the time we got there most of the shops were closed but it really is a pretty road with chandeliers hanging through the middle of the road. They were filming something , we never could figure out what but it was interesting watching about 4 huge trucks unload and set up for filming. The next day I saw the eye doctor and when they looked at my eye he said that there were no changes at all.He skipped taking pictures because he said that he could tell just by comparing from what he could see to the previous pictures that there were no changes. We were there all of 45 minutes. I have to go back in 6 months for another check up. That will be May 10. Robert is going to Mexico on a fishing trip the next week (May 13) so Kit may go with me and we may make a girls getaway out of it. If they want me to come back again I am going to tell them that I will follow up with the retina specialist here. The drive to LA is a pain...we may fly this time but it is hard because you never know when you are going to be done. The first appt. went from about 10:00 am to 4:30 pm and the next one was 45 minutes! Plus you need a car to get around. I have seen enough of LA as well.
I don't think that I have mentioned this before but I had a second head MRI that I really didn't know that I was going to have. Back in July they did an head MRI. I went for a follow up visit with my radiologist and as he was reading from my chart he says blah, blah , blah oh, I see you had an MRI and they see an area on your skull and for you to go get another MRI in 6 months. I said WHAT??!!!!! I was called after that MRI and was told everything looked fine. This was when Dr. Allison was out of town and her nurse called me. The radiologist read and explained the report because he said he was really not concerned and wished they had a previous MRI to compare it with. He said that everyone has imperfections and on their bones, organs, etc. and because of my history they are going to have to make sure this is nothing. So on to my check up with Dr. Allison a few weeks ago....
Everything went well with my 3 month check up. My blood work looks good and everything back to normal but I still have a weak immune system so to still be careful. I have been doing well on tamoxifen. I am getting a few hot flashed here and there but that is about all. I had my last echo of my heart and it looks normal. I also had my last herceptin treatment at the beginning of February and I am happy that I am done with treatments in the chemo room. So, I asked Dr. Allison about the MRI. Because of the wording on the report she was not concerned either but she went ahead and sent me for a follow up. The report on that came back as "stable" which she said meant that the area had not changed at all. I am supposed to go back in another 6 months for another one , to double-check I guess. I did have an MRI about 7 years ago at a local hospital andI really ought to give them a call and see if I can find it to compare. But in the report terminaology it says that it does not have the characteristics of a cancer metastesis. So I guess this is one of those things that would be of no concern but because of the breast cancer they have to investigate. so that is where I am at this point.
I feel really good. My hair is growing a lot. I am working doubles occasionally but only one day at a time. I am working about 3 to 5 shifts a week. I will work a double now and feel fine. I had a day a few weeks ago where I felt like the chemo was re-surging through my body. I just layed around all day. It was really weird. Robert thought it was becasue I am not in good shape and was tired, but I know the difference. I only felt this type of discomfort on the taxol. I call it discomfort because it was not pain..just didn't feel good. I was glad I was not working that day and could just take it easy. Other than that episode, I really feel good. Someone asked me how close to feeling like I did before the treatments started and I said about 95%. The other 5% will probably come with loosing the last 10 pounds and working out. I guess I am not going to complain about gaining 25 pounds with my last treatment because as I have talked to others they gained much more than that. I gotta get on the ball though and get the rest off. To be the correct weight is one of the most important things that I can do because the heavier you are the more hormones you produce. I am happy that things are returning to normal around our house and that cancer is not the focus. Oh yeah, I get to have my port taken out today! I will be glad to have it removed. I go to the surgeon this afternoon and they take it out in the doctors office. Robert is going to go with me but I should have no issues. The nurse told me the doctor will use a local novacaine and take it out. I don't understand...if it is going directly into a main vein then how do they keep that from bleeding. We'll see how it goes!

My Eye Update

Tuesday, Sept. 19: I have been very busy since my last post about 2 months ago. I see my oncologist every 3 months now. It has been a very strange feeling since I finished all the chemo and radiation. At first, I was so relieved and ready to celebrate and then a new feeling that I was not expecting took over. I became very scared and anxious. Now that all the chemo is over you feel bare--like the cancer could come back at any time. I don't feel "safe" anymore, like you do when you are getting treatment. It almost makes you want to go back on the chemo or something!! I dealt with this a little in July and then came the scare with my eye. I was having a lot of headaches with spots of vision disappearing so my oncologist sent me for a thorough eye exam and MRI. I went for an eye exam, which I have never had, on Aug. 2. I had my eye dialated for the first time. My doctor saw something on my right eye that he said was a mass and pretty much felt like it was cancer that had spread to my eye. He made arrangements for me to go straight to a retina specialist that day. Robert came an picked me up and we headed over to his office. They did an ultrasound of my eye ball on top of my eyelid. They also took pictures of my eye. After the doctor looked at it he said that he felt 90% sure that it was not cancer but wanted me to go to UCLA to have it checked out as well. I left there feeling good about it , but the feeling didn't last long. Something came over me that made me feel that he wasn't telling me the truth that he felt it was not cancer. What they were looking for was a condition called choroidal metastesis that is common in breast cancer. My oncologist was taking her son to college so I was not in contact with her during this time. I did have an MRI the next day and the nurse called me from my oncologists office that same day ( she knew I was not doing well with this) to tell me that nothing showed up on the MRI....I felt much better. So now we had to head to UCLA. My appointment is Aug. 17. I am usually the one that gets everything organized, the hotel and things that need to be taken care of but I couldn't seem to get it together. Robert took care of everything and he booked a room in Santa Monica across from the ocean. We were going to try and have a little fun. We let the kids stay home by themselves since we were only going to be gone one night. We drove to LA on Wed. afternoon and on the way there my oncologist called. She just wanted to check on me and she told me that it is rare for the cancer to go to the eye without going to a major organ first and that she would be very suprised if it was truly a metastesis. She put me at ease and I wished I had talked to her a week earlier! Robert and I went to the pier in Santa Monica and walked around, had cotton candy and play skee-ball..used to be my favorite and I would win stuff but I seem to have lost my touch. We then walked on the 3rd Street Prominade which is downtown and has shops and restaurants. We probably walked for 3 or 4 hours. When we got back to the room I said, "Robert, do you realize what I have done!! I walked all that time and never had to sit and rest!!!" I just felt wonderful. My appointment was for 9:15 on thurs. but I realized that they pretty much bring everyone in and get to you whenever. So we were there unitl 4:30. Right at traffic time!! Well, they dialated my eyes and looked at the area of concern. It is a 4mm area on my right eye. I have to look hard to the left for them to see it. They put numbing drops in my eye and take an ultrasound on my eyeball itself. When we see the doctor she says that it has no characteristics of an eye cancer and that it could have been there since I was born. Since I have not had an eye exam before there is nothing to compare it to. So, I feel much better now. We are going back Nov. 16 and they will take more pictures and compare to see if there is any changes. I have not had anymore headaches since that time either. I think that it was caused by hormones that are probably coming back since I am done with the chemo. What is funny too is that I have 20/15 vision in my eye that has the spot on it. I am a little blurry in my left eye though. It is 20/30. I knew that eye was getting blurry becuse I went to get my driver's license renewed and when I had to cover my right eye the left was blurry and I had a hard time reading. I didn't know it was messed up before then.
So I have that somewhat behind me. I had my check up with Dr. Allison and we have decided to forgo the ovary and uterus removal for now. She said that I didn't need it right now on top of the eye situation and I am not sure if I want the life long side effects of a hysterectomy. I can't take replacement hormones. I have switched to all natural meats and organic milk and anything else that has added hormones to try to keep the estrogen out of my body. I have herceptin until January and I assume I will start tamoxefen at that time. I do not wear my wig anymore. I get a lot of compliments on my hair actually. It is really curly. I have no bangs which drives me crazy because I have always had them. I just put gel in my hair and go!! I am going to get Robert to take a picture and I will post it this week. I am at work before he gets home for most of this week. I am working my regular schedule again. I can feel the strength and energy coming back. Overall I feel pretty good!! I can't believe that this week it will be a year from my first surgery. Not everyone at work knows about my situation--there are alot of us working different hotels. Last night a guy said, "you used to have long hair, when did you cut your hair?" I said, "Oh, about a year ago!!"

Finished With Radiation!

Friday, July 7: Well, it has been a very long time since I have updated. I have stuggled with keeping up with the things that take my concentration for a long time. I feel like I am getting back to normal though. I can finally read a book and I have read a few here lately. Radiation went well and seemed to fly by. I did get some redness and itchiness to the radiated area but I did get some prescription cream and that helped a lot. I am now only doing the herceptin every three weeks. That takes about 30 minutes to administer so it is not a big deal at all. I went to my family doctor for a check up and my blood pressure was really low. So much so that when I breathed deeply I would get dizzy. I was also getting lightheaded and dizzy at other times as well. I didn't know if it had to do with radiation or what. I was getting a little concerned and was thinking about asking for an MRI. We cut my BP meds to a half a pill and was told to come back in 3 weeks. At that time my blood pressure was still in the low normal range so I went off of it completely. I am now only on medicine for heartburn caused by chemo. I have tried to go off of this but I still get indigestion really bad so I haven't gotten off that one yet. All of my dizziness and lightheadedness went away and that gives me such a relief. The only issues that I have coming up is a doctors appointment with a new gynocologist on the 17th. I am going to discuss with her about getting my ovaries removed. Ovaries are the main producer of estrogen and I need as little of that as possible since the cancer was hormone positive. In my research I have found that removing the ovaries gives you a 50% increase of the cancer not coming back. Chemotherapy gave me a 13% so I figured if chemo was 13% then I should surely do the treatment that would add on another 50%. I also have my echo at the end of this month to make sure the herceptin is not harming my heart.
I feel like I have emerged from my "ugly period" in the last few weeks. My hair is continueing to grow. I got my first hair cut to shape it a little bit. I still will not go without the wig though. I colored it myself and I colored it red because Robert wanted me to. He likes it but everybody else..the kids and me..thinks it is hideous. My eyebrows have grown back and they are darker than they were. Not too happy about that. They need to be shaped but the girl who waxes Allisons said to wait a little longer to make sure they are all in. I love my eyelashes. They are longer and it seems that I have a lot more than I did before chemo. I know that my bottom lashes are longer and thicker. I have joined a gym and I am starting to work out to get off the weight that the steriods put on. You would think that after the steroids were over then it would come off but that does not seem to be the case. I have started working again. I can work up to about 3 shifts a week and was doing really well and then I had a speed rack run over my foot. These are tall, (taller than me..which is why the person pushing it couldn't see me and ran me over) metal carts that hold about 15 trays on each side. It hit the back of my heel and then my foot went under the cart, twisting really bad. I couldn't work the rest of the night and was taken to a medical facility by Bellagio. I was out of work for 3 weeks trying to let it heal. It is still sore and I have to wear an ankle brace at times and definitely when I am working. I haven't worked very much since then. This is the slow time for us and there is usually only about 1, maybe 2 shifts a week anyway. So that is about it. I am glad that I don't have all the radiation and weekly chemo going on and have returned to a more normal life!

On To Radiation!

Thursday, May 4: I have already started radiation. Last week I had an appointment with the radiologist. He is in the same building as my oncologist. He told me that I will be doing 6 weeks of radiation. The first 5 weeks will be radiating tissue of the whole breast and lymph node area and the last week will be aimed only at the site where the mass was. I went for a CAT scan a few days later. They use this to map out where to send the radiation. They try their best to keep away from the heart and lungs. I did not know this until I went for my doctor visit but they put permanent tatoos (4 of them) on your body. They use these as a guide so you will be in the same position each time. They are about the size of a freckle and will not be very noticable. I don't think. On Tuesday, I went back in and had xrays. They double checked the information that had been gathered so far and made sure that everything was in the correct position. I started radiation yesterday. It is very simple. I go to the office and change into a gown. They will call me back, position me to the coordinates and it literally takes about 2 to 3 minutes for the radiation to be administered. The machine moves to the right of me and you can hear a whirrr sound for about 30 seconds and then it moves to the left and whirrrs for about another 30 seconds and that is it!! Some precautions that I have to take are; I cannot wear deoderant, no hottubs or hot showers or baths, no swimming or suntanning, don't wash with soap on the breast or underarm, no bras with underwire. In 2 to 3 weeks my skin (only on the breast) could get red and sunburned looking and painful. Radiation can cause fatigue also. I have had 2 sessions so far. Twenty eight more to go!!
I haven't mentioned my hair in a a while. My hair started growing back after the AC treatment. I was expecting it to fall out again once I started the Taxol, because that is what everyone said. But mine never fell out. So I have about an inch and a half so far. It is curly. I can make a duck tail in the back! For me though, it is not long enough to wear out in public. It is also a "non color". That is what I call it. I guess the chemo can destroy the pigment and it takes a little while for the real color to come back in. I hope it doesn't take long! It is a whitish, brown sort of something. Anyway, I can't chemically color it for 6 more months but I have heard of some natural stuff I can use. I don't have much for eyebrows and I use a brow pencil to give me some eyebrows. I wish they would grow back in a little faster.
We are looking forward to all the company coming to see us this summer. I should finish all my radiation by the middle of June. Then I will only have herceptin once every 3 weeks. I can't wait!

One More To Go!!

Monday, April 14: Only one more to go!! I will have my last chemo treatment on wednesday. I am so glad because I haven't felt as good towards the end. I don't know if they are sort of building up in my system but I definately have not felt as good. I get tired easier and am more achy. I have had some tingling and numbness in my hands. My red blood and white blood cells are great though. I saw the doctor last wed. and we discussed the next course of treatment. I will stay on herceptin for 9 more months and I will take that intraveneously once every three weeks. I have to count that out on a calendar to see how that is going to play out for Christmas! I will begin radiation here shortly. I will go for 6 weeks, five days a week. I takes about 15 minutes from what I hear. I got my results back form the genetic testing. They were the brca 1 and 2 gene that they can test for to see if you carry a gene that makes you more at risk for breast cancer and can be passed to your children. I tested negative, which I really expected since there is none in my family. I did discuss with my oncologist about having a double mastectomy to reduce risk for a recurrence and she said that medically it would not. She did bring up the option of having my ovaries removed. Since I am hormone positive, removing the ovaries would stop the production of estrogen and I could be put on a newer drug instead of tamoxefen. Tamoxefen is given for 5 years to hormone positive cancers and it is for premenopausal women. A new drug, arimedex, is the same type of drug but for postmenapausal women. It is a slightly better drug with fewer side effects. It is a new drug that I think has been used only in the past few years. So I may think about this. I had read about it so I know that it is being done. I have gone organic on a lot of my foods. I also think that it is important with Allison as well. My oncologist said that years ago she would have "poo-pooed" the idea that the injecting of growth hormones had anything to do with breast cancer but now she said that they are really looking into it and how it is affecting our children. It is more expensive but it is becoming more popular and I have found things like milk, butter and ground beef at walmart superstore. We just had a Whole Foods open a block from the house. They are really expensive but you can pick and choose and find some things that aren't so bad. Thay have their own brands so I found that butter and a few other things are cheaper. I have to watch my estrogen intake and I can't eat things like soy that your body turns into estrogen. So I thought if I can't eat soy then what about all the estrogen they are injecting in the meat!! My surgeon made the comment that it was our meats that was the cause of a lot of these breast cancers. So I just feel like it is better to be safe than sorry. That is all I know right now! I am waiting to get my appointment with the radiologist to begin treatment. I know that it will not start for another 2 weeks probably. I will check back in with you then!

Five More To Go!!

Tuesday, March 21: I can't believe that it has been a month since I posted anything! It sure has gone by fast. I thought that when I had 12 treatments of taxol that it would go by so slowly but it is just flying by. As far as the treatments go, I have been handling them pretty well. I have the treatments on Wednesdays and I know on Sundays that I am going to get flu-like aches and pains. I usually try to take it easy that day. If I do go out or anything, I know that it will make it worse. I had to get a shot to increase my red blood cell count 2 treatments ago. The nurse said that I may have to get it again during tomorrows treatment. I really don't think that I need it. The day they gave it to me I asked for a copy of my labs and my hemoglobin and red blood cell count were just below normal. And there were other weeks that it had been lower. I am going to question the doctor about this tomorrow. I would rather not have it if I don't need it. It is expensive and it causes more aches amd pains in my body over the weekend. Jason and I went on our trip to Tennessee! We flew out in the morning of March 2. It was the day after chemo and I didn't sleep well the night before. Robert was really worried about me because after we flew into Nashville I had to drive 2 hours to Chattanooga. I only had about 3 hours sleep. Our flight was great into Nashville. We got our car and headed to Chattanooga. We were going to meet Alyssa and her family for dinner. We were the first people to arrive, most everyone was coming in on Friday. We got there okay. Didn't get lost, which I usually have trouble with. But by the time we got in our room and waiting for Alyssa, I was worn out. Alyssa took Jason with them and I went straight to bed. I don't even remember talking to Alyssa, I was that tired. She brought Jason back later that night. During the day on Friday I rested. Jason went to Alec's (Jason's friend--it was his bar mitsvah) school and ate lunch with him. We had a dinner to go to that night. We went to the dinner and then to see Alyssa's house. It was a short evening and that was good for me. Saturday morning was the ceremony for Alec to be called to the Torah. It was 2 hours long. It gave a Catholic ceremony a run for its money. Everything was in Hebrew. It was great to experience something different. They had a buffet luncheon at the Temple afterwards. I then went back to the hotel and took a nap while some friends that were from Vegas took Jason with them to the aquarium. We had a big reception, dinner and dance at the hotel that night. We had a lot of fun at the dance and I was able to stay out until 12:30!!! Jason stayed with Alec and a bunch of boys in the suite with his parents and stayed up all night. Sunday morning we ate at the buffet breakfast there at the hotel and headed back to Nashville. I got lost...not my fault. Google maps said to take I24 North exit and it was I24 SOUTH!!! I went 30 minutes out of the way before I figured something had to be wrong. I got back on track and Robert knew someone from church that was from Tenn. and they told me how to take a short cut to the airport. We made it home and I was happy to be there in my own bed!! I was exhausted the next 2 days. I sat and did nothing. I think it took me a week to unpack. Anyway, we really had a good time and I am glad that I went. I am so thankful that things went well...because the next weekend I got sick. I started feeling a sore throat on Friday morning. I was achy all that day. Felt a little better on Sat. But on Sunday I had a fever 99.4--not too high but I was concerned since this was the third day. My body was in so much pain and I was so uncomfortable. I called the oncologist on call thinking that he would just call me in an antibiotic. He wanted me to come to the hospital and get my labs drawn and make sure I had enough white blood cells to fight whatever I had. Robert was at church already so I called Kit to take me to the hospital. She said that I walked like an old lady. It hurt to move any part of my body. I was just praying that my WBC were high enough because I didnot want to be put in isolation in the hospital. Finally after a couple of hours the doctor came in and told us that my WBC were in the normal range and I could go home! He did give me some antibiotics and after taking one pill I felt better by the end of Sunday night. Other than these two activities everything else has been pretty normal. I worked about an average of one shift per week in February. I work this thursday. I am kind of nervous about it because I don't usually sleep well after a treatment. My oncologist gave me some ambien to try last week. I am given a steroid in my pre-med pack before taxol. It keeps me awake and makes my mind race and go crazy. I tell Robert that my mind is going mad. It was driving me crazy. I told the doctor I could handle not sleeping but I could not handle my mind. About an hour after she called in some ambien there were reports all over the internet and news how people sleep walk, sleep eat, sleep drive on this stuff!!They interveiwed a woman that took the pill at 8pm, woke up her kids at 12 midnight, put them in her car and took them took school. All in her sleep. She ran into a light pole. I am a firm believer in signs and I thought "wow, should I take this now???" I ended up taking half of one to see how it would affect me (and I hid the keys). I was up until 5:00am. Slept and hour and a half...My mind didn't race though! So that is where I am at now. Tomorrow is treatment number 8. I still have not found out about the brac 1 and 2 tests yet. I assume I will find out tomorrow. Happy first day of Spring!

The Second and Third Taxol

Tuesday, Feb 22: I have had two more chemo treatments since I last wrote and I have another tomorrow. When you have them done every week, they sure do come around often!! I have not had anymore reactions from the taxol or herceptin like I did on the first one. I remembered the doctor told me the first dose of herceptin was a higher dose than the next ones that I will be taking for 11 weeks. Now, it takes the herceptin 30 minutes to go in and the taxol one hour. I am usually there about 3 hours. I can't remember if I mentioned in previous blogs but I also had some genetic counseling. I have sent a sample to be tested for the brca 1 and brca2 gene. These are hereditary genes that have been discovered and can be passed on. If one of them comes back positive then there will be a very high chance that this will return so I have to make some decisions about preventing that. I will go into more of that if they do come back positive. I don't think they will just because there are no other cases of breast, ovarian or prostate in my family. Those three are related to these genes. Anyway, Allen Lampert came in last weekend for a visit and we really had a good time. We went to see Penn and Teller, which was very funny and they had a few tricks that we could not figure out! I am feeling pretty good. I tend to get tired on Saturdays and Sundays after treatment. I have actually taken two shifts at work this week. I work a short shift tonight and a lunch shift this Saturday, both at the Four Seasons. I think it does me some good. Other than that, there has not been much going on. Jason and I are heading for Chattanooga, Tenn. on March 2-5 for his friend Alec's Bar Mitzvah. I know some of you might remember me talking about Alyssa from here. She was one of the first people I met out here and they moved for business reasons last summer. Jason and I are flying into Nashville and then we have to drive 2 hours to Chattanooga. There is a whole weekend of festivities going on. We are getting there a day early so I can rest up and take it easy. I am headed out now to get a compression sleeve made for my left arm. This is the one that I had lymph nodes taken out. One time when I worked, my left arm swelled a little so my doctor said that this would help. She also said that it is recommended for plane rides. My white blood and red blood cells are staying just below normal. I don't have to take the neulasta shot anymore. I still use a lot of purell and I don't touch stair railings or anything else that I think people put there hands on. I am amazed at how well I have stayed. I will update again soon. Robert is back feeling 100%. We still have not found out what type of stone he had. I think he goes back to the doctor in the next week or so.

The First Taxol/Herceptin Treatment

Tuesday, February 7: This has been quite the week. As I said in my last blog, we had a wonderful trip to Brian Head, Utah. We got up to the mountain on Friday night. The place there is beautiful. Our room was really nice. There was a sitting area with a TV and pull-out couch. We brought an aerobed also since the kids don't sleep together. There was a kitchen and a jet tub in the bathroom. Then there was a bedroom with a king bed, tv and fireplace. It was really nice. On Saturday we took the kids snowboarding. We got there at about 10:00. Jason hit the slopes while we rented Allison equiptment. He really surprised me and Robert. He is good for someone who has only been once! He is very natural at it, I think because he skateboards so much. Allison had a harder time. Robert ended up getting her lessons to help her out. She went snowboarding years ago but I think you forget if you don't go often. We might try to go to Mt. Charleston before the ski season ends. I did very good! I stayed almost all day. I went in at about 3:45 to rest before everyone came in. It was the weekend I was hoping for; a normal, fun time with the family were nothing revolved around doctors and treatments. Hardly any thought of the "C". Then came Sunday morning. I awoke at about 6:45. Robert was already up and in tremendous pain. His lower back was killing him and he could hardly stand the pain. We were pretty sure it was a kidney stone. Robert started throwing up from the pain so we called an ambulance to take him to Ceder City to an emergency room. It was a 30 minute drive back down the mountain. They gave him 8 mg of morphine and it didn't help him at all. They did a CAT scan and sure enough, a kidney stone still in his kidney. So me and the kids pack everything up and head down the mountain. They drugged him up for the ride home (about 3 hours to Las Vegas). He had some percocet that knocked him OUT! I thought for sure he would pass it by Wednesday, chemo day, but he hadn't. Kit took me to chemo for my first treatment of taxol. I started off with the herceptin. It takes an hour and a half, which they may speed up once I get used to it. During the herceptin, I got so cold. I had 2 blankets on me and I was shivering so much. It is in the 70's here so it is not like the weather is cold out. After the herceptin and before the taxol they took my vital signs. My temperature was 100.7. It was 97 when I came in. They went ahead and gave me the taxol and monitered my temp throughout. It was still 100.5 by the end of the taxol. They gave me tylenol and kept me for 45 more minutes and checked it again. It was 100.6. So they sent me back to the doctor. They take anything serious over 100.4. If my temp ever gets to that point I am supposed to call them immediatly. Now, I am thinking that this has got to do with something they have given me which is what they confirm. My doctor is gone but the doctor that I see thinks it is the herceptin. He tells me I can go home but to take my temp and if it has not returned to normal by 9pm to start on antibiotics and see them first thing in the morning. It is 4:00 and I am wiped out. They give you a lot of benadryl and it really knocks you out. I just wanted to go home and go to bed. Robert is home still trying to pass that stone. I tried to get him to go back to the ER. I even called and they were backed up for 3 hours so we did n't go to the hospital. He woke me at 4:30am on Thursday in pain. I was never able to get back to sleep, so I took Jason to school and came home to try and get some sleep. Then here comes Robert, ready to go to the ER. So I get up and we head to the ER. They do another CT scan. It is now in his urethra right in front of his bladder. We tell the ER doctor that he needs some different pain meds because the other is knocking him out and keeping him from eating and drinking and he gives him some stuff called dillaudin. We are at the ER until after lunch. The kids get home, homework, dinner and all that stuff goes on so I never get to take a nap. Well, the dillaudin was worse than the percecet and it makes Robert sick. I go sleep in the other room to try and get some sleep. Robert wakes me up at 2:00am for percocet. I had left it in my purse and he couldn't find it. I can't go back to sleep until 5 am. I get Jason off to school and have to get him packed for a trip back to Utah with his friend, Joey. And then I take Robert to the urologist. He has an office a block from the house but no, we can't get into that office, we have to drive clear across Las Vegas to a different office. He gives him a medicine that relaxes the urethra to help the stone pass. We get home in the afternoon. I have to pick up Allison from work and take care of dinner. (Take out again, as it has been all week and I am not exaggerating.) About 7:30 pm my body hits a brick wall. I have no more strength or energy. Allison stayed home to take care of me and her dad. She had her boyfriend over and told us just to call her on her cell and she would bring up whatever we needed. I ended up sleeping in Jason's bed to try and sleep through the night. I was asleep by 9pm. When I awaken on Saturday, we had a new addition to the family. At 4:00 am Robert passed a fraction of an ounce, 3mm in length, black baby. We are very proud. I stayed in my pajamas all day and did NOTHING. We even ordered out AGAIN! Those restaurant gifts cards from Christmas really came in handy! So, we made it throught the week. Robert stayed in all weekend because he was in a medicine fog from so much meds . I worked my first shift at Bellagio today. I worked a really easy lunch shift and held up well. I will probably only do lunch shifts for a while. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a while and they commented on how they can't believe how good I look. Most didn't know that my hair was a wig until I told them. I have another treatment tomorrow. I hope I don't get the shakes and temp like last time. They don't think that I should. Oh yeah, I also have about a fourth inch of peach fuzz on my head. I look like a baby. I don't know if it will keep on growing or fall out. I have heard that both can happen. I also have lost about half my eyebrows and half my eyelashes. I just draw my eyebrows in a little and I can still wear mascara on my top lashes. It doesn't look too bad. Everyone keep praying and I appreciate all the support!

The Fourth AC and Lab Results

Wednesday, January 11: This is my last AC treatment!!!! Robert went with me this time because we had questions for the doctor for the next course of treatment. I will begin taxol and herceptin on Feb. 1. Sometimes they start treatment 2 weeks after the AC but because my white blood cells drop low they are going to wait 3 weeks for me. I did fairly well again. I felt pretty good for the next 2 days after treatment and I thought that maybe I would not have any reaction at all...but sadly that is not the case. It hit me on saturday and sunday. My stomach felt awful and I had no appetite. Everything tasted terrible and nothing sounded good to eat. When I woke up on monday, I was so weak. I had no energy and getting up the stairs was difficult. I thought maybe my red blood cells (a drop in those causes anemia and fatigue) dropped significantly. I also knew that I had not eaten very well in the past few days. So I ate better and took my vitamin and I felt much better my the end of the day. I have labs drawn on the 20th so I will be able to tell about the red blood cells then. I seemed to have taken a longer time than normal to regain my appetite this time. In the times past, I really had a lack of appetite but I could always find something to eat. This time I just didn't want to eat at all. It probably took a full 2 weeks before I wanted any food. And nothing tastes right either. That is still bothering me a little bit now. I did get mouth sores really bad this time. In the first 3 treatments I put ice chips in my mouth as they were injecting the adriamycin. I think one time I got 1 or 2 mouth sores but they were not bad. I was talking to Robert when the nurse, who was new and did not say anything about the ice chips, started injecting the adriamycin. About half way through I realized that I had forgotten and put ice in, but it was too late. I got horrible mouth sores, about 8 down the left side of my tongue. That kept me from eating too. The pain was horrible anytime my tongue hit my teeth. I am glad that is over with!!
Friday, January 20: Last night was horrible. I was up in pain all night. I didn't sleep a wink. I had terrible chest pain and pain right below my sternum. I almost went to the hospital because the pain was so bad. I also did not like that I had so much pain in the middle of my chest. I knew that I had an appointment at the oncologists for labs so I just held on until then. They drew blood for labs and I told them about my night. They said that I was constipated! I have never been constipated (that is a side effect of chemo) before, but WOW! how painful!
they gave me some prescription meds for it and I now eat a little bit of bran cereal in the morning to help. I don't EVER want to feel like that again. That was really worse than how I felt after chemo. My labs were great though. My white and red blood cells were only a little below normal and the doctor was happy about that. So, I start 12 weeks of taxol beginning Feb 1. I will get herceptin at the same time for those 12 weeks. After the 12 weeks are over, I will continue the herceptin once every 3 weeks for 9 more months. I get the herceptin for a total of a year. I have a heart echo on Jan 26th to see if there was any damage from the chemo. The only major side effect from herceptin is heart damage so I will be given a heart echo every 3 months. If they see any damage then I will stop the herceptin and the doctor said the heart will repair itself from the damage. Well, I hope so!! JoAnna, my sister-in-law, got us a room for the weekend of the 27th to go to Brian Head, Utah. I am so excited to be getting away. This is a great way to mark the end of the AC chemo. The kids are going snowboarding. Robert wants to learn to ski again, but he decided not to this time. I am not going to, of course, but I would like to ski or snowboard again as well. I used to ski a lot as a teenager. I might try to take up snowboarding. It looks like so much fun. I love going places!!

The Third AC and Lab Results

Friday, December 30, 2005: I had my third AC treatment back on December 20. I did take the atavan this time, but they gave me half the dose. I liked that much better. I did my treatment on Tuesday so that maybe I will feel good for Christmas. The treatment went well. I don't have much of a problem with mouth sores but I do have them occasionally. I put ice chips in my mouth while the nurse injected the adriamycin and I didn't get any this time. Really strange how that works, but they say that it can. After treatment, I went home and took a long nap. Jason was at home to watch over me and Robert usually tries to come home from work early on those days. For the first 2 treatments I always felt good the next day, but this time I felt yucky on Wednesday. I had no appetite whatsoever on Wed. or Thursday. I think I just ate toast, toast with a little jelly and toast again. Oh yea, and Lucky Charms cereal (!?). On Thursday night I wanted some good brocolli cheese soup from Panera Bread that we had while mom and Larry were here. Boy, it sounded so good to me. It was late at night so Robert fixed me some from Campbells--not the same. It had a metallic taste to it (a side effect) and I don't know if I will be able to eat again. They say to not eat any of your favorite foods right after chemo because you might get sick, or it taste funny and you can develop an aversion to it. Anyway, I did pretty good this time. I started feeling better on Friday and ate more normal foods. I don't have a strong appetite for about a week after chemo. I always seem to loose a few pounds in the first week and a half after chemo, but regain my appetite and put them back on in the second week and a half before my next treatment. We went over to my dad's for Christmas Eve. We have started doing appetizers instead of the traditional meal since we just did it at Thanksgiving. Then the four of us went to eat at a place called Kennedy for Christmas night. I really enjoyed it. Since school started, it has been really hectic and even though we eat together a lot as a family it is often rushed and hurried. The four of us ate together and had a really good and relaxing time. I have had a great week this past week. I started to feel a little more fatigued than usual on the 27th and the 28th. Then I had my labs done on the 29th. My red blood cell count went down below normal for the first time. A drop in red blood cells causes anemia and this causes fatigue. It is not in the danger zone so I don't have to take any shots to try and raise it like I do the white blood cells. My white blood cells were low but it is the first time that I haven't had to be put on antibiotics and given the " no fresh fruits and vegies, no buffet etc." speech. My WBC count is 3.0 and if it is lower than 3.0 then they put you on antibiotics. I can't imagine what my white blood cell count would be if it weren't for neulasta. If it is in the 2.5-3.0 with neulasta than I suspect it would be really low without it and that could have meant a lot of quarentines for me. My fourth and LAST AC treatment is on Jan. 11. I am so excited for this part to be over. Since I have already had a little bit of taxol treatment, I know that the side effects will be mild compared to this. Oh yea, funny story. Another side effect of chemo is that is puts you into menopause. I was burning up on Monday. I didn't have a hot flash, I had a hot hour. I couldn't get cooled down. I wanted to take Allison to work and go over to Pottery Barn to check out their sales. It has been warm here but we had strong winds that day. I put on shorts and a tshirt and headed out. When I got the Pottery Barn at the District, everyone was in jackets and sweaters, sweatsuits. I was just beginning to get comfortable! People were looking at me like I was nuts. I was so out of place I just went home. They only had Christmas stuff marked down 30% anyway! Everyone please have a SAFE and HAPPY NEW YEAR! We have no plans yet. We tend to not make plans until the last minute since I have no idea how I will feel. Robert is picking up a prime rib from the butchers today though. YUM!

The Second AC

Monday, December19: Boy, I can't believe the last three weeks have flown by! I will have my third treatment tomorrow and I haven't even updated from the last one! I guess it went by so fast because I haven't been feeling very good. I had my last chemo on Wed. Nov. 30th. I did not have the atavan (the stuff that put me to sleep) this time because I wanted to try and go to Allison's dance show at school. Well, I think I like the atavan. I didn't feel good the rest of the day and couldn't go to her show anyway. I would rather sleep through the day than to feel yucky. I was not nauseous, just yucky feeling. I felt better on Thursday and went to see Allison on that day. ( She was awsome up on stage) I started feeling bad on Friday again, just like last time. I stayed home. I never got sick, just a yucky feeling all over my body. I also had a shot of neulasta in my arm. My arm got hard at the site of the injection. Then Saturday, I felt awful. I took a lortab thinking that would make my body feel better. I didn't realize that my regular doctor increased the milligrams from 5 mg to 7.5mg. I think I over medicated and I was so nauseous. The neulasta also causes pain in your bones. I felt it in my spine and lower back on Friday and Saturday. It was not as bad as what I was expecting. I guess I always think the worst and then it turns out not to be too bad. Mom and Larry were coming in that night and I thought for sure I would feel terrible. But, about when it was time for the lortab to start wearing off I started feeling better and was able to eat, which helped out a lot. By the time mom and Larry got here in the evening I was feeling almost normal. But than came Sunday morning. I started coughing and coughed all day every few minutes. It was a dry cough that really bothered my throat. I called the oncologists office in the afternoon and the doctor on call told me to try robitussin. I slept well through the night but it really didn't help my cough too much. By the end of Monday my chest and throat hurt from coughing so I called the oncologist and they told me to come in Tuesday morning to see the doctor and to check my labs. They called in an antibiotic for me to go ahead and start. Dr. Allison is at another office on Tuesdays so I saw her nurse practitioner. She said my labs were not too bad. My white blood cell count was 2.9. I did not have a fever and my chest sounded fine. She gave me some robitussin with codeine to help me sleep because I didn't sleep the night before. (That didn't help that much either.) I got the same advice as the last time: no fresh fruits or vegies, no buffets, stay way from sick people. I was sick the whole time mom and Larry were here. I lost my voice and my throat was just horribly raw. The mouth sores on top of a sore throat were so painful. I finally started to feel a little better on Friday. Which I was glad because I was going to call the doctor back if I didn't. I just couldn't go all weekend with the way I was feeling. We all went to Jason s football game on Saturday and I guess that messed me up again because I started feeling really bad. You know what a big mouth I have and I think I probably yelled, accidentally, a few times during the game. ( they won their game, making it an undefeated season. They played in the championship game winning 48-0) That made my throat flare up again where I couldn't hardly swallow. I spent all day Sunday hardly speaking again because my throat was so sore. Mom and Larry left early Monday morning and we really didn't get to do anything all week because of my cold. Mom cooked almost every night. I felt better on Sunday night and we did head out to Claimjumper for dinner. (Love their prime rib!! Although, I think mine was undercooked that night. Allison ate some of mine and we both had upset stomachs the next day and had to take imodium AD) I kept my sore throat and congestion for the rest of the week. My throat finally started feeling better Saturday, two weeks after it started. The white blood cells bottom out on day 10 after chemo. After a few days they start to rise on the own so I think that that finally gave me enough to fight whatever I had going on. Just in time for another round of chemo!

The Lab Tests

Tuesday, Nov.29: I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We went over to Dad and Dians, ate lunch and watched the football games. Allison is redoing her bedroom, so we painted her room over the weekend. She did all the hard parts and I slowly did the trim. I have some joint pain and muscle pain in my legs and have been moving slowly the past week. It really hurts to go up and down stairs. That really is not a side effect of the AC, but it is for Taxol ( the one that I took for 4 weeks). I go to the doctor tomorrow so I will mention it to her. I take a half of a lortab if it gets too bad. Anyway, I have handled the first AC treatment surprisingly well. I never did have any nausea. I felt great during the first and second week and this third week, I felt good besides the leg pain. I did have to go for lab work on the 18th. I have to go for labs 10 days after my treatment. My white blood cell count went down lower than what they would like to see after a first treatment. My count was 5.5 prior to chemo. It dropped to 1.9. Not too good. They put me on antibiotics for 7 days and told me not to go around a lot of people. No buffets and no uncooked fruits and vegetables. The doctor said that there are germs on fresh foods that cannot be washed off. I just stayed in all weekend to be safe. We had plans to go to dinner with 3 other couples and see the show "Avenue Q" at Wynn on Monday night and we went ahead and did that. I go through a lot of purell! We all got free tickets to Avenue Q and Le Reve for opening the hotel. Robert and I went to see Le Reve last night. I have my next treatment tomorrow. I also will have to have a shot of a new drug called "neulasta" before my chemo treatment. It will make my body produce white blood cells. It also gives bone pain, so I have been told to plan on taking it easy for the first few days after the shot. It will go perfect with my muscle pain! I will have to go back in 10 days on Dec. 9 for lab work to check the white and red blood cells again. I also had to go on medicine for high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a side effect for avastin (the drug I was never supposed to be on) and mine has been too high for too long not to do something about it. So, I have to take a blood pressure drug called prinivil everyday. Overall, I am able to do about anything that I would normally do. I have to watch how active I am. I will still get really tired if I do a lot in one day. I can only run errands for about 1 and a half to 2 hours and then I am ready to rest. I have done almost all of my Christmas shopping though! Only two more people to buy for...and Jason..I don't know what to get him. I did stand in line at Best Buy for an Xbox360 and they ran out about 10 people ahead of me. I wasn't surprised. I ran into a girl I work with and she spent the night there. I showed up 10 minutes before the door opened. oh well....Wish me luck and prayers with my next treatment. Kit is going with me...I am NOT taking atavan this time. I am hoping to be well enough to see Allison's dance show at the school that night. I do not have the time to sleep for 24 hours!!

The Up-date

Wednesday, November 16: This past week has not been too bad. I had chemo last Wednesday. I felt fine on Thursday. Even did a little shopping. I ate small amounts of food, kind of nibbled all day. Friday my stomach didn't feel so good. I wasn't nauseous and didn't feel like I was going to throw up but I had an empty, hollow feeling in my stomach. I kept eating all day. Small amounts. Then for dinner I was complaining that I just don't know what I felt like eating, and then it hit me. I told Robert I want prime rib and mashed potatoes from Claimjumpers. He went and got it for me and I felt much better. We split a 24 ounce prime rib and had enough left over for sandwhiches the next day. Yumm! At dinner, Jason started complaining that he didn't feel well. His temperature slowly rose throughout the night and he complained of chills, aches and a sore throat. I can't get anywhere near anyone that is sick so Robert had to take care of him. It was a weird virus because it topped out at 100.5 and then when he woke in the morning, his temp started to go down and was gone by the afternoon. I was so glad, I thought it might be the flu. I stayed home Sat. and Sun. because I didn't know what to expect from the chemo but I did okay those days. I hear the third and fourth treatment are the ones that are hard. My hair is still slowly falling out, but I am still wearing my baseball cap. Allison and I are going to a "look good, feel good" class tonight at the oncologists office. Here, they teach you how to take care of your skin, put on make up, draw in eyebrows etc. I haven't lost any eyelashes or eyebrows yet. It ought to be informative.

The First AC Treatment

Wednesday, Novembwe 9: Well, we have decided to go with Dr. Allison. I had a chemo class there at the office. We watched a video on the do's and don'ts when you are on chemo. The oncology nurse goes over what each persons course of treatment will be and what to expect. It lasted about an hour. They also told me that on mondays there is a person that comes in to give complimentary massage and on tuesdays there is a dietician that comes in and you can go see her. Might have to take advantage of the massage! I am scheduled for my first AC treatment. I spent the weekend before hand getting ready for the harder treatment. We got the house really clean and I went to Sam's Club and stocked up on a lot of items. Probably all unneccessary, but it made me feel better. Nothing like having toilet paper and kleenex for the next 6 months. On Sunday the 6th, my hair started coming out. Not much, just a little bit. I was kinda surprised. I was led to believe that it would not come out on the taxol. ( again, this was by Dr. Maity who we now know is stupid) But then on Monday--it really came out. I bet I lost about 60% by the end of the day. I had gone shopping with Kit to find something to wear on my head. I have a tiny head and I can't wear adult stuff. I thought the GAP might have something cute. I ended up buying some winter tobaggan type hats there. They are ok. I found a nike baseball cap at Kohls and that is my favorite. I thought that I would lose all my hair by the end of last week, but some is still hanging on. I can still wear my baseball cap. If I were to go out to dinner or work I would have to wear a wig though. As of today, I probably only have about 15% of my hair left. I would be surprised if it didn't fall out by this weekend. They say that with adriamycin your hair will fall out in 10 to 14 days.
I am going for my chemo. I had my labs drawn first. If your white blood cell count is too low then you can't have chemo. Mine are fine. Then I went in for a Doctor visit. I saw Dr. Allison's nurse this time. I like her a lot. Her name is Cindy. She did an exam and asked about side effects or anything that was bothering me. At Dr. Maity's she never did any kind of exam. Here, they check my mouth for mouth sores (common chemo side effect.) Press on my stomach, listen to my heart, which is probably a good thing because chemo can damage your heart. I also had my blood pressure checked. It was 178/118. That is really bad. I went on into the chemo room where they were going to check my blood pressure again. It was still high. You know it is funny, I was sitting there thinking,"I hope they are not going to postpone this treatment." I think I would have been really upset if they would not have been able to go ahead that day!! They gave me some medicine to lower my BP, waited an hour and took it again. It was still high so they gave me another pill and it lowered it enough. Cindy went to tell Dr. Allison about my BP and she came in the chemo room to see me. She said, "I am so glad that you chose to come here." She told me to come back the next day and have my blood pressure checked. So, I start the new chemo. The nurse asks me if I would like to have some atavan. This is the same drug that I take to fly, so I am familiar with it. She says it will put me at ease and will help with nausea too. She said that I would be legally impaired and made sure I had a ride home. Kit went with me that day, so, I say "sure!" That stuff knocked me out for 24 hours!!! I watched them put the adriamycin in. It is not dripped in by an IV bag. It is in a big syringe and they inject it into my port. I think it only takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but I was already feeling the effects of the atavan so I don't even know. I remember them hanging the cytoxin and then I was OUT. Slept the whole time. They woke me up to go home. I called Robert on the way home and he decided to come home and watch me to make sure that I didn't have any reactions to the AC. I went home and went to bed. Robert woke me up at 4:00 to tell me he was taking Jason to football. I couldn't believe it was so late. I wanted to get up for a while, but I was so sleepy. I went back to sleep a few hours later and slept until the next morning. I think I will tell the nurse to ease up on the atavan next time.

The Fourth Chemo/Visit to Dr. Allison

Tuesday, Nov. 1: This past week has not been too bad with side effects. I have had a few bloody noses from the avastin. I was tired on Thursday of last week. I was tired on Friday as well but I decided to get out and about and that helped a little. I got the taxol today. I didn't even have any questions for Dr. Maity. Robert took me to chemo and then my friend Barbara drove me home. I always have to take a nap when I get home. Chemo was uneventful. I got home and took a nap so I would be ready to see Dr. Allison at 3:00. Robert came with me to the doctors and I am glad he did. We got an earful.
First off, I got the most thorough check up. Dr. Allison's nurse took a detailed family history. Talked about me and what had been done to me so far. Dr. Allison (this is a woman too, by the way) comes in and tells us that as soon as she saw my treatment plan from Dr. Maity that she wanted to see me immediately. She was flabbergasted that I was being given avastin. She says that this drug is not FDA approved for breast cancer. She asked if I was in a clinical trial (no) and if I had signed anything giving Dr. Maity permission to give this drug to me (no, again). Robert and I are dumbfounded. Dr. Allison said that avastin is in a few clinical trials right now but only for women with advanced breast cancer. She explains that when a drug is first tried it is given to those that are in the worst shape, which is the advanced cases where the cancer has metastesised, spread to other organs. If it shows promise, then eventually it will make it to the early stage breast cancer. But it is always in a clinical trial. Not just given to someone because you want to. So, to sum up the avastin: It is only FDA approved to treat colon and rectal cancer and has never been studied in early stage breast cancer. I call American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute and look on the internet. Everything that Dr. Allison says is true. They tell me at the American Cancer Society that the studies that they are doing right now on the advanced cases are not even showing that much promise. Some women are showing benefits from it and some are not. So what the heck am I doing on avastin??
So, on to the next item. As I have said before, I am Her2 positive. This means that the cancer is a more aggressive type. Dr. Allison can't believe that Dr. Maity's plan does not include herceptin. Herceptin is not a chemo drug. It is a "smart" drug that targets only cancer cells. It targets the Her2 protein, killing it. She said that herceptin is the best thing that has been discovered for breast cancer since tamoxifen. She also says that she would consider it medically unethical to not give me herceptin. Herceptin was all over the news in Oct. but she said that oncologists have known about herceptin since early in the year. Dr. Maity should have known to give this to me. Those are the two main points taken from our meeting with this new oncologist. She spent over 2 hours with us.
Before we leave, Dr. Allison outlines her treatment plan for us to think about. I need to take Adriamycin and cytoxen together (called AC). And I need Taxol and herceptin. Here is where it can get confusing: Herceptin is taken for a year. Herceptin and taxol are taken together. You cannot take adriamycin and herceptin together or it will damage your heart. Hope this is not too confusing: I stop taxol right now after my fourth treatment. Next week I will start AC. ( this is the hard stuff) I will take 4 treatments, once every three weeks. When that is over, I will start up again with taxol and herceptin. Taxol I will take for 8 weeks and herceptin for a year. Which I was just thinking about this morning...I think herceptin is an IV drug as well, if I have to do it every week, I will never get to leave for a vacation!!! I guess I will be doing a lot of weekend trips. Shoot, I am not working, I guess we will be doing a lot of camping!!
So this is our choice. I am definitely done with Dr. Maity. I am going to go with Dr. Allisons new plan. By the way, another positive about leaving. Dr. Maity's office was a 30 minute drive from my house. Dr. Allison is about 10 minutes away, if that. I go back to my surgeon Nov. 14 for another followup visit. She is going to get an earful about Dr. Maity.

The Changing of the Guards

Tues. Nov. 1: I have decided to change oncologists. I didn't mention in my previous updates that I was concerned about the oncologist that I was going to. I didn't want anyone to worry until we had it figured out. It really began the first chemo day. Robert and I went, talked to the Dr. and went to chemo. During the office visit Dr. Maity said that I would be taking Taxol as discussed. When I went to the nurse to start treatment she told me I would be getting avastin as well. I said wait a minute--this has not been mentioned to me by the oncologist. So she explains this drug to me and I go ahead with treatment. I had heard of this drug and that it was being studied. I really didn't like that I had not been told before hand and had the chance to disuss with the doctor. Chemo day #2 was on a Thurs. Kit went with me. I have a notebook I keep questions in to ask. Both Kit and I thought she was contradicting and confusing. Then right before I go in for chemo she wants to offer me a change in my treatment. Stop the Taxol and start the hard stuff (FAC). So I ask her why. Thinking that she is changing it to put me on Herceptin. I can't even understand her explaination but she says she will not put me on herceptin. (herceptin is given to HER2 positive breast cancers like mine) So I tell her no, there is no way I can make that kind of decision without Robert and without me doing research on this. So she says ok. So after I get the taxol, I am still confused and I ask her what my treatment will be after the FAC (I am thinking I will start the Taxol again) and she says "nothing". I ask her what is the chance of recurrence if I only do the FAC and it is very high. I said I will stick with what I am doing then and she says, "Good choice" !!!!!!! Who is the doctor here??? So now, I am just not feeling good about her at all. I get a call out of the blue from a lady that I used to play bunco with. I knew that she had breast cancer and had just finished treatment about a year ago. We are talking and she tells me, "hey, by the way, I love my oncologist and if you are ever unhappy you ought to go see her. Her name is Dr. Allison".....hmmmm. The third chemo is the next day after the phone call. I have already been looking at other places to go but I know I can't stop treatment. I think that Debra calling me is a sign. I haven't seen her in years, but I want another sign that I am supposed to go somewhere else. I am getting my chemo and the lady to the right of me has colon cancer and she is talking about Dr. Maity and how she doesn't like her and that she changes her treatments. The guy to the left of me has lung cancer and I listen in to him talk to his wife and he is not happy about somethings that Dr. Maity has done to him. Then I open the newspaper during my chemo treatment and there is a picture of Dr. Allison. I am out of here.
After the third chemo, I called Dr. Allison's office to see what I needed to do for a consultation. I have to send them my records and then she will look at them and decide if she will see me or not. I have Dr. Maity's office send them my records..and wait....and wait...finally on Monday Oct. 31 they call and say that she will see me tomorrow Nov. 1 at 3:00 YIPPEE!

The Third Chemo

Tuesday, Oct. 25: This past week has not been too bad. I had chemo on Thursday. We had friends come into town Friday night and we went out with them. We stayed out pretty late and I didn't get tired. Saturday night was homecoming night so I knew that Allison would be out late. Two friends were also spending the night with her. Jason ended up having 2 friends spend the night (6 kids--what was I thinking!?!) I was up 'til about 1:30am. I did pretty good though. I rested on Sunday and took it easy. The only side effects I seemed to have is sneezing and runny nose once the benadryl that they give me in my IV wears off. I take more benadryl today and tomorrow and it seems to get better after that. I got the taxol and avastin today. They speed up the time it takes the avastin to go in. It took an hour and a half the first time. This time they said they will put it in in an hour and then the next time 30 minutes. It is the same amount, they just speed up the time it goes into the IV. I am also on prilosec for the heartburn and indigestion and I don't have any problems with that. I didn't feel so out of it this time and was not drowsy on the way home. I did take a nap in the afternoon because a friend gave me 2 tickets to see the Blue Man Group tonight so I am going to try and get rested for that.

The Second Chemo

Thursday, Oct. 20: Kit is going with me to chemo today. I only have the taxol so it should not take as long. I do the usual: take blood to check everything, see the Dr. then off to the chemo room. Everything went fine untl the end when I was hit with the worst heartburn ever. Right at the end of the taxol, the pain was so bad I didn't know if it was heartburn or my heart. I felt bad enough to call the nurse over and she checked my blood pressure and put some little clip on my finger. I think that checks blood oxygen and heart rate. She told me to stand and see if the pain eases up. It did, so much so that I didn't sit back down. It seemed to get worse if I sat down. She watched me for a little while longer and then gave me some prilosec. I took that immediately. I felt horrible on the way home. Kit dropped me off and I went to bed and slept for an hour and a half. I don't even remember the ride home hardly. Allison called me from work in the middle of my nap to let me know that she was there. I mumbled something to her and her boss, who heard the conversation, said, "is your mom drunk?" I was out of it. I guess the benedryl really knocked me out this time. Late in the afternoon I started the sneezing again. I sneezed, had a runny nose and watery eyes. I took more benedryl and that seemed to help. I guess this is a side effect I am going to have. Oh, after I slept in the afternoon I did feel much better and felt back to normal.

The mid-week update

Saturday, Oct. 15: I haven't had any bad side effects yet. I was really tired yesterday. I am keeping a daily treatment log to see if there is any pattern to any side effects I may be having. But so far everything seems to be going well. My oncologist is out of town this week so I will be doing chemo on thursday instead of tuesday. Then I will be going back to the every tuesday schedule. I have figured out that I get tired easily. If I have a lot to do in the morning then I know that I will be tired in the evening. If I have something in the evening then I will take it easy during the day. I have not gone back to work yet. I may think about it in a week or so.

The Chemo

Tuesday, Oct. 11: I have my appointment at 9:30. Robert is there with me. I first have blood drawn from my port. This will be done everytime I come in to check white blood cells and numbers for organs, like liver. If my white blood cell level drops too low then I will have to skip chemo and take shots to raise the levels before I can take the chemo again. Dr. Maity comes in and explains the treatment. I will start with Taxol every week and avastin every other week. Taxol is a chemo drug. The side effects are joint pain and tingling in hands and feet. There can also be nausea, hair loss and a few other things but it is more mild chemo and the side effects aren't as severe. Avastin is not a chemo drug. It interferes with a cancer cells ability to grow vessels to a blood supply. If it is not able to grow these vessels then it will die. So, we get all of our questions answered and go ahead with chemo that day. It takes a much longer time than I had anticipated. It goes like this: They already have a needle in the port from checking my blood so I go into "chemo room" (is what I call it.) There are lounge chairs lined up, 5 on one side 5 on the other. There are tvs with remotes in front of each chair so you can watch tv. The nurse comes over and hooks up a bag of fluids and that goes in. I forgot to mention, they also give a steroid, benadryl and anti-nausea medicine in my IV too. Then they gave me avastin which took an hour and a half to go in. They then gave me taxol, which took an hour to go in. I then get another bag of fluids. The nurse then gives me a syringe of saline followed by heperin to keep my port clean and so it will not clog up. And then I am done! I was finished with my first chemo at about 2:00. I didn't have any side effects while my chemo was going in, but I sneezed all day and night. I even woke myself up sneezing. I also had horrible heartburn. I am going to see if it is a chemo reaction or if I am getting something form Allison, who is sick.