Chemo Four

This is my last one of these 2 drugs (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide). I will have a mammogram and ultrasound in the next week or so to check official measurements and response to chemo. They will compare that to the mammogram and ultrasound I had back on December 23. So I'm praying it shows good response. 

Our usual Cookie Boy is not here today. We have a replacement cookie boy though. So Brian still got his chocolate chip fix. I'm having lemon heads. When they flush my port with saline it gives me an awful taste/smell in the back of my throat. Just thinking about it makes me shudder. I'm trying lemon heads to combat that. But chances are that lemon heads will be dead to me after today so I may have to try something else next time. 

I have found a few vegan, gluten free, organic, no sugar added things that are not terrible to eat in the past couple of weeks. I've also found a few more things that taste like dog food and/or cardboard though so it's still hit or miss. 

I'll see my oncologist again on March 11 then I'll start my first round of my next 2 drugs on March 14. The next regimen is 12 weeks of paclitaxel every week with carboplatin added every 4th week starting week 1. I'm campaigning to get more carboplatin than that. I'm hoping for every 3rd week instead of every 4th. My oncologist said maybe she would do that if my white blood count doesn't tank after the carbo/paclitaxel. I'm just wanting as much as I can get to try and get rid of this cancer for good. Bring on the drugs!

So in the chemo countdown, 4 down, 12 to go! 

In other news, I found out that my pet wig is part Wookie. I got these masks for Timothy's upcoming birthday party and the pet wig just blends right in! 

(Insert Wookie noises here. Not sure how to type those out?!?)

Off-week Update

Just a quick post today. I went in yesterday so my oncologist could check my blood counts after the chemo fiasco on Monday. My white count was great, praise God! She wants me to go back again on Wednesday for another check just to be extra cautious. We're hoping it stays great so my chemo for Monday the 29th will not be affected. 

Also, after the chemo fiasco on Monday, I sent a letter to the hospital and I have spoken with several people there on a more executive level. I feel confident that they are correcting procedures and reviewing all protocols so that this never happens again to me or anyone else. I will, of course, check every single bag before they hang it up on the IV pole behind me from now on - but things need to be fixed for the other patients who, like me, think that seeing and hearing the nurses do their checks is enough. 

So that's the news for now. Thanks for praying and checking in on us. :-)

Chemo 3

***I typed up most of this post while I was having chemo. My chemo is supposed to be 3 pre-meds, adriamycin chemo, then cyclophosphamide chemo. I got the pre-meds (but the nurse messed up and forgot to hook one up to my port so it was pumped on the floor instead of into me. No big deal, she got another one so I still got it.) I got the adriamycin, then the nurse hooked up the cyclophosphamide. After it had pumped for about 15 minutes (it takes 30 min) she came running over and turned it off and told me that she had made a huge mistake. She didn't give me my cyclophosphamide, she gave me carboplatin that was supposed to go to someone else. I had half a dose of carboplatin. She was crying and freaking out and I was freaking out cause I didn't know if the 2 together would kill me or what would happen. My oncologist was called over and she was MAD. I am supposed to get carboplatin, but not until mid-March, and not with the adriamycin. So they *think it should be ok. I only got half a dose, etc. I'm supposed to watch out for my blood count cause the two drugs that I got today can lower it. So I'll give myself my shot tomorrow like usual and then go in next week for a mid-treatment blood check. (I normally don't get those until chemo days.) So now I've got to figure out when I'm going to get the dose of cyclophosphamide that I didn't get today (my oncologist said no to it since I had the carboplatin), and how this affects my treatment schedule. Ugh. 

Original Post:

Today is chemo number 3 for me. It's quiet here because it's President's Day. Very unusual for a Monday but we will take it! I am my nurse's only patient this afternoon. 

On Mondays, there is this guy who works (or volunteers) here who passes out cookies. He's a young guy-I call him cookie boy. Brian was wondering this morning if cookie boy would be working or if he had President's Day off. Well, as soon as we got here and sat down, cookie boy came around with his tray of goodies. No cookies for the new vegan (me) but Brian got a chocolate chip one. Perks of Monday chemo=cookies. 

My oncologist checked me today and said all is going well. The tumor feels much softer and has shrunk. She measures the entire breast, not just the tumor. It has shrunk by 1cm. So that is good progress. We can't feel the lymph node that was also very swollen anymore. Not me or her or my surgeon. So yay!

Everyone keeps asking how I feel and basically chemo makes me grumpy and scared for a few days afterward. Well, maybe not grumpy. Just not as peppy as usual? Or maybe it is grumpy-you would have to ask Brian. It also makes me flushed and turns my cancer breast red for a couple of days. I tell myself that's the chemo killing the cancer but I'm not exactly sure why it does that. I'm lucky to not have any worse side effects and I pray it stays that way. 

Exactly 7 days after the last chemo I had a fast heart rate for a day. It woke me up 2-3 times early that morning with my heart pounding and I had the school nurse check me when I got there and my heart rate was high. It stayed high until late that afternoon, then it went back to normal and has been normal since. This red chemo I'm on can cause heart problems now and up to 10 years after you finish taking it, so it made me nervous. My oncologist was able to get me in with a cardiologist today. I had another echo which was perfect, and an EKG. It showed that there's something going on with the electricity in my heart. I will start taking a low dose of a pill to regulate it and hopefully not have a racing heart anymore. I was also instructed to eat more salt. (I don't ever add salt to anything) I'm drinking like crazy - at least 64 ounces per day, but it's not staying in me enough to hydrate me. So the salt is supposed to keep it in. So add that to my list of foods to eat. 

In hair news, I am almost all the way bald now. Timothy has been excited to see me completely bald because he's seen a boy's bald head before (Brian), but never a girl's bald head. :-) I have exactly 1 freckle on my entire head. Which is crazy considering how many I have on my face, but they all stop at the hairline. Then 1 on the top. I have been sleeping with a hat on and I have apologized to Brian for making fun of him all those times he slept with his hoodie pulled over his head. He was onto something. Bald heads get freaking cold at night! Still makes me feel like I'm sleeping next to a criminal with the hoodie on, but I get it now. 

The vegan diet is going well I guess. I miss cheese. Cheese would make a lot of this vegan stuff taste way better! I found some vegan breakfast "cookies" that sort of, kind of taste like oatmeal raisin cookies if you close your eyes and try to imagine that flavor really hard while you're eating them. The other stuff just tastes sad. I'm vegan plus I'm staying away from wheat (gluten) and any added sugar so it's been tricky to find stuff that fits in all those categories and is low in fat. I also don't do caffeine but it's been several months since I stopped that. 

As far as our needs right now, just prayers is what we're asking for. Praying for complete and permanent healing, praying that I can keep going with chemo and no side effects, praying for Brian and the kids and Mom and Dad. Thank you to everyone that is praying with us and for us. It means more to me than I could ever say. Just thank you all so much!

Chemo 2

Here for chemo number 2 today. It feels weird that it's been 2 weeks since I was here last. For a while there Brian and I were at a doctor or hospital almost every day, then going to 2 weeks of nothing feels strange. But just since 10am I've seen a genetic counselor, labs, the oncologist, her nurse, the dietician, and the infusion nurse. So, when I do come here they make great use of my time. 

The first chemo went well. I felt fine after it. I never got sick but Brian and I had PDQ for lunch right after my treatment and just the thought of a chicken strip at this point makes me want to vomit. So chicken strips are officially DEAD.TO.ME. Also dead to me is chocolate/caramel candy. Had one of those during treatment. Thinking about it now makes me want to barf. Weird to have food aversions now even though they didn't make me sick at the time. 

I had a Neulasta shot 3 days after chemo and exactly 24 hours after that shot I got a migraine that lasted for 4 and a half days. But if it takes a migraine to kill the cancer, fine by me. 

My hair started falling out on day 13 after chemo. Lots of strands. Day 14 was even worse, so I put my hair in a ponytail and made Brian cut it off so I can donate it. Then he gave me a buzz cut. Serious role reversal since I used to cut his hair all the time. It's still falling out but I'm not noticing it as much now that it's so short. I wore my pet wig out this weekend. I'm having to train that pet wig to stay out of my face. I also accidentally shut it in the car door at one point this weekend. So, I'm not the best pet owner. 😬

My genetic testing all came back negative. The genetic counselor sent off to have 2 more genes tested but hopefully those will be negative too. It will be a few weeks before I hear on those. 

I asked to see the dietician because I've been reading about changes in diet helping with treating triple negative cancer. She gave me some info on a plant-based, low-methionine (basically vegan) diet that they have researched with triple negative breast cancer, so I will start that too. Good thing it does not include chicken strips. 😝 Bleh!

The doctor and I both noticed that the tumor has gotten smaller and the lymph node that was quite large is practically gone, so that's great after just 1 treatment. The goal of chemo is to kill all cancer cells in my body and hopefully it will cause all lymph nodes to shrink back to normal and the mass in my breast to go completely away. 

I see the surgeon tomorrow for a follow-up and to talk about the surgical stuff. I also give myself my Neulasta shot tomorrow. First time giving it to myself but I'm sure it will be fine. It's a very small needle. 

Next treatment will be February 15. So 2 down and 14 to go. Two more of this drug combination and then 12 of 2 different drugs. Bring it on!

#shiplap