Ready for Round #4

Wow! Those 21 days passed quickly.  I think that is both a good sign and a sign I had a very busy 21 days. Unfortunately it started with having to say goodbye to Duffy Duff.  He had a great life and was an amazing companion.  Absolutely could have made an excellent therapy dog.

Then we were busy moving Zach and Anastasia to Chicago so they can begin adulting full time.  I had never been to Chicago for a visit (just for flights and one wedding 20+ years ago). I stayed for 4 days and loved the city and their neighborhood.  We ended my visit with a trip to see Hamilton.  Totally worth it in my view.

When I landed in DTW my cousin Jennifer was waiting to greet me.  She had flown in from SLC for her father's final memorial.  He passed from pancreatic cancer in March.  We had a lovely couple days catching up and just spending girl time together, watching a silly movie and eating great food.

A trip to Kenton, Ohio for my uncle's memorial allowed me to see a lot family from both my mom's and dad's sides of family.

Then I finally returned to Canada.  It seemed liked it had been forever although it had only been 2 weeks. It was actually harder to deal with Duffy's absence there.  But I collected his belongings and donated them to a local animal shelter.

Notice how this post has had lots of activity and little discussion for side effects.  This round really had very minimal side effects.  Fatigue, tasting issues and my left arm has been battling edema. I'll be having an ultrasound this week to rule out DVT in that arm.  6/27 UPDATE Ultrasound did show a Vein Thrombosis but in the jugular not arm.  So I'll be on a blood thinner,  Xarelto and hopefully that will take care of it.

I think I have most of the preventative meds scheduled well.  For those who come across my blog undergoing TCH.  Here is a what I've been having good luck using. Prior to treatment days I'll indicate with a -Day in parentheses. 

• Day 17 (-4) -I start the Activia Yogurt ( I do take a daily probiotic as well) I continue the yogurt through Day 5 if I'm tolerating it
• Day 18 (-3)  Prunes ( I do 3 a day until about Day 5 or 6)
• Day 19 (-2) Begin the Hydration increase ( I try to do 2.5-3 liters of water a day until Day 3)
• Day 20 (-1) Senokot S 1 tablet daily. I know when to stop. 😉
• Day 20 (-1) Start the Prilosec OTC 
• Day 21 (0) My steroids begin day before treatment.   
• Day 1 - Treatment day - Snack on ice chips during Taxotere infusion (my mouth sores were minimal after starting this.
• Also Days 1- 5 Gargle/Swish with 1 TBS baking soda dissolved in 8 ounces of warm water after eating anything.  I carry a small bottle of Biotene so I can do this if I eat out during those days as well.
• Days 1- 3 I start the Zofran/Compazine for nausea at 12 hours post preMeds. I don't miss a dose alternating the two meds and even setting an alarm to wake for them.
• For me bone pain from the nuelasta is the worst around days 4-6.  I've been finding relief with warm soaks in Epsom salt.  I take extra strength Tylenol during the day and take Claritan during the week of treatment.  On my worst nights I have Tylenol with Codeine.  Most rounds I used it on two nights to sleep.
• Acid is still an issues with the Prilosec on days 5-9 so if it gets bad I supplement with extra strength Pepcid AC or Maalox. 
• As for fatigue - I try to walk at least 4,000 steps even on my bad days and work in a nap.

I'm looking forward to round #4.  My friend Kari and her daughter Lila drove up from Indiana to keep me company for a few days.  And then GM shutdown starts so Gary will be joining me for a few weeks in Michigan.  Before we know it I'll be preparing for Round #5.         

Round #3 - Halfway to Chemo Finish

I'm feeling prepared for Round #3.  Round #2 was definitely better than Round #1 but also a little different.  More like a roller coaster.  I felt the same crash on day 4 but recovered on day 5 only to crash again with horrible gastric acid issues on Day 6.  Felt pretty puny until about day 9.

Thankfully had a good discussion with Medical Oncologist about those issues.  I said I'm scared I'm going to leave chemo this time with an awful ulcer.  He's response.  "Yes that happens sometimes." Gee thanks Doc.  So game plan now is daily Prilosec for the 10-14 days and supplement with Maalox or Pepcid.  Anything to keep acid down.  I warned him I have tickets to Hamilton on Day 9 so I better feel good.  Now he's got an ulcer. 😉

Thought I might write a little bit about why at Stage 1 breast cancer I am having chemo.  Seems appropriate when the news is covering a study that is giving hope to many to avoid chemo for early stage breast cancer.

Breast cancer isn't just one type of cancer.  You'd think after years of the Pink October most of us would know that but the Pink really isn't about education it's all about making money.

My tumor has several characteristics that demonstrate it was aggressive in nature.  Personally now that I've had two aggressive cancers, I'm starting to question all of the evenings chanting Be Aggressive - Be -Be Aggressive B-E-A-GG-RESS-IVE on sidelines. Obviously my cells were listening.

First of all my Tumor Grade was 3 - which means my cells looked really f'd up under a microscope.

Second my Ki67 markers were extremely high Ki-67. The more positive cells there are, the more quickly they are dividing and forming new cells. In breast cancer, a result of less than 10% is considered low, 10-20% borderline, and high if more than 20%. My % was 62.

Finally, my tumor was (notice I use "was" thanks to clear margins and no lymph node involvement) ER-,PR- and HER2+ which means tumor was not hormone receptor positive but HER2+ which is a protein that can be treated successfully with targeted therapy.

Even if I had chosen to do a mastectomy I would have still been required to do chemo so for me breast conserving surgery (lumpectomy) + chemo + radiation is the recommended option and one I was confident in choosing.