Long overdue post! Chemo and cancer updates!

Hello, friends!

I am so, so sorry for the huge delay in blog posts and updates. I know the last one left off with my very first chemo session, and as of yesterday I just had my fifth chemo session. So if you're counting down at home, that means I officially have only one more "main" chemo infusion left. Sadly, since my chemo was just yesterday, it also means I still have to get through the next two or two and a half weeks of side effects from this one. So not even close to being really done. About another 4-6 weeks of bad feelings and side effects.

From my fifth chemo session yesterday!

One of the main reasons I haven't really updated is all the chemo side effects. It can get real bad, you all. Like... real bad. I have about 21 days in between each session. Of those 21 days, I get about 5 days where I am feel fairly normal or even "good." Well, as good as I can feel at the moment. When I'm smack dab in the middle of the worst side effects, I don't have the energy or mental capacity to make proper updates. And when I'm in those "good" days, the last thing I really feel like doing is writing about how badly I have been feeling. I try to use those good days to see friends, hang out, get out of the house, dance, and just generally do fun and normal things and try not to dwell on how bad stuff is about to get again once I go back to chemo.

And remember the "accumulative" effects I have mentioned in the past? I'm starting to finally get exactly what that means and how it is translating in my body. Each session, the side effects are just a little bit worse and start just a bit sooner and last just a bit longer. Starting with my third chemo session, my GI issues really became a problem. I don't want to go into too much graphic detail, but let's just say I managed to lose a lot of fluids and got myself pretty dehydrated. This episode sparked an emergency trip to the hospital around day 12 after my third chemo. I was given a bag of fluids to help with hydration. Blood tests also confirmed my electrolytes, specifically potassium, were low, so I also received a two hour drip of potassium. All of that did help out a lot! But it was still an unplanned four-hour trip to the hospital. And then again after my fourth chemo session and a few weeks later, I found myself in the same situation-- dehydrated to the point where I could barely stand. My mom took me back to the hospital for more fluids.

I'm already anticipating that I will need to make another fluid trip at some point during the next week or week and a half. My doctor even asked if I just wanted to pre-schedule a visit for fluids. It was tempting, but since I don't quite know when I will need them, I will just have to call when I do. The first time was day 12; and the second, day 9. But the hospital is always very accommodating and happy to get me back on my feet, as it were!

So those are just some of the things I've been dealing with the last three months. I will be so happy when I am done with this phase of treatment. Not that the rest of it will be a walk in the park either. But chemo is, I hope, by far the worst of what I will experience in side effects and feeling sick. Again, I hope! My final session is schedule for June 12, so I will officially be done with the Taxotere and Carboplatin drugs (the ones that made my hair fall out... and all the other really bad stuff), and I will also be done with the Perjeta. I will still continue to go in every three weeks until next February and receive infusions of the Herceptin.

Yep, I'm totally bald now.

And Now For Some Good News!

Just an update on the Herceptin front, it is 100% doing what it was intended to do! Quick recap-- Herceptin is the drug that specifically targets the HER2 proteins in my body that have been feeding my cancer and made that tumor grow to be almost 4 cm. The Herceptin binds to the proteins and blocks them from causing the cancer cells to multiply. Additionally, it triggers my own immune system to come in and destroy the tumor/cancer. Well, within a WEEK of starting chemo, I noticed my tumor seemed to be smaller, certainly less prominent. Remember, I found this tumor myself. It was incredibly large and not difficult to miss.

I am so happy to say that after three months, I can no longer feel anything and my oncologists also cannot really feel the tumor!! Each session it has gotten smaller and smaller, which was the goal from the beginning-- to basically shrink it down to as close to nothing as possible. Once I am done with chemo, I will likely have another MRI and/or mammogram to confirm its new size and to really get an answer as to how well the chemo has been working. Since this is the whole reason I was doing neoadjuvant chemo to begin with, I am so happy the results look good!

Also in the realm of Herceptin, one of the potentially awful side effects is weakening of my heart muscle. You may recall that I had to have a baseline echocardiogram performed before I started on the drugs. Well, I just had my first follow-up echo (I will continue to go once every three months), and there has been no change to my heart function or muscles. More good news! Hopefully we can keep that up. I still have another nine months to be on Herceptin, after all.

Next Steps

Finishing chemo will be a huge milestone, but I'm still no where near being done with my treatment. Next Tuesday I will be going in for my surgery consultation. I'm not sure exactly what all that will entail, but I suspect we will discuss exactly what kind of surgery I will be having and hopefully will get it scheduled, likely for sometime in mid-July. Since my genetic tests were negative for any breast cancer genes (at least the ones that they know about and can test for), I don't automatically need a mastectomy. And since the chemo drugs have been obliterating the size of my tumor, it is extremely likely I will only need a lumpectomy!! I am happy about this. They will still need to cut out any remaining tumor and the margins around where the tumor was (even if the tumor no longer exists). Which means I will still be scarred and my breast is not likely to look like it does now. That makes me incredibly sad, but I still need to do whatever is necessary to fully treat myself.

The other big treatment I will need to go through is radiation. If I have a mastectomy, I will not need radiation because all of my breast will be removed. However, with only a lumpectomy, the rest of my right breast tissue will need to be treated, just be make sure no cancer cells remain. Radiation means I will need to go to the hospital EVERY DAY for 4-6 weeks. Just when you think you're done... I'm not looking forward to surgery or radiation. But I want to have the most aggressive treatment since this is a very aggressive cancer.

I will know a lot more after Tuesday and I promise to update once we have more of a plan and schedule in place!

As always, thank you to all my friends who have graciously stepped up to come over to our house to help take care of me, take me to the grocery store, have stopped by on breaks to walk my dog, have driven me to the hospital, to those who have sent me cards and postcards and mail, for all the encouraging messages online and through text messages!! I really appreciate it. Everyone is an amazing support system, and I will be forever grateful.