The Plan

Today I felt nauseous all day because I was so nervous about our doctor appointment. We ended up getting almost all our answers in one visit. We feel confident that we are making the right decisions and we feel at peace. Last night I was questioning whether we should get a 2nd opinion and wondered if I had chosen the right doctor. But today I was reassured that Dr. Ward is perfect for me. I first met with him almost two months ago and haven't seen my oncologist since this first visit. He noticed my hair and knew I had cut it. He remembered my profession and the conversations we had the first visit. He spent as much time as we needed during our visit and I knew he cared about me. 

The bad news is that my tumor pathology did confirm that it was an aggressive form of cancer. And the other piece of bad news (which is good news at the same time) was that they believe the surgery probably got all the cancer cells. What's bad about this? Some people would feel confident in the surgery alone and forego chemo. However, this is only a viable option if I'm like age 70 or 80. There is a risk of a stray cancer cell and recurrence. There is also a higher risk of recurrence in premenopausal women. So the bad news is that I do have to proceed with chemo to ensure longevity if life and increase my survival rate in 10 years. We pretty much knew this so we were already planning on this, but it is hard to know that you may be going through hell and perhaps you don't need to do this. But then you think of your kuds, husband, and family and realize that you will go through hell in order to be a survivor.

The good news is that I get to do the easy chemo! What an oxymoron! Easy Chemo! But I am grateful for the easier route. I will have it every three weeks for 18 weeks. And the Herceptin infusions for ONE YEAR! The alternative chemo is more aggressive and could create long term heart disease. So this is good news. 

The other good news is that because they were able to remove the lymph node with the cancer I MAY be able to not do radiation for 6 weeks. But this step is after chemo and I can't hope fir this yet because I don't want to be disappointed.

And they will work with my schedule for teaching as much as possible. I will have chemo on Thursdays and the Nulesta shot on Friday (this boosts your white blood cell count) and I'll have Saturday and Sunday to recover to teach in Monday! The 7-10th dats will be when I have to be cautious of infection as my immunity is lowest at this point. If you get sick you can't fight infection. And my days 14-21 will be normal days. My hair will fall out by the 2nd week after the first chemo treatment. The first four days will be hard to eat and there will be symptoms that may arise throughout this time: fatigue, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, mouth sores, bone pain, skin problems, anemia, lack of platelets (that means if you get cut and start bleeding there is no clotting ability), shortness of breath (bonus- I get a handicap pass!), loss of fingernails and toenails, neuropathy (numbness), thrombocytopenia (bruising/bleeding), weight GAIN (boo), fevers and chills. My chemo meds are taxotere and carboplatin with the Herceptin. 

I was able to schedule infusions so that it wouldn't interfere with Thanksgiving or Christmas. I will have chemo on Nov. 21, Dec. 12, Jan. 2, Jan. 23, Feb. 13 (Happy Valentine's Day??), and the last one on March 6th (Happy Birthday Bro...)

So that is the plan ....we have hope and peace and are confident!