I was a bit worried about how today's infusions would go, given what happened last time. I've also had nose bleeds all the last week, so I was afraid my platelets might be low, though I haven't had bruises or petechiae or any other signs of low platelets. But my labs were good!
Platelets: 118 thou/mcL (WOOT!)
Abs # neut: 4.0 thou/mcL
WBC: 5.1 thou/mcL
Hemoglobin 9.9
My friend Wendy was my chemo companion today. Wendy and I met through email and La Leche League MANY years ago and we've stayed in casual contact online, but I think the last time we spent any length of time together was the impetus for this article (unfortunately, they've stripped the photos from it). We had a nice lunch at Whole Foods and lots of time to catch up over knitting.
And the infusions went fine. They loaded me up with steroids and benadryl again, and I was sleepy (and probably loopy), but no cough or chills. Hooray!
Yesterday I had my final "embiggening" appointment at the plastic surgeon. My expanders are maxed out on both sides, and will stay in place through the remainder of chemo and through radiation. Radiation will likely cause all sorts of issues with my right side, including encapsulation (warning, link is NSFW--don't click unless you want to see an image of an encapsulated breast). The doctor said they can clean out the area if it becomes encapsulated, and inject fat to attempt to make it look more normal, but radiation messes up the skin and tissues so much that it won't be a perfect match. Other than that, he was very pleased with how the expanders are working and he said I was "very even." Of course, he then said, "you've gained weight, haven't you?" Then he said I won't see him again until I'm done with radiation, so about 5-6 months. He told me that would give me time to lose some weight. I would be offended, except that he's right. Between the time I found the lump and got the diagnosis of breast cancer, I lost 12 pounds. I kept it off through surgery and recovery. Since that time, I have gained those 12 back, plus 10 more. Twenty-two pounds. I've gone from running 3x a week, to running about once every 3 weeks. I'm now heavier than I've ever been other than when pregnant. I've moved into the "overweight" BMI category. And I'm eating, and craving lots of carbs. Hoping this summer will allow me to exercise more and to eat healthier. Cara has told me she'll help, as she will be home this summer.
After finishing radiation, my body needs to rest and heal for 6 months to see exactly what effect the radiation had before my permanent implants are put in. So that means I have these goofy breasts for a year, anyway. None of my pre-surgical bras fit, so I decided that instead of the ugly Target bras I'd been wearing, I'd treat myself to a couple pretty ones at Victoria's Secret (Yeah, I know--retail therapy. But it worked ;)).
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A couple other little things:
There's a line of "empathy cards" that has been making the rounds of Facebook and I found them amusing. Some are really spot-on, but others just don't apply to me. My friends have been amazing and really said the right things (unlike my plastic surgeon... ;)). I *do* think everything happens for a reason. I smile every time I hear or read "fuck cancer." But I do love the lemonade one.
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While it has been wonderful to have Selenia living with Mom and helping out, it has become apparent that Mom needs to have someone with her around the clock, and that Selenia cannot do that (she has a job and family in the area). So we are about to start the look for a full-time live-in aide for Mom. The social worker sent us a list of agencies, but if any of you have recommendations, we'd gladly take them!
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As I mentioned above, Cara will be home this summer. The lab she did research in last summer is closed as the professor is on sabbatical. She was hoping to get in to do research at the Medical College, but did not get that position. I am selfishly kinda happy that she'll be here, and we're working on some lab-related opportunities (likely unpaid) for her here.
Travis is in the middle of AP exams, having taken Chemistry and BC Calculus already. Tomorrow is Computer Science, and then he has English (language) next week. Poor guy, with his birthday sandwiched in the middle.
And Mira's keeping busy with soccer, Girls Who Code, Green Team, and the Middle School Musical (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), which is this weekend. She had to get her purple/pink hair cut off for the performance. :(
Greg's busy wrapping up the semester (and school year) and I'm still job searching, while hoping I might be able to squeeze out some more time at my current job, though my contract ends June 30th. I have faith that something will work out.
Sorry--this will be a LONG one
Yesterday was the first round of 12 weekly infusions of Taxol and Herceptin (the Herceptin will continue for a full year; Taxol only the 12). Dr. Shah called it "baby chemo" in relation to the initial 4 rounds that I had (AC). After these rounds, I don't need the second day Neulasta shot, I don't need steroid pills, and I don't automatically take anti-nausea pills (only on an as-needed basis). One of the things that is a relatively common side-effect with the Taxol, however, is an allergic reaction to the preservative that it is mixed in. Therefore the pre-meds include Benadryl, Tagamet, and a steroid to attempt to ward off the allergic reaction. They also push the first (double or "loading" dose) slower than normal to watch for side-effects.
I was lucky to have two chemo companions yesterday! Kathrine was with me the whole 6+ hours:
And Kristi came for a few hours in the middle of the infusions:
My blood counts were "fine"--
Platelets: 77 thou/mcL
Abs # neut: 3.2 thou/mcL
WBC: 5.2 thou/mcL
Hemoglobin 10.9 (that's up)
I gained 4 more pounds <sigh>.
The Taxol infusion went well. I wasn't even all that sleepy with the Benadryl (Kathrine and Kristi may disagree, as I may have made no sense as we were playing "Would Your Rather?"). And then the 90 minute Herceptin infusion started. "No one" reacts to Herceptin, so I guess my body decided, as usual, to be difficult. When I had 20 minutes left, and my nurse had sent almost everyone home (since it was after 5:30), I started coughing. That's nothing major, since I've had this combo of the weepy eyes/runny nose/sore throat/cough thing for over 5 weeks now. But this was a dry, tickle kind of cough and I'd already drank three glasses of water and gotten a significant amount of saline in my port. And it was bad enough that I couldn't talk through it. Didn't seem (to me) like an allergic reaction, but my nurse knew it was. So she gave me another dose of Benadryl. Like magic, the cough stopped. But then I started shivering. And the shivering wouldn't stop. It was a full-body, feeling-like-I-do-when-I-get-a-low-grade fever, teeth-chattering shiver. They wrapped me in heated blankets, and gave me a dose of steroids, and it still didn't stop. Then my blood pressure spiked. So they gave me another dose of Benadryl (that's three, if you're counting) and the shivering finally slowed and my blood pressure returned almost to normal for me. Dr. Shah was in her street clothes, but hadn't left yet and she said NOT to finish the Herceptin dose this week. They pumped in more saline, and then let me head home, dopey and babbling as I was.
Kathrine was kind enough to hit the Culver's drive-thru on the way home so I could get food for everyone (by now it was after 7:00 pm). I ate and then completely crashed in bed. Greg said he came up at some point and poked me to make sure I was breathing because I was so out of it. I think I got some pretty good sleep, because I was up at 3:30 this morning (steroids, I think!) and could not fall back asleep. Let's hope the steroids keep it up through my work day. :)
That first green link on the chain was well-earned.
An interesting bonus--at least right now--is that I woke up without a sore throat or runny nose for the first time since this cold/allergy thing started. I'm thinking it must be an allergy that even the Zyrtec isn't touching. Not that I'm recommending taking Benadryl regularly or anything.
Some other cancer- and non-cancer related things since the last time I blogged:
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I had another enbiggening session with the plastic surgeon. :) My right breast is now maxed out and my left breast (the one that needed the surgical repair) is almost there--and will be next week. And this was a major "enbiggenment"! After going almost 4 months without breasts, I was bumping into things with them. Of course the fact that all feeling is gone from that part of my body doesn't help. My friend Dawn calls her reconstruction "shirt shelves," and I agree. I wanted "perky" and they are most definitely that.
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This Saturday Cara participated in Hamline University's Relay for Life. She raised $150 for the American Cancer Society, which (as I've written before) is an organization that uses the money for research and not just "awareness." One of the things that RFL does is sells luminarias, that can be decorated in honor or memory of a cancer patient/survivor/one who died. This is the one that Cara made for me, and it brought tears to my eyes:
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I want to mention our TV binge-watching choice. Starting in December, we'd watched all of the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and while we were watching it, we learned of the cross-over episodes with Angel. We watched one and were NOT impressed with Angel, so neither Greg nor I wanted to watch that series. But my friend Linnea said that we really should--and even tempted me by saying that my favorite character (Spike) comes back in Angel. So we started watching it. It's no Buffy, but I'm really enjoying it, too! Some of the characters (like Doyle and Gunn) are really good, and even Cordelia and Wesley have grown on me. We're almost as the end of the second season, so that will be our nightly TV for awhile. The only current TV I've been watching is Big Bang (lighthearted fun), Grey's Anatomy (and I STILL haven't seen last week's episode with the big spoiler that's been all over the news and Facebook--and the only reason I'm still watching it is that I've watched it from the beginning), and Call the Midwife (which might be the best show currently on TV, in my opinion).
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And that brings me to the job situation. Mt. Mary (tutoring) will end on May 11th. My contract at UWM will end June 30th (with the budget stuff, not sure if it can continue). I'm assigned to teach the "overflow" online section of PH101 this summer, but don't know if that will fill either. So I've been looking for jobs. I had a phone interview for a Public Health-y job last week. It's full-time, which is a little scary, since I'm tired working 25 hours a week. I have to believe that the right job will work out one way or another, since I've been fortunate so far!
I had somehow managed to make it through most of the winter without getting sick (Well, other than that pesky cancer sickness, that is). So I was unpleasantly surprised to find that I'd succumbed to some virus this weekend. I was still somewhat in denial, thinking it was just chemo yuckies until yesterday at work. I actually considered closing my office door and curling up in a ball on the hard floor to nap for even ten minutes. By the time I got home, I could barely crawl up the stairs and fall into bed, I was so tired. And then the chills came, and the cough, and runny nose. Ugh, ugh, ugh!
Today I drugged myself up with DayQuil and made it to work. And I'm glad I did! I love tutoring--being able to work one-on-one with the students. And my steroid-induced hunger was quite appeased by the GOBS of snack foods around for a going-away party. Best of all, working a 5 hour day is much easier than a 9 hour day.
I'm still feeling pretty crappy, with a runny nose, sore and swollen throat, cough, and general exhaustion, but I'm hoping this is a relatively minor cold. I'm not sure what the whole immuno-compromised chemo thing will do to the duration (and the effect) of this cold, but I do know to watch for a fever over 100 as a sign of infection. I'm planning to rest and sleep it off as best I can. Wednesdays are my chemo days, and since I had chemo last week, tomorrow is a completely free day off! Better yet, it's Greg's Spring Break week, so he'll be home to wait on me. :)
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On the (mostly) bright side, I saw Dr. Sterkin this afternoon and finally was able to be expanded! Hooray, I kinda almost have breasts again. :) I say "mostly" bright side because <whine, whine> now I have chest pain/pressure once more. But it's okay, really. I'm excited to try out the new breasts wearing something girly to go to The Decemberists concert tomorrow night. Yay for date night!
For now, however, I'm going to curl up in bed and catch up on Sister Wives.
