Radiation

This week I started radiation.  My first radiation appointment followed my Herceptin infusion (which will be every 3 weeks for nine months).  The infusion is done in the same place as I got chemo, and in the same manner.  However, it's much quicker since it's only the one drug, plus I don't need pre-meds.  It may sound like a little thing, but I was very proud that I was able to go by myself.

Look--my hair's coming in a bit more!

I met with Dr. Shah, as with before my chemo appointments, and my blood counts are recovering really well.

Platelets:  97K  (I was hoping they'd go even higher, but this is normal for me, so I'll take it)

Hemoglobin:  11.8 gm/dL (That's almost normal, which is 12; mine had gotten as low as 7.0 after surgery and 9.5 during treatment--with taking three iron tabs a day; this is down to 2 a day!)

And I was down 9 lbs. in three weeks!  That's without really dieting--just being a bit more careful about what I eat, and making a conscientious decision to get at least some exercise every day.  It helps that my feet are feeling lots better (still some numbness, but not painful).

One of the things that I have to work on during radiation is weaning off of my Zoloft prescription.  I didn't realize that I'll be starting on Tamoxifen right after radiation (thought I had to get thru the Herceptin first), and Zoloft is incompatible with Tamoxifen.    A 2009 study found that "...women on tamoxifen who were also taking one of three SSRIs -- Paxil, Prozac, or Zoloft -- were about twice as likely to have their cancer come back, compared with women on tamoxifen who were not taking an SSRI...Tamoxifen mixes with a liver enzyme called CYP2D6 in the body to change into the tumor-fighter endoxifen. Many SSRIs block the same enzyme, thus preventing tamoxifen from morphing into its active form."  I've only been on the Zoloft since the end of November (when I found the lump), and I'm only taking 25 mg a day, so I've cut those in half and will take a half tablet for two weeks.  If I crash, there are some non-SSRI anti-depressants that I could use, but I really hope that I'll be able to go without.  I'll have enough foreign stuff in my body for the next 5+ years.  :)

It's also time for my second MUGA scan to check on the damage that the chemo (Adriamycin) did to my heart.  That's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.  I'll need to have them done every 3 months because Herceptin also causes heart damage.

One kind of cool thing that happened during my appointment with Dr. Shah is that I was offered the chance to participate in a Phase II Clinial Trial.  This trial is for Her-2+ women and it offers a vaccine (NeuVax + GM-CSF) in combination with Herceptin (the control is GM-CSF alone).  I had the initial testing done to see if I qualify (haven't heard yet), but I want to read up a bit more on the vaccine before signing on for sure.  Still, it's exciting to have the possibility to participate and potentially help many people in the future.

Radiation itself is pretty uneventful.  The first appointment took about 30 minutes, which included changing into a hospital gown.  The radiation techs had to line me up with the lasers again (using my tattooed marks) and then they also took a bunch of x-rays to be sure that the plans made last week were correct.  Dr. Schulz came in to double check, and then I had my first treatment.  Thursday was my second treatment and it was only about 15 minutes, as they took fewer x-rays to be sure things were lined up correctly.  Friday was even quicker--I was out of the office before my scheduled appointment time!  I'm hit five times--each ranges from 10 to 20 seconds and comes at me from a different angle.  I feel nothing (other than a bit of claustrophobia when the machine pivots over my head), but the awkward position I'm in, combined with the strange noises make it impossible to think of anything other than the fact that I'm being hit with radiation.  I really need to learn some meditation.  This is kind of what the machine looks like.  

Hey--it's even aimed at the same spot for me!

I've only got 25 left to go.


And after last week's post, my friend Rob sent me this XKCD comic, which I'd forgotten existed:

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I continue to be amazed at how truly wonderful it is to feel better.  I'm not 100% better, and I've developed some fun additional annoyances (the chemically-induced menopause is causing delightful hot flashes), but overall, I just feel good.  And happy!

I'm having fun spending time planning for the future.  My friend Nikki took Travis' senior pictures on Wednesday (her photography business is Ashley-Jordan Photography and I highly recommend her; she took Cara's pics, too).  I'll share some pics when I get them back.  High school registration is on Monday, so we have all the paperwork for that, including the calendar--which has commencement on it.  Gulp!

I spent most of my work day on Friday registering for recruiting events for work.  I'm most excited to be able to travel to UW - La Crosse (where I got my undergrad degree and where Greg and I met) in October, but I'll be going to a few graduate fairs in Illinois and one in Madison, as well as some local ones, too.  And I'm looking forward to it.

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This week I even got back to running.  I decided to start all over with the Couch to 5K (C25K) program and the timing is such that I hope to be able to complete it in time to run 5K for the Panther Prowl in October.  The first day was awful--my feet felt like bricks.  The second day was still bad, but today (third day) actually felt *good*!  Mind you, at this point, I'm doing 60 seconds of running, followed by 90 seconds of walking, so it's really not much.  But it's something.  :)

The timing could not be better, as my friend Alice shared this article today on how moderate exercise may make tumors more likely to respond to radiation.  Go, me!

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I want to close with a round-up of some of the fun stuff since my last post:
*A wonderful time at the World Breastfeeding Week walk (and Fondy farmer's market), complete with adorable babies all over
* The ZAP dinner--a campfire theme
*A Thai lunch (and catching up) with my friend Katie
*An evening running errands and being silly with my kids
*Dinner (and shopping) with my friend Michelle
*Coffee (and Target) with my friend Chelsea
*Beautiful surprise flowers from my survivor friend Susie

The card says, "Wear some cool boots.  Cool boots make you feel like you can handle anything."
and on the inside, "Or at least kick it really hard."

Life continues to be good.  Very good.