Discussions about chemo

Newton-Wellesley was able to squeeze me in yesterday, so I met with Dr. Block.  Unfortunately, Craig was not able to come to the appointment with me.  This was fine for the appointment itself, but I am finding the 45 minute ride there is a little too long for me to be alone with my thoughts....

Dr. Block was very apologetic about the mix-up the day before.  She too thought we had an appointment and never would have thought that the September appointment replaced this October one.  I appreciated the apology.  She had connected with Dr. Winer via email and learned that Dana-Farber had finished up their own pathology report on the tumor.  It was in complete agreement with Newton-Wellesley so we are looking at a recurrence of my old cancer and not a new cancer.  I am about 99% sure at this point that I will be having chemo as I cannot imagine another doctor at Dana-Farber will come up with a compelling reason not to give me chemo if Dr. Winer can't...   It sounds to me like they think potentially that there is something other than estrogen fueling the tumors which is why the tamoxifen did not work.  Unfortunately, they don't know what did cause it to come back. I plan to explore that more with Dr. Winer.

Dr. Block took me though the chemo protocol - 4 rounds of Adriamycin and Cytoxan (AC) and 4 every other week or 12 weekly rounds of Taxol (T).  This is a standard breast cancer protocol.  The AC part will be the tougher one with fatigue, nausea (although they have tons of meds for it), mouth sores and hair loss.  I will lose my hair in about 2.5 weeks after starting.  T will be better. There is the potential for numbness and tingling in my extremities, which I know has become permanent for some people so hopefully I avoid that.  I likely will need a port-a-cath, which is implanted just below the skin between my breast and my shoulder to allow easy access to my veins, rather than sticking my arm each time. I am really not excited about that.  I'll need the chemo nurses to assess my veins to decide if I need one but Dr. Block said they are pretty routine these days. 

After Dr. Block took me through all the chemo information, I told her I was considering doing my chemo at Dana-Farber in Milford due to its proximity to home.  I REALLY like Dr. Block.  She is incredibly smart and great at explaining everything to me so it was really hard for me to essentially "break up" with her but she understood.  She did tell me that not all the doctors in Milford have always been "Dana-Farber doctors".  Some just moved over from the Milford hospital when Dana-Farber opened the location.  I told her Dr. Winer had a doctor for me who spends a day a week in Boston, so she seemed happy to know I would be in excellent hands. 

So, now we wait for Dana-Farber to come forth with their final recommendation and get the chemo planning going.  I hope to start the first or second week of November.  The sooner I start, the sooner I am done!