Four years ago today, you could say my cancer journey officially started. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were having friends (the Harringtons and the Eastwoods) over for dinner. It happened to be the 4th anniversary of Craig's sister's breast cancer diagnosis and she posted something about it on Facebook. I took a shower midafternoon and decided it was about time that I did a self exam as it has been way too long since I had done so and I found a lump. Luckily, I did not ignore it and when it was still there on Monday morning, I went to my gynecologist who ordered a mammogram and ultrasound. That happened on Friday, January 14 and we knew that day it was cancer (although the biopsy did not happen until the next week). Hard to believe that 4 years later, I am midway (WOOHOO!) through chemo on cancer diagnosis number 2. My message for all of you is to be VIGILANT about your health and your bodies. Had I ignored that lump or not done that self-exam, who knows what would have happened.
This chemo cycle has definitely been better than the last one. I was still tired but not out of my mind exhausted and weepy. I am struggling more with being super short of breath, thanks likely to the low iron. I had to sit down in the neighbors driveway on Monday on the way back from the bus which was pretty scary. I really thought I was going to pass out. Since then, I have been driving the kids down the street in the morning. I feel better by the afternoon so I walk down then. I am hoping my iron levels will come back up when I switch to the next chemo drug (Taxol) as I hate not being able to just get up and go when I want. I feel like a 90 year old woman sometimes.
Yesterday, I went to the breast cancer support group at Dana-Farber for the first time. (Thanks to the friends who took the kids and ended up feeding them dinner when the group ran long!) There were 5 women there. Three 50+ women who are 6 months - 2 years out from their treatment who have been part of the group for a while and then one 40 year old woman who also was attending for the first time (Jenna). Jenna has had her first round of adriamycin/cytoxan (what I just finished) and had an even worse time with it than I did. She had terrible nausea for 6 days that no medicine seemed to help. She is going back for her second round today and will talk to the doctors about the nausea as there HAS to be something else they can try to ease the nausea. Please say a prayer for her as she seriously was considering NOT going back for a second treatment but we convinced her otherwise and gave her some ideas to discuss with her doctor.. (I'm pretty sure I freaked out the other attendees when I told them of my recurrence AFTER a bilateral mastectomy, as some thought that was not possible... I kept telling them I am definitely NOT the norm.)
Thanks to everyone who reached out to me over the weekend with kind and encouraging words. It really helped me make it through the worst part of the fatigue. I am lucky to have you all in my life!
My next chemo treatment is next Wednesday. We have had to shift back a day as my oncologist will be in Boston on Tuesday. I am happy to have one more day of feeling good before the next treatment, although everyone has promised me the Taxol will be sooooo much easier than adriamycin/cytoxan and I am banking on that. The fatigue should not be as bad and people usually bounce back more quickly. A big risk is an allergic reaction to the Taxol, so I am praying that that does not happen for me and that I can handle the bigger dose and stick to the 4 cycles every 2 weeks and not have to switch to a weekly dose for 12 weeks. That would push out my completion schedule by a month and I really want all the treatment to be done in May!
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