6/20 – Chemo Training

Alrighty, my third chemo training. By this time I’m an old pro. Here’s some highlights:

• Switched my first chemo to Monday 6/24 since I figured waiting another week until Friday 6/28 was too long. My chemo infusions will be Mondays.
• Infusions will be done via IV – no port. They will be very careful as it’s a more delegate situation and apparently I have tiny veins. They said to hydrate to help the veins pop.
• This chemo has similar side effects as the last one though not as severe as my first round (AC treatment). Plus it will only be 1 hour of infusions, so maybe 2 -3 hours total!
• Key side effects:
  • Fatigue
  • May be some nausea (I’m getting pills and steroids to help prevent any)
  • Hair thinning (though not loss)
  • Tummy issues
  • They watch kidneys and liver closely
• As long as my counts are up – I have no travel restrictions
• Why not an extreme surgery to just remove all skin:
  • An extreme surgery with lots of skin removal means that the wound may be hard to close and reconstruction may be hard
  • They need to be sure they get all the cancer cells, if not you risk cancer spreading.
  • Surgery means they will delay chemo until I’m healed which is a risk of not killing the cells quickly
• Why not do a bunch of biopsies around the skin radius to see how far it’s spread
  • Dr said that would again delay the start of chemo and it likely wouldn’t change the treatment plan
• I have one bump left in the skin – while it makes me uncomfortable, we’ll use this as a barometer of success. Fingers crossed its gone soon after we start
• Diet – Dr said ensure I have a good diet. He mentioned the only real evidence he’s seen suggests a low fat, low sugar, high protein diet.
• I’m okay to continue my supplement regiment which my acupuncturist recommends. I’ll follow up with David to see if these are still recommended. I’ll also follow up about doing acupuncture again:
  • Therecurmin
  • EGCg
  • Ultimate Omega
  • Broccoprotect
  • Vitamin D
• My doctor called the genetic tester to follow up on my tests to see if my “inconclusive” had been diagnosed and unfortunately it’s still inconclusive
• My markers are the same – I hoped maybe I was now hormone positive and maybe new treatment would work, but no luck
• I’m in the market for a new wig
• My blood test looked good, so I’m cleared for chemo Monday and they don’t need to run a check.
• We are going for a cure! See it’s even checked here:

So overall I’m positive and my doctors all are confident in this treatment plan. Everyday, every conversation I have talking about the new situation, moves me towards a more positive place. Thank you to everyone so far for the love and support – it keeps me going!