Let's Label Chemo #3 As Not the Greatest...

So, last Monday I had chemo # 3. The week started off pretty decent, but by Wednesday I had more nausea than in the past along with some feelings of indigestion. My stomach cooperated Thursday & Friday, and by Saturday I felt fairly okay. My overall feeling was that I just didn't feel great...it was more of a push to have myself feel and function as normal as possible. Court & Tom spent the week sick, and with still getting all of us into the busy routine of school and activities while dealing with a new chemo cocktail, it felt a bit overwhelming at times but we all came through it okay. I did remind myself on a daily basis that I "only" have 3 more times of this, so I CAN DO THIS! I talked to myself a few times like a stern parent talking to a naughty child, and most of the time it worked. I'd be lying if I said that moments of "poor me" or "this sucks" didn't try to take over. But all in all looking back, I will just say it wasn't the worst thing, but definitely not the greatest either.

Tuesday I had a MUGA test to get a baseline for my heart since the new chemo drug has some chance of heart issue down the line. As my oncologist put it, there is a greater value in us doing the new treatment vs the risk that is there, but we are going to take precautions along the way. My friend Milton did the procedure, so I was in good hands. It's a good thing I like Milton though, because he had to poke me a few times to find a good vein to do his radioactive magic in. Normal is between 55-75, and I was 68, so very good results there.

I will do a separate post on Race for the Cure, as that was truly a wonderful experience and deserves its own place in my blog with pictures. I will say that thankfully I felt good Sunday morning and able to join my team of 18 in a 1K walk around the waterfront. After stopping for a bite to eat with some of our team, I was pretty tired Sunday afternoon. I also had felt like I had something hurting or very uncomfortable going on in my digestive track. By 2pm, everytime I swallowed, breathed too deep or ate or drank anything I had that feeling like something was going down the wrong pipe. I slept for a good part of the afternoon and by evening, Tom and my Mom had convinced me that I needed to call the Nurse Practitioner to see if they could give me some relief. I really hate calling, even though they say it is okay to as I always feel sort of guilty taking up someone's time for something that is uncomfortable vs. dealing with a life threatening issue. I have to admit though, I am glad I called and she explained to me that likely my indigestion from earlier in the week had caught up with my Adriamycin side effects and caused some sores similar to canker sores along my digestive track. She said they likely felt much bigger than they were, but would cause discomfort like I was having. She recommended Maalox to help coat them and if that didn't work I could take pain meds. Since meds are a last resort for me, I opted to go for Maalox, and it helped within 45 minutes! I was still pretty tired and feeling not so great, but getting that on the road to feeling better was such a relief. By Monday morning, I felt a million times better!

Monday had a tiring schedule of its own, as I had a follow up with the oncologist as well as my surgeon in West Linn. Both appointments went well. My blood counts were down, so was reminded I needed to wash often and monitor my temperature this week. My surgeon's news was that the PET scan report she received a copy of, showed the tumor "abutted" the pectoral muscle. She said that is significant as that means it has not invaded the muscle, so likely they won't have to do much with that muscle during surgery time. She also said that assuming all stays on schedule, my last chemo won't be until November 14, so likely surgery won't come until between the 7-14th of December. UGH! Later than I hoped for, but hopefully it will be carefully orchestrated so I won't miss the kids' winter concerts at school and helping Court get ready for Winter Formal, and her performance in the Nutcracker. Not to mention bumping so close to Christmas and all of its preparations. So, pray that we don't get any delays due to white blood cell counts or illness, but sneak in a prayer that a miracle will happen and everything will get moved up a couple weeks! :)