Ever since I started this ass-kicking journey, my private road seems to meander down different paths. Part of the reason for the change in routes, is that the various cartographers have different ideas of the best way to get to the finish line (kinda like Mapquest vs Google maps - all working toward the same goal, but different ideas on how to get there). Let's just hope they don't lead me to a road that dead ends and the only way to get there is through a grove of eucalyptus trees and a fence (for my Aunts who are reading this and are somewhat internet savvy, bad roads are part of the frustration of internet map services)
I've always been told that I'd have a mastectomy, followed by chemo, followed by radiation. What's kept changing is the duration of the chemo treatments. First it was 6 months, then it went to 12 months, and now it's 15 months. No, there hasn't been any change in me physically, it's just that I never got the full story from the oncologist. The surgeon, plastic surgeon, surgical nurse and radiation doctor all said I would have 6 months of chemo - but then, they aren't the chemo experts, the oncologist is.
The first time I asked the oncologist she said I'd have 3 separate treatment plans and would be done by Christmas (12 months). I was really disappointed because I had been led to believe by the other doctors that I would be done in May, and now I'd have yet another 6 months of chemo, before I could start radiation, and then finally, re-construction. Then, this week I found out that the Herceptin treatment alone is 12 months, which takes me to a grand finale of 15 months. But, it is what it is and I'll just suck it up and make the best of it, afterall, there have been awesome success rates of non-re-occurrence of breast cancer in women who've had Herceptin treatments for a full 12 months.
I did have a bit of a scary reaction to chemo today. My white count was only at 2.1 (should be 4.5 or higher) but they decided to do chemo anyway. I went in as usual, they loaded me up with Tylenol and Benadryl, put in the IV and started the anti-nausea medication, followed by Herceptin, and finally Taxol.
I pulled out yet another fun chemo kit from Pamela, and this time it was a bead project to make book thongs - a type of bookmark with string, charms, and beads. I had 2 and 1/2 of them done and was about 3 minutes into the Taxol treatment when I started started having difficulty breathing and my throat and esophogus were itchy and started to swell. Denny had just gotten there and I had him get the nurse. I had an allergic reaction to the taxol and my breathing was very shallow and almost panting. My blood pressure went up to 164/102. Kinda reminded me of pneumonia. The nurse cut off the Taxol and started giving me Benadryl by IV. Within 10 minutes I was back to normal and just sleepy. They started the Taxol again but much more slowly.
What's odd is that they were giving me a lower dose of Taxol because my white count was so low. I started racking my brain after I left (as though that's really possible with a mushy chemo brain) and the only thing that was different, other than my low white count, is that I didn't eat lunch before going for the treatment. I'll be getting the Neupogena shots for 2 days following each Taxol treatment from now on, which boosts the wite blood count - and hopefully prevents the nasty allergic reaction.
All in all, this is the only really bad reaction I've had since beginning treatment in November, so I stll feel very fortunate. Heck, I'm able to get up and work on my blog at 4:00 a.m., of course that's only because my sleep schedule is still whacked out and I was really up at 1:00 a.m. catching up on my reading :-)
