Chemo Is Over!

It's over! The chemo part that is. I went in for the tenth and final treatment two days ago! It was the first time I've looked forward to spending my entire day at the cancer center. I felt like this day was never going to get here!

I'm hoping to be fighting the side effects for the last time! I'm anxious for the muscle and joint pain to fade away. The numbness and tingling in my hands and feet have got to go too!

My cancer center just moved into a brand new wing of the hospital. It's modern, bright and beautifully appointed. But, it is still a cancer center. So, as nice as the new Ambulatory Infusion Unit looks now with it's new recliners (complete with heat and massage) and your very own TV on a swivel arm...I have no desire to see it again! The nurses in there (all wonderful) told me I could at least drop by and say 'hi.' I thought about it for half a second and told them 'no, I don't think so!'

"Congratulations! You did it! Love, Mom and Dad"

(Thank you!!!!)



Of course, I'll be back to the cancer center many times. I have a follow-up appointment with my medical oncologist in about three weeks. I have a mammogram and an appointment with my surgeon next week. I also have six weeks of radiation treatments on the horizon. But, until then I will celebrate having survived the monster that is chemo!

"Cancer With Bad Juju"

It's time to nail down a plan. That's what I hoped for as I visited my medical oncologist for the second time today. First, he said my heart is "robust" (according to the gated heart scan I recently had - also known as MUGA scan). Second, the PET scan I had showed nothing bad! Third, he said my cancer had bad "juju." Is that a highly technical medical term? He also called it some other nasty names.

This is where the chemo plan comes in. Door number three (the bad juju) means aggressive, heavy duty chemo. Those are my Doctor's terms, not mine. My excitement is starting to build (insert sarcasm)!

Chemo treatments will begin in two weeks! I used an exclamation point in hopes that it would make me feel excited and less bummed about the fact that they will drag on for nearly seven months. I don't think it worked, yet. I will have 10 cycles. That's once every 21 days, unless something causes a delay. Such as certain low blood counts or me just not showing up! Okay, okay, I'll show up. I'll even try to be brave! I have too because everyone keeps telling me how strong I am. I never thought of myself that way, but maybe I'll start to believe it too!

"Is My Heart Ready for Chemo?"

I was back in nuclear medicine again. This time, to see if I have a heart. Okay, it was really to see how my heart pumps. I'm pretty sure there was a heart in there (they didn't tell me otherwise)! I had my MUGA scan (Multiple Gated Acquisition scan) which produces a "movie" of the moving heart.

There is a chemo drug (that I might be given) called Adriamycin (generic name – doxorubicin) and a serious problem with this drug is that it can cause heart failure. Yep, I would call that a really serious problem! So, it is important to make sure you have a healthy heart before considering this as one of the chemo drugs in the cocktail.

The medical oncologist will take these results and the PET scan results into consideration when I see him again next week to decide what my chemo treatment plan should be. It's scary. I don't think about it much, but when the time comes I know I'll need a hand to hold. Until then, I keep it in the back of my mind and go about my days as normally as I can (with lots of visits to the cancer center thrown in). But, those visits are becoming part of my "normal."

"The big "C"...Chemo!"

I know cancer is supposed to have the honorary title of the "The Big C" but I am reassigning that moniker to chemo instead. I met with my medical oncologist for the first time and I kind of expected a mad scientist with crazy white hair ready to mix up some stinking toxic potion (possibly in a cauldron)! While a little of that toxic part might be true, he was nothing like that! He seemed smart, capable and compassionate (except for when he said I couldn't keep my hair)!

We don't have a complete plan yet. I have to see him again in two weeks. In the meantime, I will be getting a PET scan, a MUGA scan and some more lab work. The MUGA scan takes a look at the health of your heart (because some - one in particular - chemo drugs can be hard on the heart).

It looks like I'll be starting the treatments in early to mid-September and I can plan on dedicating about five months of my life to it. I'll know more after "chemo class" which comes before treatments start. I hope I earn a good grade! ;)