Chemo #4 and the battle for blood

My fourth and last chemo treatment with this kind of medicine was yesterday at 12:15 p.m. It was a long day. Neither BDHA or MFD were able to go with me. That really wasn't a problem and I'm glad they didn't go because I didn't get out of there until 5:45 p.m.

I was examined by Dr. L (he wasn't available the last time) and he didn't think that the tumor had shrunk quite as much as the last doctor but it had still shrunk. Always good news. I asked him about getting the surgery timed so that I could make the trip to Vegas to MFD's wedding. He suggested that I make an appointment with my surgical oncologist to discuss my options, what tests would be needed prior and to get a time frame for the surgery. He said a good time for the appointment would be around my next chemo. So I have an appointment on March 16th with Dr. Z at 11:00 a.m. and my chemo at 1:15 p.m. Might even have time to squeeze in lunch in between.

Dr. L's medical opinion would be that I have a mastectomy of the right breast. I asked him what he thought about having a double (unilateral mastectomy). I said the left had spots that always worried the doctors and I just didn't want to have to deal with this all over again. He agreed with that and brought up the same thing that I had brought up in discussing this with others. He said "You're a big-breasted woman and removing one would put you off kilter." My thoughts exactly! I then said "Who in their right mind would reconstruct another breast to match the one left behind, plus I want 20 yr old perky boobs out of this". He said that the reconstruction would be months after the surgery, especially if I were to have radiation.

Now on to the chemo. The first thing they do is flush a saline solution into the port to make sure fluid goes in. Then they pull back on the plunger in the syringe to get a "blood return". This means that the port is hooked up correctly and the fluid is going directly into the vein. No blood return.

They said I would need to do the "Port Polka" (or as my cousin, K, said today "Chemo chicken dance"). The steps are laid out below in case you ever wish to do this as a line dance at your next wedding. Of course you would need a syringe stuck in your chest with someone frantically pulling it out trying to get blood. Are you ready?

• Take a deep breath and hold (plunge plunge plunge)
• Turn your head to the right (plunge plunge plunge)
• Lift your left arm straight up in the air (plunge plunge plunge)
• Sit up straight (plunge plunge plunge)
• Lean forward (plunge plunge plunge)
• Stand up (plunge plunge plunge)
• Go lay down on the chemo bed (plunge plunge plunge)

No blood return. Then they wanted to give me a medicine that would dissolve whatever was blocking the intake but they had to take blood first to make sure my blood was clotting. D, my chemo nurse first tried getting blood out of my right arm (same place they took it on Saturday without a problem) and the well was dry. Nothing. She then tried taking it from the back of my left hand. Again the well was dry. I told her I was reading a book about vampires.... She brought in another nurse to take it and had me lay down on the chemo bed again. Right at the last minute, D came in and said that because of the results of my blood test on Saturday, I didn't need to have it tested again. Woo hoo~. Unfortunately, that meant I had to get a chest x-ray to make sure the port hadn't moved.

Now that was the stressful part. Besides being in the same department where the port was put in (most pain I can ever recall having even after two c-sections) my thoughts as I made my way down a floor (with the needle still stuck in the port) was would I allow them to readjust it if it had moved or ask that they go in through my hand like they had the first chemo? Of course if they couldn't get blood out they probably couldn't put drugs in.

Thankfully the x-ray showed that the port was perfectly placed and so was the needle. Just to make sure, D inserted a BIGGER needle. The way D explained what the problem might be with the blood return is that some times a scab forms over the end and acts like a flap. The push of the saline solution pushes it open but when reverse pressure is applied it shuts right back. Since the port was where it needed to be, the chemo began.

After I was done, D was on a mission to get a blood return. She gave me one bottle of the stuff to dissolve. I napped while waiting for it to take effect. She tried again and still no blood return. She gave me a second dose and I napped. D and the other nurse who was going to try and take blood previously and myself were the only ones left in the cancer center. Everyone else had gone home. They had me do the Port Polka one more time and by the time I laid down on the chemo bed, they finally had their blood return. Success at last!

This morning I woke up at 3 a.m., finally got up at 5 a.m. and decided that I was too tired and stressed to go into work. I took the day off. Around 10:00 a.m. I went upstairs to take a shower and decided to lay down for a nap. The nap lasted until 2:45 p.m. I didn't want to get up but I had decided earlier that I wanted to make dinner for BDHA. He was supposed to come in around 7:00 pm. and I needed some ingredients. Unfortunately he called and said the first few flights were full and wouldn't be home until after 8:00 p.m. I told him to grab something there and we could have what I was going to make tomorrow.

My next four rounds of chemo will be Taxotere. I will need a driver for those as they give you Benadryll. BDHA is re-working his schedule so that he can make it to both appointments.

All in all, it was still a good treatment day even with the added stress of the port. I'm going to go spend some time with BDHA before bed. Night all.....

Update

So what's been going on for the last week....

This treatment hit me a lot harder than the first two. I didn't go in to work on Tuesday because I was in a fog, worked all day Wednesday and left early on Thursday. The fatigue has just been overwhelming at times. My "get and up go" got up and left.

I've developed cold sores on my lips. Usually I get those when I get run down. I've been queasy during the day. I start out good and progressively get worse throughout the day. I try to do as much as possible in the morning.

Yesterday was my 52nd birthday. MFS came in from Penn State Friday night to spend time with us. I decided that I wanted my birthday "dinner" to be a birthday breakfast since I do better in the mornings. I've been craving cold crunchy things like apples, melons and celery. I've also been drinking a lot of orange juice and grape juice. We went to Golden Corral because I had hopes of bowls and bowls of fresh fruit. All they had were orange slices and canned peaches. That's okay. I went to Giant Eagle (John Teagle in Pittsburghese) later and bought apples, bananas, celery and a melon. Better than craving chocolate (did I say that?!?).

I asked the doctor about going back to Weight Watchers. My PCP didn't think it was a good idea because he thought that they would want to know if I was losing weight from the chemo. The medical oncologist didn't have anything against me losing weight as long as I was eating healthily but she also expressed concern that I not go on too low of a calorie-restricted diet. I'm getting concerned about my weight and the upcoming surgery. Don't want to add any more risk than I already have and if I can lower it in any amount, that's a good thing.

This past week was harder on me than any other week, physically. Emotionally, I'm okay. You get a "free" day for your birthday at work so I'm spending it with BDHA. I don't know if we'll go to see a movie or head over to the scuba shop so he can get that going. Probably should decide soon since it's already close to 2:00 p.m.

My next treatment is on 2/23 and is the last of this first set. P.S. My hair is GROWING in. BDHA is going to have to take the razor to it again soon.

Chemo #3 = 3 good things

Today was treatment #3. I was much more tired going in and didn't feel that burst of energy that I had after the first two times. My blood counts were lower also. Last time they were 11.8 and this time it was 10.8. The lower count and tiredness could have been due to it being "that time of the month". I've always had issues with tiredness and anemia during. I napped through most of the treatment today.

Some good news. The fellow (doctor in training?) said that she figured the tumor was around 4 cm x 4 cm today. When they first measured me on December 15th, they measured it at almost 8 cm x 8 cm. I am responding well to the chemo. YAY! This is the 1ST GOOD THING.

BDHA and I asked her if I would be done after 4 treatments, surgery, than 4 more. She checked with Dr. L. and he said that I would have all 8 treatments first. The 2nd set of 4 would be a different drug, but run the same, once every three weeks. This next drug (don't remember the name) would not cause nausea and vomiting but would cause more fatigue and joint and bone ache. Sounds kind of like a 12-week flu.

I will have chemo # 4 on February 23rd. The second set would be March 16th, April 6th, April 27th and May 18th. Three weeks after that would be June 8th. They couldn't schedule the surgery until after that time. Now I need to figure out when's the best time to schedule so that I can go to MFD's wedding in Las Vegas on July 8th. Do I do it before and hope I'm able to travel or do I wait until right after? Can I wait that long? I'll have to ask Dr. L that at the next appointment. Then I want to get it scheduled now with Dr. Z to make sure I have a place on his schedule since he seems to book up fast.

By the time BDHA and I made it home, I had to leave to pick up MFD. She had made an appointment at a bridal shop in Mt. Lebanon for 5:30 p.m. This place, BB, felt much more personal than when we walked into one of the big chain shops (D'sB) which felt like a factory. Get 'em in and move 'em out. Of the first three dresses, we found one we both really liked but it would need a few changes. The assistant brought in three more and the first one she tried on was "THE DRESS". No changes would need to be made by the bridal shop. It's a roman-greco style and has two long scarves down the back. We talked about adding a peridot green ribbon down each tie (added by me) to put some color into it. We'd have the same ribbon in her hair piece and also bring it with us to Vegas for the flowers. We decided right then and there that this was it, no more searching, so we ordered it. This was the 2ND GOOD THING.

Of course, you don't have to guess as to what the 3RD GOOD THING was....do you?

SIXCESS FOR THE STEELERS!!!!