Chemo #5 & the start of Taxotere

Yesterday was my 5th chemo treatment but the 1st of Taxotere. On Saturday, I went to give blood for the chemo and also because my PCP had requested a fasting blood sugar test to see how my diabetes was faring. I knew it wouldn't be good as I hadn't been as conscientious with taking my pills as I should have been and I also wasn't testing my blood like I should have been.

Sunday I started taking the steroids for the chemo. I took a dose Sunday morning and one Sunday night. I wasn't able to fall asleep until after 3:30 am. and had restless leg syndrome. I took another dose Monday morning.

I had my appointment with Dr. Z (Surgical Oncologist) at 11:00 a.m. When we had spoken on the phone previously, he had misunderstood when my last chemo was. He thought it was June 8th which is why he said I could wait until after MFD's wedding to have the surgery. June 8th was three weeks after my last chemo which is May 18th. He said I couldn't wait that long. So now I'm back to having the surgery prior to the wedding. I'm scheduled for pre-op testing on June 8th. The surgery is tentatively scheduled for June 16th. I'm only having the mastectomy to cut down on possible complications. I'll have the breast reduction done during the reconstruction.

I went in to see Dr. L (medical oncologist) for my 1:15 appointment. When they faxed over the blood work for my chemo they also faxed Dr B's (PCP) fasting blood work. Talk about an unhappy man. He said it was really really high and the steroids would only make it higher. I needed to get it under control. I told him that I had a doctor's appt with Dr. B on Wednesday. I know I haven't been doing what I need to do and now I have to face the music.

I didn't have a reaction to the Taxotere so all seems good on that front. I was a little tired during the treatment from the Benadryll and tried to nap but the restless leg thing started up again. I finally got up from the chair and stood about 15 minutes which seemed to help. I was able to sleep a little. Oh..there was a blood return so I didn't have to do the port polka.

I ended up going to bed at 8:30 last night. I pretty much slept through the night and was up at 5:45 a.m. this morning. I tested my blood, ate breakfast, walked 10 minutes on the treadmill and will be going in to work this morning.

My focus these next few weeks is to get the blood sugar back under control with taking my pills, eating right and exercising when I can.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!!

Update...

I haven't posted for awhile. I'm finally back to feeling more like myself (whatever that means). I had the last chemo on Monday. February 23rd. I didn't go in to work on Tuesday, the 24th or Wednesday, the 25th and went in on Thursday. That was a mistake. I was barely functioning. I didn't go on on Friday, the 27th either. All I can say is that that time of the month started on Wednesday. I made myself go out to dinner on Saturday, the 28th and ran some errands on Sunday, March 1st. I made it in all last week.

My surgical oncologist, Dr. Z. called me mid way through last week. He wanted to know how I was doing. We talked about the upcoming surgery. He said that even if everything was a go to have the surgery as soon as possible after June 8th, there was no guarantee of no complications. I hadn't even thought about that. I asked him if it would be detrimental to wait until after July 8th (MFD's wedding in Vegas) and he said no. He also talked about breast reduction on the left breast vs a mastectomy. Another thing I hadn't thought about. He said the plastic surgeon could be working on the left side the same time he was working on the right. Less time on the operating table sounds good to me. I have an appointment on 3/16 before my next chemo so we can discuss this in more detail. BDHA will be there too to ask questions I may have forgot.

My position at work has changed as of Thursday of last week. I'm no longer a team lead heading a closing group. I will be working on the company's "rejects". These are mostly documents that weren't signed correctly. When I was out most of the week of 2/23, it was "crunch" time at work. I was upset that I was letting my group down by not being there to help out. I was told that I needed to worry more about my health than what was going on at work. It's hard. I use work to keep me from obsessing about the "C", but I shouldn't obsess so much that my health suffers. It's a good feeling to know that the president and director are looking out for me. This past Friday, I could tell that my stress level had lowered a great deal. I'm still there to help out with questions and maybe they'll let me do HUDs or check them during March's "crunch".

Change of subject:
Something I've changed my mind about. I can't remember if I posted earlier about getting a new phone. BHDA, MFD and MFS all have Blackberry Curves. I had a Palm Treo which I really liked. About 10 days ago I turned it in for a Curve. I wasn't too sure that I liked it but I've changed my mind.

Two things that have amazed me about the phone. If I get an email to any of my accounts, I can view it on the phone and then if I don't want it, I can delete it from my phone AND the computer inbox. Amazing. The second thing is that MFD signed me up for Google Latitude. It lets me see where my "friends" are at all times (if they're sharing). When BDHA was in Cancun last week, I could tell where he was. It showed me that MFD was in Oakland Saturday night and I almost called her to ask her what she was doing when I remembered she was at a highschool friend's wedding. Since the kids are adults now they don't care if I know where they are. This would have been so kewl when they were teens as long as they couldn't turn the sharing off. The only down about it is that MFD texts me to ask me if I'm going in to work that day, and if so, why haven't I left yet? Nagger.

MFS is home for spring break. He's heading up to NYC on Friday to interview/film a friend for a school project. I think it's about how hard it is for graduates to get jobs and live in high-cost areas. BDHA is thinking about joining him on the weekend and doing some sightseeing with him. I think they call that a "pub crawl".

Another change of subject:
Don't ever let Chas tell you that Mr. Whacko picks on him all the time. (see picture below)



Good night all......