September 2023
Today marks half way done with Chemo! Eight sessions done out of 16 total. I’m getting there! I’m taking next week off to attend a family retreat with other families going through breast cancer. We are looking forward to a week on Lake Tahoe in California. I’m nervous about the LONG drive but I’ll pack all my medicines and Nick said he’d drive. We leave tomorrow AM and arrive Sunday afternoon.
The kids will miss a week of school but I’m confident they will catch up and we’ll make positive family memories during a challenging time. I try real diligently to look for the benefits during hard times.
One of the benefits of this cancer journey is reconnecting with friends. The young kid stage is a busy time in life. Between career growth, work travel, kids, volunteer and services often times friends go on the back burner. Cancer has reminded me how powerful positive relationships with friends are. Those people you can be completely transparent with- the good and bad. They celebrate life and cry with you if needed. I thank all my chemo and doctor appointment buddies. They have taken a day off work to be with me and I’m so grateful. Thank you Chemo buddies for turning a shitty experience into something I actually look forward to.
I hope all the best for you and yours as our kids go back to school.
Cancer has a way of shifting thinking patterns. I’ve always been the cup is clearly half full type person. This frame of mind has been a blessing through successes and failures. Happy times and certainly sad times. But along this journey I feel I’m blessed to just have a cup at all. It makes one think of time differently with greater value on today with greater focus on what I really want to do, accomplish, be with whatever time I have left whether that’s 40 years or 4. I had chemo today and all went smoothly however the side effect of IV steroids is that I generally can’t sleep the first night. Annoying but I’m in no pain the first day or two thanks to all those pre-meds so I’ll be grateful.
After all that random 1 Am philosophies 😏 let me provide an update. I’ve had some new swelling and tenderness in my left arm pit (left is cancer arm pit). So I spoke with the nurse about that today. I love my care providers. She could tell I was concerned about this. She examined the area and told me I’m likely developing lymphedema. I’ve only had 4 lymph removed out of this area so that’s a bit of a bummer and I still have radiation to do which likely will make it worse. No cure for lymphedema and often is uncomfortable and frustrating to live with. With that said it’s the best thing she could have said since the alternative is that the cancer tumors are growing during chemo which is not really common but happens. From a physical exam she won’t know for sure either way so I’ll be having an ultrasound of the area next week. Please send positive vibes that it’s early signs of lymphedema and not cancer growth.
The second update is that I meet with my radiologist next Friday. It’s routine in the sense that I need to do the basic patient training and learn the timeline of my radiation treatment plan. But I’m having this meeting a few weeks early due to a large decision I need to make soon. There has been discussion of doing another surgery to remove a lot more lymph nodes prior to radiation. He is going to provide his thoughts and insight on pros and cons. Having many more removed combined with new lymphedema developing leaves me at very high risk for severe lymphedema. Mild lymphedema is annoying but severe lymphedema is full on disability and pain. Limiting function and reducing quality of life. So he’ll help me assess pros and cons. Pray that I get good advice and that I make the right decision, whatever that may be.
A positive note is that I only having one more month of chemo! Yippee! Five months of chemo is down to one more. Symptoms are adding up and gradually getting worse but still manageable. My labs have been excellent for two months now. My body tolerates taxol way better than all that hospital drama that AC caused. On top of that I have no signs of neuropathy yet. That’s when the hands and feet have permanent nerve damage and thus losses feeling. If I can be greedy, please pray that I can continue to avoid that common taxol side effect. So far, so good!
Bottom line, I have a cup! and I’m so very grateful. Plus that cup is rocking the pink for October Breast Cancer Awareness month. Adding some bling for good measure. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this journey with me, your support fills my cup right up!
My Journey 