In, up, off and okay

In
I went in for treatment today for the third consecutive week. I ventured into the chemo suite before 8 a.m. so they could take my blood and ensure my levels were okay to proceed. Luckily, my counts were good and I got the Benadryl, ranitidine, dexamethasone and paclitaxel all into my system and was out of there by noon. Then mom and I - she came up to London to keep me company today - went out for lunch.

Even though there's less chemo, accompaned by three, quick-infusing pre-drugs, it still takes half a day to get blood work drawn and everything infused. And the whole procees still leaves me feeling pretty tired. You'd think or lying sitting around getting chemo wouldn't be taxing; but it is.

But it went well, the chemo is in.

Up
I'm feeling more positive today. Perhaps the side effects from the last chemo have finally worn off; just in time for a couple of days of feeling good before they drift back again on late Sunday afternoon. I don't get long so I'll have to take advantage of these days and pray I feel well. Hopefully I can eat heartily (or as much as my shrunken stomach will allow) and be blessed with bursts of energy.

So my mood is more up.

Off
With this new chemotherapy, I get taxol weekly for three weeks and then have a vacation week. This treatment break is next Friday, just in time for Easter. Maybe the side effects will diminish enough and be absent longer so I can enjoy the hoppy holiday. Since this is my first round with this chemo regimen, I'm still figuring out what will happen and what to expect.

But I do know next week, I'm off from chemo.

Okay
As I blogged yesterday, I had to have another mammogram and an ultrasound on my breasts to further assess the results found during my first mammogram and a breast MRI. The doc wanted to check out a particular area on my left breast.

So I trundled off to St. Joe's, had my left breast squished and examined in new and different ways and then a technican examined  it via ultrasound. She must have had difficulty with the scar tissue present from my breast reduction in 1987, because it took 20 minutes of intesive stretching and probing with the scanning device before she was satisfied she examined the area sufficiently. As I was leaving, I heard her talking to another technician about breast reduction, so I figure she was discussing me.

I think she felt sorry for me. I told her I was currently undergoing chemo for the second reoccurence of ovarian cancer, I have the BRCA-1 gene mutation and that my family doc was off right now and I wasn't sure when I'd actually be notified of the results.

So she told me she didn't see anything and all was okay.

The chemo is in, my mood is up, I'm off treatment next week and my breasts are A-okay. In my isolated and self-centred world, that means things are pretty good.

Tina