Lisa's F-Cancer Blog

I was nervous about getting to Magee this morning because of the weather. A couple of people asked what would happen if I couldn’t get to my treatment. I said I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out! My guess is I’d skip a week and then everything would be pushed back. I REALLY don’t want that to happen!

I told Samara she was coming with me, since she’s home for break. Spoiler alert: we made it there ok. Coming back, the roads were even better.

I can’t get my meds until my bloodwork comes back, so they can make sure my levels are acceptable. The results are always fast, but not today. Rosann called the lab three times, and eventually found out they were having trouble getting it into the computer. Then just call with the results!

Despite all that, we left only 15 minutes later than last week.

I wore my new mittens and booties, except I didn’t realize the mittens had front and back ice packs. So two ice packs weren’t frozen. Just one wasn’t enough, so we asked for some ice.

This was my 10th treatment, so now the 10-week countdown has begun. I’m now in single digits, with 9 left to go…

After lunch, I was so fatigued I took a 2.5 hour nap. This week was slightly better than the previous one. We’ll see how this week goes!

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and stay safe and warm!!

Today was the fastest treatment I’ve had so far (mind you, I was still at Magee for over three hours), and that was with the Taxol being given slowly. An allergic reaction can happen at any time, but the first two doses are when it’s most likely.

My nurse Kris (who was great) gave me makeshift ice booties and mittens to hopefully prevent or lessen any neuropathy. I just ordered some actual booties on Amazon. The idea is that the cold stops the chemo from getting to those areas by reducing blood flow. It’s thought to be effective. All I know is after about 40 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore and took them off. I did put them back on after a break.

The stomach pain persists. Oddly enough, the team doesn’t know what to make of it. They said they typically don’t see it with Taxol. This, despite the many people who have told me that they had it too, and that it is a thing with Taxol (just Google!). So at this point, I’m to try Ibuprofen to see if that helps, and hope that it will be better with this treatment (doubtful).

Feeling tired from the Benedryl they gave me, and well, all the drugs coursing around inside me. Going to rest.

Two down!

Unfortunately, Taxol hasn’t proven to be easier so far. A couple of days after my treatment, I was hit by such a huge wave of fatigue that I took a 3.5 hour nap. Also, remember the horrible stomach pains/aches I had on AC? They came back that morning and haven’t left. I guess the “fewer GI symptoms” may have been referring to nausea because from the research I’ve done, stomach pain is a thing.

I talked with a nurse yesterday who said to take Pepcid AC twice a day instead of once, and that even though Zofran is more for nausea, it might help with the pain. So far they don’t seem to be doing anything.

I also noticed the other night that my left eye is missing half of the top eyelashes.

And it’s only the first week!

Today I started the second round of my chemo treatment with a drug called Taxol. It’s not as harsh as the A/C and has different side effects. Less gastrointestinal, with possible peripheral neuropathy. It might take a few sessions for me to experience it, or it could occur sooner or – not at all.

Just going to Magee makes me nauseous, so that’s fun. But Rosann, the nurse who made me feel welcome on my first day of chemo in September, is back from her medical leave – yay!

Everything went smoothly. They gave me some drugs pre-treatment, like Benadryl, to help with a potential allergic reaction. Taxol is administered slowly the first couple times just in case. I had no apparent reaction – phew! The next couple of days I might be more fatigued and nauseous, and then several treatments in, I’ll start feeling the cumulative effects.

I made my own tear-away calendar counting down the chemo treatments. Rrrrripp went the 12!

To answer some questions I’ve received:

Yes, breast conservation is another term for lumpectomy. I don’t know why the doctor never uttered the L word.

Why not have the surgery now? There are a couple of reasons I can think of: because I’m triple negative, the cancer is aggressive. We want to kill it as quickly as possible. Being triple negative also means that we don’t know what will work, so chemo has to be tried first. Hopefully Taxol will be as effective as A/C. The doctor is expecting there to be very little to nothing left by the time of surgery, which should help with getting clean margins around the area.

My days with eyebrows and eyelashes appear to be limited. I noticed this week that my eyebrows are slowly disappearing, and most of my lower eyelashes are gone. The hair loss stops for some people on Taxol, but that’s unpredictable.