BEEP! BEEP! The IV alarm is going off again. That usually means the fluids are done dispensing or need to be fixed. This noise is loud, annoying, and practically incessant given the number of IVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first appointment was at 9 am for the blood draw after a vitals check. An hour prior, I applied Lidocaine cream to the port to numb it. Kayla was my nurse today (and has the same birthday as me, though I suspect a much younger year!) and said at the count of three, to take a deep breath. That\u2019s when she stuck the needle in. I felt the pinch and it hurt briefly but then was fine. Another deep breath at the end of treatment to take the needle out – much less painful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had to wait a while for the bloodwork to come in before meeting with Alexa, the nurse practitioner. I told her I had trouble finding the mass yesterday. After the breast exam, she confirmed that it was indeed harder to find – and also softer. She didn’t even try to measure it because she knew it’d be difficult. Very positive signs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I inquired about the schedule going forward and have a better understanding of it now. Any surgery I have will be after my A\/C and Taxol chemo is done. I\u2019ll be on Keytruda for a year, which means until mid-September 2023. It\u2019s an immunology treatment, so it doesn\u2019t have the same kind of side effects as chemo. It only impacts the immune system. When chemo is done, I\u2019ll get Keytruda every 3-6 weeks (to be determined). Once I start weekly Taxol chemo, I won\u2019t have to meet with the team every time, so those appointments will be faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEEP! BEEP! That time it was me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We met with Dr. Brufsky for the first time since my diagnosis. I asked about lowering the steroid dose because of the uncontrollable hunger. He gave the ok to lower the IV steroid from 10 to 8 (last time it was lowered from 12 to 10), and said I could take four doses of the pill form instead of six. I hope that helps, and that it doesn\u2019t make the side effects worse (one of the main reasons for taking it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I asked about recurrence, but there\u2019s still information we don\u2019t know. There\u2019s the breast imaging I\u2019ll be getting in late November, and then the surgical pathology. If I have a complete response during this process, that lowers the risk. Dr. Brufsky said there\u2019s a 65-75% chance this will go away completely with the care plan. If that\u2019s the case, then there\u2019s only a 10% chance of recurrence. If it doesn\u2019t completely go away with the current care plan, then I\u2019ll have chemo in a pill after surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Depending on where things stand after surgery, Dr. Brufsky will make further recommendations. Hopefully more chemo won\u2019t be needed. Radiation might, especially if I end up with a lumpectomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For today, he prescribed a new anti-nausea med (Emend) to be given through the IV. I got that and something else; one lasts for three days and the other for five. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DRIP! DRIP! I can hear the IV fluids doing their job. And now that I\u2019ve noticed it, I can\u2019t tune it out like a hearing person!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was treated to a foot massage again. I also got a sandwich, but could only stomach a few bites of it and the one I brought. I was nauseous before the chemo even started. Kayla calls this anticipatory chemo. And now anything I eat while there will have the chemo association and therefore induce nausea. That means leaving my favorite foods at home!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BEEP! BEEP! Three of the four A\/C treatments are done! Only one more of this hard hitting stuff. The cumulative effects of chemo are supposed to kick in around now, which is why I now have meals from friends queued up starting on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for now, my parents are here. They came in yesterday, bearing a delicious homemade meal (plus two future meals thanks to leftovers!) and my favorite homemade sugar cookies! Mom had asked if I wanted anything, and I said at some point during treatment, I\u2019d love the cookies. Lo and behold, she made them this week! Thanks, Mom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those damn BEEP! BEEP!s are going to haunt my dreams. Happy Halloween!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEEP! BEEP! The IV alarm is going off again. That usually means the fluids are done dispensing or need to be fixed. This noise is loud, annoying, and practically incessant given the number of IVs. My first appointment was at 9 am for the blood draw after a vitals check. An hour prior, I applied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmyhead.com\/wordpress\/fcancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}