6 Down, 2 To Go

According to my cancer Killer Countdown, there are 30 days left of chemo to go! That has such a pleasant ring to me!

Things went very well today for chemo infusion number six. Sarah arrived at 7:45 am to escort me to my chemo infusion appointment, which lasted until 1:30pm. The drugs for each chemo treatment are mixed right there at Redwood Regional Cancer Center in their own pharmacy, made to order for each patient at each appointment, so it takes about 30 minutes for things to get under way when I arrive. The nurse brings out each bag of drugs and has me confirm that my name and date of birth are correct on each one. 

So the first hour of drugs is the premeds like benadryl and a steroid, all to help prevent nausea and other symptoms typical with each chemo drug. This time I am on Taxol, which is also known for allergic reactions, hence the heavy steroids. The premeds also help to suppress my immune system so that the drugs work to kill the fast growing cancer cells. Once the benadryl kicked in I got very hoarse, which has been the case in the past, and very sleepy. But for some reason I couldn't sleep because my legs were very restless -- it was kind of weird. So I knit some more, visited with Sarah,  and then finally slept for the last hour or two. I'm making great headway on a beautiful lace shawl I'm working on from my handspun yarn.

The infusion room is filled with about 10 cozy leather recliners, each with a fleece blanket. They make it very comfortable for us to rest, read, knit, visit with loved ones; whatever we like during the treatment, which can last up to 5 hours. Today I brought lunch with us, so we finished the session with our lunch and then came on home. I was still pretty drowsy so napped for another couple of hours before Sarah drove me down for a quick trip to the store and bank to take care of some business. All the while Mark was able to get some work done on repairing one of our raised vegetable beds in anticipation of planting our veggies, and then spent the afternoon on some book work. So it was a very productive day for all concerned.

I think the early morning appointment allowed me to rest and recuperate during the day so I had some energy in the evening. Sarah and I were able to do chores and give Mark a relief for a change. Then we made dinner and all three relaxed for the evening. 

Right now I'm feeling pretty wired, probably from the steroids, so I hope that the Trazodone will allow me to get a full nights sleep and let my body continue to heal, because tomorrow we have another busy day. 

Tomorrow Sarah will come with me for my Neulasta shot. Were gonna check out a cupcake shop in Santa Rosa. I had thought about bringing in a treat for the nurses at Redwood Regional for Easter, but have decided to do some research first and then bring in cupcakes for the nurses just before Mothers Day, which will be near my last chemo treatment. So the tough research will begin tomorrow. Heck... maybe we will find some cute Easter cupcakes that we can take to Alura and Stephan's on Sunday. :-)

GREAT NEWS.....

Sarah has officially given me the okay to share their news. She and Chris are also expecting their first baby. So this means that both my girls are pregnant, with our first and second grand children due two months apart; Alura is due in August and Sarah is due in October. How exciting is this? We are so blessed and have so much to look forward to this Fall.

Hugs, Debbie... aka the cancer warrior; AND survivor 
Sonoma Relay for Life Team (8/6/11) ~  Debbie's Blasting Crew

LIVESTRONG: 

I AM STRONG. I AM LOVED. I AM HEALTHY. WE WILL WIN!

Happy & Gearing up for 5

On Friday I had my bloodwork done in anticipation of chemo treatment number five. Five has a good ring to it because then there are only three left to go of my total eight treatments (16 weeks). Dr. Anderson reports that I am still a bit anemic; but that since the next treatment will be with the new drug, Taxol, which is less likely to cause anemia, we can wait a bit to see if this improves. If it does not, a blood transfusion would be in order. So I am very hopeful that all will be well on this front.

The appointment was filled with good news, in my estimation. On physical exam, the tumor continues to appear to be shrinking. In a few weeks, a new breast MRI will be performed to confirm the size of the tumor and I'll meet with Dr. Elboim to discuss my surgery options so we will be ready to rock and roll with the surgery as soon as possible after the last chemo infusion. Dr. Anderson did caution me that sometimes even though it appears the tumors have lessened in size, the chemo might have attacked the cancer in a swiss-cheese-like fashion (his words), where it kills little pockets of cancer cells. If this is the case, then a mastectomy may still be in order because of the amount of breast tissue that would be removed during surgery. Time will tell on this, and I am not alarmed with this news. I am just glad that the chemotherapy is doing its job and starving the cancer cells. Die, cancer, die!!!

More good news is that many of the side effects I have been experiencing do not necessarily happen with Taxol. So hopefully there will be less fatigue, the rashes will subside, less pain in the hands and feet, etc. Although there may be some neuropathy in hands and feet with the Taxol. Dr. Anderson also indicated that if after the first Taxol treatment I do not have any allergic reactions, we may be able to cut the steroids in half which will help with my insomnia. Considering how anxious I have been that all those symptoms might continue to cover more days as the chemo compounds in my body, this was a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I mean HUGE! So it was a great appointment!!! 

And this was our first early morning appointment so Mark and I had researched someplace to get breakfast afterwards. And.... we found our new favorite breakfast place in Santa Rosa. Dierk's Parkside Cafe on Santa Rosa Avenue. I had the warm poached egg salad, and Mark had Friday morning Joe's. Yum!!!

We returned home to find Miski walking around the lush green pasture with her brand new baby white cria hobbling around trying to keep up with her. He had just been born and was finding his legs. 

Miski X Memento Cria

My sweet sister-in-law, Marie, arrived about then and watched as we got the new mom and cria settled into their own pen for bonding, gave mom a ration of mineral pellets as a treat, dipped the cria's navel, and weighed the little guy. So our 2nd cria has arrived and one is yet to be born any day now.

Marie brought some yummy sandwiches and stayed to visit for a bit before buying some eggs and heading out. Then a couple of hours later, sister Nancy dropped by for a nice visit and to drop off some great reading material. Nancy is always very helpful with ideas on ways to sell farm product. She was so impressed with the quality and softness of the Basooka Bears that just arrived into inventory, that she took two with her to show the ladies at work (Santa Rosa Memorial Hospice) and see if she might sell a few. Go Nance!

That was our wonderful Friday. AND, did I say it was another glorious sunny Spring day! I was all smiles.

Hugs, Debbie... aka the cancer warrior; AND survivor 

LIVESTRONG: 

I AM STRONG. I AM LOVED. I AM HEALTHY. WE WILL WIN!

Chemo Teach

So today was a good day!     That always feels good to say -- and it's true.

We had most of the morning to do some things around Brookfarm. It is such lovely weather here in Glen Ellen right now. Can you believe 73 degrees, sunny, and all the pastures are full of lush green forage for the pacas. Then I had a farm visit from a neighboring fiber store over West who will be carrying our yarn and raw fleeces. That is always a very good thing. Thank goodness Sarah is coming out tomorrow to help me skirt more fiber and replenish our stock. It will be good to have her company for our "off day" of any kind of doctor appointments whatsoever.

Of course it would be great to be pruning my roses and working in the garden, what with this absolutely gorgeous weather. But I need to take it easy for the next couple of weeks so that my Port settles in nicely and I don't disturb it in any way. Don't want to lose my special powers, for sure!  :-)

Redwood Regional Cancer Center was pretty swamped when we arrived for my 2:30 PM appointment today. This is probably a good tip to me that morning appointments would be better for my usual chemo treatments after the first one scheduled for this Thursday. But the appointment was pretty much a breeze:  a 20 minute video (kinda of dated and comical to watch), the appointment with the NP Teresa, and a quick tour of the infusion room. Mark was open to tell Teresa they might consider updating their video sometime soon. Teresa fully agreed and said they were already working on it. 

The best news of the day was to learn that all the test performed last week are within normal ranges, and their is no other sign of cancer or any issues whatsoever according to the MUGA, CT, and Bone Scans. Yahoo -- that is a huge relieve!

During my appointment the NP went over all the ins and outs of the two drugs I'll be starting off with on Thursday. She went into the details about side effects and explained that the first hour of my 2-hour infusion will be for anti-nausea medication, and the second half is the cocktail of  Doxorubicin Hydrochloride (Adriamycin) and Cyclophosphamide. These are the two drugs of my three part ACT cocktail. So only two hours each for the first four appointments, which lasts 8 weeks -- one week on, and one week off.  The major side effects are the nausea, fatigue, mouth sores, loss of appetite; amongst others to be sure. Oh, and low blood count. This will be combated with a shot of Neulasta the day after each chemo treatment to help to bring my blood count back up somewhat. That means treatment is actually a three-day process. One day to get the blood work done to make sure I am well enough for the next treatment, then infusion day, followed by a shot of Neulasta on the third day to bring the blood count back up.

I now have all sorts of tips to try to counteract the multiple side effects. of my chemotherapy And I will need to be very careful to stay clear of those who are sick, and bacteria from gardening and working with my alpacas. This is not to say I can't do these things, but I will take precautions with gloves and such, and only do what I feel is appropriate. But the bright side is that this is not the type of chemotherapy that strips your immune system. Yes, it brings it down significantly, but with the help of Neulasta and my bodies own defense mechanism, I should be able to fight off the normal germs around me. AND, I do not have any food restrictions. It is also okay to take my daily multiple and andy additional vitamin D and C. But everything else is off limits until after Chemo. No special herbal treatments, or high doses of other vitamins.

And yes, I'll be losing my hair in a couple of weeks. But Teresa tells me that frequently she sees patients hair return with a beautiful new texture and or color, like curls! Now that could be fun to anticipate. And I now have a beautiful supply of bandannas, courtesy of cousins Paula and Gail.

The NP has also called in 4 prescriptions for me at our local drug store. I'm to bring those with me to the next appointment so they can go over their use, which is mainly to combat the expected side effects. She also provided me with a mouth wash recipe that should help with the mouth sores (Yuck). Did you know you are not to floss during chemo, and can only brush your teeth very gently. This is to prevent any bleeding that can be exacerbated by one of the chemo drugs.

This series of chemotherapy will be immediately followed by a series with Paclitaxel (Taxol). This is the "T" part of the ACT. This infusion is identical in days of treatment (4 series to last 8 weeks), but each infusion will last 4 hours for that series, and there will be some new side effects, which we'll cover later.

So, tomorrow is an "off-day". Off from any kind of cancer appointments whatsoever. Yippee!!! I will focus on me, the farm, my hubby, Sarah's visit, and whatever else good comes to me.

Hugs, Debbie... aka the cancer warrior; soon to be survivor 

LIVESTRONG: 

I AM STRONG. I AM LOVED. I AM HEALTHY. WE WILL WIN!