My 7th Chemotherapy Treatment~June 15, 2006

I had my appointment today with the breast surgeon and we set the date for Aug. 15th for my surgery. I have to also make an appointment with the plastic surgeon and discuss what procedure we are going to choose for the reconstruction. I think I will feel a lot better about everything once I speak to the plastic surgeon. I also had a chance to speak to 2 ladies who had bilateral mastectomies. One was an older woman in her 50's who didnt have recon but uses prosthesis. They look good but they slide alot and I dont think I want to deal with that. You also have to wear different ones when you are swimming in a pool or any water because the others are not supposed to be submerged in water. The other woman is one that works in the Dr's office and she helped me out a lot with questions I had written down. She answered all of them and they look fabulous, like real breasts!

I also had my 7th Chemotherapy Treatment today and my first with TAXOTERE. I had a bad reaction to the TAXOL so the oncologist felt it was necessary to switch and avoid a repeat performance of the last time! I wasn't going to let that happen either. I had a little encounter with a lady sitting in my treatment seat. I went to sit in my seat and she had moved to another one which was in the treatment area when she should have been in the waiting room. People receiving chemo want privacy not some stranger sitting there watching what meds are being given to a patient. Anyway my husband went to sit in my seat that I always sit in and I said jokingly, “get out of my lucky seat! I need to sit there.”
This woman looked at me taking all my stuffed animals out and arrange them on the shelf next to me and gave me the weirdest look. I looked back at her and said that I am a bit superstitious and like things to be exactly the same way each time I get treated. That means I have the same seat and articles that I bring with me each and every time. She made some stupid comments about, “well, if that's what makes you happy.” She said it in a very condescending way though and it annoyed me. Another thing that I though was hilarious was that I overheard her saying that she has lived in the same neighborhood and cannot make any friends. She said, “I don't understand, I am a friendly person how come I cant make friends?” Well lady let me clue you in on that one. Maybe its because you think you are better than everyone else and no one wants friends like that. I was laughing out loud and I really couldn't care if she heard me or not. People like that are just annoying.

Joy was my nurse today and she gave me an IV anti-emetic, Benadryl, Decadron, and the TAXOTERE. I was so nervous, yet again due to the new drug, and was feeling a little weird when it was infused but overall it went well. The good thing is that the TAXOTERE can be infused a little bit quicker than the TAXOL was. I was glad that it was over as quickly as it was. I am feeling a bit run down and tired right now from the treatment. My body is just starting to hurt. Tomorrow I have an OT appointment that I hope I can make. The therapist said if I didn't feel good to give her a call and let her know so we can reschedule. I’ll see how I feel when I wake up in the morning.

I decided to put curlers in my wig tonight to give it a bit of a curl. When I washed it the other day it came out quite straight and I am missing my curls a whole bunch right now! This is the closest I can get to them so I hope they come out OK. I am going to leave them in until the hair is totally dry. I spritzed it with lavender water and aloe vera gel before I rolled each piece of hair.

I ate 1/4 of a Sara Lee pound cake and I want more! Man, do these steroids make you hungry! Its not even a normal hungry its ravenous. My Mom saw how depressed I was the other day that I was upset over the steroid weight gain and she offered to pay for the NutriSystem plan when I am finished with chemo. I am seriously considering it because there are 6 weeks after chemo is over and then I will have my surgery and I think that's a great amount of time to lose some weight, like 15 lbs. Its probably better to go into the surgery healthier and a bit slimmer.

I am hoping that I can keep the pain that comes with the TAXOTERE away with control through the pain meds, Right now my hip joints and knees are starting to hurt. I tool some Tylenol PM so hopefully it will make me sleep too!

I am mentioning in my blog that I am starting to see a nurse practitioner (Kathleen) who is a licensed family psychologist and since I have BC, its a free service. I spoke to her once on the phone about lots of things that are going on and how being sick exaggerates all the minor problems you had before. She agreed and gave me the name of a community services group in my town that sees patients on a sliding scale because those co-pays add up and right now we are short on the cash. My husband and I have our 1st appointment next week and I think its going to help a lot because he is having a difficult time talking to me and we are also fighting way too much. No one said marriage was easy and its even harder when one partner has a diagnosis of cancer. We both love one another and I want to make things right so we have a healthier marriage and that this cancer doesn't destroy that. Kathleen had said that we probably only need a few sessions to talk and learn better communications techniques which all married people should know. I am not embarrassed to say these things because they're are so many women who go through this and have problems with their family and spouse. If this can help one person then I have done my job, whatever that it! LOL