Chemo #6 Complete!

On October 6 I completed my last round of chemotherapy. I got to sit at a station with a fantastic garden view. It was very nice to be able to look out the window and not at another station's divider curtain for 6 hours. I had friends and family bring lunch and come visit. All in all it was a nice time. When I finished, the nurses and my family were congratulating me for finishing with the hard stuff. I felt like it wasn't that big of a deal, because I knew I had the hard part yet to come over the weekend. But as soon as I got in my car by myself I started crying. I'm not sure why - it must have been from relief to be done with the chemo and the sickness that comes with it. I cried all the way home and then sucked it up and was fine.

I had my usual doctor's appointment before the infusion. Everything checked out fine. My doctor and I are disagreeing about me taking tamoxifen. It's a drug that reduces estrogen levels that is commonly prescribed for women with estrogen receptive breast cancer like mine. I don't want to take it, because I feel like my body has had enough crap put into it in the past 5 months and I would like to detox and work on naturally boosting my immune system. I don't want to sign on for 5 years of taking a hormone regulating drug. My doctor then suggested just taking it for the next 9 months while I'm receiving the herceptin. I'm considering, but am not convinced. If it is effective at reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence with only 9 months of treatment, why prescribe the original 5 years? I feel like because it's so commonly prescribed that I'm receiving a cookie-cutter prescription and don't like it. Since my cancer is both estrogen and her-2 positive, I can't get a straight answer for increased survival rates by taking the tamoxifen. The chemotherapy and herceptin were supposed to reduce my chance of recurrence from 50% to 15%. If the tamoxifen reduced that recurrence rate to 5% or less, it might be worth drugging myself for 5 years, but otherwise I'm not interested.

At the same appointment, I asked my doctor when I could have a margarita (it's been 5 months people!). Since he's a smart ass like me he said as soon as I start taking my tamoxifen. Very funny doc... He then recanted and said 3 weeks, which is October 27. I figure the Chargers game on the 24th is close enough, so I'm planning to enjoy an adult beverage during the tailgate. Plus, how can you watch the Chargers this season without alcohol? Painful! But that's a post for my Fire Norv/Crosby's a Boob blog.

So, I received my last chemo infusion on Wednesday, October 6. Usually I would start to feel tired on Friday afternoon and sick on Saturday morning. Well this round hit faster and harder than the others. By Thursday mid-day I was nauseous and exhausted. It didn't matter that I took the anti-nausea drugs, I was still nauseous. I ate crackers every 15 minutes or so to keep something in my stomach and it helped a bit. By Sunday afternoon I was recovering and the nausea subsided. I have continued to be tired, even today, but I guess it's to be expected.

So next steps are to continue receiving the herceptin and reconstructive surgery. I've been receiving herceptin as part of my chemotherapy cocktail, but now I will just get it every 3 weeks. It's still given through the port in my chest, so I'll have that lovely accessory under my skin until next June. I'm scheduled for surgery on December 3. That I'm looking forward to! Other than that I'm waiting for my hair to grow and the hot flashes to subside.

All in all, the chemotherapy was not that bad. The infusions were painless and ended up being a great way to catch up with family and friends. The side effects were not fun, but I really was only sick 2-3 days with each round. I was tired a lot, but tired is manageable. The hair loss sucks, but the wigs are kind of fun and it's shaved 20 minutes off my morning routine. I would definitely not want to do it all again, but survived just fine. I am so grateful to all of you for the encouragement and support you have given me. My experience would have been much different without all of you rooting me on and praying for my recovery. I am very blessed to have you all in my life!