I know it's been a while since I've written, sorry, sometimes I don't know what to say and I feel I'm just repeating myself over and over. Other times I'm just too tired, or just lazy.
I had my first part of cycle 3 on the 31st of July and the second part on the 7th. My WBC were really high prior to my first treatment, 15,000, this of cource was due to the neupogen and neulasta. I did pretty well after the first part, more energy than usual, no diarrhea or nausea, just the usual mouth discomfort.
The second part of course is always another story as your body doesn't get time to recover before it is assaulted again. I again gave myself 5 neupogen shots the day after my first treatment and my WBC's remained pretty high at 7.3 prior to the second treatment. The bad news is my hemoglobin dropped to 9.6 from 11.5, so I am now anemic and need to try and correct it with diet or else another red cell booster similar to epogen.
The night of my second treatment I had severe epigastric pain with nausea, seemed a little better on Friday and on Saturday I had nausea and vomiting and stayed in bed all day watching the Olympics, sleeping and trying to keep fluids down. When you feel lousy, at least for me, that is when I feel the loneliest and wish I had a partner to hold me and comfort me and just make me feel better. I have great friends but they just can't take the place of a man in that respect. Maybe I'm living in dream land because let's face it most men don't know how to feel or what to do when someone is sick. I'm hoping I'll feel a little better over the next few days and then I'll be great again until the 21st, when I receive my 4th treatment. There is light at the end of the tunnel however, as my last part of this drug regimen and my half way mark will be 8/28. After that I will change to 2 different drugs and the 4 cycles will be every 3 weeks.
I saw a breast surgeon last week and she talked about the different surgical options(none of them being keeping my breast). I now need to make appointments with plastic surgeons for consult as there are different options available: implants or using fat and skin from abdomen to reconstruct. Like everything there are pro's and con's to both. I have lots of time however to decide what will be best for me.
I am still working 3 1/2 days a week and sometimes more. Last week after seeing the surgeon I decided to look at the plastic surgeon's web site and didn't like what I saw. Someone at work told me about a paramedic who'd had breast cancer and implants. I saw her at work and plucked up the courage and went over to her and asked if I could see her implants, real life is always better than pictures(I was teary eyed asking, it takes a lot of guts to ask a complete stranger to see their boobs) well you guessed, I asked the wrong medic, she said "I don't have implants". Did I feel stupid, and no doubt she'll go back to the station and tell all the guys, so they'll all have a good laugh as I did, but later in the day.
Fiona had her 16th birthday on Monday the 4th, she kept saying she didn't want to do anything special with her friends. We ended up going to an Italian restaurant with john and a few close friends, she had a good time and of course now feels older and wiser. Everyone asks "how's Fiona doing", she obviously worries when she sees me not feeling good but on the whole she seems to be doing okay but really doesn't talk too much about how she feels.
I'll try and post a few pictures of fiona's 16th and I'll let you see me bald, which I am now getting more used to. Again thanks to everyone.
Karen
