Today's Appointment with the Oncologist

It was nice to see Angel Nancy again. She stopped by while I was waiting in exam room one. I was all set for this appointment - I had my questions in a list, I visualized on the way over being calm and reasonable with the doctor, I took deep breaths, and had psyched myself up to keep my cool and stay focused. There must be something about that building though - I got out of my car and I started sweating and trembling. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely sign in. (I'll have to work on that because I'll be spending some quality time there.) So like I said , it was very nice to have Nancy stop by, calm me down, and laugh at my lame attempts at jokes. By the time the Doctor walked in I had most of my chemo procedural questions answered and I could ask him some reasonably intelligent medical questions.

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We got my oncotype test results back and they came out exactly as he predicted - I scored a 19. This is just barely into the average range - a few points lower and I would be in the low risk for recurrence range with a slow growing cancer. But average risk is better then high risk I'm thinking so it is not necessarily all bad news. The decision had already been pretty much made but these results sealed the deal - I will be going through chemotherapy. Since I have decided to not participate in the clinical trial he recommended that I do four treatments with Taxotere/Cytoxan. I'm with you - did we hear that right?? He said it again when I asked him to repeat it - only FOUR treatments - one every three weeks. That's six weeks shorter than I was expecting. If any of you had listened closely in a quiet moment this afternoon you might have heard me singing at the top of my lungs and dancing the whole way home. Probably not many people celebrate finding out they are doing chemo but I really really needed some good news and I took those six weeks and partied with them. Scheduling it all out - all of the treatments of chemo and radiation will be finished by Christmas - CHRISTMAS!! Huge New Year's Eve Party at my house and all of you are invited!

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And the winner of the "who gets to go with Linda to her first chemo" award is - drum roll please - opening the envelope - it's my little sister!! Yep - first chemo is on August 26th - two days after she gets here and one day after our Mother's birthday. Happy Early Birthday Mom!

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The Doctor held one hand up high and said "this is a very aggressive chemo treatment plan", he held the other low putting a couple of feet between the top and bottom hand "this is a nonaggressive chemo treatment", he moved the top hand down a couple of inches "this is the treatment we are using on you". He said one of the good points other than we are being aggressive is that with this TC treatment the side effects aren't usually as harsh as some other treatments can be. I will still lose the hair (blahblahblah - you have heard all about this ad nauseam) plus there can be some swelling. Oh great I have a few months of looking like Uncle Fester ahead of me. But hey that's six weeks less than I thought................ (sorry I took a break and did a little soft shoe)!!! He gave me a few prescriptions to be filled before the big day and sent me out to make all of the appointments. The first chemo trip will take most of the day with the different blood work that needs to be done and a bit of an orientation class. Once we start though he said it would only be a few hours in the chair.

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So quick recap, port put in next Tuesday August 19th, then the first chemo session on the 26th, hair all out by September 12th, second chemo the 16th of September, the third on October 7th, and the LAST treatment on October 28th. I should start radiation a couple of weeks after that (a little mini vacation for them from seeing me!) and even radiation should be finished by my birthday. I'm telling you - figuring out the whole logistics of this breast cancer thing is like having an annoying second job. I just wish it paid better. If I lose my day planner I'll never remember everything.

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So, those are the dates - anyone who wants to join Linda for a chemo session had better sign up soon because it's going to be over before any of us know it. Just having a game plan and moving forward to a cure is very encouraging for me.

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I'll be in Flagstaff tomorrow night getting ready for the Climb to Conquer Cancer hike on Saturday bright and early. I picked up our T-shirts today and they said 4,000 people will be there. I was thinking 500 - 4,000 seems like a huge number. I guess it just shows how many people have their lives touched somehow by cancer - or maybe they just have good food at the top of the mountain. I'll post pics later in the weekend.

Thanks Everyone!