Taxol not so taxing....

I had my first Taxol treatment today and as of right now I am fairing much better than with the AC treatments. Taxol is a much longer treatment, just a higher volume of liquids and medicines that have to put in your body. So I was at the oncologist from 9:45-3:45, it was a very long day. There were no delays so I can expect that each of these treatments will be just as long. For AC I was usually done by 1:30 or 2 pm.

I had to take a lot of steroids before the treatment. 5 pills before bed and 5 more throughout the night. Waking up to take them was a pain, but I got through it. I had an appointment at the Plastic Surgeon for another fill up and they even gave me a coupon for a free facial when I done with treatment in celebration of breast cancer awareness month, that was very cool. Facials are not cheap. I will see if the pain from this fill up is the same as others, it usually kicks in while I am sleeping the first night and the next day. I also talked to the Plastic surgeon about having the reaction to the biopsy dye removed when he does my implant surgery. It caused a large mass right after my surgery in June, and though it as shrunk to about the size of a kidney bean, having it there (in almost the exact spot of my cancer) just reminds me of cancer. I put my fingers on it all the time and I told him that even though I know it is just dead tissue, I want it removed, even if it requires another small incision. I don't need it there for my emotional thought process. Once I explained this to him, he was great about saying they would do what they could to remove it. (and biopsy just to make sure there was not breast tissue in it.)


I went to the oncologist and started my IV. First anti-nausea meds (I didn't have to take any oral stuff for that this time, like my $100 a pill Emend tablets) Then I had 45 minutes of benedryl and steroids. It made me feel like I had been drinking. Though I haven't had alcohol in years (it has not been kind to me since I developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome) I felt like I had had 2-3 glasses of wine. I have a chemo buddy named Barbara who is on the same exact schedule as I am and we chat through chemo. She was about an hour behind me today and described the exact same feeling. We giggled like kids as we watched each other stumble back and forth to the bathroom like drunks. After that they let me sit for a half hour and let the steroids kick in throughout my system.

Then it was time for the Taxol. The Dr. and nurse had warned of possible allergic reaction. They said if it was going to happen it would be in the first half hour. So the nurse sat right next to me for that time. She said, "if you have a reaction it will feel like you are dying, like a heart attack, mixed with asthma attack, mixed with panic attack, so just know that we will pull you out of it and you are not dying." I thought, "oh, great." I appreciated her bluntness though. (If you haven't figured that out about me, I don't like then sugar coated, just hit me with it. When someone asks me, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" I always opt for the bad news first.)

Anyway, I did just fine, no reaction. So after that she let me finish it out and besides numerous trips back and forth to the restroom (they put a LOT of fluids in you during chemo) I was OK. Tonight I am more than my usual tired, but have no nausea. Usually, I am eating all plain noodles and water, but tonight I had a regular meal with the family. If the body aches kick in (the biggest post treatment side effect for Taxol) I will likely experience them in the next 3 days. I have various pain killers on hand to deal them, depending on how bad they might be. I will likely need extra sleep in the next few days too.

Next time I will bring more food, snacks and stuff to do, it is a much longer day to fill. The good news is that I think I will be fine to drive myself back and forth (Jeff had to drop me off, go back to Blacksburg, work a few hours, get Bethany off the bus after school and come back to pick me up --about a 40 minute drive back and forth each way.) I was over the "drunk buzz" after about an hour into Taxol.

In other news, Jeff had first decided he would be at chemo with me all day, but logistics with the kids didn't work out that way today. This turned out to be a huge blessing because he got a contract written up for a contract that could pay him more than 5 months of his last year's salary. So we are anxious to have the client sign it and he is confident they likely will. This will allow him to definately be at home to work through the rest of my treatment and into next year. YEA!

Jeff's parents left for their annual trip to Israel yesterday. We haven't heard from them yet, but usually don't in the first few days. We still have no word on how Walt is responding to his treatment, but he has no side effects either.

Our house is starting drywall this week and is really getting exciting more and more each time we visit. We are still on track for a late November move in. I am now working out flooring picks. I finalized kitchen cabinets, countertops all the kitchen details last week. That was probably the biggest single element of the whole house design that required the most detail work (lets just say I am really good friends with the guy at Lowes who has been working on the kitchen with me) and I am glad to have it behind us for now.

Kids are doing great, they are both such a blessing each day. Liam is becoming quite a little boy now, very articulate, very musical. Bethany is becoming a young lady and displaying great maturity each day. They both got new shoes that light up, and think they are the greatest. I got a chance to babysit a 2 month old baby for a few hours on Monday (I jumped at the chance when the girl I work with said she needed a sitter for a few hours) I told her I would do it for free because I needed a baby fix. The kids were great with him, especially the mommy in training, Bethany. I got my baby fix for few hours. Hard to believe the kids were ever that small. Still not ready to close my heart on the possibilty of more kids in our future, but not for at least another 2 years. So for now, I will just go from baby fix to baby fix.

Lastly, I found out on Friday that I am positive for the BRC2 gene. I will explain more about this later and what it means, but briefly...Scientists have discovered 2 of what are likely many mutations in the DNA strand that are specifically linked to developing Breast cancer. They call them BRC1 and BRC2, but in the future there will likely be several more. People who carry this gene (yes, men and women) have a dramatically greater chance of developing Breast cancer in their lifetime. This stat goes up with age. For me at 31, it is about 25%, but goes up by 10-15% every decade of age. Well, guess what, I've already had Breast Cancer. Normally, if a person comes back positive for this mutation they have to decide what to do about it. Sometimes it is just aggressive monitoring, digital mammograms, MRI, ultrasound, other people become more aggressive, like having their breasts removed before any cancer develops or having a oopherectomy or hysterectomy (because it also causes an increase in ovarian cancer). Each person has to decide how aggressive they will be. Since I have already had both breasts removed and have already made the decision to have a hysterectomy if and when I have more kids, this doesn't have any further implications for my course of action. However, this has huge implications for the rest of my extended family and my sister and mom. They will both be tested and likely other members of my mom's side of the family, but at this point, my mom has to have the gene, so as you can imagine this is a little disconcerting for her. She will have to discuss with her doctors the implication of this for her. For my sister, she has a 50% chance of having the mutation, and the same for Bethany as well. I will talk about all this more later.

Blessings, to you all...

Kat