First, the good news: the second biopsy found that the two additional suspicious areas that showed up on the MRI are not cancer—just some benign lumps.
My doctor has advised pre-operative chemotherapy that could reduce the size of the cancerous tumor and keep the cancer from spreading to any more lymph nodes. That would be good.
Then, the "fun" began: trying to schedule everything,
I was supposed to have a chemo port implanted tomorrow, which will save me from having the pain and complications of having drugs injected into my arms.
But I have come down with a bad cold. Aside from the fact that I feel really crappy, there is some risk of infection since the procedure involves an incision. So I rescheduled the procedure for next Monday.
Unfortunately, this complicated the scheduling of my chemo and doctor appointments. The details are too tedious to go into here, but what it amounts to is that I have conversations lke this:
Scheduler: I need to know if you want to start your chemo treatments the same week as the port is implanted.
Me: Is that a good idea?
Scheduler: That's up to you.
Me: OK. (Pause to wonder if I can get a medical degree in the next ten seconds) Assuming we want to get this started, can I do it on Wednesday?
Scheduler: Yes. we have an appointment open that day.
Me: Good. I'll take it.
Scheduler: That would be at our Adventist office.
Me: Wait. That is not a good location for me, and I just had an orientation and tour of the Providence office. Can I just start treatment at the Providence office, which is much more convenient for me?
Scheduler: Yes, but you would have to wait until the following Monday.
Me: Is that wise? Am I risking my life by delaying the start?
Scheduler: I can't answer that. It's up to you.
Me: How can I make a decision if I don't know what it means?
Scheduler: I coud ask the doctor.
Me: Good idea!
Scheduler: She won't be in the office again until Friday.
The long and short of it is that no chemo treatments have been scheduled as yet, so I can't tell any of the friends who have generously offered to help with transportation where or when I need transport.
And...
My husband and I had a lengthy meeting yesterday with a nurse in the oncology practice who went over what they are going to do to me in chemotherapy. It reminded me of those TV commercials for various drugs where they show you happy people having a lovely time while the voiceover recites a long list of horrid side effects.
For those who want to get freaked out, you can Google the treatment. It is four sessions of AC (doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide) followed by four sessions of Paclitaxel.
The treatment also includes heavy-duty anti-nausea drugs and another drug to help my bone marrow produce white blood cells.
And...
There is a chance that the chemo can damage my heart, so today I had an echocardiogram to assess my heart's health. I will have another one every six weeks to see if there are any changes. This is just lovely. I could survive cancer and die because the treatment damaged my heart.
And...
I have been told that i will lose all my hair; and was advised to have a wig ready. So today I picked out a wig that looks somewhat similar to my own hair. It was free, through a program backed by the American Cancer Society. (Yay!) So if you see me around town in a month or so, please don't comment on my new hairdo.
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