The first post-chemo day luckily brought only very light nausea which was no worse than yesterday. Looks like I'll be one of the lucky gals that might get away with little discomfort that way. Yay! Other than that, I've only had a few brief episodes of fast heartbeat which the nurse thought might have come from the steroid they gave me yesterday. Tonight, though, I even felt well enough to have dinner at a Dosa place on our way home from the doctor's appointment tonight. How daring is that? Indian food the day after having chemo?!! Overall, this is not half bad for what I feared chemo might feel like...
Yes, I know my hair will fall out over the next two weeks or so. Yes, I know that I might still get bone pain from the Neulasta shot they gave me today. Yes, my white blood cell count is bound to get worse with each round of chemo. Yes, I may still develop other complications. But so far I am simply very happy that I have made it through my first chemo round so well.
One round down, seven rounds to go!!! This morning, I lit my first chemenorah candle to celebrate the occasion. It is a very good feeling to see the little candle burn in commemoration of my first chemical round against cancer. In a few months, there will be a veritable sea of lights signifying the end of these chemical battles with TNBC.
Then I will have to make a decision over whether or not to have myself fried, too, i.e. irradiated. It's not a clearcut case, as the little extant literature is based upon old data from a time when they used a type of chemo on TNBC girls that was much less effective than the current anthracyline and taxol based regimens, and particularly dose-dense ones. Based upon old chemo courses, radiation treatment benefited TNBC girls with an additional 3 percentage point survival advantage. However, given the better chemo treatments, this may no longer be true. Plus, radiation can cause problems for my reconstruction, can affect surrounding skin, can cause cancer in the other breast... and will lead not only to 5 1/2 more weeks of treatments (daily ones at that), but also to more fatigue and other side effects. If I had confidence about the 3 percentage point survival advantage, I'd go through the trouble. But it is not at all clear that I would be able to expect an equivalent advantage from this treatment. So more stuff to think about...
On a different note, 2l's dad was supposed to have surgery on his malfunctioning defibrillator to replace the shorted out leads. I hope that everything went well and that your entire family will get to breathe a deep sigh of relief as he begins his road to recovery from his recent heart issues. We have been thinking of you all and sending lots of supportive and healing thoughts your way!!!
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