Now we're talking...

Turns out, life is much better when I'm not stuck in the hospital. During my last taxol cycle, I spent almost all of my 'good' days stuck in the isolation room at the hospital, possibly fighting a virus. So when I took my sixth chemo treatment, I did not really feel ready for it, but still fragile and not quite recovered from the last round. This time, I think, it will be quite a different story. With each day, I can feel that I am growing stronger and recovering more. 

I cannot help but wonder how much of a difference that will make for how I will tolerate the next round (provided my oncologist agrees to keep me on taxol, that is). Maybe if I am stronger when I get the next round of the good poison, it will not knock me out as badly as it has been doing. This is why I have been eager to regain as much of my strength as possible.

Today was another step forward in my recovery. Not only did I walk the dog in the morning and in the evening, but I was well enough to go out with DH. In the afternoon we went to see a movie we've been wanting to see badly, as it is about a lot of good food, Julie & Julia. We really liked the movie, so we celebrated by going out for an early dinner (or a late lunch, whichever way you want to look at it). Then we thought we needed a good after-dinner constitutional, so we popped on over to the mall for some serious mall-walking. 

There actually is a walking club that meets on weekdays at the mall, rain or shine. Local government is supporting this, apparently, and has paid for an official walking club course to be marked within the mall. Since the mall is quite big, one round on the course comes out to exactly one mile. I am proud to say that we walked at a respectably fast pace, and finished one round. Given that I had already taken a morning walk, and that I ended up doing an evening walk right after we came home, walking a mile at the mall is quite respectable for a girl in the middle of a grueling course of chemo. It felt like a nice achievement to walk the distance. I was tired afterwards, but quite contented.

When we got home, I got so inspired by the movie that I decided to make some crepes. However, while my energy was sufficient to whip up the batter before we took the doggie out for an evening walk, I sort of crashed when we returned from said walk. Thus the crepe batter is still resting in the fridge. Alton Brown, whose recipe I made, assures me, though, that the batter will last in the fridge for 48 hours. So I am thinking that freshly made crepes with Nutella and fresh blackberries will delight us at some point tomorrow.

Talking about tomorrow, I have my monthly appointment with my poison man. In addition, they will draw my blood for the usual pre-chemo liver panel. I expect that we will have an extended discussion about the remainder of my chemo, as I am really starting to feel the peripheral neuropathy in the outer three fingers of my hands, as well as in my feet. The impact of the taxol on the nerves is cumulative, so each further course of the good poison is likely to do more damage. On the other hand, I am eager to take the full course, as it is what is known to give the best protection (to the extent that modern medicine can achieve it) against a recurrence of the TNBC. The taxol, in particular, is thought to be crucial in preventing recurrence, which makes me particularly eager to finish the dose dense chemo as planned. But oh well, we shall see...