Well, I’m more than halfway through. I’m done with the supposedly nastier AC and I’ve had one infusion of Taxol. I’d say overall the Taxol is easier but the sonofabitching heartburn has unfortunately gotten more recalcitrant. I’m waiting for a GI consult and hoping they can do something because basically not eating for six days really sucks. Today I just said fuck it and ate whatever I wanted, and kept Mylanta close by (I’m also on Protonix twice daily - the Mylanta is just for breakthrough pain).
Other than that I’m coping pretty well. I’ve only taken one official day off work! MetLife has been fucking awesome about flexibility and me working from home. I even worked at the hospital during my last AC infusion. Had dark2phoenix take a picture to put in my file come performance review time.
I was going to do some work this latest time, but with Taxol they give you benadryl in the infusion. Have you ever had benadryl dumped directly into your superior vena cava? Holy shit, it was memorable. And not at all conducive to getting work done!
Still, I’m really ready to be done. My favorite pastimes are looking longingly at recipes online, and looking hopefully at my calendar. I love it when I need to schedule something that falls after my last infusion. Makes it seem more real that it truly will be over soon. Or sometimes I chant to myself “three more, three more.” Soon two more. Then one more, and that one will include zero worry about future infusions.
We’re going to the beach for a long weekend, three weeks after my last infusion. Hopefully my stomach will be largely recovered because I want to Eat All the Things, have some great sex, and laze about reading and drinking cocktails. It will happen. It’s getting closer all the time!
And I think the ambien may be kicking in. Better get off my tablet before I order hundreds of dollars of clothes while in an amnesiac state, like I did last month.
Yay Progress! You’re gonna get through it!
And it’s great to hear how flexible your company is being. You hear too many stories about companies being strict and hard to deal with…not enough about the empathy.
Quick story - back around 2000, when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she worked for a large computer company in San Francisco, and I lived in South Florida. I used to work for the same company, but left when the closed the local office. I was working for a different large company.
I was going to be spending a bunch of time travelling back and forth - Mom was having a double mastectomy, and my sister and I were going to make sure we were around to help her and Dad during the recovery.
Remote access to the computer system was available, but not wide spread, at my company. It usually took about a week to get approval…but a few phone calls explaining the situation got me access in less than a day.
But then we had to find a laptop. They were around, but, again, not universal. We eventually came up with one…but while looking, my Mom’s company actually stepped up and offered to provide a computer for me. That was very nice of them.
Happy Epilogue: 15 years later, Mom and Dad are retired, living about ten minutes up the road from me, and I’ll be having dinner with them this weekend.
One of the really odd side-effects of chemo is the watching of the Food Channel all day every day. I mentioned this to others in my chemo group and all said Yes! I do that too! Thank goodness I don’t do that any more… Tho the dislike of cumin is still there.
Glad you’re almost through.
Keep kicking its ass. I had my first chemo (TC) this week and presently feel reasonably okay, though kind of fatigued, kind of slightly hot, and having some pain come back at the surgical sites.
Wishing for all kinds of relief and yummy foods for you soon!
I’m so frustrated with the hospital system. The *individuals *who work there have all been good to great. The system itself is broken and awful. Once I held their feet to the fire to get an answer on my GI referral, they tried to schedule my appointment sometime in May. Hello, I can’t EAT! And also, I’ll be done with chemo by then! So much WTF.
Thanks for sharing that - I need happy-ending cancer survivor stories in my life right now!
I’m glad you’re not feeling too bad. Definitely give yourself time to rest, and don’t be afraid to use those good drugs for the pain! It does seem to me like my body is struggling a bit to heal these days, so with your more extensive surgery, it’s no surprise. The other weird thing is it hurts to heal - as nerve endings reconnect, and as the scar tissue develops, I get weird random pains sometimes.
I’ll cut away to a fireplace hanging from a parachute.
I’m glad you’re doing well. The worst part of chemo for me was the Neulasta. Damn, did that make my bones ache!
I didn’t have heartburn, but I did get a chronic cough toward the end of my chemo. All my hair was gone, including my nose hair. They don’t tell you that part.
You’re almost done. Will you be having radiation?
Remember, breast cancer only strikes strong women (and strong men, if they get it too, which they can.)
If you are dealing with the same system I am (and I bet you are), I’m right there with you. And how unnecessary that is - putting people who are already ill through all kinds of hoops with ancillary appointments, billing, etc. WTF indeed.
It sounds like overall you are doing great, though! Yay!
