I had my first dose dense AC treatment on Tuesday, and so far it has gone better than anticipated. So far I’ve had a little nausea which I was able to manage well with some meds at home and I pretty much fall asleep any time I sit down on the couch, but all-in-all I’ve felt pretty good. Coming out of the fog a little bit today.
I also went in for my udenyca shot yesterday which helps to boost my white blood cell count. My oncologist actually gave me a slightly lower dose of this since, typically, younger people are more “robust” (as she put it) and can upregulate white blood cell count more easily. So far no significant side effects like bone pain, so I’m very thankful.
Round 1 – DONE!
I also haven’t had a chance to mention that I received my genetics results last week and I do not have a BRCA 1/2 mutation. This means that I’ll likely be able to choose a less aggressive surgery (lumpectomy v. mastectomy). It also means I have less chance of recurrence in my breasts or ovaries and it also means that my family members don’t have an increased risk of breast or ovarian cancer. Yay!
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who’s reached out and who have sent very thoughtful gifts and prayers. I couldn’t get through any of this without you!
Especially a big thank you to my husband who is now head chef (ok, he always was), home pharmacist and water-bringer extraordinaire. So grateful for you, Justin ❤
Not the worst view from my chemo chair….
Hope you’re all doing well – will continue to update as much as I can. I’m hoping to get into work a few days next week if I’m feeling well enough.
On Thursday morning, I had my “chemo teach” with the oncology APRN. Basically, this is just education on the nitty gritty details of the chemo regimen I’ll be going through.
Since I saw my oncologist on May 5, she changed her mind regarding the best course of treatment, and is now recommending that I start with the more “aggressive” chemo medications first. This combo of adriamycin and cytoxan, a.k.a. the “red devil” (because of the color of the infusion), will be given every other week for 4 rounds (8 weeks). I won’t bore you with the major side effects, but this medication will lower my immune system significantly so the infusion is followed up with a shot of udenyca (formerly known as neulasta) which will stimulate my bone marrow to increase white blood cell production.
This was a hard pill to swallow for me since I’d thought we’d be doing the “less intense” chemo first and that I’d maybe get to skip the other if my scans all came back clear. This actually is the typical protocol so it shouldn’t have come as so much of a surprise, but I’d been preparing mentally for the taxol treatment so I got a bit rattled. It’s simply a reminder for me that triple negative breast cancer is aggressive and although I am stage I, it doesn’t mean I get to skip any steps.
While I’m ready to get the ball rolling and begin treatment, I am feeling a bit of resentment at the whole COVID situation at this point since I won’t be able to have anyone sit with me during my infusions, and Justin will only be able to drop me off and pick me up from my port surgery on Friday.
I’m also unsure how I’ll respond to the treatment and that anxiety comes in waves. I’ve been very aware of my mindset around treatment and there are definitely times when I have to remind myself that chemo is just medicineand that I’m fortunate that there is something that can heal me even if it could have some nasty side effects.
In other news, I started my hormone injections for the egg retrieval and it’s going well. I should be able to have that procedure done next week between Monday and Wednesday.
I’ve been trying to get outside and enjoy the sun and the beach as much as I can. I made one of my favorite vegetarian/vegan meals this week (here‘s the recipe!), and Justin’s been making sourdough bread which makes me very happy! I was able to go for a short hike after work yesterday with my old coworker, Erin, and I was really thankful to have time out in nature with once of my most supportive friends.
Tonight, we had dinner for our friend Jimmy’s birthday – it’s nice to be able to get together to celebrate something. I felt very touched that everyone offered to pray over me and we had a really great dinner. If any of you need some really delicious spices, check out our friend Kai’s spices here. ❤
I hope everyone’s having a nice Memorial Day weekend and that you’re all staying safe & healthy!
I know it’s not the weekend yet, but I’m off tomorrow so I can do about 8 million scans (jk, kinda), so it’s my weekend!
This week has been rather uneventful, thank goodness! I did have a consultation with a genetic counselor on Monday and just received my “spit test” in the mail today. I should get that back in about three-ish weeks. This tiny little saliva sample may seem small in the scheme of things, but in reality, the results will have a significant impact on my treatment course so if everyone could just take a quick sec and pray that I’m BRCA negative, that would be much appreciated!
I also just received two HUGE boxes full of hormones and needles. I’m actually pretty sure my security guard was pissed that the boxes were taking up so much space in his tiny office…but he better just be glad he doesn’t have to get all emotional and hormonal next week!
The hormones are actually part of the egg retrieval process that should begin next week sometime. The process is 10 days of injections, and then egg retrieval two days later after my ovaries have produced approximately 20 beautiful future hapa baby eggs. I sincerely apologize in advance to everyone in case I can’t stop crying for no reason next week…
Tomorrow, I’ll have a CT scan and bone scan to make sure the cancer is only in my left boob and a baseline EKG/ECG to check my heart function before I start treatment.
I’ll have a chemo consultation next week to learn about what I may experience during my next 12 weeks of infusions. Tentatively, I’ll have my chemo port placed on May 29, unless bumped by my egg retrieval which depends completely on my (usually undependable) menstrual cycle.
As I said before, my life does not only revolve around cancer…. I’m still going to work every day, but for the past several months I’ve been relocated from our PT office to a “manpower” job that has me calling back patients with negative COVID results. I feel like this has been a cool role to play in this pandemic in that I get to give a lot of good news! I also get to work with some really fun nurses and fellow PTs.
Today, the Hawaii Air National Guard did a fly over for most of the major hospitals on the islands. Truly, the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, PT/OT/SLPs, housekeepers (and the list goes on…) who have been tasked with caring for these patients on the front lines deserve all the praise in the world and this was an awesome way to pay respect to them!
#MahaloHealthHeroes
Today, I also taught a Zoom Pilates session with a friend/coworker from my previous job. I enrolled in a Pilates teacher training in February and being able to complete that and do all of the mat work at home during these “quarantine” times has been a real life-saver!
Unfortunately, Justin and I had to cancel our 2nd anniversary trip to Yosemite and Sonoma in September which is a huge, huge bummer. My chemo won’t end until sometime around October so we figured we better just reschedule. So much for getting off the rock this year…. I guess I will just have to Pinterest plan my dream vacation in the meantime!
Yosemite Dreamin’
Hope you are all having a great week – take care of yourselves!
It feels like maybe it’s been 5 years since I’ve been diagnosed, but really it’s only been 3 weeks. Today, I was finally able to meet with my oncologist, who I really appreciated. She was smart, answered all my questions before I could ask, and could write out my plan upside down and left-handed!
So after reviewing my history and doing an exam, we got down to the plan. The plan. The plan my brain’s been craving, and the reason I keep waking up at 5am (probably). Who wakes up at 5am without an alarm, anyway?
Although she does agree that my tumor is very likely stage I, we will do a CT scan to confirm that it has not spread anywhere else.
We’ll also get my genetic testing done. The genetic testing is done to determine if there are mutations in the BRCA1/BRCA2 gene/s. Normally, these genes help to suppress tumor growth, but if there is a mutation, then the risk of developing breast cancer is about 70% over someone’s lifetime. For someone without the gene, the risk is about 12%.1 It also increases the risk of developing cancer in the other breast later on.
I’ll also begin the process of freezing my eggs. I know I pretend I don’t, but I actually do want to make some cute hapa babies some day! Better to be safe than sorry.
After all of that, I’ll have a port inserted and will hopefully start chemo in about 4 weeks. My regimen will initially be 12 weeks of a nice little cocktail of taxol and carboplatin. Then, we plan to re-assess, and dependent on tumor size and genetic outcomes, I may need another 8 weeks of a different type of chemo, but could potentially go to surgery after that. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
In the meantime, some of the things I’ve been doing to boost my immunity and fight off these dang cancer cells naturally include:
Bri D. PT. 