I see my oncologist on day 1 of every chemo session. Each session is three weeks or 21 days long, I get chemo on day one and day seven, so once a week for the first two weeks, and then the last week is recovery. So days 8-21 are spent getting over the chemo. Day 3 & 4 and day 10 & 11 or Thursday - Friday after getting chemo on Tuesday are pretty sucky and painful. But the rest of the days, I feel pretty good. I am tired and sleep more, but there are some days I feel absolutely wonderful and some days that are just ok. So on my last day 1, or first chemo appointment, my doctor did the regular physical examination and asked how I was doing. I have a new cough, it could be allergies, but we all agreed it is something to keep our eye on. Of course the next day, I suddenly stopped coughing. Maybe my doctor prays for me too! :) Either way I am happy it seems to be at least random and not progressively getting worse as I thought for the last 2 weeks. This appointment also marked 6 full months of chemo. Wow! I never thought I would be able to do that! Never! I am really proud of myself. When I first heard my doctors wanted me on chemo, they said three months. I said ok, reluctantly.... The longest stretch I had pulled of before was 8 weeks. I never thought I would be able to do 12 weeks! But of course, I needed to do something to control the tumors taking up room in my chest cavity, I needed to make room for my lungs to expand with air. So I agreed to 3 months while inside I was really worried if I would be able to pull it off. Now at 6 months, double what I thought I might, just might, be able to do, I am hoping for more! Keep it coming! Keep me breathing! I LOVE breathing!!! When I first started chemo, I could barley take a deep breath. I would get winded so easily. I remember being out of breath opening gifts at my bridal shower. I have never seen anyone out of breath from opening gifts! Maybe it was all the awesome gifts, or maybe it was that I just couldn't breathe. Anyway, I can breathe much better now (if you want to you can send me gifts to test the theory, my day is only a week away, just sayin') and my tumor markers are staying within normal ranges. They do go up and down and all around, but as long as they stay relatively normal, my doctors and I are happy. They did order a new PET scan. Last year, today- September 13, was the day I had my PET scan that showed my doctor all the terribleness. He described it as non-operable and non-treatable. While I still hope that something pops up in the world of cancer treatment that will make him eat those words, we will continue to treat the symptoms and pray that the tumors stay small and out of major organs. I will post as soon as I have the results from the PET scan, for now it's not even scheduled. It usually takes a week or two to get in and then another week or two to read. I also have to wait about 5 business days for prior authorization from insurance.
Ok, that's all for today! I hope you have a great one!
- I didn't re-read for errors, sorry- but I need a nap, maybe I will read it later and fix any mistakes....
12 years ago
