Chemo 6

Wow, only two more to go! The Taxol is so much less difficult than the Adriamycin, it is really a relief. No nausea, no mouth sores. No Rip-Van-Winkle days spent sleeping. Anyway, everything went great, except my hospital lunch came very late, so that my treatment was finished while I was still eating!
Chemo party was fun, the foods I can eat are getting back to normal, still taking it easy on acidic and spicy stuff. We watched Mel Brook's "High Anxiety" ;-)
I've been reading about surgery. Hmm, I have an easier time with the word "surgery" than with the word "mastectomy." Part of my difficulty is that my cancerous breast still looks perfectly normal (except for the little punched out holes from my biopsy). A member of my support group, who also has IBC, says she can't wait to get her mastectomy: "It's swollen, it's discolored and I get shooting pains from it all the time -- get it off me!" But mine's not like that. It looks completely innocent, and a pretty good match to the other breast. Maybe I need to look at some of my own cancerous cells under a microscope.

Peggy Phlegmy

The short version -- I had a cold, and that turned into a bronchial cough so now I'm taking antibiotics. Have not had any loss of energy or fever or more serious symptoms. Symptoms are now much better.
Long version --
I've been having a lot of congestion for some time. For a while, when the Adriamycin was having so much of an impact on my mouth and throat, it was hard to tell what might be a cold and what were chemo symptoms. But finally the cough turned into coughing something up, rather than just clearing my throat of killed-off cells.
So on Monday I went in to Dr. Smith, who prescribed an antibiotic that only needs to be taken once a day for five days. I am feeling much better, and have been coughing less, but more "productively." Yesterday my roommate pointed out that I had a chunk of "product" stuck to my eyebrow. Good to have a roommate so I don't leave the house looking like that!

Chemo 5 -- Round 2

My medical team is emphasizing that I'm on to round two of my Chemo. I've finished with the Adriamycin/Cytoxin and am doing well, so it's on to the next round, four treatments of Taxol. The Taxol was not so bad as it dripped into me (I felt it less than the other drugs), and then I also felt quite energetic the rest of the day. But this was probably because of the steroid (Decadron) they gave me along with the Taxol, which they do because of the chance of an allergic reaction to Taxol. So my fifth "Chemo Party" was the first one that I stayed awake through its entirety!
Another exciting thing is that the time of my treatment has been moved up, so a nurse came around with a menu so I could order lunch -- it was just like getting to order from the room service menu! And the kind of nice bland, soft food that I like!
Today (Saturday) still feeling good, except for some congestion -- due to both a bit of a cold (following the visit of my sister and her children) and the ongoing irritation of my mouth/nose due to the chemo. I've been assured that this may get better with the Taxol (although my eyebrows are at risk).

Family Visit

Have enjoyed a busy visit from my sister and her children, my niece (age 14) and nephew (age 12). I've lived in the Boston area off and on from 1990, and consistently since 1996, and this is the first time they've visited! It was great to see them, and to do a lot of fun tourism stuff, including the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum (my favorite), the Science Museum, Newport, Plimoth Plantation, and the Duck Tour. We even tried that New England specialty, Candlepin Bowling, which we found much harder than "regular bowling."

I still have eyebrows!

I still have eyebrows, which I'm very happy about. Lashes are thinning, which causes some eye irritation. Skull stubbly with some smooth patches. Other body hair thinning. Armpits as smooth as a baby's. But really, the eyebrows are great to have.