Recovery day

 I definitely needed this day of rest! It's March 18th, the day after my port went in (and also cousin Mike's birthday). I woke up early, took a Tylenol and drank 20 oz of water to help flush the drugs through. I felt ok when I sat up, but when I stood up--oh boy! The world kind of tilted and my eyes did that swirly thing. People who have ever drank too much will understand when I say "it felt like I got so drunk the night before and woke up still drunk." I wasn't nauseous, thank goodness, but my body felt like I'd just gotten off the teacups at Disneyland. I wanted to stay on top of any pain so I took the Tylenol, drank all that water and went back to bed. And next thing I knew if was 11:06.

All in all, I feel ok. I definitely feel tender in my neck area and the port site, but the rest of me feels pretty good. I sat down a little too vigorously and my port let me know it, but that's not bad at all. The IV spot on my hand is a little tender, swollen and lightly bruised, but nothing serious.

A little bit of bruising and swelling at the IV site.

I finally looked up information about the port (sometimes I just don't want to know beforehand in case I freak myself out) and well, I am glad I waited until after because I would have definitely freaked myself out. There is such a thing as too much information!

 

Oh, wait--I forgot. After I woke up at 11:06, I decided I better get dressed to help that feeling of getting back to normal. I had angled myself to look at my first biopsy site and noticed a weird bump on my arm. What the....???!! Aliens!! Seriously, I had a completely frozen, freaky moment wondering what the heck was happening to my arm. I got a good look. It's ok--you can laugh because I sure did!

I am wondering how visible this port bump is going to be once the bandages come off. Not that I am worried about the esthetics of it, but wondering if it will generate questions. Well, if it does, maybe my story will help someone. You never know.

One thing that is happening while waiting for the site to heal: I cannot get it wet. They gave me some big bandages called Aquagard to stick on. What a silly joke they pulled on me! The first time I reached above my head--zap, zip, zoop and the adhesive was failing all over the place. I ended up having to use waterproof bandages all around the edges to keep the Aquaguard in place :-p

It seemed like it would stick--but nope! It was quite
a chore to prepare for my showers while this healed.

I'll close this post with information about my chemo schedule: 

• March 24th -- a "chemo training" appointment. I have no idea what to expect.
• March 31st -- first chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP. This is a chemotherapy regimen used in the treatment of early-stage HER2-neu positive breast cancer.
• T – Taxotere® (docetaxel)
• C – Carboplatin
• H – Herceptin® (trastuzumab)
• P – Perjeta® (Pertuzumab)
  
  
• April 9th -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.
• April 21st -- second chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP.
• April 30th -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.
• May 12th -- third chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP.
• May 21st -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.
• June 2nd -- fourth chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP.
• June 11th -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.
• June 23rd -- fifth chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP.
• July 2nd -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.
• July 14th -- sixth chemo treatment out of six that consists of TCHP.
• July 23rd -- video visit with my oncologist, Dr. Jeske, to check in and go over labs.

There will be a four to six week recovery period and then I will have surgery on both breasts. There will be an approximately six week recovery from the surgery and I will likely have radiation on the left breast. The chemo is all for the right breast; it may have some effect on the left, but that type of cancer is typically treated with radiation and hormone therapy.

And somewhere in the middle of all that recovery period, surgery and radiation, I think that I will be continuing some form of chemo. I honestly don't know the timing of that, but the TCHP infusion is for six treatments, then I drop the TC and continue with the HP only for about 8 more months. I hope that the chemo training session next week will shed light on how the HP part will continue.