Chemo: Round 3

We're here waiting for the nurse to begin the administration of the drugs. First comes the anti-nausea, then the Adriomyocin, and finally the Cytoxin. We should be out of here by 2, and by that point Carrie will be drained but one step closer to the end of this rigorous eight-week chemo regimen. She'll then start on Taxol, which has different side-effects, and does not include nausea.

Carrie received more good news this morning from Dr. Reddy; her lymph nodes are even smaller than they were two weeks ago. The news helped boost Carrie's spirits even higher than they have been over the past two to three days since the nausea from the last round wore off.

Carrie is a warrior. She's handled this whole thing with so much grace and bravery, and that smile just tells you everything is going to be okay. Carrie is, always has been, and always will be an ass-kicker, and anything that gets in her way doesn't have a chance.

Thank you Everyone for your continued thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes; they really do make a difference, so keep them coming.

Love Breck

P.S. - Jennifer Hoyt has graciously taken the time to set up a meal calendar. Here is the link....

           >>>>>>>>>>>FOOD TIDINGS IVY SITE<<<<<<<<<<<<

Carrie before 3rd treatment, lovely as ever

Genetics and chemo progress

I recently got blood work back that I do not have the BRCA genes (the genes that can cause breast and ovarian cancer mutations).  SO YAY! YAY! YAY!  That means Astrid and June don't have the genes; it means my mom doesn't have the gene, and maybe it means I don't need to get a double mastectomy.

I had chemo a week ago Friday.  The oncologist examined me and told me that the cancerous lymph node in my armpit had significantly shrunk.  That's very good news--it means the cancer is responding favorably to the chemo.  [In treating this variety of cancer, sometimes the chemo meds don't quite work and the regimen must be adjusted]

Once I got the first anti-nausea drug via, I felt sick.  Then they force fed me ice chips to help reduce mouth sores.  Bleh.  I don't even want to think about it...bleh.  I spend the rest of the weekend in a haze, and and slowly coming out of my fog.  I'm feeling okay sometimes, and then sometimes I feel rotten.  I go for at least a 2 mile walk every day.  My dog Penelope is stoked.

Breck shaved my head.  My hair is really falling out.  I've got a couple of wigs, but they are hot and itchy.  Hats are much better.  After always have super thick hair, it feels strange to have water blast directly on my head in the shower.

My blood work also came back from my naturopath oncologist.  I have high cholesterol,  low vitamin D (a risk factor for breast cancer) and high inflammatory markers.  I am surprised by this actually.  I never really eat red meat; I'm not a couch potato; I eat a lot of vegetables and whole grains....But then again, I shouldn't have breast cancer either.

I am feeling positive that working with the naturopath will produce positive results.       I also encourage all of you readers to get a check up with some routine blood work--cholesterol, etc.  You never know what may turn up!  And it's easier to address it on the preventative end.

The kids are great; West sleeps like a champ.  Breck is super super super helpful.  So, that's it for now.

Cheers

Carrie

Nutrition

I went to see a naturopathic oncologist today.  My insurance will cover three visits per year per diagnosis.  Cancer is one diagnosis, but others can be dietary deficiency, weight loss, etc., so I should be able to see him more than three times.  Anyhow, it was very helpful.  He went through what I should be eating--very important, yet under emphasized by my oncologist.  At the bottom of this post, I included the first page of his recommendations.  These are guidelines for healthy eating for anyone, not just cancer patients.  He emphasized the importance of obtaining a wide variety of nutrients from the foods I eat.  In the past, (at least a portion) my diet was likely somewhat nutrient deficient.

I need to treat dairy as a condiment.  I can still have it, but in small quantities.  The doctor told me that dairy can cause inflammation and digestive issues.  Adults are really not designed to consume a lot of dairy.  That makes sense.  I need to stay away completely from processed meats, and only eat meat in its 'recognizable' form.  No farmed fish (duh). Sugar feeds cancer.  Refined carbs turn into sugar and therefore must be avoided altogether.  

Thanks to my aunt Martha, an ovarian cancer survivor, since my diagnosis, I have been eating pretty much along these lines already .  Martha has done exceptionally well, and attributes a great deal of her success to her persistent diet and exercise.  I intend to follow suit.

The doctor also told me that exercise and being a healthy weight drastically reduce the risk of re-occurrence of cancer.  I need to work on the latter, ahem, but it's totally doable.  I think all of these changes will be challenging.  My motivation is great.  The MRI and PET scan disclosed that the cancer has spread to more than three, but less than nine of the lymph nodes in my armpit.  That stages my cancer as 3A.  That means it's advanced.  Scary scary scary--but it can be beat.  Years ahead, my skinny, healthy body will be thankful for this wake-up call.

Chemo again on Friday.  Whoop.

Thank you everyone for your continuing support!  I have heard rumblings of wanting to make meals, and now I have some guidelines.  At the same time, I don't expect my kids, or even Breck, to stick to this.  I can probably handle my own meals, and we would welcome (healthy, but not Nazi healthy) meals for Breck and the girls.  But certainly, if you are itching to help, we are very thankful for your help.

Carrie

Chemo

Went into for chemo on Friday morning.  I first had to get a port installed in my chest to accept the chemo drugs and obviate the need to get poked in the arm time and time again.  The procedure took about an hour.  They installed a self-sealing disk connected to a tube that attached to a neck artery   It is under my skin.  I am on my way to becoming a bionic woman!

Preceding the surgery, I was given some very sage advice by the surgery nurse ("If your kids want to listen to rap music, blast polka music instead.")  Then the surgeon asked me to pick some music to play during the procedure.  I said I didn't care; he selected Hawaiian music.  So expecting to hear some ukuleles or maybe Don Ho, I was instead treated to Jason Mraz.  (Ghost World moment?).  Other than feeling pretty sore, the surgery went well.  I have two bandages on my neck, and was told that I can't shower for 5-7 days.  A head's up would have been nice.  Breck offered to saran wrap me.  Thanks dude.

An hour later I was given anti-nausea IV and the chemo drugs.  Nothing to write home about.  They let us go home, I picked out a granny wig from the wig bank.  I have already cut my hair short to ease the transition.  Apparently, my hair likes to stand up now, so the granny (or lunch lady) look is what I have going for me anyhow.  It doesn't really matter though because my hair should fall out within the next couple of weeks.  I've been stocking up on hats and scarves.  

By the time we got home, I was feeling pretty ralphtastic.  I took all of the anti-nausea meds, but they didn't seem to ease my stomach.  Poor Breck was trying to take care of me, and our three children, all of whom were crying at one point or another.

I looked on the Internet for chemo nausea.   Apparently, those with a history of motion sickness (me!), being a woman (me!), being under 50 (me!) and having a history of morning sickness with pregnancy (me!!!!) have a higher likelihood of getting sick with chemo.  Super!  The symptoms of chemo are supposed to get worse with each round.  But, I can take it.  It's a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

So that's the long and the short of it.  Cheers to modern medicine!  Also, thank you so much everyone for all of the support!  It's really great, and we really appreciate it.  I still need to speak with the oncology nutritionist and pharmacist to figure out what diet I should be eating to maximize my health and minimize interference with the specific chemo drugs.  Once we have that figured out (hopefully early this week) we can   move forward with figuring out meals, etc.

--Carrie