Chemo and ultrasound

I finished my last  (of 4) Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) chemo on Friday 4/16.  YAY!  That chemo sucked!  To keep my white blood cell counts up, I had to give myself shots for five days following chemo.  In the past, I had a little pain in my long bones. This time, it caused severe pain in my back. I was laid up all week, and Breck had to stay home with me for a couple of days. I could barely get up out of a chair, let alone take care of West.  I went through nearly 30 Vicodin!  I feel mostly better now, thank goodness.

Today, I went in for an ultrasound.  The purpose was to see if the tumor in my breast and the tumors in my lymph nodes had responded to the chemo.  If you've ever had or seen an ultrasound, you will probably appreciate as a layperson that they seem very difficult understand or analyze.  ("that's the baby's stomach?  if you say so!")  The ultrasound tech and the doctor couldn't find the tumor in my breast.  When they first found it in February, it was about 3 cm.  The fact that they can't see it now means it's shrunk down to just about nothing--maybe it's completely gone!  The enlarged lymph node is now about 1 cm.  (reduced from 5 cm as per the MRI prior to chemo)  The other nodes look pretty normal.  

So, FUCK YEAH!

A mammogram would be more accurate, and would at least find the metal markers they left during the biopsy.  I'll get another mammogram and MRI when I'm done with chemo.

I start a different kind of chemo, called Taxol, on Friday.  It's not supposed to cause nausea, which is a good thing.  There are other side effects of course, and I'll deal with those as needed.  

We are very thankful that the medicine is working.  The better my body responds to the chemo, the better my chances are of surviving this beast.  We are also so very very thankful for all of the love and support from our friends and family.  We've received several delicious meals that have really made this process much much easier.  Poor Breck has a lot on his plate, and a break from making dinner is welcome.  

I'm still not out of the woods, and I've got some touch decisions ahead about surgery and so forth.   But for now, I will enjoy my good news :)

Cheers,

Carrie