Last Big Chemo Tomorrow!!!! Can't wait for this part to be over!!!!

Well here it is almost 2am the night before my last big chemo and I'm exhaustedly (is this a word) wide awake and working on my blog - you gotta love the steroids :-).  It would be fun if I could see better, but again thank you Jim Mix for teaching us to type without looking at our fingers or the paper, proofreading is done after, not during. 


Finishing up with the big gun Chemo drugs, doesn't mean that I'm done, just done with the heavy duty stuff. 

I'll continue to take the Herceptin once every three weeks for a year through my wonderful port.  Ports are a great thing I'm so happy that they placed one in me, now  I don't have to have an IV placed every time I get an infusion, without the port I would have to had an IV placed at least 30 times in a year, that would be yucky!  Anyway - Here is some info on Herceptin and how it works.  It's a targeted therapy for breast cancer tumors that test positive for the Her2/Neu protein, I pulled the following information from this website -http://www.herceptin.com/adjuvant/what-is/index.jsp

Herceptin (trastuzumab) is not chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. Herceptin is a type of targeted cancer therapy known as a monoclonal antibody (sometimes called targeted biologic therapy). Antibodies are part of the body's normal defense against bacteria, viruses, and abnormal cells, such as cancer cells. 1,4

•Monoclonal antibodies are produced in a laboratory by making multiple copies of a single cell. Monoclonal antibodies are designed to recognize a specific protein on certain cells and signal the body's immune system to destroy the cell 2

•Monoclonal antibodies are generally a more targeted therapy than chemotherapy 2,3

To receive Herceptin, your tumor must be tested and be HER2+. 

I'll also be starting a hormonal therapy soon, I believe it's called Arimidex, and it's an aromatase inhibitor, which works by lowering the amount of the hormone estrogen in the body.  This is given to postmenopausal women with Estrogen/Progesterone positive tumors, like me.  It's given orally for 5 years.  It decreases the risk of recurrence of the cancer, as does the Herception.  

I think that the treatments that I've received are amazing, and the progress made in treating breast cancer in the last 5 years is incredible.  It's wasn't that long ago that the only options were surgery and the heavy gun chemo drugs and radiation, which worked well, but now with the addition of targeted and hormonal therapies the treatments work even better.  Just imagine the advances that will be made in cancer therapies over the next 5-10 years. 

The next step will be 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments in Eugene, starting around the end of the month - this addition to my therapy adds more power to the treatments that I'm receiving and also greatly decreases the chance of recurrence. 

Why am I looking forward to tomorrow - because if everything works like it's supposed to, I won't ever need the big chemo drugs again. I won't have to work through the challenging side effects, suffer this kind of exhaustion, pain, worry, stress, depression, intestinal issues, sight/vision issues, emotional swings and anger, the list goes on and on, but these were the hardest for me. 

In many ways Chemo was easier than I expected-

• I didn't spend hours with my head over the toilet throwing up, just a few days of slight nausea that could be controlled through meds, two week of food and drink tasting really bad, and two weeks of intestinal issues, but nothing that couldn't be overcome pretty easily.
• Pain - not too badly just generally achy most of the time, Vidodin helps when it gets so that you hurt to much to sleep - I only need it every now and then.
• Worry, Stress, Depression - I think that it just is part of coming to terms with Cancer and the the changes that it brings to you life - figuring out which worries are valid and which ones you need to let go of has been the hardest for me to deal with, but support groups, reading, prayer, prayer and more prayer, the support and prayers of family and friends, and asking your oncologist and the nurses all of your questions are things that have helped me a ton.
• Emotional Swings and Anger - this seems to come within a certain part of the cycle of therapy, when you feel really frustrated about your limitations, or just feel very overwhelmed by the whole thing - all I can say here is explain what you are feeling to family, so they don't think that your just mad at them or going crazy - and take an Ativan.  It's actually best to take the Ativan as soon as you recognize what's going on, it saves everyone a lot of stress.  Again you take have to take many of these or often.
• Exhaustion and sight issues have been the hardest for me to deal with - they both got worse each treatment and after the last one I didn't recover from either of these at all, and my big chemo is tomorrow.  It makes me wonder how long after my last one it will take for the exhaustion to go away - My eyes should get better once the stents are in, but....  not guarantees.
• Two things have helped me deal with these; one is taking walks, even when I don't feel like it and can't walk far, I always come back a little more energized than before, it doesn't always last long, but I'm always glad I took the walk, sometimes it's just round 1 block, but it helps.
• The only thing that has helped with the sight/vision issues is accepting them, not overworking my eyes, realizing I can't work, do computer work, read, drive except occasionally.  It's hard to give up these things, it makes you very dependent on others - but everyone has been great about accommodating my needs in this area.  I'm hoping that once the eyes are taken care of it will alleviate some of the exhaustion.

I would also suggest blogging or journaling it helps me deal with the issues better.  Putting this all down in writing makes you think about your issues and how you are dealing with them and what you could do to deal with them better.  That gives you the push you need to make the changes.

I really appreciate the input that I get from everyone, it helps a lot.  I have the best group of family and friends, and I've met so many new wonderful people on this journey that have now become a very important part of my life. 

• Those that I've met that have cancer and are in treatment, especially those that have been undergoing treatment for along time have given me such insight in to how to deal with things, they've encouraged me with their bravery, perseverence, postivity... 
• Those that have had cancer show me there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that, hopefully, I will be able to move on to an improved normal life again. 
• Those that work with the cancer patients, especially the infusion nurses, are an unbelievable fount of information, balance and prespective (you can get a litle out there sometimes during this whole thing, every time I've talked to one of the chemo nurses about any issues, they have pulled me right back to the appropriate perspective - thank you Claudia!) 

Well, I think that's more than enough for tonight, it looks like this got a little long. 

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support and thank you Jesus for being my guiding light. 

Jesus I trust in You!  O Mary conceived without sin pray for us!

God Bless you,
Linda