But first, let me take a selfie. 💁🏾‍♀️

Today I had Labs, which will occur right before every Treatment cycle. Blood draws will indicate where my white and red blood cells are, as well as assess my electrolyte levels, kidney and liver functioning. After each Chemotherapy treatment, my body will be quite depleted. Over the three weeks between each treatment cycle, my body can recover and rebuild, in preparation to take the next hit. 🙄 Everything looked good today. I should’ve asked how my blood sugar and cholesterol levels were since I’ve basically thrown my diet out the window since this whole thing began.

I also met with my Oncologist. She is very helpful in explaining and re-explaining. She’s really positive and states my Prognosis excellent. 🙏🏾 She reviewed my PET Scan and MRI results. The PET Scan detected some reactivity in one lymph node. She’s ordering a Biopsy for that which should occur next week. More needles.👎🏾 If it’s positive I will bump up to Stage 2B. However, no changes to my treatment plan. The MRI showed my tumor is 7cm from anterior to posterior. This is bigger than we first thought. They are treating this as invasive but it’s possible that not all 7cm are cancerous. She explained it like a bed of flowers. The tumor being a tree that has grown within. Surrounding it are little sprouts that could eventually grow and spread, so we will need to remove the whole flower bed. It’s possible I would need radiation to the lymph node later and/or more Chemo. Surgical plan is still unknown at this time.

The treatment regimen I am in is called TCHP (Docetaxel (Tacxotere), Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta. The first two are the Chemo drugs. Chemo drugs cannot delineate between cancer cells and good cells. This is what causes all those side effects (e.g hair loss, Low white blood cell count/immune compromised). The second two are the HER2 drugs (the cancer I have) targeted treatment. They DO know which cells are the cancerous ones and KILL them. 💪🏾 They too come with side effects.

This first treatment cycle will be a giant learning curve in understanding what medications are helpful in managing my size effects; trial and error to stay ahead of them. She did indicate that no symptoms should ever be extreme. I may need to nap more (yay!), but I should also be able to be out of bed, doing things around the house, helping the kids etc. Sounds like as each Cycle finishes, it will take longer for my body to recover, however. I imagine come January/February, things will look and feel quite different. 😕

I also had a Heart Ultrasound today. Got to wear a cool button up vest. 😏 Nothing exciting to report on that. Just didn’t enjoy having the little handheld device jammed into me. I officially feel like a Science experiment.

Until next time.

🫶🏾