Three Weeks Post Chemotherapy & Radiation Oncology Appointment

It has been almost exactly three weeks since I received my last round of Taxol and before I forget how I’m feeling or what has transpired I decided I need to write about this strange transitional phase. January 7, I received my last round of Taxol and Herceptin and the following week was just like any other week after chemotherapy. I settled into my routine of feeling like junk on Friday through Monday and then decided as a final hurrah, I would hike one more 4000-footer and I climbed Tecumseh on Monday. I spent the next day setting out to do some more redlining in southern NH, had my second Echocardiogram on Wednesday, and my first round of Herceptin only on Thursday. I was still feeling pretty tired on Wednesday and then Thursday the appointment for Herceptin went longer than it should have because of a mixup about my treatment that had to be ironed out. I ended up getting 30-minutes of Herceptin (my usual dosage) and only Zofran and Pepcid as premeds. My blood work showed a tiny increase in my counts from the week prior but I left my appointment still anemic and feeling foggy from the Taxol administered a week prior.

Now, with almost three whole weeks since I last received “real” chemotherapy, I am feeling almost normal (?) although it’s really hard to tell what is and isn’t normal anymore. The biggest side effects that I still have are nose bleeds, hot flashes, and I struggle to wake up in the morning. It takes me a while to get going regardless of how much sleep I’ve had. I still have a sensitive stomach and have to be really careful what I eat. I stopped taking Pepcid nightly a few nights ago but ended up having to get back on it because I was eating like trash and started getting heartburn again. I am getting really sick of the hot flashes. I just want to be a normal 37 year old again, not someone going through menopause and feeling really gross and bald. 

Speaking of bald, I still have been shaving my head once a week because I don’t want to see my hair growing back as peach fuzz, but two days ago, with four days of growth, my husband commented that the back of my head looks like it has twice as much hair as it did a few weeks ago so I think that I am starting to finally get growth. I also noticed two days ago that I have about a half dozen baby eye lashes sprouting and I’m excited to finally have hair again. I don’t think I will ever pluck my eyebrows again after all of this, and forget about cutting my hair, I’ve cut it enough times for a lifetime in the last three and a half months. 

I got out and went shopping on the 16th and it felt amazing to finally be able to do something on the weekend, but when I went grocery shopping with my husband on the 23rd I felt so overwhelmed I almost started crying in the grocery store. There was just too much sensory input, too many people, and my brain couldn’t compute. I suppose the “chemo brain” is still somewhat in effect and I just have to learn patience when it comes to getting that part back. I’ve done six hikes since my last round of chemotherapy and am still feeling weak and winded on the uphills. When I find out what my blood counts are next week I’m hoping to see that they’ve gone up a lot and that my cardio will continue to improve over the next few weeks. It’s hard to know if I’m weak because I’m out of shape or if it’s because I’m still anemic. 

Overall, since receiving Taxol almost three weeks ago, I do feel much better and more like myself. It took about two weeks to really have a noticeable difference post-treatment and I didn’t notice a difference receiving Herceptin only on the 14th. I will be curious to see if I notice a difference when receiving Herceptin only on the 3rd. Hair growth took about two weeks to notice a change and my stomach feels more normal although I still have heartburn and have to be careful. The bloody noses and hot flashes remain persistent and unchanged and I am really hoping that the hot flashes end soon and that I can get back to being a normal premenopausal woman again soon. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to have a period so bad in my life. 

Radiation Oncology Appointment Update

Last week I went in and met with my Radiation Oncologist and scheduled my month of radiation, got my tattoos, and found out how the whole process will work. I purposely made all of my appointments for 4pm so that I will have time to hike in the mornings before radiation. The nurse reviewed how radiation usually affects someone, that I will probably not notice the tiredness or skin irritation until week three of treatment, and that she would be giving me lotion to apply to my skin to alleviate the itching and irritation. Since I had already gone over the details of radiation this past fall I was pretty familiar with the treatment plan as well as what to expect. I will be getting twenty rounds of radiation over the course of four weeks, so five days a week of radiation. This is a normal regimen. Because I didn’t have lymph node involvement the radiation will only go partially under my armpits and across my chest, not all the way up my neck too. 

The most exciting part of this appointment was getting my radiation tattoos and getting a CAT Scan so that they would know where to administer the radiation when I come in for treatment. This was my first time in a CAT Scan machine and I have to say I much prefer these to MRIs. The nurse also taught me about the breath holding that I will have to do during treatment. They have you take a deep breath and hold it during radiation for two reasons. Holding a big breath expands your lungs so less tissue gets irradiated and when you take in a big breath it pulls your heart further into your chest cavity so that it’s more protected from the rays. They only make you hold your breath for twenty seconds or so and I had no issues doing this. 

After finishing all of the scans the nurse did my radiation tattoos. Yes, they are real tattoos, and will last forever, but they’re little tiny dots that you really can’t notice too well, except maybe the one on my chest. They use a needle and use India Ink to make the marks. The dot on my chest was the most painful and as someone who has had tattoos done before I can say for certain that the nurse went deeper than you would normally go on a real tattoo. The radiation treatments will only take between 30 and 45 minutes, much less time than even Herceptin only treatments and I am looking forward to being done with radiation and only getting Herceptin once every three weeks. The second week of March I should be done with radiation and one step closer to no more active treatment.