Chemo End Lobster
May. 12th, 2011 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bex77
I am DONE with chemo! And full of lobster!
There is still radiation to get through, but I am trying to focus on celebrating this milestone and think about the rest some other day! Two treatments phases done, one to go!
It's been a good week on the food front.
Friday N. and I had a delicious Chinese lunch at Shanghai Village in Arlington Center - Hot & sour soup and General Gao's chicken. Yum.
Saturday we made it dim sum brunch at Mary Chung. I adore the smaller steamer buns. and my entire family met up.
Monday I ate a salad from the salad bar at Shaw's Supermarket. With lettuce. Don't faint.
Wednesday I got to eat Cajun food at the Border Cafe TWICE! Fun lunch with the theatre peeps over gumbo and crawfish etouffee, then a farewell dinner of popcorn shrimp with my student workers.
And tonight was an amazing seafood indulgence of soft shell crab appetizer, stuffed clam, lobster and mussels! So fabulous! Court House Seafood in East Cambridge rocks!
Work was busy with end-of-the semester events. Those ended today so I am hoping to coast into summer now.
Nattering about side effects, chemo and next steps under the cut.
The new side effect this week was a wet cough. The oncology people diagnosed it as bacterial infection, gave me an antibiotic and it went away! I usually cough for months, so this was a great change!
I had all the same side effects over these two weeks - metal taste for 5 days, dry skin and swollen feet, but all lesser than prior rounds. Which is odd. They usually accumulate and get worse. But we already know I am a strange case!
My brain has been much less foggy, though still mired in the details of all this medical stuff.
Chemo was tedious today. The nurse got held up for an hour. And then it took 3 tries to get the IV in... chemo wrecks your veins. But I got to meet a nutritionist to try to continue to work on losing weight and being healthier, got a last foot massage, and free food! I had a chicken salad sandwich, string cheese, custard, fresh fruit, chocolate chip granola bars and CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM! So it was a 7 hour day. Ugh. But it's OVER!
Next steps:
I get a month off from treatment to heal and let all the chemo clear my system.
I'm meeting with the anti-coagulation clinic tomorrow. Due to my adventure with blot clots and the ICU in March, I have to be on blood thinners for 6 months. Tomorrow we'll figure out which treatment is best.
May 27 I get another CT scan to map my breast for radiation treatment. They will do tattoo to target the beam, the size of a freckle. I asked for a butterfly but noooo!
I start radiation the week of June 13. That's every week day for 6 weeks. Sounds daunting but I'm sure I will figure it out. Hope to be done by the end of July. Main side effects they warned me about were fatigue and sunburned-looking breast skin. We'll see!
Good news is they say my hair will start to grow back now! And no more immunosuppression!
A huge thank you to you for your support and good thoughts during these long months! I realized this week that it has been six months since my diagnosis. It is getting harder to keep going. I am so ready to be done and back to "normal"! But the end is in sight! Stay with me just a bit longer and then I promise to post about cats and theater from there on out!
