Ok, Here's the Plan

I'm glad (I think) to get the treatment plan moving again. We saw the oncologist on Thursday and he's ready to start chemo. This time I'll be taking Taxol. Dr. Neubauer said this go round should be much easier than last time. Some possible side affects he mentioned are joint pain, tingling in your finger tips and of course, hair loss. It is also not as likely to make me as nauseous as what I took last time. The treatments will be every 2 weeks for a total of 4, and I'll take the Neulasta (keeps your white blood cell count up) shot the day after treatment. He had mentioned before that I might be on a 3 week schedule and wouldn't have to take the Neulasta shot , but evidently changed his mind. He said there has been some indication that it is more effective taking it more frequently. The Taxol also has to be administered more slowly, so each treatment will take 3 to 4 hours - ugh! And now for an interesting Taxol fact - it is made from the Yew plant. Going natural!

Dr. Neubauer did say that everything is going well and these last chemo and radition treatments are like "throwing the kitchen sink" at me to try to insure that they kill any cancer that might be lurking about and keep it from coming back. And that is what I want. I can handle all of the side affects, so I certainly want to do everything necessary to get rid of the C once and for all.

As anxious as I'm to get started, so I can get this over with, I am also kind of dreading getting back on the chemo wagon. I just keep telling myself, its not going to be as bad and it will soon be over. We've started thinking about our annual summer vacation to give me something to look forward to. I think I mentioned Michael broke his arm a week after we got home last summer and then with my mom and the cancer, it was just downhill from there. We went to the Blackhills and Yellowstone and just had a wonderful time, so I can't wait until we can get away from the doctors and all the other day to day stuff and just enjoy being together.

I know everyone is just dieing to know what the latest hair update is. It is still quite short, maybe a 1/4 of an inch. I had a woman tell me today what a beautiful color it is, and I was like are you crazy? Mainly because it is just hard for me to see it very well. She claims it is strawberry blonde. I got worried a couple of days ago when I noticed dark brown in my eyebrows. They have always been either a very light red or blond. Jim said he does see some darker hair coming in on my head. Who knows maybe I'll just be a calico! Of course, Miles tells me it is just gray and to quit worrying about it. Yeah, right!

And I continue to get better from the surgery. While I still don't quite have all of my range of motion back, I can pretty much reach everything if I take it slowly. And we are down to a very small spot left for the skin graft to heal. I'll go for my weekly checkup with Dr. Sclar this afternoon and I'm hoping we can get rid of the last bandage. Of course, I'm almost back to the point where I need to start exercising again and that brings me back to Yoga! Oh well, I really will get started this time! :)

Gotta run to the library and pick up my lastest book supply. I finished Gate to the Stairs and though I liked it, it won't make my top 20 list. The writing though was wonderful. I also just knocked off The Help. This was very good and if you haven't read it, I would suggest it.

Take care!

Monique