The Schedule

We finally have a schedule for my treatment. I will be having 6 rounds of chemotherapy over 18 weeks starting Monday May 8th. Between now and then I will have an outpatient surgery to install a port into my right shoulder area just above my right breast. This allows them to administer the therapy and take blood without poking my veins all the time. That surgery happens this Friday at 9am in Oakland at Summit Hospital. I will also be having a breast MRI on Monday May 1st, so that they can look more carefully at the structure of the tumor and also look at the right breast to see if there is anything there the PET scan couldn't catch.

Last week I had an echo-cardiogram and a lymph node biopsy. The biopsy came back "atypical and suspicious for metastatic carcinoma" really not a surprise, but certainly a disappointment. My surgeon said that she, the oncologist and the radiological oncologist conferred and decided to land on the side of caution and say that it is a positive node and that instead of doing a more invasive biopsy they would proceed with the therapy as scheduled. They felt like looking at the node more closely at his time would not change their decisions about my treatment.

I have been told my hair will fall out. So last Saturday I went and had it cut really short, much like I have been wearing it for the past few years, just a little shorter. Then in a few weeks I will have it shaved. I just can't go through loosing it a little at a time. Plus we didn't want to freak Lucy out so we thought a gradual change would be easier for her. It will be interesting to see how I look with a shaved head. I am thinking of piercing my nose and getting a new tattoo to complete the alternative look. When I met my dear friend Rachel she had her head shaved and looked amazing. She has these beautiful big eyes and really long eyelashes and a wonderfully shaped head. I can only hope I look half as good. It's a good thing I like hats and scarves.

I am already tired of being poked and prodded. My left breast looks like it has been beaten up. I know this is just the beginning. I really need the chemotherapy to work, I really, really need it.