I seriously tried to get here 2 weeks ago since it was my last week of radiation and I knew I was do for a recap.  Well, 2 weeks ago I decided to go against doctor’s orders from 2 months ago and booked a last minute flight to Florida to attend the Breast Cancer Marathon!  She told me not to do it because she didn’t know how badly I would respond to radiation and traveling may not be a good idea.  Well, one week before it was done I knew I was doing well enough that I could make the trip and I did.  That decision ranks up there with one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life!  I had my final radiation at 8:00 a.m. then hopped on a plane at 10:30 a.m., the perfect way to wrap up the past few months of hell.  Ok, things certainly could have been worse but it wasn’t the way I’d choose to get a vacation from work again!

Radiation went alright.  I am tired and I ache like a 110 year old woman.  At the end I did burn and am quite thankful that since I don’t have lymph nodes in my right arm that means I’m numb so I can’t feel the burn.  However, I can see the blisters and they drain and ooze through my shirts so it’s not lovely but it could be worse.  I’ve been done with radiation for over a week so I’m healing!

This week I have a follow-up appointment with my lymph-edema doctor this week but my swelling hasn’t really changed so I don’t think she’ll be concerned.  I wish the swelling would go away but she said she has a few tricks up her sleeve and I have a feeling she’ll pull them out when I see her  Wednesday.

The Herceptin, however, I can’t be so upbeat about.  It is also contributing to my aching body, shortness of breath and has caused my left hand to go numb, basically my thumb, pointer and middle fingers.  But, the wost thing is that it’s hurting my heart.  I was warned that this was a real possible side effect and that is why I have an echo-cardiogram done every 3 months but I didn’t really think that it would happen to me.  They did the echo 4 weeks ago and my heart has gone to operating at 75%, where it was when first diagnosed in June, to 52% now.  I have another echo scheduled for the end of April and if my heart function has dropped to below 50% then they are going to take me off this drug.  This drug is given to me every 3 weeks and I don’t want to wait until the end of April to find out how much damage it’s doing.  Well, I actually won’t find out until May.  I have scheduled an appointment with my oncologist for 2 weeks from now to discuss this with her.  I think when I was told a week ago about it I was simply in too much shock to ask questions but now I have a bunch to ask.  First off all, I want to ask for an echo asap to  check it again.  We can’t kill my heart, I only have one of those.  I also want to know what I can do, if anything, to help strengthen it again.  I imagine cardio is good but I also imagine that it’s only good to a certain degree.  Should I change my diet?  Will my heart recover once I’m off this drug?

Any other questions you might have or answers are welcome.

So, that’s where I sit.  I’m done with everything except getting Herceptin every 3 weeks and that drug is hurting me so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on it.  Also, I return to work 2 weeks from tomorrow, my “vacation” is over.  It’s hard to believe that this phase of it is “over”.

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