Information overload. I am feeling so overwhelmed. I saw my oncologist today, who is a wonderful person. I feel so fortunate to be in his care for this process.
I am totally overwhelmed though. Basics - the cancer is actually stage 2 because there are some lymph nodes involved. Stage 2. I can handle that. The doctor also wants for me to have a full body scan and a brain MRI to double triple check that there is no more cancer anywhere else. I am terrified of the prospect but even more terrified of not being thorough. So that is what I will do. More tests. More waiting for results. More sleepless nights. I am remaining positive, though, and praying that there is nothing else. I'd rather know now though.
I also got my treatment plan and am taking the steps necessary to start to implement it. I will start chemo on Feb. 24. 8 rounds, 1 treatment every 2 weeks. If all goes according to plan, I will finish chemo on June 2. I am doing 4 rounds of 1 type of chemo and 4 rounds of another. Again, thorough. I like that.
After chemo, I will have some form of surgery. The scope of the surgery will become more clear as I progress with chemo and get the genetic test results back.
After surgery, I will have 6.5 weeks of radiation. I will go in every day for a zap (not sure about the weekends). The doctor said that it would take me longer to find a place to park than it would do the radiation treatment. Ok. Can do.
So that is the plan, for now. If there are any hiccups, we will adjust the plan as we go. Prayers for no hiccups.
My doctor was truly great during the appiontment. He held my hand when I was anxious, reassured me when necessary, and even made fun of me a little bit (color-coded notes and the longest list of questions he has ever seen). My kind of guy. I like someone with a sense of humor.
I am so glad that my mom is here. She was awesome during the appointment and had some great questions to ask.
My oncologist did recommend that I take some melatonin to try to sleep better at night. That will absolutely happen tonight. He also recommended some vitamin D so picked up some of that.
Doc appts next week include - CT scan, meeting with chemo nurse, meeting with surgeon, lepro (?) shot (to potentially preserve fertility if we want), brain MRI, port surgery, echocardiogram. Holy moly. That is is a lot of doc appts.
One of the chemo drugs that I will be taking has the potential to affect the heart so they want to get a baseline echocardiogram so that they can monitor my old ticker along the way. I'm cool with that. The CT scan and the MRI freak me out though, but I am trying to put them out of my mind.
My nurse friend also showed me around one of the chemo infusion rooms at the center. It was so nice of her to take the time. I kind of rushed the process though. I had been there for so long and was so full of information and emotion.
I got out of there, had a good long cry, talked to Mike and a few others, and pulled it together in time for Henry to get home with my mom.
So yeah. Overwhelmed. So very glad to have a plan in place though. I like plans.
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