Day 34 - Shrinkage

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have shrinkage.  There are so many ways to take this, but I am going to stick to an uncharacteristically mature way (though I hope that this prompts some jokes in your household).  The tumor has shrunk in a very noticeable way.  Some of the shrinkage is due to surgical swelling going down from having a marker placed near the tumor, but most of the shrinkage is due to the chemo.  The tape measure said that the length of the tumor has been reduced by almost half.  This is pretty big news after one round of chemo, and my doctor was visibly pleased and maybe a little bit surprised.

This also means that, if there are any cancer cells floating around elsewhere in my body, they should also be quite affected by the chemo.  Makes sitting in that chair much easier.  I was glad to have that very visible/palpable results from the first treatment, and I hope that things continue to follow that trend.

I also gave my doctor my to-do/to-research note, and he was pleased about the TNBC clinical trial that I brought up.  He said that most TNBC clinical trials are for stage IV patients and that there is not as much being done for earlier stage, but I am almost positive that the one that I brought up is for earlier stage patients.  He's going to look into it for me, and we'll talk more about it next time I am there.

The doctor also told me "we don't want you to lose too much more weight." Never have I ever heard those words.  I've still got a few pounds to spare, but I will try to not lose much more.  He also gave me a third anti-nausea medicine that I can take along with the two that I took last time.  They would like to see no nausea at all so I will add that medicine to the cocktail.  I also took two of the anti-nausea meds immediately following chemo. Being on top of it vs. taking after I already feel badly is going to be important. As the day wore on, today I became fairly nauseous.  Maybe a 5 on a scale of 1-10 which is better than last time. I'll take the new med before bed, and hopefully that will help things even more.

The results of my BRCA (and about 20 other genetic mutations) came back negative so I do not have the "breast cancer gene."  That is a good thing as it is likely that surgery does not have to be quite as drastic. I am still going to have surgery over the summer, but I may be a candidate for a lumpectomy vs. a bilateral mastectomy given the genetic testing results.  We'll see, though.  I've got a while before I have to make any decisions like that and will rely heavily upon my oncologist and surgeon for guidance there once we get deeper into chemo.

In other good news, my doctor said that I can GO BACK TO THE GYM!!  I was originally told no gym on days 6-12 after each chemo cycle due to a dip in my immune system, but I asked him to reconsider and he did.  Last round, I felt almost human on day 6 and was feeling really great again toward the end of the two-week period. My white blood counts came back really strong which means that my immune system didn't take as big of a hit as it could have. I was made to promise that I will turn around and leave the gym if I see someone who is visibly sick (coughing, sneezing, etc).  There could be some false alarms there because the pollen is starting to come out in Charleston, but I agreed to that and will keep my word.

No way will I be able to work out terribly (or probably even remotely) hard, but I so want to go back, and I am glad that I got the green light there.  I plan to go to classes during somewhat off hours so that it is less crowded.  My 5:15am classes are not happening...too crowded, and I just don't want to get up that early right now.  I am really happy about that and will set up a class as soon as the nausea wears off and I don't have to take the meds anymore.

Today was a happy day for me. I am so grateful and relieved that the tumor is responding, I am grateful that I have a medical team that I trust and who listens to me, and I continue to be so incredibly grateful for the support that I have received over these past several weeks.

I'm going to take some more pills soon and head to bed.  I have to get my Neulasta shot tomorrow and will then have a break from the cancer center.