Physical feelings Today has been much better. I slept a lot better even though I still felt pretty tired when I woke up. But that made a huge difference - mentally and physically. I didn’t get to go cycling today because I didn’t have all of my gear. But I did take Ginny on a... Continue Reading →
PROGRESS: Day 1.3
Physical feelings My Garmin Body Battery (white line) and all my stress during the day Okay, today was worse. I slept horribly last night. I was tired when I went to sleep, but when my head hit the pillow it was like I just couldn't fall asleep. I lay awake for what felt like hours.... Continue Reading →
PROGRESS: Day 1.2
I decided that I wanted to do progress updates mostly to keep track of how I'm feeling from day to day so that I can talk to my doctor about it. I also decided that I'm going to count my days by week of treatment followed by the day of the week - hence the... Continue Reading →
Treatment 1 of 12: Into the Unknown
My corner office It was a rush in the morning to get Maddie to school and then to the coffee shop to get a latte and a scone before leaving for the hospital. I also forgot I had to wet my hair (which ended up maybe not being worth it) and pack my cooler of... Continue Reading →
Preparing for Treatment: Supplies
I have spent some time searching the internet and Facebook groups looking for all of the recommendations for going through chemotherapy. I’m fortunate that I will be receiving the least bad chemo drug, Taxol, along with the HER2-targeted treatment, Herceptin. A week or so ago I had to sit through my chemo consent appointment where... Continue Reading →
The Patron Saint of Breast Cancer Survivors
When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer (still thinking it was Ductal Carcinoma In Situ), my mom sent me a beautiful necklace with many charms. She had originally bought the necklace with only a single charm on it many years ago when she had a breast biopsy and was nervous about the results. Hopefully... Continue Reading →
Preparing for Treatment: Getting the Port
What is a port and why do you get it? Ports are implants that sit under your skin and they feed into a major vein to deliver medication. These are used frequently in patients requiring chemotherapy because the infusions can be rough on your veins and you get numerous infusions over an extended period of... Continue Reading →
Second Opinion
Why did I want one? I had decided very early on that I wanted to get a second opinion. When I was initially diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), everything I read said there were several factors that made diagnosing DCIS tricky. First, there is a possibility for misdiagnosis and people misidentifying DCIS for... Continue Reading →
Preparing for Treatment: Hair Cut & Zoladex
Scalp cooling Given the size and type of breast tumor, I learned that I was recommended to receive the Taxol + Herceptin regime. Taxol is a chemotherapy drug that attacks all of the fast-growing cells in my body. While that is a good characterization of my cancer cells, it is also similar to many other... Continue Reading →
My Diagnosis
Realizing there might be a problem This journey started for me back in 2021. It had been a year since I stopped breast feeding my daughter and I thought there might be something weird going on with my right breast. An extended family member of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after giving birth... Continue Reading →
Want a Cuke? 