It's Not About the Hair

This post was actually published on October 21 (The above date is when I started the post.  It was edited and published 10/21/08). 

Tom and I arrived at my second surgery appointment yesterday to be greeted by Ruth and Bernadette.  For the hour plus wait before I was summoned to surgery, Bernie teased me with her nearly empty coffee cup.  I tried getting a fix off of the fumes alone, but to no avail; my "nothing to eat after midnight" combined with my lack of coffee and H2O induced a massive headache that was not to be relieved until they hooked me up to my IV. The surgery itself was a hoot.  Whatever drugs they gave me turned me into "Chatty Cathy" and if you heard a transcript of the 45 minutes that passed in the OR, you might think it was just a group of friends out for coffee.  

It was a short surgery but ultimately a long day; I am so glad that Tom had the company of Ruth, Bernie, and my good friend, Sharon.  From the stories he has shared, there was no lack of good conversation. I am doing great (translation: Tylenol w/codeine).  

Today I got a call from my oncologist, Halle Moore, M.D., who I had met with initially on October 2nd.  She is the doctor that will direct my systemic treatment.  As you all know, my surgeon initially told me that she thought my treatment would include surgery and radiation, and a drug to block estrogen. But after the pathology report came back from my first surgery, she mentioned chemotherapy as a possibility, and Dr. Dietz suggested that I meet with the oncologist next. When I met with Dr. Moore she ordered a chest x-ray, a bone scan, and a thoracic spine x-ray to finalize my staging and to have baseline test results (all negative). She also ordered a blood test to see where I was at hormonally; this will determine the maintenance drug that I get. 

She also ordered a special test called an oncotype DX  to determine the tendencies of this particular tumor toward recurrence.   The higher the score, the more likely that chemotherapy would be useful; whether the benefits would outweigh the risks. For once in my life, I was actually hoping for a low score! Unfortunately, my doctor explained that my seemingly low score (36 out of a possible 100) puts me in the category considered at high risk for recurrence; I will have to undergo chemotherapy.  

Boo-Hiss (I can hear Mary-"piss barm barm"). 

I will start chemo after I have had at least 3 weeks to heal from this surgery, sometime in mid November. I will have 4 treatments in all, 3 weeks apart, so I expect to be done with all that around mid February.  She reassured me that the chemotherapy regimen that she is recommending is one of the safest regimens, and it does not appear to induce other cancers or cause heart problems like some other chemo treatments. She said the greatest danger is my risk for infection, since it will suppress my immune system temporarily.  They will try to counteract that by giving me a shot to build me back up the day after chemo.  Other side effects include aches and pains in my bones that should only last a few days after treatment, and possibly neuropathy that causes numbness and tingling- she said this usually is temporary.    Alas, what you might be wondering is "Will you lose your hair?" Yes. And while we are on the subject, may I recommend a fantastic book that I read by Debra Jarvis called "It's Not About the Hair"?   Check it out for a good read.