I just wanted to update all the lovely people who have written messages to me on this thread.
I have had a very big week with appointments every day except Friday and chemo on Wednesday. The nausea has been terrible (but no actual vomiting), I haven't done a poo since Tuesday ( and I have had some insomnia as a result of these issues) but I can feel the biggest tumour shrinking so I don't care about the side effects. Chemo day was hell cos my port installation ran 4.5 hours late and at one point people were saying I might have to start chemo two days later. I was like no! tell them to put it through this canula if you can't get the port in. And maybe that helped get me into surgery in more of a hurry. I had no idea it was such a procedure I didn't google that bit. They managed to get it in by 1pm (the appointment was for 730 am and I had to fast and drink no water overnight) and I was still very groggy when I was taken in wheelchair from one building to another to get my cold cap on. I was so starving and thirsty I had to get the full hospital lunch service as my head was chilled. 5 minutes in as the slurpee headache started I thought theres no way I can cope with this for hours but five minutes later I got used to it and forgot all about it.
The day after that after taking two magic pills that did alleviate the nausea well I managed to eat lunch and do 12000 steps after I went to hospital for an MRI and a steroid shot. I'm assuming it was the steroids that made me feel well enough to walk a few kms home (some of it with a box of organic veg on my head) cos yesterday I had to stay in bed most of the day. In less than three days it feels like my big tumour has gone down by at least a cm (it felt like 4 now it feels like 3) so I am very glad it seems to be responding well and fast. I was told by the surgeon on Tuesday that it is grade 3 so I'm hoping it is downgrading itself well and the lymph ones are being beaten down too. The tumour strangely really hurt in the MRI so maybe this also helped but at the time I got worried thinking it might be spreading cells around.
I'm not sure how I will cope with 5 months of this but I guess I have to just take it day by day and night by sleepless night. I have learnt that strawberries and raspberries do not taste the same on chemo! But thankfully apples and watermelons and grapes do (to me at least). Almost everything in my fridge is totally off-putting but I did manage to eat one good non fruit meal each day so far. Thanks to my amazing mum my kids have gotten to school and kinder and have been fed and clothes washed and put to bed when I have not been up to working. My husband will take over tomorrow.
I meet the surgeon again next Tuesday I think she wanted to look at the MRI and make sure there really no cancer in the left breast. From what she said for me it will be neoadjuvant chemo followed by radiation followed by mastectomy so it will be a long road for me maybe up to a year until they might hopefully say I am clear of this.
I'd better try to get some sleep before the night is over as I think tomorrow I will be having a few sweet visitors who have learnt about my shitty news.
