Wednesday, June 11, 2014

get up offa that thing, and dance til you feel better! get up offa that thing, and shake til you feel better! get up offa that thing, and twist til you feel better!

So yesterday was the big day. First chemo. It was a Tuesday so it wasn't very crowded, and the people that were there were mostly in their 80s. Or at least they looked it. Lot's of mouth breathers enjoying a nap! I say that endearingly.

We arrived about an hour earlier than we were supposed to, so that we could sign up for an exercise study where they have you walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes before each treatment to see how activity on the day of chemo affects your side affects/recovery/etc. Thankfully, the paper he drew from the envelope put me in the group that has more time on the treadmill. (Although I am a little suspicious it was rigged... whatever... go with it.) The exercise facility was actually really nice, and on top of that, I can use it whenever I want (during office hours) for the rest of my life. Tons of equipment, and even a few group classes. Cool. (Don't be jealous of my cancer perks.)

We did our time on the treadmill and headed upstairs to see Dr. O. I just love her. Even though I had to wait about 1/2 an hour in the exam room before I saw her.... sigh. We talked about all kinds of things including this new treatment option called "zoladex" that they have been using for a long time for women who's cancer is fed by estrogen (mine is not). Dr. O was actually at the conference, and attended the lecture where they presented the findings of the study, which looked into the effects of using this treatment on women who's cancers are NOT affected by estrogen (ie: me). All of this has come out since the last time I saw her, so I am feeling very blessed to get to benefit from this study.

The drug effectively shuts down the patient's ovaries to stop them from producing estrogen (and thus induce early, hopefully temporary, menopause. Yay.). What they found was that women who don't have estrogen positive cancer had a higher chance of regaining their full reproductive function after treatment, and it even bumped up survival rates. Sign me up, ya'll! This shot was not fun (actually some kind of pellet thing they inject under the fat in your stomach. Yeeesh.) But I think it will be so worth it. Nurse Carrie didn't want to even give it to me, but I think her constant building it up of how awful it was made it seem not quite as bad.

Chemo itself was pretty uneventful. And yes... the headphones were MINE. We were in and out in about 1.5 hours. I was expecting something more like 4 or 5, so that was a very pleasant surprise. Connor and I took lots of pictures, which I'm sure would have been really annoying to the old people if they had been awake enough to notice. As for side affects, so far so good. I'm feeling really good, albeit a little tired (but that's normal for me for this time of day). I'm ready to go back and start round 2!

adriamycin, aka "the red devil" aka what's going to make my hair fall out

no sweat, this is easy

what up, chemo?

for my aggie friends, "beat the hell outta cancer!" ps: i was told i could use this, so everyone act civil.
ok, well that felt a little dirty. how about we also WRECK CANCER.

feeling so loved

and here's where we started getting on the old peoples, nerves
you just wish you looked this cool when dancing in a chemo chair.

totally not staged at all.


Thanks for your continued prayers and vibes!!

Love y'all so much,
Jess

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