Breast Cancer Journey

  It was three weeks today since I have had my first chemo. I pulled out of fatigue after days 4-7, the bloody noses are mostly at night and improving, but the mouth sores have continued to get worse and stay for 4-5 days. My hair is still there...but thinning daily. My scalp itches and hurts really bad if I touch my head. I actually took a lint brush and rolled it all over my head to see what came out. Yep, it's coming out. Bald on top but it's all for the long term good. It's amazing how much heat you lose through your head. When I take my chemo beanies off, my head gets COLD! I feel a chill on top. How do you bald guys get use to that? (We just do, says E. and his brother, and his son) I imagine that this week will be the turning point for the hair loss. Most commonly, people say that at two weeks they lost it all. I'm at the third week, so it's coming for sure. I felt so much better at the second week mark, I managed to get three days of subbing in for a special...

This week I had gone to South Bend on Tuesday for some IV fluids which were supposed to help with nausea and possible dehydration. Two days later it's getting close to the weekend--mouth sores have increased, and I'm still feeling very nauseous. Called the doctor and the doctor said, we want you to come back in....Another round of IV fluids. I'm cold all the time, my nose is bleeding regularly, but they just want to be on the safe side of maintaining those liquids, so they are asking me to come in once again, just three days out from the last IV administration. The exhaustion is still very much present. All I do is move from my recliner to my bed and back to the recliner all day long. I am napping and still sleeping at night, so guess my body is just letting me know it's still rest time. I will say the debilitating fatigue is not quite as bad as it was earlier this week! I'm actually up and moving around a bit more. In I went and had another round of IV fluids on Fr...

Well, I made it through the first week through day 8 and then everything fell apart. I have lost 10 pounds this week. I am very nauseous, and of course nothing tastes good. Two days in a row of feeling really really crappy made me call the oncologist today. They want me to come in tomorrow. The weight loss is a concern, but I don't have major diarrhea, just have it once in awhile, and the color of urine is clear. They want to do blood work as my number of white cell counts were down the very first day of chemo last week. I'm glad they are going to look at things and hopefully, I will have some answers by the evening. They want me to drink FOUR protein shakes a day so I'm trying to do that. Haven't made it to four yet...sigh....They taste like chalk to me. I had a 3:30 appointment over in South Bend, and we happened to be under a winter storm watch, it was snowing hard and travel was hazardous. We heard that the 20 bypass to South Bend was difficult to travel on today...

Tuesday, January 7th...first chemo day treatment..It went very well. No adverse reactions while there. This will be my home away from home for next three chemo sessions,  once every three weeks, all day long.  Things recommended to bring for treatment, sorry if I am repeating myself--chemo brain is a real thing! 1. Snacks, 2. things to read and do, 3. downloaded books or movies, your phone, and chargers. I did not bring a blanket. The room was comfortable and the temperature was fine, but if you get cold, the hospital provides lightweight blankets. The process is an all day event! I had weird pains shooting around different places on my way home in the car...sharp stomach pains, then shoulder pain across my back. It only lasted a few seconds, then was gone...I wasn't very tired at all...taking steroids twice a day, 2 pills each dose...Dexamethasone for three days. It's affecting my sleep a little bit...woke up the next morning at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep...It'...

January 6th, 2025...I saw the oncologist today....I'm officially stage 4 after the PET scan...the cancer has spread into the chest pectoral muscles....because it has spread past the lymph nodes, that is a stage 4. Had it stayed in the breast and lymph nodes, it would have been a stage 3 which is curable. Stage 4 is not, they can only try to control it. My options are to start chemo, (Jan. 7th) if the tumors and cancer respond really really well to the treatment, it's possible that I could have 4 chemo treatments then move into immunotherapy treatments.    I will have to have PET scans every three months for a long time. At some point if the cancer is contained or hard to see, then I could possible have PET scans every six months. That would be an optimum treatment plan! If the cancer does not shrink enough, I will be getting a total of 6 treatments every three weeks....I am currently also going through genetic testing which helps determine treatment plans and options, and insu...

I am writing this blog to keep a record of my journey from start to wherever it may go...in the hopes that it will be informative for anyone who is diagnosed with breast cancer, and in particular, invasive lobular carcinoma with metastasized lymph node involvement. I am estrogen positive, progesterone negative, and HER2+ equivocal. HER2 positive means it's a faster growing aggressive breast cancer that tests positive for a protein called the human epidermal growth factor receptor.   I am not in the medical field, nor do I intend to promote or advocate any kind of treatment. I just want to share my experiences with the start of this difficult journey in hopes that it will encourage women to get tested, have their mammograms, and do whatever they need to do to proceed. It is a different journey for everyone. A little bit about me....I'm 74 years old. I've been very healthy all my life. I was a special education teacher for 31 years and I have been subbing for the last ten yea...