Julie can't eat cheese

I am still in awe of all the birthday love and amazing outpouring of support you all have shown me. I had a pretty funny text exchange about it, where my friend told me I am just so loved and I said it’s like an embarrassing amount of love. [joking because I hate surprises and the attention that comes from surprises.] I have now told several medical providers who have asked this week about my support system that I have an amazing, embarrassing amount of support. It’s incredible. You all are amazing. Now, have you scheduled your needed health screenings?

My port is still healing and is thankfully much less sore. There is a pretty big bruise around it and it has been itchy. But touching it super grosses me out, so I have been trying to scratch way around it, so I don’t have to actually touch it – which doesn’t help the itching. Sometimes I accidentally hit it or touch the catheter line near my collar bone and just shudder. I am not sure if I am supposed to always feel it or not, but I can pretty constantly feel it on my chest.

I had my echocardiogram on 2/14 and I just realized how fun that is – to have my heart checked on Valentine’s Day! I am sure there is a good joke in there somewhere… The echocardiogram was an ultrasound of my heart from all different angles. It lasted about 25 minutes and the tech was amazing. She was asking a lot of questions and then later told me her partner had had breast cancer and will be 5 years out from treatment this fall. She said this echo was a baseline and I would most likely be getting more throughout chemo to make sure my heart stays healthy. She said a cardiologist would review the ultrasounds and I’d get an update online. She also had an awesome punk pixie haircut.

I got a text that afternoon that I had a new result. No red exclamation point! My heart overall looks good and I am cleared for chemo. Yaaay…?

I had a dentist appointment also on 2/14 and asked for any chemo tips. My dentist said chemo can permanently damage salivary glands, so to suck on Xylitol hard candy or gum. Chemo can also break down bone and enamel, so she also put in a prescription for a tooth paste with extra fluoride and a mouth wash. She suggested getting a Waterpik if I have any gum issues.

My Chemo Teach was on 2/16. I thought for some reason it was going to be a class, but it was actually a 1:1 with one of the chemo/infusion nurses. She brought me through the infusion center so I could see where I would be getting chemo. And I totally started crying when I saw it. I had been feeling fine and ready to start the next steps, but it’s still scary AF. We went back into a private room to meet. The nurse spent a lot of time going over each of the 3 chemo drugs I’ll be getting over the next 5 months, their side effects, what to expect during chemo, when to go to urgent care, and the Nivestym shots. These shots are to promote white blood cell growth so I am healthy enough to continue chemo, which will totally wipe out my immune system. The shots can cause bone pain and strangely, taking Claritin helps with this. I already take it daily – so hopefully it will work it’s magic.

The first 2 drugs are Adriamycin and Cytoxan (this combo is known as AC or again, Red Devil). I will get this once every 2 weeks for 4 cycles. I will see my oncologist before each cycle and have to get blood drawn the day before to make sure I have enough white blood cells. Major side effects are fatigue, nausea/vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores, and the low white blood cell counts. They will give me anti-nausea medication before and I will have to take 2 different kinds at home for 3 days after. The Adriamycin infusion takes about 15 minutes and the Cytoxan takes about an hour. I thought I would be at the infusion center a lot longer for chemo!

I will need to make sure I stay hydrated and she said it helps to keep food in your stomach. The Cytoxan can leave a metallic taste and can change the way food tastes. If I get a fever of 100.4 or above, I need to get to urgent care. I also met the oncology nurse I can call during the day with any other non-urgent issues/symptoms that may pop up. They also gave me a calendar that outlines what to do each day.

The nurse said I could go after Chemo Teach for the first blood draw so decided to knock it out while I was there, rather than going next week. I started getting results that evening and had RED EXCLAMATION points. Whhhhhhhhyyyyyyy???? One was on the CBC – one marker was slightly elevated – although this was the same marker back in September that was elevated (it’s lower this time around, but not yet in normal range). Then my metabolic panel had 2 slightly elevated liver levels. I am trying not to freak out about these. We’ll see what my oncologist says next week.

I also picked up my Nivestym at the pharmacy. I have to do this for 5 days after chemo for the first round (so 20 times total). Luckily, these are only during Red Devil – not during my second round with Taxol.

I start acupuncture on 2/17! I haven’t done this in a long time, but my oncologist and surgeon were on board. I have read there are benefits with hot flashes (chemo may knock me into menopause) and neuropathy. There will be more risk of neuropathy during my second round of chemo with Taxol – so I will do more in the moment to prevent this when that starts (ice packs for hands and feet).

I started a list for my chemo bag and will get it together this weekend – although I don’t think I will need as much as I had originally thought. I would love song suggestions – I love music, music gets me through things. So help me out with your favorite songs to keep you moving, make you happy, inspiration type sh*t. Let me know!

Next up – first cycle of chemo 2/22.