Round 16

I’ve been up since 1:36 from the nausea. Could I have stayed in bed? Probably, but Scott rolled over and I smelled his morning breath which sent me running to the bathroom. Reminds me of morning sickness again. Thankfully I didn’t vomit and rewarded myself with a cup of coffee after about an hour. Now I am sitting in the family room listening to the quiet of my house with intermittent talking from Brody in his sleep.

Friday was round 16 and it went well. Scotty surprised me and came with me. These days this is as close to a date night as we get so it was a fun treat. I also got one of my favorite nurses which felt like a good sign. There was no painful IV situation, no unnecessary bleeding, and Scott had me laughing almost the entire time.

My sweet friend Kim left me a package on my door the other day and inside was a shirt she had made for me with the logo I designed for the website. It was unexpected and so thoughtful, just like her! Before I made it into the infusion room I had three compliments on the shirt and got to tell people about the website and what I eventually hope to grow it into. Thanks again Kimmy!

We also did blood work before the infusion to try and figure out why I am getting nose bleeds, extra bleeding from the port, and my overall exhaustion (because as my ONC loves to point out it is not normal on just the targeted chemo). I got my results by Friday night and basically I am just worn down again. My numbers aren’t in the “bad” range but they are all at the lowest end of the spectrum. It isn’t something to be concerned about with only two more infusions to go at this point.

As much as I have read, and even said myself about herceptin being a wonder drug, I don’t love it. Or maybe what I should say is my body doesn’t love it. Thankfully I did find another group to join that is just for HER2 breast cancer and the woman that runs it is amazing. She is a healthcare professional and also has stage IV HER2+ breast cancer. I wish I had found her sooner. All the side effects and symptoms that my ONC suggests are abnormal or rare I have come to find out aren’t. The nausea and insane diarrhea affects most of those on targeted chemo treatments. The joint pain that makes me feel like an old lady, yeah that is normal on this too. Remember those red toes I could never get an explanation for? Yeah from the herceptin. I am a bit flabbergasted that I went through six rounds of chemotherapy with very limited side effects beyond hair loss but the treatment suggested to be easier has tore me up!

One more down, two more to go.