Okay, here we go!

I got my chemotherapy schedule today. Ugh, how I dread it. But, I have to keep telling myself that this is going to keep the cancer beast from returning, it's going to help me, and it's going to work to keep me safe and healthy.

The schedule is a bit different than we'd first expected. I will be going for four treatments every two weeks (instead of every three weeks as we'd first been told). Chemo will be divided into two different kinds. The first kind takes two hours per treatment, and I will go every two weeks. So, for the first half of my chemo, I will be going on Sept 22, Oct 6, Oct 20, and Nov 3, all at 10:40 a.m.

The second half of the chemo treatment is a bit stronger, will still be four treatments every two weeks, but will last four hours. (Dates for these treatments have not yet been scheduled, but they will immediately follow the first half, without breaking the every-two-weeks regemine.) Therefore, chemo will last a total of 16 weeks.

According to my pathology report, I was not "HER-II Positive," so I will NOT need the Herceptin drug for the remainder of the year as was first anticipated. That is good news, especially for my veins.

I have, at this point, chosen not to get a mediport implanted and am going to see how my veins hold up. Please pray that they stay strong. I really don't want a port. However, now that the treatments will be every two weeks instead of every three, as we'd first thought, it will be harder on my veins, with less time in between treatments for them to recover. Additionally, since I had those 19 lymph nodes removed from my right arm, I am no longer ever again able to use that arm for blood draws, blood pressure, or IV's. That gives me only my poor ol' left arm to handle the job alone. I sure hope it holds up.

So, if all goes well, it looks like all my chemo treatments will conclude around the end of December. Maybe my hair will be somewhat back by summer then!

And of course, treatments will continue with radiaion for five or six weeks on the heels of chemo. Then reconstruction ... sigh ... a lot ahead. BUT AT LEAST MY LIFE WAS SPARED!

The blood clot is still being monitored closely too, and we are praying that the blood thinners continue to do their job in keeping this life-threatening situation from getting out of hand again. I have been having to take things real easy because of this, and that's okay.

So that's today's update. Thank you all ever so much for all the prayers and the concern. I love all of you for it, and will never forget how much everyone cares. I hope I am one day able to show all of you what it has meant to me.

Till next time,
Deb