Round 1 (Take 2)

Well – I made it through Round 1. It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting. I went to Stanford on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (the 25th, 26th and 27th of January) and was amazed by how well I felt afterwards. I was tired, bloated and a bit nauseated, but those were really the main impacts during that week. In fact, on the Friday following the 3 days of chemo, I went to my acupuncturist at 6:30 am, worked a full day at the Port, went to yoga and then out to dinner and a movie with my girlfriends.

I have also begun my herbal supplements. I take approximately 50 pills a day. I’m hopeful that this insanity will only last throughout my treatment and that my herbalist will significantly reduce my dosages following this chemo regimen. However, something must be working because for those of you who have seen me, I do not look like a person going through chemo. I look and feel very strong and vibrant. Of course, I’ve only gone through one round and I have a lot further to go – but so far, so good.

So, on Tuesday, I head back to Stanford for another 3 days of fun. I will be meeting with Dr. Fisher to discuss the potential of adding another chemo drug to my regimen. He wanted to see how my body handled the FUDR (the chemo that I’m taking now) before he added something else. The problem is that the 2 drugs that he’s looking at promise to be very rough for me. Both drugs would be given intravenously (rather than directly into the cavity like my current drug). The side effects from one would be an extreme rash that would cover my face, chest and arms for weeks (apparently it’s worse than a bad case of teenage acne). He tells his patients to avoid looking in a mirror for several weeks. The side effects from the other would be a low white blood cell count, hair loss and extreme nausea. Let’s just say that should I move forward with either one of these drugs, I do not have a good time ahead of me.

But I’m not going to worry about that today. Today, I’m going to find joy in the little things. Today I will focus on playing with my children and being grateful for all of the blessings in my life. Today, I will be glad to just be. My kids are calling so off I go….