Chemo Tomorrow -- taxotere & carboplatin

I swam a whole mile on Tuesday with my right arm doing strokes the regular way! I had planned to do it for jsut a little while, but it felt so right, like something had gotten fixed.... that I did the whole mile with my arm coming out of the water like it's supposed to.

And my mastectomy scar looks great. (I put vitamin E oil on it a lot.) I don't mind being lopsided - and it's not exactly that I'm not vain; I just really don't think it looks that bad.

So now that I'm feeling well I'm going to start more chemo tomorrow. It was a tough decision, and the irony is that the person who probably helped me make it the most was the oncologist at Georgetown who won't do it. (Go figure.) She called last night and we talked for a good hour.

Anyway this stuff won't be a walk in the park -- Alan has been checking up on it and has found a lot of blood toxic side effects. I'll get neulasta after every dose, to boost my white count, even though they are 3 weeks apart. Nothing to be done about the platelets, though. I wish I knew what to eat or something to boost them.... if anyone knows, please do tell! (Red count goes down too -- I'll eat venison. I'll see if they are okay with my taking nettles which also boosts iron -- but not like venison!) Also I'll have to take steroids AND it might make me nauseous. Last time I slept a lot from the antinausea meds while on AC, and then I was more awake after the steroids from taxol. this time I'll need both, so what will that be like? Alan thinks I should not bike the week that the platelets are at their nadir (low point.) But I don't know; the other stuff wasn't a walk in the park either, but I was okay after one low weekend, each time. SO we will see......

I'm thinking that it will be harder to avoid germs now than it was in the summertime. I made a soup this evening with lots of seaweed in it, to feed the thymus, which I hear helps avoid change of season respiratory infections. The only problem was, the kids weren't really into it. ALan will eat it some and I will mostly eat it -- but the idea was to try to keep the germs out of the house. Of course ALan and Em are already coughing and snuffling. (I have a tickle, too.... I will tell the doc.) Matthew doesn't sleep much during the week -- I think what's saved him so far is he keeps his distance from us most of the time! though he does hang out with me late at night if I'm up. So if the steroids keep me up..... I know, it's a really bad example. It's also quite nice.....

And on that note I should head up to bed. But first -- I have to tell one more little story. After I went swimming on Tuesday I was telling a woman in the locker room (who I know but don't see all that often) how proud I was of having been able to do the whole mile 3 weeks after surgery, my third time swimming, and that I was actually swimming the regular way already (regular out-of-the water strokes with my right arm, which I hadn't planned to do yet!) ANyway the woman looked down and said, "Gee, I don't see a scar." Now... granted, I hadn't taken my bathing suit off yet, or it would have been obvious, but one side was still clearly flat..... and bathing suits aren't baggy or anything....

Isn't it amazing what the brain will edit in when it expects something? If this gets out the plastic surgeons will all be out of work -- and even the people who make the prostheses!