Chemo Day Round Two

I had my second round of chemo today, Monday, November 28. We had a little hiccup with getting a good vein. They are trying to save my "big veins" for later. These are the ones in your elbow creases. Last time, they found a good one in the middle of my left forearm. They tried to find its counterpart on the right side today but it wasn't producing enough blood so they went for the good vein. They check my blood before each chemo treatment to make sure I'm in good shape to handle the chemo. My white blood cell count was high because of the Neulasta and the steroids I take the day before, the day of, and the day after chemo. This is a good thing.

Dr. Coluzzi did a breast exam today. Getting your bra and shirt somewhat off while having a major IV in your right arm is no small task. Thank you, Perla, for helping me or I'd still be trying to get my left arm out of my sleeve. Dr. Coluzzi was very pleased with what he felt and saw. He said that he could see that the tumors were smaller than when he had last examined me and that the lymph node area felt great. He was pleased and believes that we have the right chemo combo. This is good news. Chemo is the only option for people like me with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Based on what I've read, chemo-resistant tumors for TNBC patients are a very bad thing. They can try to cut the cancer out in surgery and do radiation but the recurrence rate is much higher in that case. So the fact that Dr. Coluzzi believes it is working is a huge relief.

The nurses at UCLA Health who administer the chemo are true angels. I was loopy from the pre-chemo drugs and, as a result, a bit clumsy and I managed to knock over my water bottle. They cleaned it up with a smile.

Round 2 swimsuit pic from Saturday, November 26. It is very common to gain weight during chemo, per my on-line support groups. (Another thing that is different than in the Julia Roberts movie.) I don't really care if I gain or lose weight during chemo as long as I can remain as healthy as possible. That is the goal. I'm trying to get in my usual 165 grams of protein in each day. Ideally, I eat 165 grams of protein, 185 of carbs and 40 of fat. I've been a little off my game since the cancer diagnosis. Also the first week of chemo is tough and sometimes all I can eat is saltines and pita chips. Chemo affects your taste buds to the point where you either can't taste at all or foods taste differently than they did before chemo. I crave chips and salsa and drink a ton of non-alcoholic ginger beer. You do what you have to do to get through. The most important thing is getting rid of all the cancer cells in my body and doing whatever it takes so that they don't come back. Hopefully many more cancer cells were killed today!