Chemo is History!!!

Now that chemo is done – lots of people are asking how I am feeling so I thought I would do an update on that.  The last chemo treatment was February 1 and it takes 21 days for the drugs to work their way through a person’s system.  So even though my adrenaline had kicked in about the last one and I felt great going into it, I still had to go through that last round of crappy feelings, and I sure did.  But I kept telling myself – maybe that is the last time I will feel  that thing etc.  I made it through okay except for getting a horrible cold/flu the last week.

My immune system is really compromised so the cold quickly got worse and turned into a sinus infection.  That has sucked, but the doctor has me on some super strong anti-biotics to get it out of my system.

I have already noticed some chemo symptoms are gone (heartburn from hell, nausea, for example).  Some are slowly getting better (weird eye twitching  and sore mouth).   Other things, like the fatigue and chemo brain and hair growth will take longer.  However, overall I am starting to believe I will get back to real normal instead of crap normal and that makes me happy. 

I had my first Herceptin-only appointment on Thursday and that went fine.  It is so much better than full chemo because it does not have the nasty side effects and it also doesn’t suck up a whole day to get done.  (Herbert even decided to behave.)    I also don’t have to have the horrible Neulasta shot that made my bones hurt so much and that is a huge relief.  I will get Herceptin treatments every three weeks until September 22 (and after that Herbert is history!)

Thanks for all the support during the long months of chemo – I really appreciate it – and really I could not have made it through the whole thing without all of the encouragement.  You are all awesome.