Had a pretty good week last week. Last Thursday and Friday, the steriods had me feeling pretty darn good and I had energy. Seem to be the most achy and tired over the weekend, which is okay. I saw the doctor yesterday before my treatment. Unfortunately, my red count went down (just a little) and the white count stayed the same. I was hoping my red count would continue to go up. During my visit, we asked the doctor how can we tell the chemo is working and found out that we really can’t. He said it was all symptomatic, no blood test available yet. After the treatments are done, they look for persistent symptoms and runs CT scans, etc. to see if anything shows up. So we are basically hitting the cancer hard with all this chemo and hoping that it is all killed. I’m pretty confident this was caught early and all this aggressive chemo is doing its job, but it was still a little bewildering to hear.

When I got to my treatment, Deb, my nurse, offered me a private room with a bed (some just have recliners) and once she started my premeds I pretty much fell asleep. I dozed through my entire treatment but there was a tv in the room so Jeff kept himself occupied.

Dad and Betty fixed my family supper which was a nice treat. As usual, my whole body tingling experience began and I perked up. But much to my surprise, I was able to fall asleep about 12:30 a.m. and today I have not had much spunk (a low energy day). I return to work tomorrow, hopefully with more energy.

I see the plastic surgeon next Tuesday to find out what my options are. No I can’t have reconstruction for a few more months (not before May) but I want to hear the options now and have some time to ponder what I want to do. My cancer doctor told me to talk to people who have had it done. I was leaning towards using my own fat/tissue from other parts of my body just because it is a one time procedure (my understanding is that implants are a longer process) .

So if anyone out there can connect me with people who have had implants or breasts made from their own tissue I’d appreciate it. I’d love to have some information before I see the doctor on Tuesday.

Thanks for your help.

Love, Lori