Well, I made it to Sunday evening. Can seem to concentrate on much of anything. I am fine……..I am fine…….I am in remission. Positive thoughts.

For those of you newly diagnosed know that things will be difficult for a time, but they will get better. The hardest part is the realization that your life will never be the same. Things you took for granted, things you had no appreciation for will have a whole new look to them. There is a silver lining in the cloud you are in right now. I know it is hard to think of something positive coming out of something so tragic as cancer, but for myself and every survivor I have talked to, we all have found the silver lining in the cloud. Take it one day at at time, some days I had to take it one hour or even one minute at a time. This too shall pass. Keep telling yourself that. It helped me cope big time!

Chemo is tough, but is doable. There are many things you can do to make it easier on your body. Most important is to eat something before you go to your treatment. If you can’t stomach the thought of food, at least eat some saltine crackers. I drank a protein shake (Odwalla Vanilla Almond was my favorite) before each treatment along with water. Take snacks with you and eat during your treatment. I have seen many women come in with empty stomachs because no one told them they were supposed to eat something. Trust me, you will feel much better if you have something in your stomach. Drink at much water as you can before and after your treatment, especially important as your do not want to get dehydrated.

Some women sleep during their treatments. I chose to read as I could not sleep even though I was given something to relax me.  If you are into meditation (I highly recommend you get into it if you aren’t) as this is a great way to relax.

My treatments consisted of Adriamycin and Cytoxin. I was node negative which means I had no cancer in my lymph nodes. I am also triple negative for my estrogen, progesterone and HER-2/neu. This means I can’t take any hormone therapy. My cancer was invasive (fast growing) and I was told it could double in size in 30 days. Pretty scary! Each cancer is different and each treatment varies according to so many factors and that is why it is so hard to find someone who has the same type of cancer you do. Because of this, it makes if difficult to connect with someone going through the same thing you are. I had a lumpectomy followed by 4 rounds of chemo and then 33 radiation treatments. One of the hardest things for me was to find out information about chemo, what does a round mean, how often do I have it, when will it be over, how soon after chemo does radiation start. All these questions were running through my mind and never got answered until my oncologist decided what my plan would be. My treatments were 21 days apart.  On the day of chemo you have to have blood work done before your treatment. 

More later about the chemo. I am getting sleepy and am going to get some sleep. Only 4 more days until my appointment to get my results. Can I wait till then…..or will I call early? Who knows at this point.  More to follow later.   Sweet dreams……I am in remission, I am fine, stay postive.