The Plan

It's already a rollercoaster. As tests and procedures are performed emotions rise and fall with the preliminary results and with discussions with the medical team. The hours after hearing the results of the pathology report and before discussing them with the oncologist really sucked, but J sounds much better after having decided on a plan. It will not be easy, but at least the path has been laid out.

Thankfully, the oncologist was able to instill confidence in the plan, and first of all, really sees no need for further surgery at this time -- no second mastectomy and no reconstructive surgery. Yay! This means that in just a few weeks, this coming August, chemotherapy will begin. First a port will be installed to allow the medicine to be easily applied, then two days before the first of four cycles begins, J will be given steroids and anti-nausea medication to help alleviate as much as possible the expected side effects. Each cycle will last twenty-one days, and once she has completed the fourth and final cycle, most likely she will undergo radiation therapy depending on an assessment performed at that time, and following that, if I understand correctly, hormone therapy because she tested positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors. I don't really understand that part, but maybe she is extra sensitive to those hormones that her body already naturally produces, and so the hormone therapy is to control how sensitive she is to them.

Before all that begins though, she has a few weeks to contemplate things and to schedule her full body CT and bone scans.

Other side effects J expects to deal with from the the chemotherapy are hair loss and fatigue. The doctor has recommended that she try to exercise as her energy levels allow since research has shown that it helps. One of the reasons I started this blog was to organize nutrition information and recipes for our easy reference as she undergoes her therapy, so it's time for me to start organizing. I'm told from a friend who has himself gone through this process that finding food her body can tolerate may be difficult as the side effects express themselves.

With the radiation therapy, possible side effects include burns because she's basically getting shot with a bunch of lasers a few times a week. In her case, because the focus will be on the right side of the body, her heart isn't at risk because that is on the left. I never considered that other critical organs could be at risk from this part of the therapy, but that makes sense. I'm just glad that J doesn't have to worry about that as much.