Last cup of sorrow

 

I had my very last chemo infusion today!! I expect the next two weeks to be pretty rough, since it’s typically cumulative, but I’m still extremely excited to be at the end of this leg of race.

With my previous round, my cough continued (but did not get worse). I also got a terrible sore throat. It was so red that it looked like it was bleeding. There were white spots and tons of tiny blisters. It was one of the worst sore throats I’ve ever had. I never had a fever- in fact, I’ve never had a fever at all throughout chemo, which is pretty amazing. They put me on antibiotics and had me gargle a special prescription mouthwash called “Mary’s Magic Mouthwash”. It’s absolutely disgusting, by the way. 🤢 (And Brant keeps calling it “Magic Mike Mouthwash” which does not help… 😂) I had trouble getting the prescription filled due to some pharmacy drama, so I was originally gargling with salt water, but my throat was so inflamed and sensitive that it instantly triggered my gag reflex and I shot salt water straight up in the air… It was all quite an experience. 🤣 Luckily, it’s better now.

I also had severe pain for 4-5 days. Nothing really helped it, and it was awful. I’m dreading that part of things this round. My doctor said she “did not disagree” that it’s likely to be even worse this cycle. 🫤 She said if my liver enzymes were ok then I can take the stronger pain meds that I never took after my mastectomy. When she looked up my enzyme numbers from yesterday, she was shocked and thrilled to see that my numbers are completely normal!! Apparently that is not typical, and my numbers were way off a few weeks ago. I guess my body was surprised at first, but then decided that this is just what we do now and adapted! Whatever happened, I’ll take it! That means that my liver must be pretty healthy, which is another step in the right direction to indicate that I don’t have cancer lurking elsewhere.

She seemed very pleased with everything, actually, and said I “look great” (this is in the context of a cancer patient, specifically, of course. I do not look great compared to non-cancer patients.😆). 

*Edited to add that she was ecstatic that I do not, at least as of yet, have ANY signs of peripheral neuropathy! She said it’s very common, and can be very complicated to deal with. If I do get it at this point, it’s likely to be mild, but I’m hopeful that I won’t get it at all.*

She’s going to have me get a bone density scan to make sure that we choose the right kind of hormone blocker. Some can cause osteoporosis, so if I have any symptoms of that now then there are some meds I’ll need to avoid. I will see her in 2 months (after, or near the end of radiation) to finalize the hormone therapy plan and find out how she fits into things after I finish active treatment.

The nursing staff all sang to me and gave me a card at the end of the day. They also laughed at my special “goodbye to chemo shirt”. (See photos and video below.) 😉

I am not done and have to go on to radiation, but AM does receiving chemo, so I rang the shit out of that bell, because I earned it!

P