Oncologist Visit

After a very long day at the Provo Hospital (from 11 am to 6 pm to be
exact with a short break for lunch) I have been scheduled to start
Chemotherapy treatments this coming Friday May 4th. This has been the
tentative date for a while but I actually have an appointment time
now. So, 9:30 am this Friday I will start treatment. I can't say
that I am all that calm about it, I know doctors aren't the best at
assuring you when they are obligated to tell you that nothing is
guaranteed and that the statistics are yada, yada, yada. I was given
the basics of what to expect though and they are going to drug me up
with lots of anti-nausea meds since I seem to get queasy over just
about everything these days so hopefully that helps things go more
smoothly. Here is the breakdown.

My Chemo treatments will take five hours. The reason they are so long
is because a lot of the drugs need to be given individually so they
are done back to back. Not all chemo therapies are this long but the
specific drugs I am going to be on do take this long. So Friday is
going to be a long day and I don't know what I am going to do to keep
myself occupied. I wish I could say sleep but I don't think that will
work, I am going to be too nervous.

They say that days 2-5 are the hardest as far as fatigue and nausea
are concerned. Day one being the day I receive Chemo. Then days 7-14
are when my immune system will be at its lowest, that said I need to
be careful everyday to steer clear of any obvious situations where I
will be exposed to things because my body will not be able to cope.

Days 14 - 21 are the days where I start to rebound a bit but then on
day 21 I receive Chemo again and start the process over again. I will
be receiving anywhere from 3-6 treatments depending on what the board
discusses. I have a split decision as of now. My surgeon feels that 3
is perfect and that there is not a recognizable benefit to having six
whereas the oncologist that is giving me the treatments feels that if
I want to be as aggressive as possible I should do 6. It is hard to
know what to do when both doctors seem to be so knowledgeable so I am
going to hold out to make the decision until the board discusses it
and then I get 7-10 more doctors opinions on it.

Oh yeah and my hair will start falling out in about two weeks and will
most likely be completely gone by the end of May. No biggie. I just
don't want any one's jaws to drop in surprise when they see my
undoubtedly gorgeous egg shaped head for the first time! I know so
many of you will be envious but I will try to not rub it in too bad,
especially if you happen to be having a bad hair day!

That is the rundown as of now. I am hoping for the best as far as
symptoms go and have several numbers to call if I have a bad day.
Thank you for being so supportive and helping me and my family. I can
not even begin to express the gratitude I have for all the service
that has come my way. I honestly do not know how I could have
survived til now without the support of my family, friends and my ward
family. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

~Rachelle