Picking up speed

I had my first appointment with my oncologist today, and I'm feeling really good about everything.

I like my doctor a lot. He's exactly the kind of doctor I need. He has treated ibc before, but it's a rare disease, so he hasn't had a lot of ibc patients. However, he obviously knows his stuff. He definitely hit on all the key things that I was looking for. Plus, he spent a great deal of time with me today, carefully answering my questions and explaining all my options. He was patient and assumed that I am an intelligent person. He didn't speak down to me or gloss over anything. Also, he didn't choose my treatment for me. He laid out all the options, provided the pros and cons of each one, gave me his recommendation, and let me make the decision. Yes, exactly the kind of doctor I need.

Due to the incredible experience I've had with this doctor, I've decided not to pursue a second opinion. Everything he said to me is in complete agreement with all the research I've done on this. He has also indicated that he's going to make sure he has the latest information on any recent studies and that we can adjust my treatment if we learn anything new. So, he's flexible too. I feel that not only is my faith in my own ability to heal an important factor in my recovery, but so is the confidence I feel in the doctor that is treating me. After spending nearly two hours with my oncologist this afternoon, I have the utmost confidence in his capabilities.

So, now that I know what my initial treatment is going to be, let me share it with you.

We will start with chemotherapy. Treatment for ibc always starts with chemotherapy. The reason for this is that the cancer is so aggressive, that the chemotherapy immediately halts any progress of the cancer and, hopefully, shrinks it down.

Due to the aggressiveness of this form of cancer, the treatment is also aggressive. Traditional chemotherapy usually has the patient receiving treatments every 3 weeks. However, they've had a great deal of success with "slamming" the treatments together in shorter periods of time. It does mean I'll have less time between treatments for recovery, but it also tends to kill more cancer cells each time. He gave me another "high-dosage" alternative that would have me still receiving chemo every 3 weeks, but I have opted for the biweekly treatment.

I begin chemotherapy tomorrow. Fortunately, a lot of advancements have been made in anti-nausea medicine, and my doctor has given me not one, but three prescriptions for anti-nausea medication:

• Emend - This is taken in conjunction with the chemotherapy. I take 1 pill an hour before my chemotherapy starts. Then, I take 1 pill each morning for the 2 days following treatment. This is supposed to help tremendously with nausea.
• Compazine - This is to take any time I'm feeling nauseous. This is more for daytime use as it supposedly doesn't make you too drowsy.
• Ativan - This is also to take any time I feel nauseous, but this one is better for night because it does make you drowsy.

Following the chemotherapy, they'll do surgery. It sounds like they will be doing a masectomy. I'm actually considering getting a bilateral masectomy (both breasts) at the same time, even though, currently, only my left breast is affected. The reason for this is that I really don't want to go through all of this only to find out that a year later (or 5 years later or 10 years later), I have to go through it all again with the other breast. And they should be able to do reconstructive surgery for both breasts at the same time.

I've got my schedule of appointments for the next couple of weeks and will post them under a separate message. Please look at the dates and let me know if you can volunteer to go with me. I really don't want to have to do this stuff alone. So far, I've found that having people with me really helps me stay positive.

Thanks everyone!