Taxol, Part II

Today was my second Taxol treatment... and the most eventful one so far.

Like before, it started with the triple whammy of decadron, benadryl, and zantak. It's so weird when the benadryl hits my system, because I feel it instantly. This was pretty much the same treatment as last time... after the triple whammy, they wait an hour for the cocktail to mix in my system, then they start the Taxol drip. They administer the Taxol slowly for the first half hour to make sure my system isn't going to react, and then they put it back on full speed. It still takes close to an hour for the remainder to drip into my system.

In spite of the fact that I got a really great view of outside this time, I fell asleep once again. Benadryl. I wasn't much company to Cathy, but she had Harry Potter (book 6) to read and, when she wasn't watching that, she got to watch some albino chipmunks frolicking outside our window. Unfortunately, I couldn't see them, but she said they were pure white. I hope to catch a glimpse of them sometime in the future.

Just as I finished up on the Taxol and they came in to switch me over to a saline drip, I got sick. This is the first time since I've started chemo that I actually threw up. It came on kind of suddenly... thank goodness the nurse was there. She was back with a basin for me before Cathy even figured out something was wrong. That's how quick it was. The nurse stuck the basin under my chin just in the nick of time!

It was quick and over in a few minutes. (Cathy notes that it was also orange like the cheese crackers I had eaten a few hours earlier. She wanted me to tell you that.) As soon as it was over, I felt much better. My blood pressure dropped significantly after that, so they made me hang out until it came back up. At first we were concerned because it wasn't rising at all. But, I was sleepy from the Benadryl and kept taking naps in between each blood pressure test. Finally, after the last low pressure test, the nurse made me stand up so she could take it again. This time, it was perfectly normal. The reason my blood pressure wasn't rising was because I was so relaxed!

I came home after that, feeling tired and a little drained, but feeling good nonetheless. I have to admit that I am very happy that I only have two more of these sessions.

After that, we go to surgery. I spoke with my oncologist yesterday and reported everything the plastic surgeon had suggested to me. We agreed that we're not going to do the tram reconstruction surgery on the left breast at the same time as the mastectomy due to the fact that we want to do radiation afterwards. Not only could it delay the radiation treatment, but sometimes radiation can affect the skin and tissue, causing the breast to shift. However, we are going to start the implant process on the right breast then. Which means that I'll get a mastectomy in the right breast and they'll put the expander in at the same time. That will make room for the implant. Then, by the time they are ready to put the tram in, they can also be ready to replace the expander for the implant.

I'm getting over most of my nervousness about the surgery. Cathy told me something funny last night when we talked about it. She told me to think of it like baby teeth. We lose our baby teeth to get adult teeth. We have a gap there for a bit after the loss, but, eventually, the adult tooth grows in to replace the baby tooth. She told me to think of this as a "baby boob." And, then, she pointed out that by the time I'm 80, I will have had the reconstructed breasts longer than I had my original breasts.

But, my question is... how much does the boob fairy leave if you put your "baby boob" under your pillow?