Good Week

Chemo #4 is scheduled for 11:45 a.m tomorrow morning.  Hopefully all my blood counts will be high enough to have the treatment.  This will be the last treatment of Epirubicin/Cytoxan (otherwise known as the "Red Devil" cocktail).  Treatments 5 through 8 will be Taxotere, I think, or one of the Taxol drugs.  Hopefully the side effects won't be as bad with the Taxotere!!  Although I'm really not sure about that because those treatments will be scheduled every three weeks instead of every two weeks like on the E/C cocktail.   Guess I won't know how I will be affected until I actually have the first Taxotere treatment.  No sense in worrying about that until the time comes, right?

Having an extra week to recover from Treatment 3 has actually been nice.  Other than a lot of fatigue, I've felt so much better this week.  No mouth sores, no itchy rash and other assorted issues -- and an appetite again!!!  Unfortunately, though, that has led to gaining back most of the weight I had previously lost.  I can't remember if I mentioned this in the last post (don't think I did), but somehow I managed to gain 12 pounds in my three-day hospital stay.  How is that possible, you say?  Don't ask me.  It wasn't because I was eating everything in sight while in the hospital.  I did manage to eat three meals a day (on the "diabetic diet", of course), but I never cleaned my plate.  The only thing I can figure out is having IV fluids for three days and nights.  You'd think I would have lost that 12 pounds, though, after coming home from the hospital, but, no, I lost maybe four.  With my increased appetite this week, even that four pounds is now in danger of being regained.  Guess I'll find out tomorrow morning if my weight is back to what it was on August 22 when I started this chemo journey.   GGRRHHHH.   I was hoping to finish this chemo journey a little "lighter" than when I started.  Oh, well. 

Looking forward to Friday, October 21.  Our "Bunch of Boobs" group is hosting its annual fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Instead of our usual chicken salad and trimmings luncheon, this year's luncheon is going to be a Shrimp Boil , a.k.a. "Frogmore Stew" or "Low Country Boil".  Our theme is "Boil out Breast Cancer!"  Lunch is free with a $15 (or higher) donation to BCRF.  Last year I think we raised close to $12,000.   Everyone is welcome.  RSVP at (205) 833-9010 or let me know if you want to come.  If you can't come but want to donate to this worthy cause, let me know that too.

We did not go to the Bama/Vandy game yesterday in Tuscaloosa.   Another Saturday spent watching football games.  I love everything about the fall -- especially SEC football games.  After watching the LSU/Florida game yesterday afternoon, I must admit is LSU is scary good this year and that I'm a bit more worried about the November 5 showdown between LSU and Bama.  Thank goodness it is in Tuscaloosa this year.  Hopefully we will find a way to beat those Tigers!!!  We'll have to play better than we did last night against Vandy, though. 

Hope you all have a great week!!!

Rachel