Stupid Taxol

Today I had dose #3 of Taxol- only 1 more to go!  Although I was given extra benadryl and steroids before starting the Taxol, I still had a reaction.  ugh.  Luckily we caught it early again and just another little bit of steroids brought me back to normal and I was able to finish the dose.  My nurse asked the oncologist what to do if I had another reaction when we resumed, and she said we'd have to nix it and figure something else out.  I'm not even sure what that would entail, but I imagine it would mean that May 24th wouldn't be my last chemo.  So, I was relieved when I didn't have another reaction when she started it up again.  Of course now I'm going to be hopped up on steroids for the next week, but hey, maybe that means I'll get more done around the house this week?  It did make my day really long.  We got there around 9:30 and didn't get home until around 4:15.  We figured out that in my little 4 chair section, we saw at least 8 people come, get treatments, and go.

I did meet a really nice woman who sat across from me for an hour or so.  I overheard her talking to the nurse about dogs so we started chatting.  It turns out she works & volunteers at the Humane Society and has a couple of german shepherds.  She actually trains with a guy that I've met at a few schutzhund trials (who also does schutzhund).  Very cool!  We won't see each other again (I know I've seen her before) so we exchanged numbers/email addresses.  She had breast cancer 16 years ago and went through all the treatments and a double mastectomy.  She discovered that it's back, but this time it's in her liver & bones :(  So, she'll basically have to have chemo for the rest of her life.

Hearing stories like that really scares me.  I asked my nurse how often she has people come back in with cancer years later and she said it happens, but it depends on the type of cancer.  I'm trying to tell myself that maybe she has the BRCA gene but didn't know because they didn't test way back when or maybe her breast cancer was triple negative (which is the worst kind to have).  The nurse also said that it's more likely if there is lymph node involvement and as far as I know, mine aren't involved (we'll find out for sure after they pull a few out during surgery and do tests).  I guess I'll just have to have faith that when the doc says it's gone, it's really gone.

I did get to watch a movie on one of the provided tablets today, so that made my infusion go a bit faster.  The last couple of times I've been there, I couldn't get the movies to load, so it was a nice treat!  I finally got to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, which I've been wanting to see.  It was good, although the reflection from the lights made it hard to see during dark parts.

I can't really believe that I'm almost done with chemo!  I guess I'd better enjoy going hatless for the next few weeks, because I know that once it starts growing back in, I'm going to have to cover it up LOL  I'm sure it'll take a while to grow out long enough that I'll feel comfortable going without a hat.