Treatment Taxol/Herceptin 12 of 12

December 2, 2014 Taxol/Herceptin 12 of 12        LAST OF THE TAXOL

What an exciting week, my LAST TAXOL TREATMENT!!!!!!  I didn't have blood work the day before like I usually did, so I was a little nervous they might tell me I couldn't have treatment.  My cousin Rhonda came with me for my treatment.  We had to be there at 11, so of course we stopped and picked up our subs and got ready for a long, but exciting day.

When we got to the clinic I walked in the room to a beautiful bouquet of flowers and balloons.  It was so sweet of Rhonda, I had tears in my eyes.  My usual nurses were at the Waukesha clinic, but Julie who had given me my AC treatments was working and able to give my my last round of the taxol.  Blood work was taken first, and then we waited, and waited for them to say everything was good so we could start all the pre-meds.  Good thing Rhonda and I have so much we can talk about:)  I had to spell my last name and state my birthday a zillion times for each of the medications they gave me.  As soon as the benadryl and lorazapam came it was lights out.  The taxol treatment took 60 minutes.   It took 90 minutes for the herceptin, since I wouldn't be back for another couple of weeks they gave me a bigger dose.

Towards the end of treatment I started waking up again and tried to get my barrings back.  We were now moving into celebration mode.  The nurses have been so wonderful to me and really made things as easy as they could.  They knew exactly what I needed, the order we did things, and were just amazing people.  Rhonda brought in some sparkling grape juice for us to toast with at the end.  The nurses all came in and joined us, and gave me a special certificate saying that I've completed my chemo treatments.  It brought tears to my eyes as I read what the nurses wrote.


Many things were going through my mind with this being the last of my taxol treatments.  First off, did 5 months of my life really just pass by.  Secondly, I made it!  I made it through the chemo treatments.  I'm anxious to be done and wanted to celebrate like crazy, but then I realized I'm only done with phase 1 of my treatment.  I still have 2 more parts left (next stage being surgery).

We got home much later than most of my other treatments.  We stopped and picked up Papa Murphy's for supper.  Andy and the kids were home shortly after that.  The kids had a blast playing with the balloons.  We toasted again at the supper table, the kids loved the sparkling grape juice and the fancy glasses.  Not sure how much Clara actually got in her mouth versus on her clothes.  Those glasses sure spill easily:)

I spent most of my time in the recliner besides for eating supper.  My legs were really, really achy and tired.  Rhonda stayed until the kids were in bed (thank you so much for your help).


Friday we met with the radiologist Dr. Weyers.  She explained what to expect from radiation and all the fun side affects that can occur, like fatigue again.  Except with chemo when you get knocked down I had a little time to recover before the next treatment, with radiation it will be everyday so you don't quite recover.  She said I'll be at my weakest 1-2 weeks after I'm actually done with radiation.  The other joyful side affects are a sore throat and then skin reaction.  Supposedly it will be like getting sunburned over and over, to the point where it could blister.  Right now she guessing we will be starting this sometime in March, and it will last 6 1/2 weeks.

Clara's trying to smell the flowers.  It was really cute.

It felt really crazy not having to go in this past week to get treatment.  It was a good kind of crazy.  My legs still feel tired and achy quite often, but hoping each day it will get better and better.  Now I just need to enjoy the holiday's with my family, try and see some friends, and then get ready for surgery in January.