Aside from the humour around the taste of Buckley’s (funnily enough, I am a firm believer in Buckley’s, just not for cancer!), last week was filled with lots of excitement…some fun, and some not so fun!

I was able to catch a legendary rock act, live at the ACC with some people who are near and dear to my heart. Aside from the great company that evening, Queen with Adam Lambert put on an excellent show for the crowd!

The following evening was even more exciting with the arrival of a new “family” member! In previous posts I have mentioned my “sister” Andrea. I refer to her as such as I consider her…and her family…to be my own. I frequently refer to Andrea’s son Alex as my nephew, even though we are not related by blood. Semantics aside, I’m proud to announce that as of 12:01 a.m. on July 20th, I became a great-aunt! Alex and his wife Michelle welcomed a baby boy into this world. His name is Matheson and he is as cute as a button! And his great-aunt may have already outfitted him in her favourite shoe brand…

The Great Aunt

The real star is Matheson, not !Scott Wilson

Matheson loves Converse too!

After the arrival of Matheson, the week’s excitement continued with the onset of my second round of chemo. Now, the excitement that I am referring to for chemo is not nearly as fun as a concert or a new baby…and I will say, that at the end of the day, all was well. So don’t panic. But I now know what happens when you are Code Medical at a hospital…and it’s NOT fun!

If you have read my previous posts, you may have sensed that I am a bit squeamish…especially where the port is concerned. What you may not know is that my squeamishness tends to initially manifest with some wooziness, which I can typically manage by asking for, and quickly receiving, a cold cloth or an ice pack for my forehead. In most of these situations, the ice pack quickly defuses the situation and everything returns to normal. This is not what went down last Thursday.

As my chemo nurse was getting the ball rolling, she was having trouble getting the port to function as a two-way street. Essentially she could get fluids to go in, but she couldn’t get any fluids to come back out. This made me nervous. And then this made me woozy. Except I’m somewhat used to my weak stomach, and I’m pretty calm about it, so when I asked for an ice pack for my head, I didn’t sound particularly urgent. Needless to say, the nurse didn’t exactly respond urgently! I mean, she went to get me an ice pack right away, but she wasn’t particularly speedy about it. (I don’t think she’ll make that mistake again!) By the time she returned I was in full blown faint…blurred vision, unable to hear properly, and from what she described to me, I looked like Casper. Except with clothes on.

It turns out, when you are at a chemo treatment, and you suddenly look like a ghost, you become a Code Medical. In less than two minutes there were about 10 emergency staff surrounding me. Add in a defibrillator, the blood pressure machine, and the ECG machine and it was a crowded little corner in the Chemo Daycare Centre!

Needless to say, after the scare, the great staff at PMH monitored my blood pressure and heart, along with completing full blood-work again before letting me start my treatment. It was a bit of a rocky start to Round 2, but with expert medical care, and a little help from Adam’s homemade ginger cookies (needed to raise my blood sugar!), I was underway a mere three hours later!

Lesson learned? For future chemo treatments, I’m bringing my own ice pack. And more ginger cookies (hint hint).

My friend Sheryl brought her two boys over for a visit this past weekend. Afterwards she was explaining my cancer to her oldest, the 7-year old. During the discussion she mentioned to him that the “new hair-do” he had seen on me was actually a wig. She then explained to him that because my medication is very strong, it had caused my hair to fall out. His response?… “Is it Buckley’s, cause that tastes awful!”

A few things have changed for me since my last post. The most visible of these things is the result of some advice I received from Sherri, a friend of a friend. I’ve never met Sherri, but she wanted to share something with me that she learned from her own experience. Sherri has lived with bone cancer for a number of years, and a week ago this past Thursday, she asked our mutual friend to pass along some advice. She said the one thing she wished she had done differently when she was first diagnosed was how she dealt with the loss of her hair. Sherri went through the whole disturbing process of losing clumps of hair – through the trauma of having handfuls of hair literally falling on to the floor, and on her bed, and in the shower. Her advice? As soon as the hair loss begins, take control of the situation and shave it all off. Make the whole process less traumatic.

I have to thank Sherri from the bottom of my heart. My hair loss began this past Tuesday and her advice encouraged me to take control of a situation that is otherwise out of my hands. Unfortunately, I can’t thank Sherri in person as she lost her battle the morning after her visit with my friend…before I even received her message. So to express my gratitude and also pay my respects to a woman that I have never met, I have a new hairdo.

The new ‘do isn’t the only change I’ve experienced recently. The other change is all about perspective.

I had a conversation last week with a friend from work – a few of you may know Greg! We were discussing my treatments and the fact that the chemo would be a duration of 21 weeks. As some of you may know, 21 is a significant number for me for another reason… and it’s not Blackjack! If you are a runner, you may have figured this out already. I specialize in running the Half Marathon distance and a Half Marathon is 21.1 kilometres. Greg made this connection for me and it gave me a whole new perspective.

Each week of my treatment is equivalent to one kilometre in my favourite distance. So right now I’m coming up to the 3K marker in the last Half Marathon that I will run this year. I might be the only runner on the course, but I know that all of you are on the sidelines cheering me on from near and far, helping me get to the Finish Line, one kilometre at a time.

I have been thinking that some of my friends may be interested in knowing more about the actual treatment plan. I’m sure that most people have a sense of the general aspects of chemo, however there are actually three different treatment protocols. The appropriate protocol is determined based on the results from a cancer patient’s receptors. A receptor is a protein molecule that receives chemical signals from outside a cell (thank you, Wikipedia). These receptors are tested for estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and herceptin (HER2). For me, all three of these tested positive. This means that the appropriate chemo protocol for me is FEC-D.

What is FEC-D? This treatment consists of Fluorouracil, Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide (FEC) for the first three rounds of treatment. A round is 21 days. The last half of treatment is Docetaxel (D), hence FEC-D. However, I get lucky again, and because I am HER2 positive, then I also get to add Herceptin (H) to my treatments. Herceptin will start with the first D treatment, however I will be treated with H for a full year.

You would think that this is quite enough drugs being pumped into my system. But no, not so…it turns out there is one more! Because the breast cancer has already spread to the lymph glands, the Medical Oncologist has also recommended that I add Pertuzumab (P) to my treatments, effectively making my protocol FEC-D+H+P. Adding the P to the D and the H means that the last half of my treatments will be spread out over four rounds instead of the three rounds that it would be for just D or D+H. At the end of the day, I will go through seven rounds of treatment.

However, Pertuzumab, while it is FDA-approved, is not funded in Canada. And it costs $20,000…but don’t worry, I’m not looking for donations! The insurance company required my Medical Oncologist to complete a Prior Authorization form with supporting documentation on the need for P in my treatments. Last week I sent in the request for approval, and on Thursday I received the good news that the P is going to be covered by my company healthcare plan. I am so lucky…my work provides us with AMAZING medical coverage! Don’t forget the other injection at $3,000 a pop that I need for each of the seven rounds. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m the luckiest unlucky person!

Well… I’ve survived the first week of chemo. There have been some ups and downs along the way, but overall it hasn’t been too bad.

Days 1 and 2 were actually pretty good days for me. Other than being hopped up on Tylenol 3 for the pain from the insertion of the port (still not yet my friend). Days 3 and 4 were a little rocky. I’m calling these Queasy Days. That said, the queasy wasn’t all that bad. I’ve definitely felt worse with a hangover or two! It was just really consistent and enduring for the full 48 hours. Thankfully Day 3 could also have been named Sleepy Day – I basically spent that entire day napping. A nice, long 20-hour nap!

Day 5 had it’s own challenges, but…I still managed to celebrate Canada Day at the Jays game. Despite their poor showing, and having to leave after the 6th inning (believe it or not, I ran out of energy!), I was pretty happy to make it to the game. The Canada Day game is my favourite game of the entire season…mainly because I love the giant flag and singing our national anthem along with 48,000 or so of my closest friends!

I did have to pass on a couple of previously planned events this weekend. I was bummed about having to miss the City and Colour/Blue Rodeo concert at Niagara-on-the-Lake. But it was just too long of an event that was just a little bit too far from home. And without any proper bathrooms!

However, all in all, I feel like things are going pretty well. Other than the two queasy days, I feel pretty good, except that I get tired a lot. I usually last about six hours after waking up, and then I need a nap. Usually an hour-long nap means that I can be up for another couple of hours each day.

The biggest challenge has probably been the lifestyle changes. I have quickly become a germaphobe (no more hugs, please!), and there are a LOT of rules around the side effects of chemo.

I need to eat as soon as I feel hungry – without fail. So I’m snacking constantly, but every time I eat something, even just a few crackers, I have to brush my teeth with my new extra soft toothbrushes. And then I have to rinse with a lovely mixture of salt water or baking soda and water. This mouth care protocol is to help reduce sores in the mouth, so I have to be incredibly diligent when I eat. Every single time.

I also need to have at least eight glasses of fluids every day. And coffee doesn’t count. However there is good news… it turns out that ice cream is a fluid! For real! It’s in the manual they gave me!

If I’m leaving home, I have to make sure I’m covered in sunscreen at all times because chemo makes skin more sensitive to the sun. So once I lose my hair, I will need hats…special hats with SPF. I had no idea that I would need so many accessories.

I now also have to take my temperature every day to make sure I’m not developing any sort of fever. There’s no messing around with this one. If my temperature records at 38° C or higher, then I need to go to the nearest Emergency Room. With the chemo attacking my white blood cells, it means that I’m highly susceptible to germs. I have to wear gloves and a mask to clean the kitty litter (however I am lucky enough to have a great support team who is doing this for me!). I can’t share food or drink…so no more splitting dessert (darn!). And I’m supposed to avoid places such as crowded shopping malls and public transportation. I did get the okay to go to the baseball game…so we timed it to avoid contact with the crowds, and I went armed with hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes and a surgical mask! Not kidding!

So yup, there’s a lot of rules. I haven’t even scratched the surface here.  The manual I was given at PMH is 24 pages long. These are just the ones that I’m dealing with over the first week!

That said, I’m sure that these will all develop into habits and everything will seem a bit more routine in short order. And, for the time being, I’m still being well-looked after and spoiled rotten. Plus, my good friend Tanya did some shopping at https://www.giveacare.ca/ and on the weekend I received some Cancer Sux Sweetarts, a cute day-planner to organize the numerous medical appointments and a new hoodie that came with this tag: