Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, and I have a lot for which to be thankful.

I was able to enjoy a fabulous Saturday afternoon in Wine Country with people who are near and dear to my heart. And you just can’t beat being able to sit outside in short sleeves enjoying wine, cheese and charcuterie…in October!

Our afternoon in Wine Country was followed the next day with an awesome Thanksgiving Dinner with the Frampton-Racanelli clan. It was a classic meal with all the fixin’s…turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy…all of my faves…and yes, there were some healthy veggies too!

Another reason that I am thankful is that I received a gift from a very special person. In past posts I have mentioned my “big sister” Andrea. Andrea’s mom, Sandra, has made me many presents over the years. All of them have been incredibly thoughtful but this latest gift may have made my eyes tear up…just a little. Sandra knitted me my very own Wonder Woman shawl to keep me warm during my treatments (the shawl also came with a set of hand knit “implants” in the event I needed them post-surgery!). I received this wonderful gift made with love in time to keep me warm for my last icy Docetaxel infusion.

And maybe it’s strange that I am also thankful that I had my Round 6 treatment this week. However this is the last round with the really nasty chemo drug, Docetaxel. I had the treatment on Thursday, and now I am waiting for the side-effects to kick in. I am grateful that this should be the last time that I have to experience these severe aches and pains. I just have to get through the next few days, and hopefully I can avoid another trip to my local Emergency Room!

As we head into Breast Cancer Awareness Month (otherwise known as October!) I wanted to share an image that my friend Colleen sent to me last week. She said she saw the logo and immediately thought of me. This brought a smile to my face and reminded me, once again, of how lucky I am to have such amazing family and friends who are so incredibly supportive.

The image also made me think about how lucky I am to have been diagnosed with this particular form of cancer. It is because of the decades-worth of awareness, fundraising and research specifically for breast cancer that my prospects for survival are so good. Other forms of cancer, such as lung cancer, have nowhere near the same survival rate. To put this in perspective, the 5-year net survival rate for breast cancer is 87%. For lung cancer, it is 17%. Those numbers pretty much say it all. It is for this reason that I chose to fundraise last month on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society which supports adults and children afflicted with all cancers across the spectrum.

That said, this does not mean that I do not appreciate the efforts that are dedicated to a specific cancer. More than 80,000 people participated this morning in the CIBC Run for the Cure events across Canada. These events will raise approximately $17 million this year in support of breast cancer. Gord and I participated in the Toronto event, but I left all the fundraising to Gord this time…and he did a great job, raising over $2,000 in donations!

Today’s event had both runners and walkers, and as we were heading back to the car after the run, I stopped in front of Princess Margaret Hospital, a place where I spend a lot of time these days. I took a few photos of the thousands of people who took time out of their lives to participate in today’s event. It is because of people like them who have participated and raised funds over the last three decades that will allow me to bring that 87% survival rate even higher. All I can say is Thank You.

I am beyond excited. And not just because I have only two more rounds to go (by the way, the last big treatment is only 33 days away!). I am excited because on Thursday afternoon I had my consultation with the Surgical Oncologist who will be performing my upcoming surgery, and it was ALL GOOD NEWS!

As I’ve mentioned previously, the chemo has done an amazing job shrinking the tumours in both my breast and my lymph nodes. Knowing this, and combined with my genetics testing results (no mutated genes), I have been hoping that I would be a candidate for a lumpectomy (removal of the tumour) rather than a mastectomy (removal of the breast). And my wish came true! The medically recommended course of action is the lumpectomy. This will be in addition to the removal of the lymph nodes in my left underarm (known medically as an “axillary node dissection”). Both of these procedures will take place during the same surgery.

I also found out that the surgery will take place at Women’s College Hospital. It turns out that this is also good news. Let me explain. With having the two procedures done at the same time, most hospitals require the patient to stay overnight. As I have discovered recently, I’m not really fond of hospital stays. The prospect of staying overnight has been something that I’ve been struggling to embrace. However, as luck would have it, it so happens that when these procedures are performed at Women’s College Hospital, it is simply a day surgery. No overnight stay required. I get lucky again!

And the best news is that my surgery is scheduled for November 14th. That’s a month and half from now. Six weeks and three days away. I was so happy to hear this news that I wanted to do cartwheels leaving the hospital. You think I joke. Over the years I may have developed a bit of a reputation for public cartwheeling…the New Frontier in Vegas, the Duke of Westminster…I should stop incriminating myself… 🙂

Back to more practical matters… Having the surgery in the middle of November also means that I can start the radiation treatments in early-mid January. I will have six weeks of treatments so I will be done by the end of February at the very latest. Those of you averse to winter may not want to hear this, but February is just around the corner. I am almost there! Well, except for the pesky Herceptin which I receive until next August…but nevertheless, the end is in sight! What the hell…I may have  to whip out a cartwheel or two after all!

I’m officially a PhD! Well…okay…maybe not a real doctor…but my last chemo treatment was a one-day treatment consisting of Perjeta + Herceptin + Docetaxel, so I kinda feel that I have earned a PhD 😉  In any case, Round 5 is done. In the bag. Finito. And I’m pretty happy about that. This means that I have only two rounds to go. Even better is that the next treatment, Round 6 (less than two weeks away) is the very last one that will contain the Docetaxel (D). I don’t like this drug for a number of reasons.

The first reason I don’t like it is demonstrated in the photo below. Yes, those are bags of ice on my hands and feet. The ice sucks. I sit like that for over an hour. So that’s the first reason I don’t like the D. (That’s my favourite chemo nurse in the photo. She was assigned to me for my third treatment and now I request her each time I go in to PMH for a treatment. She’s amazing.)

Now back to reasons I really don’t like the D. The second reason is that two days after treatment, i.e., when the steroids wear off, the D makes me feel like absolute crap. The D is responsible for the severe muscle and joint aches that I experience after this treatment. I basically feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck. And then the truck backed up and ran me over again. I don’t even know how else to explain it.

The third reason for not liking the D is that it keeps sending me to the Emergency Department at the Oakville hospital! I’ve experienced a pretty high fever around the fourth day after each of the two treatments that include D. Having a fever means that I could be fighting an infection, and an infection for me could be deadly. I’m not using the term “deadly” lightly. Having an infection during chemo is life-threatening. Yes, I mean death. A chemo patient who contracts an infection could die if the infection is not treated immediately. So when you get a fever, you don’t just take Tylenol and go to bed. Needless to say, this past Monday I had another fever that once again sent me to Emerg. The good news is that my blood work came back quickly and it showed no signs of infection, so I didn’t even have to stay overnight this time! This is now the second D treatment in a row where the D combined with the Neulasta (the immune booster) has made my body believe that it’s fighting an infection and has caused what is known as a “false fever”. Unfortunately, the only way to determine if my fever is false or not is to have blood work done. I’m now a regular at my local Emergency department…and I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be there again two weeks from now after my next D treatment!

And if these three reasons weren’t enough to dislike the D, there is more. It takes me a lot longer to recover from these treatments. It takes me about two full days longer to feel human again than it did during the first half of the chemo treatments. This tends to wear on me mentally…which then makes me cranky. Cranky Jane is not a fun person! Then there is the aspect of the other side-effects from the D: the dry and itchy skin especially in and around my nose, the mouth sores, the swollen tongue that feels twice it’s normal size (this makes eating and drinking uncomfortable…and changes the taste of everything!)…and yes, I am working this week with all of these symptoms! None of it really hurts, it’s all just uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. However, by the end of this weekend most of this should have disappeared and I should feel a bit more normal for the period leading up to Round 6. This will be very last treatment that includes Docetaxel and despite all of this, I’m looking forward to it!

The support that I have received for my fundraising has been simply overwhelming. I was able to raise over $9,000 last week for the Canadian Cancer Society. And this number will increase by approximately $5,000 as my firm offers a matching program for the donations made by my colleagues.

Yesterday was a perfect day for the run, and I had the perfect team running alongside me…my friends (and colleagues!) Roz (center) and Angela.

I typically race in the Half Marathon distance, but I will say that this 5K was the hardest race I have ever run…mainly because the second half was uphill!

For those of you who may think I am crazy (and yes, sometimes even I think I am crazy!), I am actually supposed to complete 30 minutes of exercise everyday. This is part of the healing and ongoing maintenance process for my body. Exercise gets my blood moving which does two things: it helps to distribute the chemo drugs throughout my body, and it also helps to prevent blood clots. Further to this, I recently had an appointment with my cardiologist who is conducting a research program on the effects of chemo on the heart in women diagnosed with breast cancer. He reinforced how important it is for me to continue to be active. He told me that in his experience, the women who were active both before and during chemo are the patients have typically had better results. So exercise is a win-win-win situation for me. Over the next few months I may not be able to run as fast or as far as I did pre-chemo, but I will definitely keep on running!

After yesterday’s race, I felt absolutely incredible. I was experiencing some pretty good endorphins! I’m so glad that I was able to not only make it to the race, but also complete it. One thing that is missing from my life right now is normalcy. Nothing is normal. Every day has a new challenge. So when I can do something that resembles my pre-cancer life, it really means the world to me.

Last week I had my first treatments with the Perjeta, Herceptin and Docetaxel. It was like going through the first round of chemo all over again as I had no idea of how I would react to these drugs. And it wasn’t pretty.

I had a lot of muscle aches on Sunday and Monday. By Monday evening the aches were severe enough that I was about to take some Tylenol 3, but when I checked my temperature, I was running a fever, so 1) I couldn’t take the T3, and 2) I had to make a trip to Emergency because of the fever. So I spent from Monday evening until Thursday afternoon at the new hospital in Oakville. The staff there took great care of me keeping me isolated from all the germy people. And my overnight team combo of Angela and Gord learned how uncomfortable it can be to sleep in a hospital chair…Thanks to both of you for the extra babysitting duties!

The good news is that while I was at the hospital, all of my blood work and cultures showed as negative (meaning no infections). I talked to my PMH oncologist once I was released and he feels that the fever was likely caused by the immune booster that I receive the day after chemo, as it can cause a false fever when combined with the chemo. While the experience was a little scary at the time, I know now that it is not unusual, which is reassuring.

The other good news is that I also know that the worst part of this particular chemo only lasts about two days for me (it can last up to a week for some people!). So I’m no longer as apprehensive as I was heading into last week!

Call me crazy, but I have decided to participate in the 2017 B&O Yorkville 5K Run next Sunday, September 10th. I don’t usually sign up for 5K race distances, nor do I typically fund raise for my events, but I have decided to participate for two reasons:

1) I get to spend a Sunday morning with my friend Roz, who has promised to run alongside me every step of the way, no matter how slow (or fast!) I run.

2) This race allows me to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. I like this charity as it supports all cancers across the spectrum.

The money raised from this event helps fund leading-edge cancer research that is improving cancer treatments, preventing cancer and saving lives, as well as offers vital community-based support services for people living with cancer and their families.

There is no obligation to sponsor me, but in the event that you would like to do so, I thank you in advance for your support!

I realized that I neglected to mention some other great news from my recent visit with the Oncologist. During the physical examination, he wasn’t able to feel any of the tumours in my underarm…he couldn’t feel them AT ALL! These were the nasty buggers that first alerted me to the fact that something was wrong. Well, to use an old-fashioned phrase, I say good riddance to bad rubbish!

Moving on to my actual treatments this week, everything has gone well so far, in spite of having my hands and feet wrapped in ice for an hour and a half yesterday! Heading into the weekend, I’m feeling pretty good. Of course, I’m also still taking the three-days worth of steroids that do make me relatively energetic! These will wear off by tomorrow morning, so Sunday and the week ahead will be a whole new ball game. I will have to get used to new side-effects and new pains. But that’s okay, it’s all part of the larger picture towards getting ridding of this cancer. I have proof of this…I literally have a picture of the $20,000 Pertuzumab being infused into my body…

And I’m pretty sure that with the infusions of Pertuzumab, Herceptin and Docetaxel, I have now earned a Ph.D… (sorry, bad joke!). All jokes aside, this marks the fourth of my seven treatments. I officially have received more than 50% of the chemotherapy and in my Half Marathon, I have only 11 more Chemo Kilometers to go!

Yesterday I had my pre-chemo appointment with my Medical Oncologist…and there was lots of good news! I’ll start with the best news. He did a physical examination and discovered that the primary tumour (the one in my breast) is now so small that he wasn’t even able to measure it. This is Awesome!

I was also given the go-ahead to resume taking the train in to work. This is great, as the hour+ commute each way has been a big drain on my energy levels. There may be some days where driving is still the best option for me, but it is a huge relief to know that when I’m feeling well, I can just hop on a train and let someone else do the driving.

The other good news is that I was given a much better idea of what to expect as far as side effects are concerned with the chemo treatments that I will be receiving over the next two days. While nausea is a possibility, there is a much lower chance of feeling nauseous from these drugs, which I’m viewing as a positive! That said, these drugs will really take a toll on my energy levels, so by Sunday I will likely feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Which is fine. I’ll take that over nausea any day!

Another likely side effect is muscle pain, so I’ve been given a healthy prescription of Tylenol 3. I’m allowed to take two of these every four hours, if need be. And if the T3’s don’t prove to be effective, then I will be given a prescription for Percocet. So it looks like I will be getting my wish of sleeping my way through the long weekend!

The other side effect that was discussed is that I may experience tingling or numbness in my fingers and toes, and possibly in my hands and feet as well. In order to try and mitigate this side effect, my hands and feet will be literally on ice as I’m receiving Friday’s treatment. This is also to try and prevent the loss of finger and toe nails…just the NAILS…not the actual digits. But still…fun, fun, fun!

In any case, I’m feeling much better about the rest of the week. While there is still a little bit of the fear of the unknown happening, it is reassuring to have a better sense of what I might experience. Couple this with the knowledge that the chemo so far has been really effective, and it gives me a much brighter outlook 🙂

I’ve been managing to have a fairly enjoyable summer, given the circumstances. However, it’s not all fun and food. Because my immune system is compromised, I have to be super careful of every symptom I experience. For instance, two weeks ago I had a sore throat for four consecutive days, along with a temperature that was jumping up and down like it was on a pogo stick. Well, this meant a trip to my family doctor’s walk-in clinic. After two hours of waiting by myself in segregation because I can’t be exposed to the other patients, the good doctor prescribed me everything under the sun as a precautionary measure. Her fear was that my little bronchial irritation would develop into something bigger, and she didn’t want me to have to come back. After being sent to the pharmacy with a mittful of prescriptions, I walked out of Shoppers with the largest bag of medications I have ever seen!

Then just as this all clears up, I was back at the walk-in clinic ten days later for a completely different issue. The risk of infection is pretty serious, so I have to be extra vigilant of anything that can develop into something more severe. This is not the time to be a martyr. Thankfully it is much better to go to the clinic on a Thursday than a Monday…on Thursday I literally walked in, met with the doctor, and walked out 10 minutes later. But there was yet another prescription…I’m really getting my money’s worth out of the drug coverage this year!

And then there was last night. I’ve now been dealing with a stomach bug for the last 20 hours. However with the help of some sleep, ginger ale, Gatorade and crackers, I’m on the mend. I’ve been checking my temperature every hour or so, just in case I get close to having a fever, but so far so good. No need to panic or seek medical attention, but I will keep monitoring my temperature until the morning. Let me tell you, having a compromised immune system kinda sucks!