The last week has gone fairly well. Other than experiencing significantly lower energy levels, I’ve been feeling pretty good for the most part. That said, not being able to get medical insurance in the U.S. meant I also had to skip my trip to Chicago. I was going there to watch the Blue Jays take on the Cubs. However via FaceTime, both Joe R and Sheryl gave me the opportunity to see Wrigley Field from the bleacher seats…it was a perfect day for a baseball game!

It was also a perfect time to spend with family and friends here at home. I was able to enjoy a visit with two people who have known me the longest. They go by Maggie and Rick, but I like to call them Mom and Dad. We had lots of great time together this past weekend, and had several delicious meals. Friends Andy and Andrea joined us for an Italian feast at my place on the Saturday evening (thank you, Nino’s Oakville!). On Sunday evening, my parents and I drove in to the city to have a barbecue with my cousin Krista. The good eats don’t end with dinner: on Saturday, I lunched al fresco at Elena’s home, followed by a long walk in the Credit Valley. And I had a fabulous Sunday brunch with my friend Michelle at Spencer’s on the Waterfront in Burlington. Clearly, I’m not having any issues with my appetite!

Monday night I was able to experience one of the best concerts I have ever attended. Coldplay came to town with their Head Full of Dreams tour, and it was simply phenomenal! I needed a two-hour nap pre-concert, and had to take a vacation day to recover post-concert, but it was so worth it!

My vacation day was also important as I had a special visitor drop by to see me at home in Oakville…

Fresh from her summer internship at Fisher-Price, Caroline is spending two weeks at home before heading back to finish her MBA program at the Tuck School of Business. So what did we do? We went out for a meal and a drink of course! I was delighted to discover that my Dark and Stormy was served in a classic ‘copper’ cup.

I’ve rounded out this week by meeting my friend Jen C last night for yet another meal. We had a great dinner and catch-up visit at a local sports bar, which had a surprising diverse menu. I was expecting burgers and wings, but ended up with a delicious seafood linguine for dinner last night. Again…no issues with my appetite. I’m basically eating everything I can get my grubby little hands on. Just kidding…my hands aren’t grubby…they are more likely over-sterile now that I have become a germaphobe!

Heading into next week, life is going to be hectic. I am at hospitals on four different days between next Monday and Friday. Wednesday is my only day off! There are several routine appointments, but the big news is that my next round of chemo starts next Thursday and the treatment will consist of three drugs that I have not had before. After each drug is administered, I will go through a period of observation for about a half-hour afterwards. Because of this, I will have two drugs administered on Thursday (about 5 hours in duration) and the last drug will be given to me on Friday (about 2 hours). I’m a little apprehensive about the new drugs as I have no idea how my body will react to them and what the side-effects will be. Everything has gone so well thus far that I’m a little fearful that the next rounds will be a lot tougher. Fingers crossed that I get to sleep my way through the long weekend!

Many of you know, but this may come as a surprise to one or two of you, that I have been involved in billiard leagues and tournaments for many years. While I have dialed back my involvement in recent years, I still continue to play in the Mississauga CPA Ladies League. On May 7th of this year, our Ladies team won our Regional Tournament giving us the opportunity to compete this past weekend at the APA World Pool Championships in Las Vegas. Words cannot express how proud I am of this team.

Needless to say, with an inability to acquire any form of health care coverage, and the interference of my chemo schedule, I wasn’t able to make the trip. However these ladies, along with my friend Sheryl (who took my place on the team), did their utmost to make sure that I had the best non-trip to Vegas ever!

Before I tell you about my vicarious vacation, I should let you know a little bit about these women. While we may have originally met due to our involvement in the pool league, we are far more than teammates. We play together not just because the team numbers work, but because over the years we have formed great friendships. We have been there for each other through marriages, births, divorces, graduations, and a marathon (for a couple of us!). And unfortunately, this is is not our first encounter with cancer. I am lucky to call these women my friends.

Needless to say, with today’s technology, the ladies made sure that I was part of everything they did this weekend. There were numerous FaceTime conversations with the team along with some other friends. I was included in the shopping trip to the Converse store where I was given a choice of which colour I wanted (guess which one I picked…yup, you got it…burgundy, of course). And I met the bartender at the new Tiki Bar on The Strip!

Of course Facebook let me share in their post-tournament excursions…the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, the Valley of Fire, and the Grand Canyon, plus a road trip to California. I’ve been to most of these places before, but it was my first time “going” to L.A. Next year, I’m going to see it for myself!

Last week I had to the opportunity to visit with some close family friends…so close that we refer to each other as cousins. When I arrived at my cousin Krista’s condo for a visit with her sister-in-law and nieces, I was completely surprised to discover that the two girls had been busy making artwork for me to take home. You see, I have only met the two little girls once before, about a year ago, as the girls were born overseas and still live way across the Pacific, currently in Hong Kong. I was delighted to find out that they would be visiting Auntie Krista for a month this summer, and that I would be able to visit with them again!

Coincidentally, the night before my visit, Gord and I watched The Bucket List, and Morgan Freeman’s character had his grandson’s artwork on the wall of his hospital room. It made me think about the fact that I will be having surgery after chemo. Which made me think that it would be nice to have something to put on the wall of my own hospital room. Little did I know that Kate (10) and Sonya (8) were already way ahead of me!

I was also the recipient of two pieces of personalized jewelry – a necklace and a bracelet with my name in beads! They will be perfect in the hospital too, so the staff will always know my name…much nicer than a hospital wristband!

The long weekend was pretty low-key for me – spent some time with Gord and some friends for a nice evening at Amsterdam Brewery, followed by a trip to Bang Bang Ice Cream…yum yum! Of course there were some fun selfie shots…

And then I kicked off the week with a work night out at Real Sports Bar followed by watching the Jays beat the Yankees on Tuesday night…

But even better than the baseball game, was my consultation on Tuesday with my Oncologist. When asked how my second round went, I was able to say that the only side effects I experienced was more hair loss and a lot more fatigue. It turns out that because I wasn’t nauseous or vomiting means that my body is both tolerating the chemo, as well as responding well to the anti-nauseant pills. And in even better news…from the physical measurement of the tumour in my breast, the Oncologist believes it is now only 1 centimeter in diameter. This is awesome, as on June 1st the diameter of the breast tumour was over an inch. I appear to be responding really well to the chemo as far as the cancer is concerned!

Armed with this good news, I headed in to my third chemo treatment yesterday. I was really hoping that things would go a bit more smoothly than last time!… and everything went really well. That said, I was greeted by the assigned chemo nurse with “I remember you… you were Code Medical last time you were here!” It seems she was the supervising nurse when I had my last treatment, and was one of the first responders… I have apparently developed a “reputation”!

All joking aside, everything went great yesterday, as well as today with my Neulasta injection (the immune booster that I receive after every chemo treatment). Now I’m just waiting around for side effects to happen. At least I know that I have company while I wait…cause at the same time, you are all waiting for me to write my next post!

Here we are, with 5 of my 21 chemo kilometres completed. I’m almost a quarter done this Half Marathon! Despite the rocky start to Round 2, this second kick at the can(cer!) has been pretty uneventful…which is a GOOD thing!

Other than feeling significantly more fatigued than during the first round, I’ve barely experienced any other side effects. No queasiness, no headaches, no mouth sores, or anything else that I went through the first time. At one point I even started to question if they had even actually given me the chemo!

However, I can confirm that yes, I did receive the chemo drugs. Aside from the increased fatigue, this has been evidenced with the continued loss of my hair. It’s getting pretty patchy, and if I don’t wear some sort of head covering, hair falls everywhere. Such as on my food or into my drink. I can also tell what side of my head I sleep on the most, as the left side is almost completely bald now. So it’s not only annoying, but it’s looking pretty silly. I’m actually at the point where I just want it all to fall out!

All in all, I’m doing pretty well. I sleep a little more than I used to, including daytime naps. And I’m working from home a little more than I had originally planned, which can sometimes be challenging…

But when I’m home, I also get to witness super cute sibling moments…

And Peanut always joins me for my cat naps…

It may seem like I’ve had a pretty dull week, filled with working from home and lots of napping… but I did make it to the company Year-End Dinner last week, which was a lot of fun. And where I showed off yet another new hair-do!

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:

In spite of all the medical appointments, I have also managed to have a social life over the last week!

Last Thursday I attended Opera Atelier’s Season Closing Party. I decided to resign from the Board for the time being, so the party was a nice opportunity to socialize with some of my fellow Board Members. It was a lovely event at a historic Toronto home located at 2 Wellesley Place, a location which has been used for filming numerous movies and was also rented by the Rolling Stones for a period of time. Full disclosure, the gates in the photo are not from this home!

With my friend Angela in front of the Versailles backdrop (Photo Credit: Bruce Zinger)

On the following evening, along with my “sister” Andrea, I attended an event of a much larger scale… the U2 concert at the Rogers Centre! It was phenomenal. When Bono started to sing, I experienced an overwhelming moment with the realization that I was actually seeing U2 live in concert. It was truly a “Whoa!” moment. To cap it off, the Masters of the Roof decided to open the Dome for the performance, so we had a fabulous view of the CN Tower from our seats. What a great backdrop for the show!

And, the fun doesn’t stop here… (it really was quite a busy few days leading up to my tour of the University Health Network this week!)

On Saturday I had yet another great evening at The Arkells concert which took place at the Amphitheatre. It was another beautiful night and our crew had a blast. And apparently the folks at the River Bar knew I was going to be there…

So despite the not so fun activities I’m experiencing these days, I am also enjoying life at the same time!