Hello to all you faithful followers!

I started radiation last Monday. I have gotten into the routine of going right from school and I get home between 4:15 and 4:30. This gives me time to get a nap in. Thankfully they are always on time, unlike the chemo center. I see the doctor each Monday. I don't feel anything during the treatment. They say that I will get anywhere from pink to burnt as time goes on. I lotion up generously twice a day. (After the continued packing of the wound of course!) I may also feel more fatigued with more treatments but I'm hoping that's not bad. I had 5 doses last week so I only have 29 more to go!!

I'm now on a daily hormonal therapy drug called femara. I am happy to say I've had no side effects from this. I will be taking this for 5 years. Wow!!! I also still get herceptin through my port every three weeks. I also see the oncologist at that time. The next visit is March 8th. Things are moving along. It's hard to believe that it will be a year in March that I've been dealing with all of this. Once again I say thank you, thank you, thank you for all your concern and support in so many ways! What a blessing to have such caring family and friends.

I'll try to update you again after I get through another week.

Take Care,

Karen

Oh, I forgot to say that my eyebrows are back and the lashes are coming in. It really does make a difference!

Happy New Year!

I'm praying that 2010 will be much less eventful in the medical realm. Last week I saw all my doctors. Dr. Albain (oncologist) prescribed the drug femara as my hormone therapy. I will take this for 5 years because my cancer was estrogen positive. Of course there are many possible side effects and I'm praying for none!! I also had my 3 week dose of herceptin. No side effects from that thank goodness.

Next, I saw the infectious disease doc. He said I am infection free and he released me from his care. He was a really nice man who was very informative.

Tuesday it was the radiologist and the surgeon together. They decided that it is okay to start radiation even with the open wound because it is now healing more quickly. They also ordered a mammogram which sounded just awful. It actually went well and was less painful than my annual screens. I think the area is still numb from surgery! They read the pictures right away and everything looks good so far. Yeah!!

I learned about the radiation process and all the many possible side effects. They make this as scary as possible because they must tell you everything patients have experienced, even if the chance is 1%. Let's pray that these are minimal. Tomorrow I get a cat scan that will give them the information they need to figure out exactly where the radiation will be administered. I will get tattoos ( very small ) to mark the spots. I've had several suggestions as to the kind of tattoos I should get, however, the standard issue is a small dot.

I've had a wonderful holiday with few appointments. Now I have to gear up for daily radiation (Mon.-Fri.) which will last for 6 1/2 weeks. I will find out tomorrow when I actually start. It seems overwhelming until I think about what I've already done. Hopefully I will have the energy to continue full time, at least until my Valentine programs on Feb. 10th, 11th and 12th.

That's all for now. Thanks goodness it looks like we will get warmer weather later this week!

Take Care,

Karen