My first official oncology appointment

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Jason went with me and we met with Dr. Braun. He's the medical oncologist. He is basically setting up all future oncology treatment. I went in thinking that I could possibly have radiation, chemotherapy, and possibly have my tissue expander taken out and not put back in til after radiation. That was the worst case scenario.

What happened was that he doesn't think I will have to deal with radiation. What a relief!!! I was so worried about that. 5 days a week for 6 weeks would have been so hard while trying to make sure the girls were okay and had a place to be and were taken care of. That was my biggest concern besides my job.

What will happen is that it's probable I won't have radiation. I most definitely will have chemo. I had set myself up for it and prepared myself for it, so it wasn't a surprise. He also said that I won't have to have my tissue expander taken out. Another huge relief. As much has that thing hurts, I want it over and done with instead of stopping treatment now and dealing with it later.

He went over all the choices of chemo for me to have. I could have the AC+Taxol or a variety of 3 different kinds if I went with a clinical trial. He gave me the 20 pages of consent form to do this and I will return it at my next appointment. I'm all for a clinical trial. Like he said, the worst that will happen with it is that I will have the same chemo I would have with regular treatment. The best that can happen is that I would have chemo plus one drug they use for advanced breast cancer and it can help my odds even better than normal. I can't even pronounce the drug, it starts with a G is all I remember. He also told me that they usually do one treatment every 3 weeks for 6 months. But they also can do it every 2 weeks for 4 months and get it over with. For me, that's what they would do. So I can still do my tissue expander saline fill every week while going through chemo and I can be done with all treatments and surgery by Christmas at the latest I believe.

Thanks to advice from a friend, I will have a port put in next week. I go in Monday to the hospital and have same day surgery for this. I will be in and out within 4 hours or so. I'll have my mil watch the girls and have someone drop me off and pick me up after it's done. I had my blood drawn today and I will have a chest xray next Wednesday and then meet with a radiation oncologist the same day. Dr. Brauns said that they usually start chemo within 6 weeks of surgery. It will be 3 weeks this Thursday for me so within a month I will start chemo. He also said I will do it at the cancer center there and it will take between 2.5-4 hours and after the first time or so, I will be able to drive myself there. He said that my hair will fall out within 3 weeks of the first treatment. I am going to color my hair blue and then have Jason's aunt shave it off. I just hope I can still be brave then.

So all in all, I left the appointment in a pretty good mood. I was totally prepared for the chemo so that doesn't bother me too much. I'm thrilled that I probably won't have radiation and even happier that the tissue expander doesn't have to come out. That thing hurts like a bugger, but I'm worried that if they had to take it out, that I would be too terrified to have them put it back in and go through the pain all over again.

I don't plan to go the wig route. I say this now, but we'll see. I plan to have a ton of hats and scarves in all sorts of colors and patterns. While at the cancer center, I saw two people with scarves or turbans and two or three with wigs. The ladies in hats looked a hell of a lot better than the ones with really bad wigs. I just hope if I go that way that I don't look that obvious.