Round 3

Round 3 of chemo was on Monday, December 27th. I'm writing this blog just one day after completing round 4. Round 4 is my last treatment of the combo drugs AC (adriamycin and cytoxan). These two are the "big guns" in fighting triple negative breast cancer. When the "big guns" are used, you get a lot of not so fun side effects. So, to say the least, I'm very happy to be ending this portion of my treatment.

When I arrived to my appointment for round 3 the nurse immediately told me they would be lowering my chemo dose because my blood counts were not recovering as well as they'd like them to. She assured me the lower dose wouldn't effect the attack against my tumor, but would allow the bone marrow to recover the red/white blood cells. Along with this news, my blood pressure was continuing to drop. This has been a huge concern and anxiety for me since this type of chemo does cause damage to your heart. Siiiigh.

After my appointment with Dr. Ellis, as I do each week, I headed up to start chemo. Everything went well and I left the hospital that evening feeling about the same as I always do after having a treatment. Pretty groggy, but that's from the anti-anxiety medicine they give me, which is much appreciated. :)

Round 3, even with the lower dose, left me feeling more weak physically and mentally than the previous rounds. I think it had more to do with everything catching up to me rather than the actual chemo dose. The side effects were catching up to me, and I had a few pitty parties in honor of myself. But, I'm happy to say towards the end of round 3 I was feeling back to "normal" and much better both physically and mentally. My guess is this won't be the first or the last time during this process that I'll have a pitty party. Luckily, I have some great people around me that let me be sad, mad, cry and even not talk at all. Then they gather around and pick me up. :)

I found this quote that kind of represented how round 3 began and ended for me.

"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win." -Bernedette Devlin

I wanted to thank everyone again for all your kind messages. They all mean the world to me! I love you all!