Compiling A Checklist

I like lists.  I like to check off items on my lists.  Here's my cancer check list to date:

Surgery, radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection:  Check.  Long time done.

Chemo, six rounds of Taxotere and carboplatin (BAD drugs, I cannot begin to express my dislike):  Check.  Can't believe that it has been nine weeks.  Wow.  When I was in the midst of chemo, the days were very s-l-o-w.

Radiation:  Check.  Done last week.  End result?  Piece of cake.  I've been through chemo and nothing can touch that.  My skin is red, like a sunburn.  I return to see my radiation oncologist in a couple weeks to check the status of the skin, but again a piece of cake.  Glad not to have to drive over to IMC every day for my 25 sessions.

Echo:  Check.  Third one finished last Thursday.  Ejection fraction is fine.  Only one more to go in a few months.

Herceptin, another antineoplastic agent:  Can check of #9 as of last Friday.  Truly past the half-way point, as I only have eight more to go. 

anastrozole:  Check, started last week and am tolerating okay.  That's good news considering I will be taking it for the next five years!! Generic for Arimidex, an antineoplastic agent, basically shutting down my body from making its own estrogen and progesterone.  I feel like I'm going to shrivel up and become an old woman. 

Hair:  Check...growing back.  I estimate 3/16 of an inch.  It's salt and pepper.  Can't believe how dark it looks, well where it's not white--dang.  The down side?  I actually need to shave my legs, except that the hairs are so fine that I'm ignoring them for the timebeing. 

Eyebrows:  Check, retained by my estimation over 50%, but I had sufficient to start with so thinning brows were never a concern. 

Eyelashes:  Check...lost all my lower lashes, except for one on each side at the very outside corner...whatever.  Retained the majority of my upper lashes, but lost the inside lashes and there are a few missing here and there.  I was grateful for this tender mercy of having something to attach some mascara to and feel a little feminine. 

Nails:  Check...they're UGLY, but a minor detail in this cancer fight. 

Neuropathy, chemotherapy induced:  Check.  I have it officially as of the last cycle of the bad drugs.  This is an awful present to be handed, as two PAs tell me that I may have to learn to live with it indefinitely.  That phrase makes me want to cry.  However, my oncologist is a bit more optimistic, believes that it will lift, but will take "months, if not a year or more" in his words, for the damaged nerves to regenerate.  I am taking vitamin B complex and vitamin D to help, and it was suggested last Friday that I try lipoic acid, which I have yet to do.  Because of the burning pain in the feet/ankles with tingling in the lower legs, tingling and numbness in the fingers (but no burning in the fingers), I was prescribed gabapentin, actually an antiseizure medication.  My oncologist told me that it would take time for my body to adjust to this med, like possibly a month, to control the burning pain.  I was taking one at night plus my pain pill.  My radiation oncologist told me almost two weeks ago to take it three times a day, and my PA last Friday told me to take as much as two 300-mg tablets three times a day.  Wow, considering it has side effects, like fatigue, but I seem to tolerating it okay...as soon as I take my nap :)  Anyway, I only take the 600-mg dosage at bedtime and last night I did not need the pain pill.  Progress is being made!!  Now, please regenerate nerves, please, I beg of you. 

Bloodwork:  Check.  Seems like I'm always giving a sample, but not so much now that I'm finished w/chemo.  The BAD drugs really slammed me and I was always tired, if not sick...so now that I'm nine weeks out from chemo I feel like a new person.  However, I figured I would be in the normal range by now.  My RBCs are still low 3.69 (normal 4.04-5.48).  I did rise from 3.61 three weeks previous, though.  At this creeping rate, it's going to take a while to hit low-normal, which probably explains my tired state, at least that's my excuse (and my deconditioned state, too).  My hematocrit was 33.3, actually dropping a full point from three weeks previous (normal being 38-48).  I feel fortunate that my lowest point was 28.  The transfusion point is 25, and I've met some patients who have needed a transfusion.  I guess I'd better go eat some protein and work on getting my cells back to a normal figure.

Support:  Check.  I have great support, love my supporters.