2nd Chemo

At 7:10 am this morning it was already a familiar routine: 20 min drive, check in, IV, blood work, results and several hours in the infusion center. 

Today, to somewhat reduce George's anxiety, we decided that he would accompany me. This way George could see the process first hand, ask questions and hold my hand and feel useful. Gwen babysat Max and then went to work. 

For the 2nd chemo, my oncologist switched Benadryl to half the dose and in oral form instead of infusion, and lowered steroids a bit, though the rest of the premeds were kept intact. 

After all the premeds, I only had Taxol and Carboplatin for today's chemo, without the immunotherapy. Infusion wasn't as easy with pins and needles here and there, but absolutely manageable. Several hours later we were home around 2 pm. 

And, so far, no close acquaintance with the toilet, loss of appetite, or any other wonderful side effect, just fatigue (which is to be expected). 2 hour nap cured that!

As unique as I am, my side effects tend to show up four days later vs the next day. So we'll see what happens during New Year's celebration on Sunday.

Second chemo ✅

Self-diagnostic route

After the ultrasound scan and the pictures on the screen of several noticeable black masses, especially in the lymph nodes, and while waiting for results, I did the next best thing -- doctor Google. 

Several hours later, I already self-diagnosed myself with breast cancer, but decided to wait for the official biopsy results and not to panic too early. 

Biopsy results are not quick as they take multiple sample tissues and than the pathologist regrows the cells to figure out if the cells are cancerous, and, if yes, what type.

First Results

As per instructions, I signed up for the Lahey portal and now would get results notifications the same day they became available -- so wouldn't need to wait for the doctor to view them and then reach out to me several days later. 

2 days later, 10/31 the results were in: inconclusive, require follow up diagnostic and ultrasound mammogram as we knew from the get go....

Spent several days writing and calling my primary care doctor to get that additional referral.

Now, in my head, it would make sense to just do a biopsy right-a-way, as the ultrasound is required in order to get the tissues anyway and the lump is there and the only way to figure out if it is benign or not is via biopsy. 

But nothing is that easy or logical -- according to the protocol, I first need to get a regular ultrasound and only after that get another referral to be able to schedule a biopsy.

The first available regular ultrasound appointment was 11/18, because, it seems, there is a shortage of ultrasound technicians.

Discovery 10/25

It all started the evening of October 25th -- feeling a hardened lump in my left breast the size of a golf ball. Relatively small, no pain or discomfort whatsoever. First thought -- high density tissues are pretty common, but, just in case, decided to get a mammogram.

Turns out this is not an easy feat -- the hospital requires a referral from your primary care doctor (no one cares that I have a PPO and don't need one). As luck would have it, I didn't have a primary care doctor at that moment. The one I always went to at Fenway Health left the practice back in March 2022, but they forgot to notify me, and now I needed to start from scratch and find a new primary care. For some reason, they wouldn't let me switch to another doctor within the practice.

Several days of phone calls and help from an insurance rep to find a doctor that took new patients on now -- and, with my luck, the only doctor available was the one that totally missed my pregnancy by three months 10 years ago! 

While I was on the phone, George called around to schedule a first available walk-in mammogram at Lahey, and later we were able to confirm the referral from the new primary care.