Monday, March 25, 2013

Less Complaining, More Explaining

So my last post, while very cathartic for me to write (and complain about what I could), wasn't very informative to how my life is going right now. So I'll try now...
Easy Chemo - So I talked about how this isn't as bad as regular chemo, but not really how. Regular chemo is like a poison that attacks all fast growing cells in your body. This includes cancer cells, hair cells, stomach lining, immune cells, etc. So that's why people going through chemo generally loose their hair and are sick a lot. Herceptin, my easy chemo, isn't like that. It only attacks the cancer cells, because of those great receptors on them. Don't ask me how is does it, but imagine puzzle pieces that only kill what they can attach too. Or, you know, whatever works for you to imagine. So that leaves my hair and most everything that isn't cancer alone, though it does give me a runny nose and a funny taste in my mouth.
Radiation - This is what is going to cause me to loose some of my hair this time. From last time around, they zapped half of my left armpit, so I only have to shave the other half these days. When an area the grows hair gets radiated more than 2 weeks, it will lose any hair that grows in that region. Now they are just doing small areas of radiation on my head, shaping them according to the MRI for where it needs to be. So I won't lose the whole bottom inch of my hair line, but will loose swirls and such. This is a big bummer for me right now, because it is starting to fall out, and I know it won't come back. But the affected areas are on the back of my head, so I won't be able to see the lack of symmetry. Thank goodness, because that would really get to me. And WonderfulHubby said if it really bothered me once it is done falling out we can look into hair plugs. So that was very sweet of him to try and help me feel better like that.
Otherwise the radiation causes some mild swelling in the brain area, so I kinda feel like I have a pressure headache coming on, that never really comes (which is nice, no big headaches). The swelling also causes the nausea I talked about in the last post. This has gotten alot better. I was actually sick last Wednesday or Thursday, and have been okay since then. My stomach is kinda in this middle ground of not being actually happy, but not being actually nauseated. So I'm kinda picky about what I eat, but I'm losing some weight, which is a kinda nice silver lining, but I'd still rather be okay all around.
And the fatigue has hit me full force this weekend. I've been taking naps as I could, and just doing very little else. I am thankful WonderfulHubby understands! I try to make sure the dishes get done, and other than that, the chores that get done are what the kids can do. Thank goodness they are good kids.