Yep, I finished my last chemo on Friday, February 27th. Treatment is done, over, out of here, forever!!I just finished three different chemo drugs for the last 6 weeks. It went much better than I was told by the doctors. I was able to work very close to full-time. Most of the time I just felt tired and achy. I was so tired from work though that at night I would just sit my butt on the couch. I had to do a white blood cell shot (Neulasta) about every other day to help me from getting sick. That shot caused me extreme bone pain, so Oxycodone has been eaten like candy to keep me from biting someone’s head off. Poor Ken, he’s had to put up with my wonderful moods. He’s been a great trooper and I couldn’t have done this without him.
Eight months of six different chemo drugs, two months of radiation, two surgeries and nine months away from home...I DID IT! At the beginning I didn’t know how we were going to do it. I just knew I had to do whatever I needed to get CANCER out of my body. There were lots of ups and downs, some real bad times and some real good times. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about others. I think I’m a better person.
Now that it's over it seems to have gone by so fast. I have to take Tamoxifen for five years. This takes the estrogen out of me, so menopause here I come, sorry Ken. I have to have a 45 minute infusion of Zometa every month (they don’t know for how long yet) to keep my bones from losing mass. It’s to strengthen my bones because the chemo has done lots of damage, and then the Tamoxifen will continue to wear them down. Breast cancer patients have a higher chance of cancer coming back in the bones, so this is a preventive treatment and it gives a 36% improved chance of not getting bone cancer. So if that’s all I have to do to give myself a better chance of not getting cancer again, then I can handle it. It will be nice when the side effects go away. The docs say it could take months to years. But I’m sure that within a couple of months I should be feeling pretty damn good. I’m looking forward to not being sick and feeling my new normal.
My mom started a blog site about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. She has put all of our updates and lots of information about IBC on it. Please check it out and pass it along, http://www.kickincancersass.blogspot.com/ . The blog has already put me in contact with a lady in Canada that has IBC and just started treatment. I’m very much interested in being an advocate for IBC and getting the word out about this aggressive breast cancer. In the future the blog will be where we put our updates and information and stories about IBC, so keep in touch.
We are sending a huge thank you to all of you following our story. Thank you to all of you that supported us and prayed for us. Thank you to all my friends, coworkers and family for standing by us. And a special thank you to my doctors for doing the right thing and getting this cancer out of me. And my dear husband, I love you for sticking with me through this fight.
Julie and Ken
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