Yes, FEC number 3 FINALLY went ahead yesterday after a 3 week delay. I can confirm it still sucks. Thankfully though this is my final dose of the those three dreaded drugs as chemo numbers 4, 5 and 6 are all change as I swap over to the drug Taxotere. Tax is less sicky but more ooh I've just been hit by a truck. Can't wait!!
Also I've hit the half way mark, which is great for those of you not actually having chemo. For me, it means I've still got the same amount of shit still to go through. WHOOP!
Now I know that you are all going to say "Now, lady that's not very positive is it?" and no it's probably not but to that I will reply UP YA BUM! The fact that I have managed to get this far has quite frankly amazed me and I'm fucking proud of myself so don't go pissing on my chips by telling me that I'm not being very positive. I'm coping and that's as good as you'll get from me. Deal with it you cheery bastards.
Chemo itself went very smoothly and I was in and out of hospital within a couple of hours. This time however I started to feel very sick, very quickly. This is something that hasn't really bothered me on my previous two chemos. I managed to eat well and it did pass but by 1am I was wide awake and feeling very sick indeed. I stayed awake until 5am munching on my faithful ginger biscuits and sipping on my ginger ale. Thankfully the nausea subsided and my sick bowl survived a lumpy soaking.
I also have a genetics update for you. As you may know I had a genetics test done. I originally thought that this was because of a family history with breast cancer. It turns out it was more to do with me having a triple negative tumour. A triple negative is a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer that hasn't been caused by hormone receptors like "normal" breast cancers. Most breast cancer patients go on to take tamoxifen or herceptin for the next 5-10 years to up their survival rate. Unfortunately for me, my cancer doesn't respond to these treatments. My only hope is chemo and radiotherapy.
Triple negative tumours are usually caused by a faulty BRCA gene which is why my surgeon suggested the genetics test. I needed the results to come back with a definite negative but sadly they came back with an inconclusive result. This means that they don't know what has caused my cancer but it could be caused by a faulty gene that technology just hasn't found yet. Because of this I have been advised to have a double mastectomy as well as have my ovaries removed as I have a 70% chance of getting ovarian cancer in the future. It's a no brainer decision for me. I want to do everything I possibly can to not have to go through this bullshit again. I'm only 37 years old, living past 47 would be good. I'm going to do everything in my power to hopefully do that.
I still have obviously the rest of chemo to get through yet as well as radiotherapy after that so I'm trying to not jump ahead with the surgery too. I have also yet to decide if I will have breast reconstruction at the same time as the mastectomy or if I will wait a year or two and take a break. There are also many different surgery procedures to think about which my brain just can't process at the moment.
So that's the state of play at the moment. Thank you for all your support.
