Last Chemo!

Last Wednesday I completed my last round of Taxol chemo which was the last of my eight chemo treatments!

Elise came with me and even wore a pink ribbon in support. 

We're done!

It feels so great to be done with chemo. There's obviously the nagging feeling of "what if I need more chemo after surgery? Or more chemo if the cancer comes back?" But I'm pushing those feelings away and celebrating that I'm done withe chemo and the odds that are I'll be done with it forever!

I have to say, that despite the few days of aches from Taxol I felt amazingly well while on chemo. I had imagined it would be awful, but I did remarkably well with minimal side effects. I attribute that to my great medical team, good nutrition, and most importantly everyone's prayers.

So now I'm done with chemo! On to surgery and then radiation. It's basically half-time in this cancer-butt-kicking game.

2nd to Last Taxol and the 4th of July

On Wednesday I had my second to last Taxol chemo. And this should be (if all goes according to plan), my second to last chemo ever!

On my way to chemo, wearing my Fighting Fancy tank top.

The muscle aches started to set in last night and I will probably stick around for the next 3-4 days. Taxol sucks for me because I like to be active and it really makes me want to sit around and not do anything strenuous. Even walking up our stairs in our three story house can suck at times. Luckily I'm usually back to normal a week afterwards doing walks, hikes, and yoga. Will you please pray that aches don't get to too bad this time because tomorrow is my birthday and I really want to be feeling as good as I can be for it.

Speaking of holidays, yesterday was the 4th of July.

I loved hanging out with this little firecracker... 

But I also felt sad because 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and I hated being "sick" for it. I'm just sick of being sick. I'm starting to reach the point where I just want my life back and I still have months of dealing with cancer ahead of me even in the best case scenario. Then there's the occasionally-nagging thought that I might only have a few birthdays or 4th Julys left. Sorry if that sounds depressing, but I think any person with cancer would be lying if they said those thoughts didn't cross their mind from time to time.

OK, on to positive thoughts... In just 12 days I'll be DONE with chemo. And I'm one major step closer to beating cancer!

75% done with Chemo!

Today I had my second of four Taxol chemos. This means I'm 75% done with chemo overall! I plan on being completely cured and never having to do chemo again, but obviously I appreciate your prayers for the same.

Here is my Dad, who was chemo buddy today, with Elise before we left. Note my Dad's awesome Race for the Cure shirt. Elise stayed home but wore pink in support of me. :)

I love my support team

The Taxol infusion took a long time but was easy. They give me steroids to take the night before so I didn't sleep much last night which was probably the worst part. After the last Taxol I was really achy in the back and legs for a few days, so I'm anticipating that side effect again. But other than that, my Taxol side effect were not too bad.

Speaking of side effects, check out my hair growth. I have stubble! I was off chemo for 6 weeks to deliver Elise, so my hair started to grow back. But now that I've been back on Taxol for 2 weeks I expect it to start falling out again this weekend. Womp womp. On a positive note, now I know what I'll look like in 13 weeks.

Navy recruit?

I have some more medical updates about next steps in treatment, but I'll save those for a later post and leave you with some adorable pictures of Elise (the real reason you come to this blog!).

Passed out in the carseat

Goofball

In her bunny chair that she loves

Just hanging out with Dad

Chemo #5/Taxol #1 - Complete!

On Wednesday I started my latest round of chemo. I'm now getting a new chemo drug, called Taxol, which is different than chemo drugs I got before Elise was born. I'll do three more rounds of Taxol over the next seven weeks.

Here I am at my appointment.  

Fight On!

Yes, I know I just I had a baby, but don't act so shocked that I'm back in chemo already. The whole reason we induced early was so I could get back to chemo faster and fight this cancer so Elise has a Mom for decades to come. I wish my fight ended with Elise being born but we're really just in the 4th inning or so in beating this cancer (see treatment plan).

In case you're wondering, this is what a Taxol infusion looks like:

Drip, drip, drip

Taxol is supposed to be pretty effective for TNBC, so my big prayer is that I have complete response to it and there is no cancer left when I have my surgery in August.

I'm still working on Elise's birth story, so stay tuned for that.