The Next Chapter of my Treatment

Thursday 

Today was supposed to be a clear day with no appointments until I called my primary physician. I have not been by to follow up with him since he called me that one Friday morning to tell me I have suspicious secondary Bone metastasis. Shelby took me to his office & we went over everything including the importance of potentially doing genetics testing and how it could help my kids & grandkids. 

Friday

Today I had lots of appointments. I got up and got myself ready for the busy day ahead. Shelby took me to MDAnderson downtown, where I met Tom. We went to do bloodwork; then we met with Dr. Crozier. Come to find out, the specialty pharmacy had been trying to call me all week to schedule the delivery of the chemo pill Ibrance! I was not returning their calls because I had previously registered for a mail-order pharmacy & I thought they were bugging me to complete the sign-up. Boy, was I wrong! Anyway, I called & the Ibrance will be here tomorrow. I will start taking the pill along with Letrozole. I think Dr. Crozier thinks I’m nuts!! We talked for about 30 minutes, and she answered all the questions that I had. She’s a lovely lady and very positive.

After the visit with Dr. Crozier, I went to the infusion 9th floor of MDAnderson. I received my first shot of XGeva. Even though it was a shot, they still sent me to the infusion floor. It was really sad walking through there and seeing all the patients getting drips of chemo. I even saw a little boy, and it broke my heart.

Every 28 days, I will do the same routine: get blood work, see Dr. Crozier, and then get my Xgeva shot. 

I did ask Dr. Crozier if there is a support group for people going through metastatic breast cancer. Of course, MD Anderson has one. She sent a note to the social worker, and the social worker called me right away. They gave me lots of links to support places around the city of Jacksonville. The one for MD Anderson is virtual, which makes me very happy not to have to drive!! She also gave me a bunch of links to forums of people talking about metastatic breast cancer. I read quite a bit and found the discussions in the forum to be very interesting.

We ordered Chinese food for dinner. Tom was not feeling well, so he went to bed right after dinner. Shelby and I stayed up and watched a little TV, and I ended up going to bed around 9 o’clock.

Saturday 9/18

Tom had inventory at work this morning. Typically he kisses me goodbye. When I woke up, I didn’t remember getting a kiss goodbye. I looked outside and saw his truck. Tom NEVER stays home from work. Come to find out – Tom was sick! He was up all night throwing up & diarrhea (too much info, I know). Hopefully, he will feel better today. He is staying in the bedroom opposite the side of my house and told me to stay out!!! Lol, I have no problem backing up and getting out. I got him some water and Tylenol, and I sent Shelby to the store to pick up a few things like Gatorade, Lysol, soup, etc. I believe he is exhausted from working long days, taking care of me, and worrying about both work & family. I pray he gets much-needed rest today.

I did want to watch the Florida Alabama game, but I fell asleep in the first quarter – which I guess is a good thing because it does not look like Florida did very well. I watched the rest of the game, and it was a very exciting close match for sure. Sad to see the Gators came up short. Maybe we will see them again in the playoffs.

My chemo pill Ibrance came in the mail today. I called MD Anderson to make sure I should go ahead and start taking the medicine even though my husband was sick. They said it was very important that I start the Ibrance tonight and that my immune system would not be compromised immediately. In addition to the Ibrance, I take Letrozole, Vitamin D, and Calcium. Let’s pray all goes well.

Sunday 9/19

Tom is on amends. He is out of the bedroom and walking around. I made him breakfast & he kept it down. Hopefully, this was just a 12-hour bug. I’m staying away from him just to be on the safe side.

I finished my book on Olivia Newton-John and her battles with cancer. I did not think there was enough information about her cancer in the book. It was more a book about her life and a few elements of her cancer. She does have a 3rd bout with cancer, and now the cancer is in her bones, similar to what I have. She’s a tough cookie, that’s for sure.

Now I’m reading a book about Robin Roberts bout with cancer. This seems to have more information about her cancer, and I’m enjoying it so far. Her cancer initially began as breast cancer, but years later, she contracted MDS Myelodysplastic Syndrome and had to have a bone marrow transplant.

I began to watch the Jags game. Was so excited the first quarter.  Then disappointed the next.  So I took a nap!!