Finishing? Chemo ; Independence Day

This is the week my wife finishes her chemotherapy. It's seems to me a very ironic and strangely pleasing that the end of this step in my wife's treatment is falling in the general time of Independence Day. I do feel a certain sense of new independence, and relief. I know the road ahead is still going to be eventful and unknown, but I am very thankful that this particular ordeal is over. I must say this experience has both changed and reinforced some of my views of healthcare facilities in general. It is a well know fact that, King Hostile doesn't "DO" doctors. To my much appreciated surprise I found several of the professionals the did and did not fit in my normal Medical Clowns categories. I found the particular group from the infusion center to be caring and compassionate. I know everyone that goes through this must be as worried and confused as my wife and myself. I found it very odd that even a lot of the actual doctors showed little or no care in the questions that were foremost important to us. I got more information about the real effects and whats to be expected from the crew at the infusion center, than from any other source we had available.
     I am so thankful that this process has been a lot easier for her than I had imagine. I guess it's always best to pray for the best and expect the worst and reality falls somewhere in between. Still at this point she has yet to lose control of her nausea to point of vomiting. She was very set on being one of the few, if not the only person, to go through this process without vomiting. i still don't really understand why this was so important to her but I am glad she achieved this goal if she wanted to. The last treatment falls where she will miss one of the Nuepogen shots that she is given after each treatment. Today being Independence day the breast center is closed so she will begin the regime again tomorrow. I will relate how this affects her treatment in a later post.
     That's all for now I think I will take the rest of the day to relax with my wife, and play some 8 Ball on Google game with her.

Chemo.5

   I chose to title this post as  Chemo.5  since we are at the half way point in my wife's battle to overcome the cancer that has invaded her life. The treatments she has been receiving, are well underway, with all the expected side effects in place. Since the complete loss of her hair she actually seems to be adjusted to these "side effects. The first treatment seemed to be more of a mental  hurry up and wait program. She spent the majority of her time after the first treatment waiting to see what the effects would be. So far as expected she has had the hair loss, nausea, headaches and a lot of tiredness.

 

   I will say that so far she has yet to become so nauseated that she vomits. This was on of the things my wife has all but refused to accept, she swears she is going to go through the entire therapy and never vomit, and so far she has held on to that thought and has been successful in doing so. Because of this fact we have a running joke going around saying "Ma is a Gangster, not even Cancer can touch her!".

I do hope she can make it through the entire therapy just like she wants to. I think the little goals she set for herself like that tend to help her maintain a hold on what she has to do and what she needs to do in order to overcome this obstacle we call Cancer.

   There are 3 shots she must take after each treatment they are given to her (1) one a day for (3) three days. These Neupogen shots, seem to cause her more suffering than any of the other treatments involved, including the actual lumpectomy. The shots cause her severe bone pain and headaches. she has said that bone pain and nausea almost seems to trade out after the shots, then about  (5) days after the shots, pain gets a little better and the nausea tends to take back over.