My Chemo Treatment

My chemo regimen is called dose dense AC-->T. ACT stands for A-Adriamycin, C-Cytoxan, T-Taxol. This regimen was prescribed for me because some professionals have referred to me as "high-risk". WTF?! My breast cancer stage was only 2A, I am BRCA1/2 negative, and for the most part very healthy; but because I was only 37 when diagnosed (36 when I found it) they apparently consider me "high risk". Dose dense means that it is given every 2 weeks (more frequent). It is an aggressive chemo only recommended to those who are young and healthy enough to take on the risks - I should feel so flattered, right?

There are numerous short and long-term risks associated with this chemo. I won't name them because it's too depressing. I can only hope that the short term side effects will go away quickly after this hell is over, that I will be able to find peace with the crummy long-term side effects, and hope that the rare but life threatening side effects will not apply to me.

I searched high and low for reassurance that natural and holistic approaches were enough to fight this. Trust me. There are so many amazing stories out there where people have resisted conventional western medicine with great success. Unfortunately deep down I believe that there are probably numerous stories where this approach did not work. A very cold oncologist presented me with the statistic that if I do nothing I could be dead in 7 years. So I am moving forward as best I can with combining conventional medicine with natural and holistic approaches.

The treatment is every two weeks for 4 months. Assuming all goes as planned and I don't get sick or my white blood cell counts too low the schedule is as follows:

Chemo #1 (AC) - July 21 DONE!
Chemo #2 (AC) - August 5 DONE!
Chemo #3 (AC) - August 19 DONE!
Chemo #4 (AC) - September 3
Chemo #5 (T) - September 16
Chemo #6 (T) - October 1
Chemo #7 (T) - October 14 (Happy 13th Wedding Anniversary, Jenny and Ryan)
Chemo #8 (T) - October 28

On top of the chemo they give you other drugs, including steroids, which help control the nausea. I am still nauseous but to date I haven't vomited. I have been nauseous since July 21, just varying levels of it. The steroids have side effects which jack me up so I can't sleep, even though my body and mind are utterly exhausted. Then the day after each chemo I go in for a shot which basically causes your bone marrow to go into overdrive to boost white blood cells. This has HORRIBLE side effects. About 8 hours later my cheek and jawbones start to ache. Shortly after that every bone in my upper body aches HARD for about 36 hours. During this time I lay in bed as gravity makes things worse. I've tried Claritin, another drug with side effects that work for some people for the joint pain, but not me. I've tried acupuncture, which was nice but I didn't do it this last time around because I couldn't drag myself out the door. Only time helps with this one. Dr's are more than happy to prescribe more drugs, they all have side effect. Before I was diagnosed with cancer I hardly took aspirin for headaches, so the amount of chemicals in my body is so unbelievably overwhelming both physically and mentally.