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Showing posts from April, 2020

My Port Will Be My Friend

Well, I didn't escape the chemo monster. This week I'll have an echocardiogram and then a quick surgery to install a port. Which creeps me out in a big way. The port is a plastic device that gets surgically implanted under the skin and they use an ultrasound to thread a large attached plastic wire directly into a large vein in the neck. The port allows for easier blood draws and direct injection of drugs for the chemotherapy. Chemo drugs can destroy veins, being toxic and all. After the port is installed, chemo can really start any time, so I'm not sure when they'll begin. So the game plan is 16 weeks of chemo, one month off and then 6 weeks of radiation. I'd be lying if I didn't say the idea of chemo scares me. Losing my hair scares me. Being sick scares me. Side effects scare me. Doing treatments alone because they don't allow support people right now scares me. Literally all of it scares me. Thankfully I know my support system is always with me, even i

Worst. Surprise. Ever.

According to breastcancer.org 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. So, you're welcome to the seven women for whom I'm saving the trouble of having to go through it. As of right now, I have stage 2-3 metastatic breast cancer. Totally treatable. The purpose of this blog is really just to update people on what's happening since I feel like I'm not doing a stellar job of keeping up with texts and messages. As far as my treatment goes, there are still more questions than answers and I don't have a timeline of when things will start yet. I'll try to follow up this post with another containing more information for anyone with questions. The quarantine has made it exponentially harder to update people efficiently. I'm planning to do a whole post gushing about how amazing my support system has been but I want to give them a quick shout out now. Thank you to everyone who has taken me to appointments, surgery, dropped off medications, food, check