A Week Off--A Welcome Break

No chemo (Taxol, Carboplatin) today. My blood counts were too low. I get the next week off too to let my white blood cell counts recover. I was feeling really super fatigued this past Saturday and Sunday, so I must have been pretty low this weekend, because I was already feeling better Monday and Tuesday. So now I am neutropenic (where you have to be super careful for infection) until the counts get back up. I am glad I am getting a break as it is better than ending up in the hospital. Although, at one point on Sunday, I was thinking that a nice quiet private room at St. Mary's with a lcd widescreen tv, unlimited internet, and all the food I want might not be so bad. Their cancer center rocks. I don't really want to go to the hospital, but I did have the thought cross my mind.

I still am getting Avastin today. Avastin is a new drug that was still on trial when I started it. It has since been approved for use in breast cancer treatment. It is not a chemotherapy. It is a drug that targets the blood vessels of the tumor. It has had good success in colon cancer patients and I believe lung cancer patients. A lot of the ladies I talk to that are on Avastin have had some good results so far. The only side effects that it has are what we girls call the Avastin snots, yucky bloody snot, really dry nose in the mornings, slower wound healing, and sometimes bloody noses. So far I haven't had any really true bloody noses. I can deal with the snot.

I was planning to make a mosaic picture board of my day at chemo, but it will have to wait until the 26th so that I can get some more pictures as today's visit was too short. Look for it to come. I hope I can get some interesting shots.

This break comes as a welcome reprieve even if only for a couple of weeks. It can be kind of daunting to not have an ending date for chemo. I know I at least have 3 more months and probably more than that. As long as I can get some breaks, it really helps me mentally. I also am going to ask Dr. Yost on the 26th what her goals are to reach before thinking about switching me to a hormonal. That may give us some clue as to what we are looking for as far as blood work and scans.